Christmas Vacation: A Day with the Shepherds

The entire Shepherd family was together the Saturday after Christmas. Mom, Dad & their 6 kids were there. Jennifer's husband Jim had to work, so Collin stepped in as a man in the back. David set us all up for this picture. He was very meticulous about the whole process, which made it quick and painless. ;-) I love that the three brothers are standing together on the left, and the three sisters are sitting together on the right. What a good looking bunch!

Jenn and I were so sad that we didn't have a baby to sit on our laps. Not!

As soon as the picture was over, we had planned to get the kids into their costumes for the reenactment of the nativity before Marianne and her family left to drive home to Utah. For some weird reason, Mike decided to take the boys on a hike! That's Mike for ya. I quickly summoned them back.

("Hey! Get back down here!!!")

Now, on to my favorite part of the day - the living nativity. We had 15 costumes and 13 kids. My mom's friend Dusty was there with her two, so it was perfect. Rachel really wanted to go outside instead though, so she opted not to participate. :-( There's always next year . . .

Marianne's Matthew & Darren's Kylie were Joseph & Mary.

Jennifer's Thomas, Dusty's Kyle
& Mike's Tyler (way down below) were the Shepherds.

Jennifer's Ashlyn and my Lauren & Matthew
were the Wisemen.

Marianne's Natalie and Dusty's Bethany were angels.

Mike's Weston was King Herod.

And the sweet little donkey had issues!

Photographers ready?


Pianists ready?

That's Mike's little Kenzie.
She played the low bass notes for me. :-)

It was a cute program with so many of the kids dressed up and participating. We sang songs in true Shepherd style (full voice!) in between Mike's narration. Marianne's little Megan seemed to be enjoying herself. So sweet. And we even got David's Drew to sport the camel costume for a bit.

It was awesome!

Christmas Vacation: A Day with the Toveys

We started out the day just right by eating a greasy, high calorie breakfast at the Way Station with Grandpa Tovey. The hash browns were like 2-potato hash browns for each person. Collin felt like he got french toast on the side with the hash browns being so big. It was pretty yummy. So bad!

After filling up at the Way Station, we went over to the Tovey's house where we were greeted by the mailman with my box that I had sent for Christmas. It took 2 weeks to get there! Matthew was happy to open his present from Grandma & Grandpa Tovey - a red ipod!

A highlight of the day was playing at Nobel Middle School where Grandpa teaches P.E. Erin got a good deal on this mini quad for her kids, so we thought we would try it out.

Lauren was a little unsure at first,
but gained her confidence quickly.

Collin was just plain giddy
and slightly daring once he got going.
The kids also enjoyed a few turns jumping on the school's trampoline. Matthew was way out of control at first, and we all thought he would bounce right off. Lauren knew exactly what she was doing flipping round and round!

Grandpa also brought out all of his archery equipment.

Mike & Matthew finished up the day hiking to "Three Trees" with Grandma & Grandpa. It was windy and cold up there!

Christmas 2008 (cont'd)

This is my last post for Christmas Day. I promise! We did do a lot that day, so there is a lot to cover. We started off at the hotel super early opening our gifts from Santa and each other. Then we drove down to the Tovey's where we experienced Pooper-Scooper Barbie first hand.

Before heading over to the Shepherd's house, we really needed to eat something for lunch. In-N-Out was our first choice, but wasn't open Christmas day. Bummer! We were lucky and happy to find this little Mexican place open.

Everyone loved their food.As soon as we arrived at the Shepherds' house, we saw Stephanie wearing the shirt Carrie made her for Christmas. "How cute!" we thought. I forgot I knew about these shirts. And then David walked down the stairs . . .

I was seriously on the floor laughing! David is my brother, but it is Aunt Stephanie that my little boys remember. They'll say, "Whose that guy that married Aunt Stephanie?? You know - the one who makes Tang?" It has been over 6 years now since that guy first made Tang for Matthew, and my boys still cannot remember his name. David will forever be known as that guy who married Aunt Stephanie!

