Just an old fashioned Christmas...Eve

Both sides of our families are getting sooo big that holidays aren't just "get togethers", they're " "get-squished-as-close-as-you-can-so-we-all-have-a-place-to-sit togethers". This Christmas Eve was spent at my family's in Moroni and the entire clan was there. And since we left our camera at the aforementioned "get together", these are all of the Christmas pictures I have of this year...so enjoy!

Zoe and her cousin Ashlyn. There are 3 six year olds, a five year old, a four year old, 3 three years and 3 one year olds on my side. Needless to say, it's a NOISY party.

Cole and Andy. I won't tell you why Andy's hand is where it is, but there is a reason....

Baby Ryan went nuts for the wrapping paper. It was so cute.

Just a shot of the crowd.

Max had a break down with that many people. The ONLY person who calmed him down was Uncle Korey.

We always have plans to be home early for Santa to come, but that never happens. But its okay. The kids got to go sledding, we had good fun, and each year my dad tells the Nativity Story and the kids just love it. It wouldn't be Christmas if it wasn't hectic, would it?

Ella Won District Reflections

I blanked out all the other names because WHO CARES? It's all about my kid, right?Sweet little bashful kid. She should be proud of herself.

(We obviously are.)



Pretty Blue eyes turn red in almost all light with our camera.

So, she wrote a great story about a mouse and she won out of all the elementary students in the school district.

They go K-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-12 here.

I love Christmas music...I swear!

OKAY, already! I am not a scrooge (Mom!)...I guess my anti- Christmas song list gave everyone the wrong idea. I LOVE Christmas songs and will prove it with a different list. Now, I am avoiding traditional hymn carols...because that wouldn't make it fair to the other songs. The "BEST" Christmas songs ever are:

1. Carol of The Bells (I personally prefer Kenny Rogers rendition, but any will do.)

2. Mele Kalikimaka

3. I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas

4. Christmas On The Farm (I am fully aware no one will have heard of this one...but you Beardall's know what I'm talking about!)

5. Christmas Children (This is from the musical Scrooge, but there is a version out there that they play on the radio. Soooo beautiful.)

6. On This Day by Reba McEntire

7. Where Are You Christmas? (I think everyone will agree on this one.)

8. White Christmas (Not very original, but what is Christmas without Bing Crosby?)

9. Baby It's Cold Outside

10. 12 Days of Christmas as done by the Muppets!

And, last but not least

You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch!

Now, if we were including carols, I would have at the very top "We Three Kings" done by Sarah McLachlan and the Bare Naked Ladies. It's my very favorite. Please let me know of any disagreements or additions!

Christmas Chaos

Last Saturday we had the Avery Family Christmas party at our house. Andy has seven brothers, which makes for one big party. It was fun, though. Uncle Brian took all the cousins sledding, some kids performed musical numbers, and there was lots of food. Matt and Wes live out of state with their families, but they were there in spirit I'm sure. And, thankfully they don't sing carols the same way they sing "Happy Birthday."

Rob, Lauren, Candace, Grandpa Cardon, Angela, Zoe, Ella, James and Brandon in the back. Starting the cousin gift exchange.

Andy's dad needs a beard if he's going to play Santa!

Danny and the newest, cutest addition, Jackson.

Alex, James, Staci, and Zoe with her idol, Melissa.

Brian wearing the coolest pants ever.

Grandma Avery reading us a Christmas story.

'Tis the Season

Every year, the fire dept. Andy works for throws a killer party for the kids. There's a magician and a balloon man, and of course, Santa. Usually Santa comes in on the AirMed helicopter and Mrs. Claus is with him. For weeks Zoe has been telling us that she would only sit on Mrs. Claus' lap, and she didn't want to talk to Santa. Why is it that at that age, they LOVE him but are scared to death of him at the same time? Anyway, Mrs. Claus didn't make it! I was worried for about 2 seconds, because that's all it took for her to run up and give him a hug. Awesome.

