It was a Merry Christmas!

 On December 23rd, our festivities began with Mexican food from MaKayos! DELICIOUS! Then we played white elephant BINGO with John calling numbers out so fast and furious that we had time only to check out our three cards each! No dilly-dallying! (That was after the kids played their games of Bingo in the normal way.) The sweet Nativity was then read and played by Oaklee as Mary, Jaxson as Joseph, John, Nina, Charlee, Elle and Ashlyn as angels and Ella was our only wiseman. Baby Wesley was dear baby Jesus. Oh, and Millie was a darling little lamb! After the 'play' Grandpa Santa came. Each of us sat on his knee so we could get our present. It is always the highlight of the holidays!  On Christmas day after Church, which in my opinion is the best time to go to church, we all gathered again to exchange gifts and what else....eat! I can't imagine being more blessed...being able to be with the entire family, with no major bugs to hamper our health and to feel the joy of the Christmas Spirit! I love my family, Christmas and Christ our Savior!  

 

 Oaklee and Charlee were showing their appreciation to 'Santa"!

YUM!

 Bastian and Jaxson jumping ont he package wrap-you know the kind that makes popping noises when you push on it!

 Millie in the highchair, Carter at the head and Mollie on the side.The cutest little ones ever!

Ella, John and Jaxson-that bouncy house is one of the best investments we have made! All the kids from little to big love it!

Even though five of the kids were angels...we think ALL 17 of the grandkids are angels! Oh and GREAT NEWS...one of the white elephant gifts contained a paper that said, "Someone is this room is pregnant." Before we guessed who, Allison raised her hand and promptly turned bright red! Happy day! Number 18 is coming in July!

Our newest grandchild, Wesley is so good- natured! He is 5 months old and belongs to Rich and Treslee.

Devin climbs right up there and proceeds to pat Santa's cheek! We can always depend on Devin for wild and goofy stuff! Thanks Dev!

Scottee painted us this beautiful Provo temple!

Adam and Anya








Sam and Mollie enjoying the beautiful weather! Thank you Arizona!

Brian with Carter (Mindy and Ryan's littlest)

Brian and Scottee

 Brooklynn getting her wishes from Grandpa Santa, or Santa daddy to her!   Cute Ande!

Ashlyn sings "We wish we could marry Christmas"!

Millie giving Mollie (four months younger than Millie) a little hug. They are so cute together!

Here's we are, the whole clan...except Bastian. Where in the world was he and how did he miss this!

Tontozona, Oaklee, Nina and Sam

Being in nature with bestest buddies-it doesn't get much better than that! Brooklynn and I went to Camp Tontozona with Faith and Ciara St Clair, and Robyn, Jose and Megan Cruz.

 Jose found some apple trees and next thing we know he's monkeyed up and picked us some fresh ones!

 We all have our pouches full of apples!

 The best news ever...I found that my camera has a skinny mode on it!!!

Camp Tontozona is a huge campground with many cabins for rent just 17 miles east of Payson, AZ.

Isn't the scenery beautiful! Faith isn't too bad either!

 It's amazing what one can do with a sagging tree. The girls and Faith got some ligitimate air while others bounced the trunk!

 Ciara had snap-on pants and I caught her just as she whipped them off!

 I am obsessed with Fall leaves! I'm obsessed with Brooklynn too!

 Part of the Tontozona tradition is to have a photo shoot. These picts are a tiny taste of them!

 Sam had his third birthday on November 10th. John and I took him shopping (He already knew exactly what he wanted-a Thomas the Train with track) and to eat at the Mall. How lucky Grandpa and I are to get to spend time with our grandkids! We had such a good time with Sam.

 Nina had her ninth birthday on the 8th of November. It took her 30 minutes is all to pick a necklace, earrings, a pink watch and...wait for this...an organizer for her room! I was totally impressed with that! I was also impressed that Rich had it built before I left!

Millie knew exactly what to do with Nina's new headbands and she was getting a thrill our of putting them on over and over again! What an absolute joy it is to spend one-on-one time with our grandkids!

IOaklee had her 7th birthday September 15th! After a happy three hours of shopping and dinner at the mall, Oaklee chose a "Build-a-bear" bear from the mall, a mini turtle Pillow Pet, a Happy Napper lady bug and a Sing-a-ma-jig from Toys R Us! Did you get a theme here...all stuffed animals!