There was a lull in the day, so the boys whipped out their marshmallow shooters for a little midday fun. As they chased each other all around the house, little Drew went running after them gleefully yelling with his arms flying through the air. I've never seen him so excited!

Mike and Amanda arrived from Arizona in time for dinner. We hadn't seen them in probably 4 years! Below is my favorite picture of Mike and I. Can't you tell he's 40 now? ha ha. I don't know why it's so funny, but it sure gets us going every time someone mentions it. I'm laughing now! I guess we just tease him because we can. He's a good sport. It was great to see him and his family doing so well and happy.
The final event of the day was Mom and Dad opening their "big gift" from us and Darren & Carrie. This was a sentimental gift that I thought of doing when a few of my siblings and I were in California for my Dad's big day in October being called to be the bishop of their local congregation at church. My mom mentioned that it was a "Joyce moment" when Gary took our family picture that day. Joyce passed away probably around 10 years ago after battling cancer. She was such a close, dear friend to our family. Makes me cry thinking about her. She was the image of an angel that last time I saw her. We loved her. ANYWAY - we went to their Christmas Eve party every year, everyone arriving at the door caroling. Those were the days! Sometime during the events of the evening, all of the kids would act out the nativity scene. After all, we had the Shepherds and the Kings already in attendance! So, I thought it would be a wonderful thing to start that tradition in our family by putting together costumes for all of the grandchildren to do the same at Grandma & Grandpas' house. Knowing it was a huge undertaking, I recruited my crafty and resourceful SIL Carrie to do half of the costumes. It was a fun project! Pictured you will see my mom as she pulled out the costumes one by one. I inserted a picture for each costume with one of my children modeling so that you would know which pieces go to that costume. I somehow convinced Collin to model the King Herod costume. He might regret that now as we all think it is SO funny. What a good sport!

I was anxious for Saturday when everyone would be together so that we could see the nativity in action!

Christmas 2008: Pooper-Scooper Barbie

You read it right: Pooper-Scooper Barbie! Whoever came up with this idea is a genius, as far as my nieces Emma and Gwen are concerned. They saw these barbies somewhere and HAD to have them for Christmas.

. . . .
Grandpa Tovey stepped right in to help with the poop.

First of all, the poop looks like little brown tic tacs. I guess it's multi-functional poop since it starts out as food. You push down on the dog's tail, it opens its mouth and you insert the food. Then you pull up on the tail, and the dog poops.

. . . . . . . .

The next course of action is to pick up the poop (made of some type of metal) with the magnetic pooper-scooper. The poop then goes into the little pink recycling can. Guess what comes out of the bottom of the recycling can? Little brown pieces of food that look just like the poop!

This morning Gwen came downstairs crying, "Mommy,
I lost my poop! Can you help me find it?" So funny.

Christmas 2008

What a fabulous day! We had made the decision to stay in a hotel while visiting California this time around. Ok, I made the decision to stay in a hotel. Since we weren't paying for the flights, we could certainly spend a little extra to have our own space to stash our "stuff" and our own beds to sleep in. I personally think it was the best decision EVER. We were on our own Christmas morning, and Santa came!Everyone was very happy with what Santa brought them . . .

Lauren was a little more than in love with her new phone
that we had told her she would NEVER get. :-)

Mike gave me a new purse (that I picked out). I love it!
And I got Mike a new briefcase.


After opening our presents at the hotel,
we drove on over to the Tovey's house.
Eric and Erin (Mike's sister) also came with their kids
Emma, Gwen & Jake.
Aunt Erin bought the boys Marshmallow Shooters.
What a hit!
We LOVE Aunt Erin!
(we'll have to get a shot of uncle eric before we leave)
Aunt Erin also gave Lauren a Twilight t-shirt.
I think she loves Aunt Erin too!
Collin was happy that Grandma & Grandpa gave him the levitating globe he had been asking for for years,
and Grandpa was cute with his new scooter.

More Christmas to come in another post . . .