Him and the 3 Her's: 2008

Monday, December 29, 2008

Child Family party

So many things too share...all of our December activities are below, with christmas celebrations coming soon!
Thanks to Grandma and Grandaddy for having us all over for our annual party...you two are such troopers to host all of us with our kids! It was a great night complete with Grandma and Grandaddy getting showered with gifts, the "right" "left" gift game, and of course some eclairs for dessert!

Grandma with two of her great-granddaughters...Sophia and Maycee. (they are two months apart...Maycee being the older of the two!)

So sweet...Maycee loves her great-grandaddy. She always finds him first when he's in the room and he is so good at making her smile. I wish I would have taken a picture about a month ago when I heard him singing to her in German while he was holding her...it was classic!
So crazy there is 101 yrs. between these two!!!

Cute girls!

Maycee has the best Uncles! From the moment we walk in there is someone who wants to play with her and hold her!

The whole clan (minus Becki, thanks for taking the picture). There were a few that couldn't make it this year because of work, sickness, or they live out of town. We missed you Jacob and Cari, Clint, Travis, Austin, and Tyler and Ashley.

Lights, Camera, FREEZING!

Happy to say we actually made it to the lights at Temple Square this year. Even better was the fact we got to go with a couple of my brothers and their significant others...Thanks Steve-O for watching both of the babies and letting us get away for a couple hours. We made it quickly through the lights, took plenty of pictures, laughed a bunch and finished the night off with hot chocolate and doughnuts while we watched the biggest loser finale...Way to go Michelle!!!

Becki, Joey, Blake, Emily, Sally, & KC

The girls...gotta love the matching boots! My toes were warm the WHOLE night!

Love this Nativity!

KC caught this great photo...so cool with the lights and the Temple...

Such a great time to photograph the Temple...all lit up in the dark.

Gotta love Santa...

We couldn't let Maycee's first Christmas pass and not see Santa. We headed to South Towne Mall and were so happy to see the line was not long at all...only to be sorely disappointed. One of Santa's helpers greeted at the end of the line and informed us it was time for Santa's break. He would see those that were already in line, but we would have to wait for just over an hour...Do we just come back? Glad we didn't because we were first to see him when he got done and there was a long line of people to come after us...

Maycee's friend Izzy joined us...she is so happy, wouldn't guess she had an ear infection. So fun to hang out and chat with Caryn and Ryan too!!

I thought for sure Maycee would be just fine and smile big for the camera...guess she thought other wise. I suppose the hour of waiting and the fact that she was hungry for dinner didn't help. Oh well, now we have the classic crying with Santa photo...better luck next year!!

Watching as dad walks away and leaves her with this strange man...Santa gave me the smile I wanted!

Now she might be ok with it....

Ooops...now she found Mom!

Here is the happy girl we were looking for....at home later with a full belly!

Burdette Family party

Love the photo...but its the only one I got that night because I was too busy visting with everyone I hadn't seen in so long! So many made a long trek to be there and I couldn't resist catching up. So great to see everyone made it there safe after the snow that came that morning. Love you all!! (oh, and congrats to Desi on the engagement...)

Whenever she sleeps he takes a little snooze too...

Anderson Family party

The annual Anderson Family party was full of tradition...from the ham and potatoes for dinner to the snowy blizzard outside to the inappropriate white elephant gifts (lucky for us most of the kids are still too young to understand most of them). It was fun to see grandma and grandpa and all the cousins and how much all the kids have grown, so sad KC had to deal with all the grumpy people at the airport and couldn't be with us!

This was Jack's white elephant gift...he was really excited for some "mac n' cheese". Look closely at the name of the pasta and notice the pasta shape...

Grandpa Gordy is always up for a great photo! Maycee really does like him...just a little tired.

They always "mysteriously" match! These two will be partners in crime...look at them sneaking another person's gift.

We love you daddy! So sorry you had to be at work that night and miss the fun!

Can't resist posting that cute grin!

Kurt Bestor Cristmas

The first REAL family outing I attended with the Andersons when KC and I were dating was the Kurt Bestor Christmas concert. So, there are lots of memories everytime we go back. We took a break for a few years and decided this was the year to re-visit the tradition. With it being the 20th Anniversary, it ended up being a good year to attend again. The highlights were: seats in close proximity of the stage, the night before christmas story read by Kurt Bestor's jr. high drama teacher, and the specail guest violinist Jenny Oakes-Baker (she was amazing!!!)

One of the beautiful trees at the Grand America! Love their holiday decorations!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Kauai with the Burdettes

KC finally convinced my family to take a vacation together, and we had a blast! KC spent months planning the trip, and after taking a few plane rides and having to divert a little because of a canceled flight, 13 of us finally made it to Kauai (minus one bag that somehow ended up in Orlando???). Surprsingly enough, the girls were still pretty happy and not too cranky after the long travel day.

Maycee and her cousin Sophia

Our resort was on the south end of Kauai in an area called Poipu. It had some great pools and a great veiw of the beach and some great sunrises/sunsets. It helps when the island is naturally just as beautiful with really fun things to do that don't cost a penny...Like waterfalls to jump off, rope swings, and one of the the most beautiful coast lines to hike.

30 ft. Kipu Falls

On the top of the falls, before we jumped.

Austin mastering the rope swing.

The highlight of the trip trip for me was the Napali Coast. We hiked along the coastline for two miles until we reached a gorgeous beach, then headed inland another two miles to one of the most amazing waterfalls I have ever seen. It was one of the toughest hikes we have ever been on...not everyone came, but those who did were not disappointed (KC had already done the hike twice, so he was happy to stay back and spend a daddy-daughter day with Maycee...said it was the highlight of his trip!) Definately worth the 8 miles and the five and a half hours. By the end we had one sprained ankle (sorry Joe), three tired girls, eight very sore legs, and four very accomplished happy hikers.

We wouldn't be smiling so big if we really knew what we were getting ourselves into! (KC totally lied to us and didn't tell us how long and hard the hike was so that we would actually do it)

AMAZING!!! This was our view for the first and last hour and a half!

Still...not really knowing what we have ahead of us!

Such a pretty beach, but we couldn't get in the water because the undertow was SO dangerous!

TOTALLY worth the long hard hike!!

This is how our bodies felt at the end.... And this is how proud we were that we conquered it!

The rest of our time was spent at the pool, on the beach, golfing, snorkeling, body surfing, eating, taking way too many pictures, and best of all...enjoying the island food! It was great to be with my family and we missed those who couldn't make it. Here's to a repeat trip in a couple years...