My Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas

I've been meaning to blog about my birthday and Christmas for a while now, but I've been putting it off because there's so much to write about and I'm going to have a hard time editing it all down. I turned 26 a few weeks ago. I had a great birthday. Jason always goes out of his way to try to make it special. He took me to dinner and got me a gift certificate to get my hair cut and high lighted. As you can see in this picture, I was in desperate need of a makeover. My hair had been so neglected. Anyway, after dinner we went to my in-laws' house and had this delicious cake that Amber made for me. It was sooo good. She's the best. I think her baking skills haver surpassed mine :) On the 2oth we made the long trek to Wyoming to spend Christmas with my family. We had such a great time.

Here's a picture of my kids in their Christmas outfits. Iris' bow might be a little ridiculous. It has a little bell on it and Jason kept threatening to cut it off because he couldn't stand the jingling sound.

My dad's birthday is on the 23rd, so it's been a tradition in our family to have Santa come visit on Dad's bday. This year he came and brought an early Christmas present for everyone. It was so fun. Roman is deathly afraid of Santa. He burst into tears when he came in the door. He kind of warmed up to him though. This was as close as he would get to him. Iree didn't seem to mind...

Here's my dad getting ready to blow out his birthday candles. This is all of my parents' grandchildren and then Danna, Cicily, and me.

Like I mentioned we spent Christmas with all of my family. I have six siblings, so with everyone's spouses and children the grand total was 22 people. Look how many stockings there are!! Luckily, my parents just built a new house in October and every couple had their own master suite with its own bathroom. That makes such a difference to have your own bathroom! Plus there's a big room upstairs for the grandkids. There was 3 bunk beds and they had their own bathroom too. The kids absolutely loved it. This was our first time at the new place. It is so beautiful. My dad has been building for 30 some years and he does such great work. I wish he could come build me a house in a few years.

We did lots of fun things while we were in WY. My little brother, Kimball and my little sister, Cicily are pretty good at Rock band. Roman loved watching them, so they let him "play" on the drums for a little bit. He thinks they are pretty cool.

But so much playing can wear a guy out..

Christmas morning was full of lots of great gifts. I didn't think Santa could pull it off, but he ended up finding a football helmet AND uniform for Roman. He thinks it's pretty cool, but he still puts on his knitted hat and calls it a helmet. I think it's because the helmet's still a little too heavy for his head. By the way, that's Roman with my little sister, Cicily. She's gotten so old! She's 15 now and I can hardly believe it. She's such a pretty girl and she's so sweet with her neices and nephews. Roman still asks about her everyday and we've been back for a week.

Here's the kids with my parents, "Mama and Papa Ben" as Roman calls them. I just have to thank my mom and dad again for the great time that we had. There's nothing better than spending time with your family. My mom and dad were so great. They had yummy meals and fun things to do and they didn't even complain about all the kids ransacking their beautiful home. We had a great time and we can't wait to do it again.