Merry Christmas!

We hope that everyone had a great Christmas. Ours was very busy and a lot of fun. Cody left for Milford last Friday to go out elk hunting one more time. They actually saw some this time but the sights were off on the gun and so they didn't get one. Rylee and I headed up on Saturday. We had a lot of fun visiting with all the family and enjoying the Christmas spirit.

On Monday we all went tubing and had a blast! It was a beautiful day and not too terribly cold. Christmas Eve Cody's Mom and Sister cooked a lovely turkey meal and we played games and watched 'Joy to the World'. We woke up about 7:00 Christmas morning and went down to Cody's sister's and watched their family open gifts. After about an hour down there we went back to Cody's parents and did gifts there. Then we had a wonderful breakfast of cinnamon rolls, packed up and headed to Kanab to do Christmas with my family.

My family did not wait for us to open their gifts (thanks Kim!), so I didn't get to watch everyone open, but they got a lot of great things, and everyone had fun watching Rylee open her gifts. Rylee was a blast! She got so excited every time she tore even the smallest piece of wrapping paper off!

We missed my sister Jeni. This year she was with her husband's family the entire time up in Logan.

We played games all that night. The next day we went down to the park with my Grandpa and the Sanfords and played some tennis and jumped rope. It was freezing!! - but still fun. Then we came home, unpacked and are still trying to recoup from the fun and busy holiday season.

Here are a couple pictures (out of the more than 300 I took!) of our fun Christmas! Be prepared, there's a lot of cute ones!

This was our family Christmas picture this year. Thanks for taking it Mom!Our little family (don't mind the bright railroad gloves!- They are the warmest things tho!)
Being towed behind a 4-wheeler! This was such a blast. Rylee loved it too!
Daddy & Rylee tubing down the hill
Rylee's first snowman!- or attempt at one
Kaysha's Snow Angel
One tired gal!
The kids had a blast building block towers for Rylee "Babyzilla" to knock down.

Rylee enjoyed it the most though!
Cody's sister Natalie couldn't stay for Christmas, so she had Rylee open her gift early. She got a Dora Ball and a Dora pillow book. How did Nat know?
Grandma Jimenez got a Shitzu puppy for Christmas. Rylee was so in love with this dog. But I've now decided that since Grandma has a dog we don't need one!
Santa brought all of Lacy's kids these scooters. Rylee loved them more than the kids did!
Lacy got extremely lucky and was able to get the kids a Wii the week before Christmas! They were so excited!
Rylee helping Mom open a gift at Grandma and Grandpa Jimenez's
Christmas in Kanab. Rylee was not even a little tired of opening gifts. She was still ready for more!

These pictures are so cute!

Rylee helping load the truck

Swinging with Grandma at the Kanab City Park

This is the cutest picture of Brielle.

This was a cool shot of Emily jumping rope.

Grandpa's still got it in him!

Family Christmas Party!

The Barnes Family Annual Christmas Party was held Tuesday, December 18. It was a blast as usual. We started off with a nice dinner, a nativity scene, Santa came to visit, then we had a white elephant gift exchange, sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and then we were up all night playing games. Congrats to Cody and I for being the ROOK champs! and I finally won at RISK! (My Uncle Denny has been the Christmas Party Risk Champ for like the last 4 years running.) We usually have the party on a weekend, but my Uncle Denny always gets us TrendWest condos and they were already sold out this year, so we had to go with a weekday night. So not as much family came out as usually do- we missed you all, especially Kimmy! But we still had a lot of fun!
Here are some fun pictures of the evenings events.

Our Nativity Production

Me & Britney's baby, Brielle. I am so excited that they've moved back to Utah. Bri is getting so big and is such a good baby.

Sisters Cortney and Britney

Rylee was scared of Santa! She did not want to sit on his lap. She was the first one to sit on his lap, and after she watched everyone else, she started to warm up to him a little.

Nope Mom, the teddy bear won't help!

Santa holding Brielle. (Doesn't my cousin Justin make a great Santa?)

Emily is such a doll!

This is a yearly tradition. My Mom and Aunt Tracy with Santa.

It's Game Time!

Rylee had a blast. She was up until after midnight with us.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Tagged!

Well, I got tagged by Ang. So, here I go....

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both!

2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial. Growing up my family always went out and cut one down. But I remember one year my Dad was out of state working and so my mom and us 7 kids went out to get the tree. It was such a pain to get into the house, and then, when we finally got it in, it was too big, so my mom cranked out the chain saw- right in the middle of the living room!- us kids just scattered and that memory is still so vivid to me some 10 or so years later. So when I married, I talked Cody into the fake tree. But when Rylee is a little older we'll start the tradition of finding the perfect tree and brining it home to decorate.

3. When do you put up the tree? The day after Thanksgiving.

4. When take down. Sometime after the new year.

5. Do you like eggnog? Not at all.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? When I was like 4 or 5 Santa brought me the hugest barbie doll house! Every little girls dream. But then like a day or two after I got it, my little sister- yes Jeni!- decided to climb in the top story and the whole thing collapsed. I hated her for a very long time for that one! And then the Christmas before I got married Cody bought me the most beautiful hope chest.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, quite a few!