Santa used a fire engine this year, they didn't care. I love this picture.

Santa gives great presents at this party too. Max wanted Zoe's wrapping paper more than anything else.

Just some Christmas prep time pictures. How long before that tree gets pulled down by a dog, cat, or one year old??

I swear we have this exact same picture of all three kids at this age. Just different pajamas and a different cat.

P.S. I forgot the worst song OF ALL: Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time. Augh, the pain it causes my ears!

In The Spirit of Christmas...

As Andy and I went to get a Christmas tree, we decided to nail down the top worst/most annoying Christmas songs...

1. "Mary Did You Know?" Of course she knew! The angel told her right to her face!
2. "Christmas Shoes" This could be a tie for first.
3. John Lennon's "So This is Christmas."
4. Bruce Springstein's "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." We counted...he says it 27 times in a row!!! Not cool, Boss.
5. Beach Boys, "Little Saint Nick."
6. Elvis' "I'll Have a Blue Christmas." (But not Willy Nielsons' version.)
7. The Mormon "12 Days of Christmas".
8. Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You."
9. "Santa Baby" Andy hates this song.
10.... Well, what's left?

The longest vacation ever comes to an end

Yes, sadly, it was my birthday while we were gone. It was a great day, though. We headed over to Cocoa Beach (and of course forgot the camera.) Cocoa is the Atlantic Ocean, so it was completely different from the Gulf beach we were at before. But it was warm and it had these 10 foot waves that made it really fun. Ella finally got the guts to go in and had fun in the water, Zoe still stayed on the sand and Max tried diving head first into every wave.




Next we headed to SeaWorld. I've been to the one in California many times, and I do not remember being allowed to pet the dolphins! So Andy and I both got to pet them (and Ella cried because she couldn't reach). It gave me chills and was incredible!!!


Packed up to go home. Just a shot of the place we were staying. It was so nice.
Zoe as Ivan Drago, "I must break you!" I just thought it was funny.

So, after a long, maybe not relaxing, but at least fun vacation, I can say I have learned one thing... never forget to fill the gas tank before returning your rental car!

Almost done...

Cutest "Wildlife" I ever saw!

It was cold and wet at the Animal Kingdom, but this place had some fantastic shows! Although, I have to say, I didn't really see that many animals. Hu.

Zoe in front of "Everest Expedition." A much new and improved version of the Matterhorn. It was such a fun ride!

Max laughing at King Louie.

Us with Thumper. I felt like we didn't do anything the entire time we were here because we were meeting characters ALL day. But this was the place to do it, no lines! That way we didn't spend time waiting in Disneyworld.

I Hate That Shirt!!...but am so glad he was wearing it!

We finally gave our kids the Disney experience! We can't fake them out that "Lagoon" is Disneyland anymore! (Kidding, hello! I would NEVER do that!) I don't know about any of you other parents, but it was so surreal to be there with children of my own. The circle of life...right of passage...all that stuff...whatever it was, it choked me up quite a few times. Of course, the kids loved it. Max had it tough and was forced to learn how to sleep in a stroller and eat at odd times, but otherwise he did well and we were able to take him on almost everything. And with the "rider switch" passes, we didn't miss out on anything. We really learned how to work the system and hardly ever had to wait in any lines either, yea for fast passes!



This is my favorite picture of the entire trip. This is during the parade and they got their first glimpses of the princesses. They were so excited and happy!

We caved in and did breakfast with the princesses. My girls were so excited and in heaven. I took them while Andy and Max had "boy time" with Tom Sawyer. How butch!

OK, this T-shirt is sooo awful and he wears it to bug me. But, I never lost him in a crowd. A 6 foot 4 cookie monster is hard to miss!

Florida 140.6

What It Was All For

Just to give some perspective, this picture was taken from half a mile away on our balcony. It is the starting line of the big race! That crowd itself is probably a half mile long. AND, they all started at once. It was insane to see!

