December...

December started out with the usual festivities- we tried out a Christmas Tree Farm that didn't require the use of a 4-wheel drive up into the mountains since the trusty old Land Rover no longer exists.  It was only 15 minutes away.  Once we picked out the right tree the workers came and cut it down with a chain saw! Not the chop-your-own-tree-down-experience we were looking for so hopefully next year we will have a vehicle that can get us up to the mountains.

Rosy and her good buddy Grandpa fed the horses some apples. I thought it was such a cute picture I had to post it. 

As mentioned in the previous post, Rosalie had a birthday mid month- she's helping Dad decorate her cake just right.

Rocky's last day of school was a fun Christmas program, he got to play the part of one of the Wisemen and sing "We Three Kings" with some other kids from school.  He practiced so hard and learned that song so well.  Whenever he started practicing Rosy would yell at us, "Don't sing that!"  Rocky is such a thoughtful brother, if she was in a different room then he would excitedly whisper to me, "Mom, now is a perfect time to practice my song!"

As soon as his singing part was over he took his whole costume off and sat down, even though there were a bunch of other songs to sing.  Look at this kid's face in these pictures:

 He's a funny kid.

 

After Rosy's b'day December turned out to be quite the eventful month for us.  To start off, let me first say that December was a great month, despite what I am about to write.  (Now it's Joe's turn to narrate)

The first week of December we received an invitation to a "Dirty Thirty, Mustache Party" for our friend Kade who lives in Arizona with his wife Kaylee.  They were nice enough to invite us, despite us being a few states away.  It just so happened that I had the weekend off and we found some super cheap flights to Las Vegas.  We had wanted to take another trip to Arizona to visit our house in Glendale and our friends and family, it seamed like the perfect opportunity.  So we created a game plan, and set a tight schedule, and prepared Rocky and Rosy for a quick weekend of fun and excitement.  We knew when we were setting up the weekend that something was up (in the back of my mind I was getting a warning, it said "you are crazy, don't do it, it's too much" then when I ignored the warning, it said "you are an idiot").  We knew that as long as everything went according to schedule then the weekend would be a huge success.  Well it didn't.  As it so happens my schizophrenic mind friend was right.  Everything went wrong.  We had delayed flights, hour long car rental waiting lines, pink eye, the pregnant flu bug (which developed into acute bronchitis), blizzard conditions (it snowed literally 8 inches in just a few short hours while we were driving to AZ from Vegas.), shabby motels, and broken DVD players.  Sarah didn't even get to meet up with her sister she was so sick. The only success of the weekend was the "Dirty Thirty" party.  It was so much fun.  It was good to see our Arizona friends again.  We had fun singing, dancing, eating, and playing games.  Kade and Kaylee were great hosts.  It was somewhat of a coincidence that Jared was down that weekend from Utah, checking in on his house, and we got to see him. We also got to see our cruise friends Megan and Jake.  Rocky thought that we were there for Katie's birthday party, so when we got there he ran into the house past Kade and Kaylee and started attacking Megan (who he thought was Katie...).  He also had a good time wrestling anyone and everyone, and when he was too tired he would tell me to wrestle them, and make them say uncle.  Rocky and his good friend Cameron played great together, and Rosy and her twin spirit Ian, also played good together, and helped to liven things up at times.  Jon and Andy were a huge help for us and were the only reason why Sarah survived the weekend.
Picture time:

The first thing the kids did in the morning was run outside to play in the snow. Rocky couldn't even pause for a jacket. (He's also the only one of us besides Joe who didn't come home sick). 

Rosy had to borrow Ian's warm clothes- we packed light and thought we were going to AZ where the sun shines...

Rosy and Ian really are so similar. 

Rocky and Cameron threw snowballs at eachother until they were frozen.

Even though the snow stopped us from getting to the Nuckle's house the night we flew in- I think the kids thought it was a huge bonus to have it.

Warming up by the fire after the snow

 





 The Mustache Bash:

Forgive my appearance and blame the flu.  This picture is hilarious.  The entire night really was.

 



 

 

After that weekend we decided that maybe it would be nice to just have a nice relaxing 24 months, without traveling.  So we hunkered down, and spent Christmas and New Years at home or at my folks house (they live 12 minutes away, which we decided was acceptable travel distance).  On Christmas Eve we spent most of the night at my folks house, and that night we opened up the gifts we had gotten each other.  Rocky had been so excited all day.  He saw the gift grandma and grandpa got him and it was big.  So as we gathered around the tree, Rocky was ecstatic.  Finally, after reading some verses in the bible and after all the presents were passed out, we gave Rocky the go-ahead to open his gift.  So he tore right into it... "DIAPERS!!" You got me DIAPERS??!!" "I GOT DIAPERS?!" He immediately threw down the gift, threw down his hand in frustration, stormed over to the fireplace where he sat down hitting the tile one either side with his angry fists.  Grandma had gotten Rocky a fun batman toy which was also very awkward to wrap, so she put it in a depends box, and a picture of a big pair of diapers was the first thing Rocky saw.  We were able to convince Rocky that there was a gift inside that box, and his mood was quickly lifted.

This is the dejected look of a little boy who thought he got diapers for Christmas!

 Also we were able to convince Rosy that although Santa Clause watches you while you sleep, he is not creepy.  Christmas was great, I worked, but we were able to open gifts in the morning.

You can still see the sleep in her eyes. 

"Orange Monster Truck Jammies, my Favorite!"

 It snowed later on during the day, and we got a White Christmas:

He doesn't look very happy in this picture but I thought he sure looked handsome.  What a cutie.

Playing on the frost in the morning before the snow started.

Who needs a sled when you have dad?

We made our first snowman! And my stubborn second born is still trying to wear her summer crocs outside in the snow and jackets drive her crazy.  And what's the fun of making a snowman if you can't kick him down?