Christmas was a lovely warm and white one this year. We split our time between Arizona and Utah this year. As our children get older, traveling on Christmas gets harder and harder. Hauling gifts back and forth from state to state and place to place is getting more difficult. Our children had never had a Christmas in Utah. We figured it was time becuase the days of traveling are getting done. So we opened most of our gifts here in Arizona and then drove to Utah the day before Christmas Eve. Santa visited us at Grandma & Grandpa Babbels house and guess what?... It snowed on Christmas eve. We woke to an amazing amount of snow Christmas Eve Day and it went on throughout the whole day and into Christmas Day. It was wonderful!!! Perfect weather for sledding behind the quad and finding some good hills to race down.

                           G&G Banzhaf got Tanner a bike. Woohoo!

                                                  Morning Sunshine. Merry Christmas!

                                                 And we'll have fun fun fun till Daddy takes the T-bird away

                  Great Grandma Banzhaf got Asher a marbel rollercoaster and he was in heaven.

                                    Thomas and his friends....and friends...and more friends.

                                       Eden's goodies

                                                Zach and Tanner got DS's. As if they need more distractions.

                                      Asher being funny.

 

 First time in the snow

Nativity time on Christmas Eve.

                                        Christmas morning and Crew found his best friend Cookie Monster waiting.

                                     Tanner and his "new smile".

Crew got lots of elephants for Christmas. He loves elephants!!!

      " YES! YES! YES!"

Crew and Kiya

Where to begin?

Here are some Thanksgiving photos. It was so fun to have so much family in town. Maleah, Christopher and their kids. Cole and Michelle and their kids. Grandpa Banzhaf and Great Grandma Banzhaf. It was a lovely day. When it was over we put up the Christmas lights. Busy couple of days. Wonderful memories.
Thanks for coming!

Halloween 2012

          Halloween was as fun as usual. I use our video camera to do most of the documenting this year. And Mikes phone was the camera. I will update this post when I get those loaded.

                                  Kids werent allowed to wear costumes to school. So these worked instead.

                                                          cute little cowboy on Halloween night.

                         Mario is as popular as ever. Tanners best friend Cayden came over to play with the kids the day before Halloween.

Pennsylvania Trip 2012

We were blessed this year to be able to get back to PA to see family. It was an interesting trip and we did lots of fun things. The kids cant stop talking about it. The flight there was pretty easy and for the most part everyone was good. The flight home however was difficult and longer by almost 1 hour. Leaving Newark airport was a joke. We stood in line for security for over an hour and then our flight was late. Typical. A helpful little hint that saved us for anyone traveling with a toddler: travel game connect four! Seriously Crew sat for about 30 min putting those checkers in the slots over and over again. Filling it to the top and repeating. So worth the 5 bucks. Also a Tag-reader is a must have. All the kids used it including Crew, and it uses headphones so you dont annoy the neighbors. Anyway here are a few pictures of what we did. And a daily itinerary for memory sake.


Sat- Arrived to a nice Italian dinner with mom and dad. Hunter was at Homecoming. Mike had a horrible reaction to "FEZ", Hunters rabbit. So out went the rabbit for the duration of our stay. The kids loved the bunny and went out everyday to see him. Crew was fascinated.
Sun- Church at Nazareth ward. Saw old friends.
Mon- Rain in the morning. Dairy farm in the afternoon. Corn maze, raw milk and pumpkins.Yum. Family night at the movies seeing "Hotel Transylvania".
Tues- Yoga with Mom at the YMCA. Slice of thin crust pizza to go. Chick-Fil-A with the family and lots of play time at grandmas carving pumpkins
Wed- Twins and Mike and Eden in Manhattan. So fun!
Thurs- Crayola Factory. Canal Museum. Meeting up with the Poulsons. Red Robin meal
Friday-Stay home and play with Grandpa and Grandma .Grandpa "worked" from home or tried to.
Sat- HersheyPark in the Dark. Rollercoasters, lots of rollercoasters. Meeting up with the Nielsons for lunch at Hersheys Fuddruckers.
Sunday- Nazareth ward . Singing with Grandpa around the piano
Monday- Newark airport hell... traveling home.


                                                      
                                                            Dairy Farm and Corn Maze

                                                              Tanners first boat ride in NYC

                                                                           staten island ferry

                                                                                We saw it.

                                                                     Museum of Natural History

                                                               Dum Dum, I want some gum gum.

                                                                         We found ole' Abe

 Time square. Yes, I was having a horrible hair day. It was 72 degrees but breezy.

Ferry ride

                                       Over the river and through the air to Grandmothers house we go.
                                                                      Back of the house

                                                                      Crew loved grass

                                                                 Project time and legos

                                                                          lunch at Jima's

                                                     hey park. My boys are not miniatures anymore

                                                           Hunter joined the madness

 get me on the ride now.