Becky and Kylee's Birthday

I thought I'd put pictures from mine and Kylee's birthday together since they're only a day apart. On my birthday, Brian took me shopping and out to lunch, and then in the afternoon we took off to go down to Karen and Brian's house in Mt. Pleasant. We basically just had a big New Years Eve party and spent the night, which was really fun. The next day, Kylee's birthday, we took the kids to McDonald's and had a little birthday party, with present opening, and of course playing at the Playland. I think the kids had a great time. Kylee ended up getting a guitar (which has resulted in many "concerts"), Leggos, Candyland, a Disney read-along book, and a Spiderman Mr. Potato Head (Spider Spud). When we got back home (to Kentucky), she had a doll house waiting from Nana Phillips, and some Sleeping Beauty figurines from us to go with the house.

Me and my girls on my birthday

Kylee's birthday party at McDonald's

Tanner, Kylee, and Ila

Andrew and Ila helping Kylee open her presents

Kylee treating us to one of her impromptu concerts

Christmas in Utah, part 2: Fun in the snow

So, it snowed about 2 feet of fresh snow while we were in Utah! We haven't seen snow like that in a LONG time, so of course the kiddos had to get out and play in it, and man did they have a blast!

Kylee playing in the snow after the first big snow storm.

Makayla chowing on the fresh snow.

The snow......um, bear?

Kylee getting ready to slide down the hill in the backyard.

Now it's Makayla's turn!

Andrew and Kylee being pushed by Stacy.

The little cousins out playing in the snow.

Christmas in Utah

This year, we had the great fun of going to Utah to spend Christmas with Brian's side of the family. This was the first time we'd all been together for many years, and some of the cousins had never even met, so we had a fabulous time together (all 18 of us)! Our big family present this year was a Wii (thanks mom and dad!), and the girls got many other fun presents, including a couple of things from Disney World, a keyboard and coloring stuff for Kylee, a fairy and howling dog for Makayla, books, movies, clothes, play-doh, and babydolls for both. Here's some pictures of the mayhem. I hope my in-laws have gotten their sanity and hearing back by now! Oh, and if you're wondering why there's no pictures of me on Christmas, it's because I was sick and had pink eye in both eyes, and hey, I just can't allow pictures to be taken of me when I have to wear my glasses and not wear eye makeup!

Christmas Eve dinner. It was impossible to get everyone in the picture I guess.

Makayla opening one of her presents.

Makayla with her dog from Matt and Aline that barks, howls, and wags it's tail.

Kylee's keyboard from Matt and Aline - definitely a favorite!

Looks like we won't be bored this winter!

Makayla spending time with her favorite thing in the world, Polly the cat. My mother-in-law says that cat slept for 3 days straight after we left.

Festival of Lights

I guess it's time to get to work on putting up our Christmas pictures! I thought I'd start with our trip to the Cincinnati zoo before Christmas for their Festival of Lights. They have the whole zoo lit up with lights, and they have Santa and Mrs. Clause, reindeer, characters walking around, and other fun things for kids. Even though it was freezing, the kids had a great time.

The girls with Mrs. Clause at story time

Kylee with Santa

Makayla with Santa (this was at our ward party)

Kylee and Makayla with their friend Aubrey in front of the BIG TREE

Our family in front of the big tree

Kylee with the freakiest looking Rudolph I've ever seen (does he have a nose ring?)

Florida: Part 3

I thought I'd go ahead and post the pictures from our day at the Magic Kingdom. I'm telling you, there is NOTHING as fun as going to Disney World at Christmas! The lights, decorations, parades, fireworks, even if you're an adult, it'll make you feel like a kid! But if you have kids, PLEASE do everything you can to take your kids before they get too old. Trust me, you'll love it! And no, I don't work for, or hold stock in Disney.

I swear, I could not get those kids to look at the dang camera! Too much other stuff to look at!

The girls with Cinderella

Kylee adoring Sleeping Beauty

If you're wondering what Kylee is saying, let me go ahead and translate.

Kylee: "Ya know what? I have a Book of Mormon and it talks all about Jesus!"

Belle: "Oh ok, that's nice."

Disney photographer looking at me: "Did she just say JESUS?"

Me: "Yeah, I don't know, she's crazy!"

Time to get a last picture and get the heck out of there!

What a smile!

Kylee on the Buzz Lightyear ride, one of the funnest rides ever!

After getting off the Buzz Lightyear ride - she totally came up with this pose!

And what were grandpa and Makayla doing while we were on Buzz Lightyear? Zzzzzzzz...

Trying on Jack Sparrow hats and swords after getting off Pirates of the Caribbean.

My little Jamaican - ya mon!

Kylee and Grandpa on the Aladdin ride.

FINALLY, a smile!

Makayla and Nana waiting to get on the Jungle Cruise

Ok, heaven knows I tried to get a good picture of the castle at night (I was really far away and couldn't get closer due to the crowds). I learned I really need to read about the night function for my camera. This is without the flash.....

This is with the flash. Kinda blurry, but still awesome.

I took this from the far end of Main Street, where we were waiting for the parade to start. Man, i wish I had a professional camera!

Same shot with the flash. Shows the lights on Main Street better, but check out the crowds! It was crazy busy, but OH SO FUN!!

Florida: Part 2

These pictures are what Floridians call "Real Florida." We took a day to go to a place called Blue Springs, which is a natural spring where tons of manatees go every winter to get away from the cold water. The spring is always 72 degrees, and the manatees go there because they can die from being in cold water. When we were there, there were about 150 manatees at the spring that day. We also took a 2 hour river cruise on the St. John's river, which is adjoined to the spring. The scenery was amazing, and we saw all sorts of wildlife such as the many different kinds of birds, and as you'll see in the pictures, 2 alligators!

The scarring on this manatee is caused from boats.

Shot of a big group of manatees hanging out.

I took this picture as we were standing on a pier that had steps that led into the water (because they allow swimming at the springs in the summer). This mom and baby swam right over to the bottom of the steps and just laid there for awhile. We literally could have reached in the water and touched them, but even though they're very friendly animals, they're protected and you're not allowed to touch them. It was so fun watching all the moms and babies!

This is a Great Blue Crane, or was it a Great Blue Heron? I thought this was a great picture.

See the little alligator eyes peeking out of the water? Most of the time this is all you see of the alligators in the wild. This picture reminds me of the crocodile on Peter Pan.

Now THIS is an alligator! I was standing up holding Makayla and trying to take this picture, so it's not as clear as I would have liked.

A cute little white crane.

Scenery from the boat. If you look close you can see a bird drying it's wings on the log sticking out from the water.

Me and my mom and the girls.