Christmas Day with the Family

Bailee is ready for Christmas dinner, Nana always makes sure everything is beautifully decorated and special for this day, even down to the little kids table!

Liv, Bentley, and Ellie patiently waiting to eat and drink from their "special" glasses!

Nana and Grandpa passing out gifts to very excited grandkids! (and kids)

Mclaren is excited for her present too!

I just had to post this pic of her...she's just too cute!

I think Miles was happy!

A gift that is fun for the whole family!

A very suprised Bailee opening her gift from nana and grandpa that she thought for sure she wasn't going to get! Spoiled!

After Christmas and all the busy, craziness was over, we spent most of our time hanging out together in the basement...

I know this is a bad pic, but I couldn't leave out a pic of the Ping-Pong table that we all played some intense Around-the-World games on! As far as the one-on-one Championship games go...so far, no one has been able to beat Josh! He has got some serious table tennis skills!

I just thought this was a funny pic of how Livvy carries Jasper around, she loves him and never lets him go!

We are so lucky to be able to spend the holidays with the people we love and every year we are reminded of how blessed we really are. We love visiting grandparents, cousins, and good friends and wish that the time didn't go by so fast, but we enjoy every minute of it while we are there!

Christmas Morning

Bailee and Miles waiting to open their presents from Santa!

(only the little pile in the front was for them...all my mom's gifts made it look like they had more than they really did!)

They were excited, but since they only had a few gifts each, it went really, really fast!

Sledding at the Mitchell's family cabin

Miles all bundled up ready for some midnight sledding with Dad!

Sean and Miles ready to take off down the hill!


The view from the cabin, the sledding hill is about a mile long...its really fun when the snowmobile is working and they can pick you up at the bottom, but when you have to walk back up...not so much fun!

Miles had so much fun, he must have gone down the hill at least 20 times, spinning around on the disc the entire way!

Bailee and cousin Mary trying to get warm by the heater in the cabin!

Crazy pics...

I have had these pics for a while, but I thought I'd post them just because I'm bored with the Halloween post! I guess I was picturing something a little different when the doc said he had to put pins in my foot, not these large screws that look like they came straight from my garage! I think I better give myself extra time to get through security and the metal detectors the next time I go to the airport!

Happy Halloween!(View at your own Risk, Seriously!!)

Here are a few pics from the neighborhood Halloween party
What a cute and scary bunch of kids!

Went with an Olympic theme this year...Michael Phelps and an injured Olympic gymnast

Michael Phelps and a dead guy

Dead guy passing out candy at Trunk-or-Treat

Bailee at trunk-or-treat as an 80's prom queen(didn't have time to put on her dead make-up!)

Bailee and Tori as prom queens!

Bailee after trick or treating as a dead 80's prom queen!

This year was definitely not our best year for costumes! I made Bailee's, Miles' was made in the garage by sean 5 min before party, I was limited to whatever would go with a pink cast and crutches, and Sean was basically wearing underwear! There's always next year...

An Update...

I know, I know, I have been boring everyone to death with my blog lately! I'm sorry that I am such a slacker, I really have no excuse, especially since I have been stuck at home for the last 4 weeks with nothing to do! I don't usually blog without having pics of some fun event or family outing, but this time I am trying something new.

The kids have been busy doing homework, soccer, and more work around the house than usual! I'm sure they are just as anxious for me to get my cast off as I am, they have been pretty good about helping me, but I can only ask them to do so many things before they start to get really annoyed! Miles joined the chess team at his school, and he has been playing it afterschool with his friend or sean, he has even had sean wake him up extra early before school so they can play in peace and quiet together! I think it is so cute, considering he is not a morning person at all! Bailee usually has alot of homework and hardly ever has time to do anything else during the week, except for Young Womens and soccer. I did make it out of the house yesterday to go to her Evening of Excellence, she did a good job doing a pioneer dance with the other beehives while wearing the long skirts that they made themselves.