I feel horrible I didn't get many pictures of the race. But look how good Andy looks! He's smiling that big when he's just finished a 2.4 mile swim and 112 mile bike and is starting his marathon! He even stopped to give us each a kiss as he ran by here. The entire crowd said, "Awwwww." :)

10 hours and 26 minutes! He did so awesome. Andy, I'm so proud of you! Thank you so much to Matt and Laura for helping me know where he was with your texts. You saved me.

Max and his medal. He did the race too.
I can't believe how good he was feeling when it was all done.

I know videos aren't the funnest to watch, but if you feel like it and can get past the crappy camera work...Just look at the crowds! It was like that everywhere, we couldn't move without stepping on people. By the end of the day I stopped apologizing when I hit people with my stroller.

Max Turns One!

I think that the first year is the hardest but also goes by the fastest! Now he is walking and making up his own words (says "hi" clearly) and teasing his sisters and begging for airplane rides from his dad and always smiling with twinkling eyes (they really do twinkle!) but even though he is so much fun now, it makes my heart hurt that he is isn't my chubby little baby anymore.

His birthday was the day before the big race, so we were very chill. At the time we were in Panama City. He spent some time at the beach, which he loved, ate lunch on a pier, opened paper-towel-wrapped presents, and ate chocolate cake to his hearts content. It was different not being at home, but it will be very memorable, for us if not for him! We love you, Max!!!
Not too many presents, we couldn't pack them home! But he did get his first pair of shoes and it was fun watching him learn how to walk all over again.

We didn't have a high chair so he ate in his stroller while I held his plate for him. He's patiently waiting for more.

Good Bye Florida! Hello 27 Degree Utah!

We're home! Birthdays, Races, Disney, Beaches...I can't believe so much happened in two weeks. Here are a few cute quotes and things I want to remember from the last vacation we'll ever take:

*Zoe to Ella, "I assume Max is excited for Disneyworld." Assume???

*The feel of Panama City Beach sand, like walking on powdered sugar.

*My baby boy's first birthday!!!

*Seeing Andy cross the finish line!

*Zoe and Ella's screams of pure joy riding "Thunder Mountain" during the fifth time.

*Teenage girl to dad and brother, "Indians aren't real. They're extinct... like the dinosaurs." Whaaat!

*Petting, not just touching, a dolphin!!!!!

*Zoe waving to every single "child" on "it's a small world."

*Seeing people scramble as a hurricane rolled in.

*Wheeling and dealing with the scalpers for tickets...that was all Andy. "You pullin' my leg??"

*Mob boss getting mad at Andy because he can't give him directions, "You ask me about where I live, I tell you everything!" Italian hand gestures included.

*The size of the waves on Cocoa Beach! Holy cow!

*The girls faces when they met "the princesses".

*Watching Disneyworld's and Epcot's firework show every single night from our balcony.

*Building an eternal bond with our GPS girl, which Zoe fondly named Helena.

Things that I definitely could have done without this trip:

~The plane ride there!

~Maneuvering my giant stroller through sand and crowds for 10 hours during Andy's race.

~Carrying a 30 lb baby and a 40 lb diaper bag for an hour through Disneyworld in a complete down pour of rain while I looked for Andy and my stroller. (I've never been so wet.)

~Being treated like a terrorist while doing the above by a Nazi Disney employee because I dared try to stay past 7 p.m. and was forced to leave the park without either husband or stroller. And yes, it was still raining.

~Dirty Dick's Crab House.

~My birthday

And most importantly...

~ The plane ride home. Thanks anyway "Doctor" Maria.

So, I'll be archiving our pictures and adventures over the next few blogs. There will be a lot of pictures and stories to tell. Try to keep up, will you?

Zoe digging the beach but not the water. She would wade but not much else.

Max was the opposite. He was diving in face first and cried any time we tried to save his life.

The view from our place in Panama City. Can you believe it????