Ryan turns 10, We play in the snow, and other winter stuff

 I think it is pretty ironic how goofy Dan is in most of my pictures, yet when the kids act up in one of his picture taking sessions he is the most strict about nobody goofing around.
 Having a holiday birthday means you get to have family around to celebrate. Thank you to the Porters and the Blacks for driving over to spend another day together as a family.

 The cousins had a solid week of playing ball tag, basketball, jackpot, hide and seek at the park, and of course Madden video games.

 Jonah discovering (plastic!) tree ornaments.

 Having a holiday birthday means you get to have family around to celebrate. Thank you to the Porters and the Blacks for driving over to spend another day together as a family.

 Ryan is excited to get Lego Dimensions. He had a Pokemon party before we left for AZ with his friends, so his mom and dad gifts were limited to a Wubble ball and this game. He LOVED both!

 The whole drive home we heard about how the first thing Ryan was going to do was open this game up and play it! He had it going within 2 hours of our docking time!

 I wanted to capture a picture with this big kid. I am so glad that he and I joined the family the same summer. I have watched him grow up.

 And become too cool for a picture with his crazy aunt.

 And really grow! He has passed me up. It took 14 years, but it seemed pretty inevitable with his tall parents (and his big feet!)

 On our way to the mountains for snow time. We stopped at Big 5 to reinforce our winter gear.

 Happy to find a chunk of ice/snow.

 We came up to Flagstaff on probably one of the last snow play days from this particular snow fall. We played for a good 2.5 hours. As with most adventures the planning and preparing and driving took longer than the actual event. Oh well, it was good times. (I guess I'll need to supplement these pictures too!)

 No kidding, it was COLD running first thing in the morning in the dessert. But the view wasn't too bad.

 I missed my running companions (and so I skipped out early...) but I still got a good jog in.

 Instead of exchanging gifts with the Baron kids, we took everyone to this trampoline place. The boys played dodge-ball for about an hour!

 Ice cream on the way home.

 Mom and Mace went to the mall for some girl time on New Year's Eve.

Also on NYE, the Flakes came over for football and fireworks. And another delicious meal made by Mark. We ate great all week!

 All vacations must come to an end. Adios until this SUMMER when the Baron boys will come to Dallas, right? ;)

 Last night in AZ. Jason and Ryan roasted marshmallows for S'mores. Yummy!

 That's right, I got a picture of you when you least expected it!

Another vacation is in the books. This was a LONG LONG trip and we used everyday plus 1 of winter vacation to enjoy it. May we dream by the fire again next Christmas...

Christmas Eve and Day

 We spent Christmas Eve with Grandma, Grandpa, Linds, Jason, and the Flakes.

 Awww, sibling love.

 Amelia discovers Lucky Charms... and so does Ellie.

 Our pooch is a talker and a tug-of-war-er. Thank you to the Blacks for feeding and playing with her while we were in Phoenix.

 We traveled on to Mesa for Christmas Eve dinner with Great Grandma and Uncle Charlie. The Porters stopped by too!

 (I rely on Dan's camera for a lot of pictures, so the ones that are missing from this quick post will certainly arrive later once I get his pictures too.)

 Our last C-mas Eve destination was Peoria to spend Christmas morning with the Barons!

 Hooray! Santa came!

Stocking stuffer shinanigans.

I hope this video works. Ryan was hunting for a special gift. Apparently Santa hid it behind the tree. ;)
Again, we spent Christmas lunch with the Williams in Goodyear. Pictures will follow!

Highlights of AZ Christmas

 Our car was packed to the gills with people, stuff and a pooch. Another LONG roadtrip back to AZ.

 Hotel fireplace fun.

 Grandma's!

 Family pictures.

 Male bonding.

 Bob Jr....

 Sunday lunch!

 Why do my kids like this small rat? ;)

 Tower building with Lindsey.

 Family game night. This night we played 'Don't Eat Pete'. Amelia especially loved the mini M&M's!

 More!

 Pooch needed her walk, so Macers and I went for a Christmas light stroll.

Rudolph!

DMCO Christmas 2015

 I really have a lot of other activities/chores that need to be done, but I downloaded the official choir pictures today and wanted to share them!

Macey is with the group sitting on the floor. I really have no idea, maybe to the left...

Backstage busy work.

 I felt awful that I didn't get any great pictures of sister backstage from concert 1, so here is my attempt at concert 2.

 This was the only picture during concert 1 of sister I took, and it is BLURRY. You see why I had to do better the second day!

 Macey is in between the two conductors (just to the left of Professor Jensen's head), 2nd row. This is during Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

 Macey next to McKayla and in front of Juliett.

 In between songs.

 Snowflakes song.

So cute! Sister is the face in the middle. I worked hard volunteering backstage and during the rehearsals this semester. It was so worth it to see how awesome the kids did on stage. One last semester with the youngest singing group before we move up with the massive big kid group.