I just want to say thanks to everyone that brought in dinner to us, or lunch to me! We really appreciatted it and are so lucky to know such kind and thoughtful people! I also want to say thanks again to my Mom for coming out here and helping me and the kids out so much! There is something about having your Mom around when you are sick or in need that makes everything seem better, even if it's not. She cooked for us, cleaned( a ton!), shopped, and ran the kids around to help Sean out. During the day, I was spoiled and stayed in bed resting while she did laundry, cleaned, and then went out to get lunch for me...sounds rough, I know! Apart from the pain, annoying cast, and not being able to leave the house, I guess there are worse things than breaking your foot!

We're back!!

I know it has been a while since my last post, we have probably lost a few of our blog followers in the meantime! We have been busy, but I finally have a minute to post a few things. The kids and I were lucky to be able to spend most of our summer in Utah with all of our family and friends that live there. It seems like everytime we go, we try to pack in more fun stuff than the year before! This year my parents went out of their way to make sure my kids got to experience all the great things about Utah(besides their usual favorites like Classic skating, Boondocks, Lake Powell, and Cafe Rio!) It always goes by way too fast, but I know that my kids will have great memories of spending time with their Nana, Grandpa, and cousins in Utah every year. I apologize in advance for the extra long post, but we had a lot to fit in!

I know it seems like ages ago, but here are a few pics from the 4th of July parade in Sandy

Bentley and Bailee

the Crook cousins (except Mclaren) in red, white, and blue

Bentley playing football with the big boys, ready to catch!

Lake Powell

Bailee was an awesome wakeboarder this year, she never wanted to quit!

Everyone up on the cliff waiting their turn to jump...some were more nervous than others!

Its hard to see, but that's Zander and Miles getting up the courage to jump! They both did it!

Tasha and Ozzie hanging out on the boat

Best buds Jax and Miles

Livvy smiling pretty for the camera!

Ty, Josh, and Zach were able to get all the little kids to try something new(or force them to try!) they all did surfing (even Bentley and Zakrie) and some did skiing. We were all wondering how Ty was getting the boys to do so much until we learned that he was bribing them with expensive gifts like Nintendo DS's or an Xbox 360 if they could stay up for so long...miles is still waiting for his Xbox 360 Ty!

the kids and I with Grandma Crook at a family reunion

It was so perfect that we got to Utah in time for Mclaren's blessing, Josh gave her a beautiful blessing and I am so glad we were able to be there for her special day.

24th of July at This is the Place Monumentwe had a memorable 24th of July this year, since my kids don't really have many chances to visit places like this living in Florida, I really wanted them to go learn more about the pioneers and their heritage, lucky for us my parents were happy to come, even though they have probably seen it a hundred times!

bailee and miles stamping leather
Bailee standing in front of the Pack home, which is pretty cool since we are descendants of him(Sean's mother's maiden name is Pack and John Pack is her great, great grandfather( i think thats right?)
trying out the handcarts...our kids have it so easy!

I think it was one of the hottest days in Utah, but my parents were so nice to brave the heat and come do all the activities with the kids.

Bailee sitting at the foot of the monument next to John Pack's name

We were also able to go to Temple Square this summer and then we watched a movie at the visitor's center.

It was so nice to just sit in the backyard and talk, play with the kids, and take turns holding the baby!

Where the baby is... the little girls are! They are so cute and motherly, they just stand over you while you have the baby, patiently waiting for their turn to hold her.

the kids and Nana playing baseball in the backyard

One day we took the kids up to Snowbird, hoping to ride the tram, but it was closed due to weather, so we did other stuff up in the mountains. The kids were shocked to feel the freezing cold water in the river!
We rode the lift up the mountain and took the small version of the alpine slide back down, it was fun!

Bailee waiting to go down the slide, Miles and I were on another sled together, which was a big mistake because we were way to heavy and we went soo slow!