merry christmas 2013 from our family to yours!

(here is a digital copy of our Christmas card to those who we were unable to send one to)

 2013 Highlights

~ In February, we took a family vacation to California where we met up with Ashli's family, hung out with Mickey Mouse, and  enjoyed a 100® weather difference between home and our vacation.

~Bart did all kinds of manly things this year like putting up drywall and building shelves in our basement and garage, growing a mustache and beard for "Movember", and taking the whole family camping for the first time.  He also did something super smarty-pantsish: he taught a master's level course at the local medical college.

~Ashli did something she never thought she could ever do: she ran a 5k!  No wait-she ran two 5ks!  She also (really) enjoyed attending the Daughtry concert with Bart. She learned that live concerts are amazing from the second row floor seats!

~We celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary, but because of a small munchkin who spent most of the year screaming for hours at night, we still have not taken our 10th anniversary trip.

~Kade is rocking 2nd grade, played two seasons of baseball this year, and spent the entire summer outside playing with his friends, riding bikes, playing catch, and using everything he could find as a pretend weapon.

~Ky is also rocking 2nd grade, where his favorite subjects are gym and music.  He also played baseball this year, and played outside with his friends.  He also spent countless hours on the computer writing and illustrating his own stories. 

~Ky and Kade turn eight at the end of the month, and are excited to get baptized on New Year's Eve!

~Krew is the cutest two year old ever.  He loves playing with his brothers, climbing on everything, riding on mom's bike with her, watching video clips on the iPad, and singing.  Apparently he is also fond of screaming.  To make things more exciting, he decided that he needed to take a ride in an ambulance on the first day of our vacation to Utah in October, but we didn't let that stop us from having a great trip!

 Wishing you a fun-filled holiday!

santa, santa, ho, ho, ho!

Bart's parents dressed like Santa and Mrs. Claus for our Christmas party at church again this year.  Ky and Kade knew who they were right away, but it didn't stop them from sitting on Santa's lap and posing for a picture.

 Krew was so excited to see Santa.  He was getting impatient waiting in line, so we thought we would pose for some pictures with Sadie!

 I was curious to see if A) Krew would actually sit on Santa's lap, or if he would get scared as he got closer, and B) if he would figure out that it was Grandpa.  But, as you can see from this picture, he hopped right up on Santa's lap, told him that he wanted a "big choo choo choo," and would have stayed there on his lap, chatting for a long time.

 He never did figure out that it was Grandpa in a Santa suit, but later that evening he did ask what was Grandma doing with Santa!

Last week, he also sat on Santa's lap at the mall.  He just cuddled right up with him and told him again that he wanted a big choo choo choo, and a little tiny choo choo choo.  I wish I had a picture of that, but I was feeling cheap and didn't want to shell out the $20 for the professional photo, and couldn't ignore the huge signs that spelled out clearly that personal photos were not allowed.  Oh well!

gettin' our tree, 2013

 The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we headed to the tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree.  It's such a fun place and it was much warmer than last year, so we all had a great time.  It was super packed though...I think everyone got their tree the same day we did!

 Krew thought Rudolph was cool, until he got too close!

 This year we rode on a horse-drawn carriage out to the trees.  The horses were beautiful and it was so festive!

 After much searching, we found the perfect tree!

 The next day we decorated it and it made it feel like Christmas in our home!