Willis Family Dinner

We changed our Willis Christmas dinner that was traditionally on Christmas Eve to the Sunday before Christmas. Made it really nice since Christmas Eve everyone was starting their own traditions and choosing where to go. This way we all attend. It was a great night. Kevin who usually isn't in town for this had come up to pick his daughter up from BYU Idaho so he and Jessica and Keylee were in town. So we had everyone but Zack, Andrew, Lynda and Tori at dinner. My Mom, as usual did her huge spread of price rib, crab, soup, salad, and all the sides you could ever want.
Darren and I tried the day before to get everyone to come in their most "festive" outifts. Darren dressed up as Eddy from Griswald Christmas and I got a wonderful Christmas sweater with a Holly leaf turtleneck... We looked awesome! I really thought that everyone else would do it, but no one did so it wasn't as fun as we thought it would be~
Such a great night with family and good food... thanks Mom for having us all up there

My Mom's gorgeous Table

Everytime Kari and I are both taking pictures we take picutes of eachother with a camera to our face

This year instead of doing sibling gifts, we did a white elephant. It ended up being so much fun and so many laughs. We will definatly do this again next year.

Kevin and his SPAM and Rocks... he is holding the phone because Lynda his wife was on speaker phone.

Kami and her bronze Elephant trophy

Kyle with his Oreo's - minus the cream filing of course

Darren got all of Kari's old "self-help" books. Ironic cus one of them was "anger" and Kari and Darren's relationship has been well... rockie.

I got - Shave with me Barbie, European Edition... baically the best gift of the night. It raised the bar for next year

Kory got the World Fair Souvenir book

Mandy got a box of my Mom's tupperwear... funny thing is that Mandy has huge issues with my Mom's tupperwear so it was only fitting to have her get it. You see my Mom saves every single plastic container and re-uses it. She doesn't have a "set" of store bought tupperwear

My Mom enjoyed it so much, it was nice to see her laughing so much!

Kari and her Cream filling from the Oreo's - she thought is was something "grown up" from the feel of it in the box. I enjoyed the panic look on her face.

My Dad got a "Kitty" puzzle

Mom got 8-track tapes... and her gord off her table.

Kari and Jason - still smiling coming up on their one year anniversary

Bryson and Preston - the boys were really confused about the weird gifts and didn't understand the white elephant. We only did it with the adults so they felt a bit left out. So next year we'll maybe do something for them seperately.

Weston, Preston and Grandma playing with her "new" gord

At the end we had a little "must be santa" singing time. Bryson had a great time making up his own lines to it... I was nervous the entire time with what he'd come up with.

Preston told a few jokes - I think he really just loved being on the mic

Alex singing his song from his school

Temple Lights

We went down to see the Temple lights, it was a wonderful warm evening and a perfect night to go. So we got all set and rode TRAX downtown. The boys love the train so we take it anytime we go downtown. We made sure to leave early so it wasn't crowded. The lights had been on for about an hour so it wasn't too crowded yet. Just perfect for us. With Preston he wants to run to each one as fast as he can - I think we almost lost him 5 times. I was able to take these 5 pictures till my camera battery died :( I had taken my smaller camera bag and didn't put the spare from the large bag in - so no more exciting pics of the evening... but as usual they did not let me down - they are always beautiful and amazing.

After the lights we went to dinner. Since there isn't anything close we decided to go to Gateway, we took one look at the packed TRAX train and decided to walk. Gateway is very very far from the Temple with 3 kids... I don't recommend it. With all the options somehow we still ended up at the food court. But this way we all can get what we want. By the time dinner was done the boys were too and we headed back to the train. Because we were the second stop we were able to get a seat. However the train just kept getting fuller and fuller.

It was about at this point that I found my self thinking - boy it's hot in here... I don't feel so good. Feeling pretty dizzy... then the stomach pain! And oh the pain! So Darren and I tried to discreetly talk about it and decided to get off at 2100 south. By that point I thought I was okay enough to make it to 7800 So. Wrong-O! By the 3900 So stop I knew we had to get off that train. So here we are at 9:00 at night walking 2 blocks from the train station in NOT a good part of town to go to a gas station with bars on the windows. After I officially wrecked their bathroom we walked back. We were to the parking lot when the train arrived and left... 20 more minutes of waiting. All this time Darren is being so amazingly supportive when he could have been frustrated. We then sat on the cold station waiting for the train. Weston had to go potty so we did that on the tracks... I love boys. The more I sat there the more dizzy I was feeling and didn't think there was any possible way I could get on the train again. But with Darren's support I did, he made sure I got a seat and with a lot of Lamaze breathing I made it to the next station.

I am not sure what happened that night or what made me sick, but it took about a week to feel better. My stomach ached for days. Needless to say it was an unforgettable evening for both Darren and I - I am sure the boys will not remember much more then the lights. At this point I am prepared for anything Christmas can throw my way.

Random Weston doings...

Weston has been into a lot lately. Not sure why - but he has found this new ability to be a little boy and he is taking advantage of it. Here are just a few things he's been up to.

He falls asleep at the dinner table after being asked to eat.

Between two chairs... at 6:30 at night!

He LOVE's Stickers... but mostly loves to put them on his face. If we walk through a stock that has them on their products, they will end up on him.

I was downstairs typing when Bryson says Weston has a marker... then he follows that up with he is drawing on himself. I never mind it thinking it was small. then about 5 minutes later Bryson says I NEED to come upstairs. This is what I find. Luckily it was all washable so into the shower he went.

Look at that face - what's not to think he will get into things...

Sledding will be fun!

We decided that Black Friday was as good as any day to go sledding without a crowd so we headed to the big hill at Sugarhouse park. It has just snowed 2 days before so we thought the snow would still be soft... WRONG! ... it was pretty icy! I got all the boys ready and they headed on up the hill, by the time I had gotten myself ready they had all gone down the hill once. And loved it
All my boys at the top of the big hill - looked pretty intimidating from where I was standing watching my boys coming at me on a piece of plastic.

Here is Bryson heading down the hill and Preston heading back up the hill. It was looking to be a fun outing and afternoon, until...

He hit a bump and off he went tumbling over and over.

Keep in mind my camera can take like 4 pics in a second so, no I wasn't just snapping photos of him hurting... I ran over just as this nice couple did. He was crying and was done. He had come right down on an ice ball as you can see in the picture were in plethora. I looked at his hip later that evening and he had quite a bruise. Poor guy.

Darren took Weston down the big hill and he loved it!

They got going pretty fast and the snow was flying with Darren's boots hitting the ground

Weston and Daddy walking away from the fun slide like champions

Preston coming down the hill - he was going so fast! And wanted to go all alone

Preston slid all the way to the hay bail barriers - he loved it!

Weston being a big boy and going down all alone... he took of with the sled and headed up the hill alone. So we followed him up about 15 feet and put him on it to go down alone. No he didn't go down the entire hill... are you crazy!

Two seconds after I took the picture of him going down the hill, he biffs it and flips off.... Thank goodness for helmets

Weston with Daddy crying - he hit his cheek and had a little scrap, the snow was so icy and had chips of hard ice all over

Preston going down the other hill

Darren catching Preston so he doesn't slide over the street and into the pond -

Bryson putting on his grumpy face so he didn't have to go down again

Weston not wanting to go again either...

When Darren caught Preston, the stop hurt him a bit so he was done after that, to sum it all up about 5 rides down the hill, all three boys have now been hurt and are/were crying... we are done and packing up. Next time we will find a hill that has soft snow and a flat bottom. That is if we can get them to go again!