Let it Snow, let it snow...

We got a lot of snow this week and so I decided to take the kids out to play in the snow. I told Brooklyn to go get her snow pants on. She came out in ONLY her snow pants to which I replied, "you have to have clothes on under there!" She laughed and said "oh, I knew it!" and ran back to her room...silly girl.


...they started out wanting to build a snowman, unfortunately the snow wasn't as easy to form as I like it and I am not exactly in prime condition to bend over and try to keep a snowball compacted so I just let them play.

..Gavin always wanting to help shoveled the sidewalk, as best as a 3 year old can :)

then a snowball fight ensued...
They had a lot of fun and were pretty covered by the time we came back inside, good times.

Christmas

Christmas morning, Spencer and I patiently waited for our kids to wake up. At almost 9 a.m. Gavin came out and said, "Santa came!" we told him to go get Brooklyn and out they came, Gavin no shirt, Brooklyn no pants.
Brooklyn was very happy with her Christmas she wanted an easy bake oven because she loves to help me cook and she has already made some of her own creations. It still ceases to amaze what a 100 watt bulb can cook...
Santa did manage a nerf gun for Gavin, it is two guns in one. Although it is so large it is a little difficult for him to maneuver at times, however he knows it inside and out and shoots anything that makes a move in our house. In fact he is constantly yelling "Freeze!!" and then shoots, he yelled at the Christmas tree to freeze the other morning, silly boy.

Christmas Eve

Every Christmas Eve my Mom has a party, lots of yummy finger food to snack on, my Dad reads from the scriptures about the prophesying of the Savior's birth, we listen to Reba tell the story of "The Christmas Guest," and last but certainly not least it isn't Christmas Eve without our traditional present swap. My mom reads a story about the "Night Before Christmas" with a a bunch of "lefts" or "rights" in it and you pass the presents along. Gavin was not thrilled with this. He wanted to keep his present and open it, not pass it to someone else! Needless to say there was a meltdown.

Brooklyn loves this game and had a good time.The meltdown...
Ry & Whit

Lexi & Alyssa
Chris and Alicia
Gavin sprinkling his reindeer food out on the back patio.
The kids putting out the cookies and milk they made.
Time for bed!

She lost a tooth!!

The other night Brooklyn and Gavin were monkeying around and Brooklyn had a piece of rope in her mouth and Gavin was of course tugging on it, well when he ripped it our of her mouth it left her bottom tooth pretty loose. Brooklyn just kept wiggling it and wiggling it, I sent her to bed and at around 11 p.m. she ran into our room very excited because she had pulled it out! I was really surprised it didn't sound like her to do something like that. Spencer got up and got her a ziploc to put it in until morning. I had bought a little tooth fairy set that had a book telling about the tooth fairy, along with a little purse to put it in and light to "guide the fairy" to your house, in anticipation of this day.
We never really had talked about the tooth fairy before and so I told Brooklyn about it. It was funny because the first thing she said to me is "Is the tooth fairy real?" Exasperated, I said "of course!" All she knew is that whenever anyone in her school class lost a tooth, her teacher gave them a tooth necklace to put it in and she was excited to get it.
Unfortunately, as she was transferring her tooth from plastic baggie to the little purse I gave her it fell in the carpet, and that tooth was so tiny we could not find it anywhere. Blasted shag carpet! It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack I searched forever and couldn't find it.
LUCKILY, the tooth fairy is magic and along with the light to "guide" her to our house Brooklyn was not left disappointed.

Reeve Family Christmas Party '09

The last few years we have hosted Spencer's family Christmas party at our house. It is a lot of fun with a lot of people. His family grew by 2 this year for a total of 26 1/2 (our baby being the 1/2). We were glad that every single person in his family made it this year. We had a big yummy dinner made by all of us, watched a movie I made of the families pics this year, read stories, played games, and just enjoyed being together. I'm grateful to have such a fun bunch of in-laws to hang out it.
Gavin having a great time obviously

Adorable little Hunter, look at those huge brown eyes!
Cute Shawna and Caleb
Cameron & Braxton
Stephen
Deanne and Ty
Little Emma sitting on Santa's lap
Stewart and Gavin
Jessica introducing River to Santa...he's not so sure, but he did end up sitting on Santa's lap and doing awesome.

Sabrina and BJ
Shellie and Mike, with Brooklyn hijacking their couple pic like usual :S.
Stephanie and Colin, he did his own hair that day, sweet mohawk buddy!
What a cute smile from Alyssa :)

Gavin's Preschool Christmas Program

Gavin and some of his preschool friends..