8. Hardest person to buy for? Cody and my Dad.

9. Easiest person to buy for? Rylee and my sisters.

10. Worst Christmas gift ever received? I think I was about 6 or 7 years old. My Grandma and Grandpa Barnes always did pretty nice gifts for all of us. Well this one particular year I got an etch-a-sketch. And both of my sisters got these doll sets that came with like 8 dolls each and all the different wardrobes, etc. I felt pretty stiffed.

11. Mail or Email Christmas card? Mail- sorry they got out late this year!

12. Fav Christmas movie? Elf

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? The day after Thanksgiving!

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Sad to say, but yes I have. Not to anyone major though! Just one of those to an unsuspecting visitor...

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Cinnamon rolls!

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? I like clear and red.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Mary Did You Know and Where Are You Christmas

18. Travel for Christmas or stay home? Right now I love traveling to see both of our families, but I am looking forward to when we can stay home, relax and just enjoy Christmas without always rushing!

19. Can you name Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph!

20. Do you have an Angel on top or star? I actually have a big Boyd's Bear to match the Tree Skirt I cross stitched! (that took me 3 years to finish!)

.21. Open presents Christmas Eve, or Christmas morning? Christmas morning. On Christmas Eve we open our gifts from the sibling that bought for us though.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? The over-crowded stores and extremely long lines.

Tag. You're it: Ashlee B., Joni, Lacey, Cherish, Brandy, Malinda,

Snowball Fight!

Non-Crappy Starring You! eCards on JibJab

Kaydee's Baptism!

On December 1, 2007, Cody's niece Kaydee got baptized in Milford. We are so proud of her. She is such a beautiful and extremely smart girl. Rylee just adores her.

Kaydee and her Dad, David, right after she was baptized.


All of the Davis family.
Rylee cried when we wouldn't let her play the piano during the baptism talks.

Rylee is so proud of her cousin and her decision to be baptised!
Mom and Rylee after the baptism, before changing- doesn't Rylee's hair look so cute!

Thanksgiving

Happy Belated Thanksgiving! I know I am late in posting, but Cody took my camera for the elk hunt and so I had to wait to get pictures from my mom (Thanks Mom!).

This year was my family's year for Turkey Day. We drove to Vernon, Utah to my dad's parents' house. The day was filled with lots of family, great food and nice visits.

Some of the family...

More of the family...

This was all of us like 5 minutes after eating. There is just something about a huge meal that knocks ya out...

Rylee was having a hard time falling asleep, so I thought if I crawled into her pack 'n play it would help her relax. Boy was I wrong. I turned into the Mommy Jungle Gym! Cody sure got a good laugh when he walked in and found me in there.

I wish I had pictures of the next few hours' events, but I don't. Thanksgiving night, my Mom and darling sister Kimmy talked me into camping out in front of Best Buy in my parents' camper! They decided this at like 11 p.m. and it was a half hour drive to even get to the nearest town! So at like midnight we pulled into American Fork's Best Buy parking lot.

I could not believe how many people were camped out there! It was so crazy, but they were so well prepared. There were tents, and heat lamps and even portable camp fires. I was pretty impressed. Well, we all crammed into the little overhead bed of the camper and got a few hours of sleep. I think we spent most of the night laughing and wishing we had remembered the darn camera!

We awoke at the wee hour of 4 a.m. and began our day of shopping! We didn't really buy anything that was on a great sale, and over half the stores we found things in we just left cuz we couldn't handle the 2-3 hour long lines- crazy, huh? But it was a day of fun.

We caught a matinee showing of 'Enchanted'. Very cute Disney production! It was the perfect girls day out show. We then shopped some more and then figured we'd better return, because Cody had left earlier for the hunt and we weren't sure how badly Rylee was destroying my grandparent's house! We were up late that night visiting with my Grandparents.

These next pictures were taken Saturday morning...

Rylee would not look at the camera. She just kept laughing at me crawling around the well.

My beautiful gal..


Rylee watching the frozen goldfish in Grandpa's Pond

Rylee loves dogs, and Henrie was no exception. He liked to play keep-away. Whenever Rylee would pick up a basketball (there were like 5 of them) Henrie would steal it away from her. Rylee loved it!

These kind of pictures are my favorite! So unsuspecting..
Rylee with her Great Grandpa and Grandma Pace
My Dad helping my Grandpa out with his computer.
My four handsome (and single!) brothers.

Rylee and her Uncle Sam. I don't know who adores who more!

Our future Mozart?
She sure thinks so!


After we got loaded from my Grandparent's we went to Orem for the "boy's shopping day" or should I call it "shopping hour"? Crazy how fast boys can find what they want.

Of course, we had to stop at a sport's bar and watch the BYU v. UTAH game! GO COUGARS! (Sorry Cody, I know you loves the Utes, but thanks for handling the family razzing so well!)

Then we had a safe trip home! Sorry for such the long post. Lots of good times to report on. We hope you all had a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving. We just want to let you know how much we appreciate all our family and friends and the many blessings we've received.