Gavin had his preschool Christmas program on Thursday. They sang and recited poems for probably close to 20 or so minutes, I was impressed that he knew most all of it. Wished I would have taped it, but oh well. Afterward they got to see Santa, I wasn't sure if Gavin would want to but he was ready and willing. I think he really wanted to make sure he could tell Santa what he wanted. I was a little nervous about what he'd ask for, but I was pleasantly surprised when he said he wanted a Nerf dart gun, totally doable.

Reeve Children Nativity Version

Today we are sitting in Sacrament and a lady is giving this heartfelt message on family history, my kids are quietly coloring pictures of the Nativity. Next thing I know Gavin holds up his picture and says very loudly:

Gavin: (pointing to baby Jesus)"Hey! this is Jesus!
Me: "yes.."
Gavin: (pointing to Joseph) "Does this man want to kill Jesus?"
Me: "no Gavin, that is Joseph, Jesus' dad"
Brooklyn: " uh-uh Mom, that is Mary's boyfriend, Heavenly Father is Jesus' dad."
Me: "what?!"
Apparently we need to do a little more teaching around here...

Brooklyn in the Nutcracker

Brooklyn loves dance and this is the first year in the Nutcracker and she was adorable! I never imagined a tree being so cute! But she definitely was. Aside from her having hat troubles because her head was too small for the top, she still put on a happy face to perform. She performed 4 times in two days and never got tired of it! She really does love to perform and does a wonderful job! We are so proud of you Brooklyn!

Grandma Lolli and Grandpa Pop, with Aunts: Lexi, Alyssa, and Ashlyn

Happy Birthday Spencer!

This past week was a busy one, with my company party on Monday, The Forgotten Carols on Wednesday, and Spencer's birthday on Thursday. His parents invited us to the Motab's Christmas concert which featured Natalie Cole and it was amazing. Besides the freezing temperature it was a great night.
I also want to express to Spencer how proud I am of him in all his diligence in studying for his LSAT exam that he took on December 5th. He is probably the hardest worker I know and this is the hardest I have ever witnessed him work. He ate, drank and slept LSAT for 6 months and I still don't know how he hung in there that long! Great job Spence!

Christmas Lists

Gavin brought me a notepad and pen and asked me to write down his list to Santa:
-work lights ( he saw a Cal Ranch ad and fell in love, what can I say he's Spencer's son)
-workbench (he got one last year but he wants a NEW one)
-toolbox (he has this)
-flashlight (he has probably gone through a minimum of 20 of these this year)
-night vision goggles (?)
-a real gun ( his Daddy really messed up at Thanksgiving by letting him shoot a real gun during our stay at the ranch in Idaho, I have to remind both of them that Gavin is only 3!!)
-remote control car (CAN DO!)
-Nerf gun (you know for inside, when he can't shoot his real gun!)
This boy is way beyond his years sometimes :)

I recently found a Christmas card that Brooklyn had written to Santa, here is what it said.
"To Santa at the North Pole
Santa this is Brooklyn look at my list."

I have no idea where this list is that she speaks of, we haven't sent one off, and she hasn't given me one. She probably just figures Santa is magical and really can read her mind. :)

Day 6: Tulum

On our last stop we went to Cozumel, Mexico. However, we took a taxi to the ferry, then a 40 minute ferry ride to Playa del Carmen, and finally an hour ride on the "minibus" to the Mayan city of Tulum.
I didn't know if my stomach could hold out with the awful ferry ride and nausea. Thankfully it got better and I was able to feel better just in time to get eaten alive by mosquitoes! It was so incredibly crazy! There were so Mexicans trying to sell us bug spray as we walked in and I was like no way...how bad can it be? Come on we are by the beach, oh my gosh it was soooo bad, I had a second calf on my same leg by the time we left.
Our tour guide's name was Helaman and he related a lot of Mayan history to the Book of Mormon as we took our drive to the city it was very interesting to listen to how things relate to one another.

Mayan Ruins
Taking the ferry over to Playa del Carmen

An alter where they performed human sacrifices.
After Tulum, the other families in our tour group wanted to stop at this fresh water hole, that has caves, so Spencer and Ryan snorkeled while Whitney and I watched. We didn't want to swim because one it was freezing and two there were little fish swimming everywhere and it was a little freaky! I've snorkeled before, but in warm non-cave waters :)