Four-wheeler tubing

While I napped Christmas afternoon, Jeremy took the girls out with the four wheeler and a tube.  He gave McKenzie a fairly gentle ride first. 

 

But Christmas morning had taken its toll and she went inside and fell asleep with Alysha by the fireplace pretty quickly. 

 

Cambrie on the other hand proved to be a more adventurous customer.  Jeremy started out in nice straight lines, but quickly ditched that for spinning donuts in the cul-de-sac. 

 

 Behind him on the tube, Cambrie would spin wildly racking up some sweet G-forces. 

 

 There were times that even after Jeremy stopped Cambrie and her tube would wrap around him multiple times until she came to a stop.  It looked like a blast.  Too bad I was seriously enjoying my nap.  I'm glad they all had fun.

Christmas

Christmas doesn't start Christmas morning, it actually starts Christmas Eve. We each get to open a present and we get the cookies set out for Santa. As a surprise this year Cambrie, McKenzie and Brody also reenacted the Christmas story.

Christmas Eve gifts. We all got...

New jammies!

 

With our new stockings we were all jumping in anticipation for the morning.

 

The girls got new bunny slippers, and they literally were hoping for joy...all night long.

The girls also opened up....diapers?  Cambrie almost stopped right there.

 

But never fear, they were actually new cuddly blankets for the girls.

And Papa was thrilled about his grandpa pants.  What a stud!

After round one, we went to bed fairly early on Christmas Eve. But before we hit the sack, Brody asked about what time we could expect the girls to wake up in the morning. In years past their excitement hasn't resulted in their waking up early and they get up around the same time as always. The window of time we gave Brody, as well as the other adults in the house, was any time from 6:30-8:00. Imagine my and Jeremy's surprise when Cambrie came bounding into our room at 5:20 AM and announced that Santa Claus had come. She knew because she had already dumped everything out of her stocking. 5:20? Really? There was no way we were getting the rest of the Rogers sleeping adult children up at that hour so we turned on a movie for Cambrie and told her once she heard other people moving then she could go back upstairs. We were awakened again at 6:30 by both girls and decided at that point we were going to wake the rest of the sleeping household. They weren't happy about it. But Christmas continued and we all opened our presents. We took our time handing the girls their gifts and dividing the rest for us. By the time we were finished we had been opening presents for three hours. Not because we had thousands of gifts, but because everyone was still half asleep and we were moving pretty slowly. 

Checking out the loot from their stockings. 

Gifts from Aly and Brody: more Legos for her Lego friends and a new Rapunzel Barbie

The big ticket item this year were LeapPads for the girls.  They each got games, carrying cases, and skins for their new toys.  Both girls have picked up on them really quickly and they were a huge hit.  Are they really old enough to be getting electronics already?

New ski goggles, because she is going skiing this year!

A golf ball goof ball pic of Bruce.  All the boys got new balls with their names printed on them.  They are all waiting for the snow to melt so they can use their new balls.

I'm not even a die-hard Packers fan but I am totally digging Dantley's new hat.  Doesn't it look comfy?

But I did get a hat of my own.  I've always wanted a fedora.

This is just not any Real Salt Lake jersey, oh no.  This is an official jersey from the equipment manager of the team.  The coolest part about it?  The star.  Jeremy can't get enough of that shiny star.

Have you ever seen girls so excited to get coloring paper? We go through a lot at our house.

This scroll shows all of the food storage items that Jeremy and I got from Bruce and Leesa.  She didn't want to wrap each can, imagine that :)  We are so grateful to have that kind of help getting it going.  We must be old since we're asking for food storage huh?

 

Pictures with the girls' complete gift piles.

After presents were done, Grandma and Grandpa Pearce showed up for Christmas breakfast.  We gorged on breakfast casserole, smoothies, and cinnamon rolls, then most of us tried to roll back into bed while the girls played with their new toys. 

Snow day

One great thing about visiting Utah is having access to some of the greatest snow on earth.  I snowed Christmas Eve and snowed for the rest of our visit.  The girls love the snow and since there is...maybe an inch here in Colorado...it was a perfect opportunity to play in Nana and Papa's backyard. 

They made snow angels. 

Caught snowflakes on their tongue. 

And we attempted to make snowmen.  It was perfect powder however, and we could barely get the small balls to stay together. 

Once the three little snowmen were made, one for Cambrie, Kenzie, and Kit, the girls finished off the creations with pine needles for hair.  It's a little crazy, but not a bad look overall. 

Lights at Temple Square

We had one quick evening to see the lights up at Temple Square before Christmas.  We bundled up the girls (luckily it wasn't that cold anyway), and went to see what we could see.  Since walking isn't nearly as much fun as riding on an uncle's shoulders, both girls hitched a ride for most of the night. 

The reason we were all together for the holidays, Bruce and Leesa.

And this is just a neat picture.

It seems as though they have moved the main concentration of lights away from the main temple square to the area around the reflection pond instead.  The girls thought the lights were...pretty, but they didn't hold their attention long.  What the girls spent a long time looking at was the reflection pond.  The floating lights on the pond combined with the lights from the trees reflected looked beautiful.  If it hadn't been their bed time we could have stayed there a long time.

Breakfast with Santa

Even though we live away from family in Utah, we try really hard to make it to some of the bigger events they have each year.  One of those super fun traditions is Breakfast with Santa.  All the aunts, uncles and cousins get together for breakfast, present opening and a quick visit from Santa Claus.  There were a couple changes this year that are worth noting.  Change number one, every member of the Bruce Rogers' clan was there to celebrate for the first time in about three years.  Because of work, travel, missions, etc. it has been awhile since we've all been together. 

Change number two, I was able to make a fun announcement by turning myself into a present with a tag that read, "Do not open until July 6, 2013."  I slipped it on about half way through the festivities and just let people notice it on their own.  It was a fun trickle effect as people slowly realized why I was a human-size present.  So I guess really...the whole Bruce Rogers' clan wasn't truly there after all. 

Here are some pictures from our fun-filled chaotic morning.

Santa is coming!

 

The Grinch got here first :)  Jeremy's grandpa loves the grinch.  I do like his new hat.

 

Santa read a story by President Monson this year about a train set.

Then it was time to sit on the big man's lap.  Cambrie had quite a list.

McKenzie was so shy that you couldn't really hear what she was asking for, but I think Santa got it right anyway.

 Time for presents from cousins!  Brynlee gave McKenzie a new Tinkerbell Barbie.  This is a picture of two girls in love with Tinkerbell.

 

Cambrie got some Lego friends from Liam.

And once all the food was eaten and all the presents opened, we tried to get a picture of all the grandchildren, married grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.  There's not a chance we could get everyone smiling, but everyone is there.  What a crowd.

Christmas stories

Cambrie brings home stories she writes in school nearly every day.  I am very impressed with how far she has come in a couple of short months.  Here are some of her most recent Christmas stories that I thought are worth sharing. 

"I see a elf.  It is red. I love it then I will have a elf and I will find it forever."

 

"I am at my Grandmas and Grandpas house for Christmas.  I am giving presents to my cousins."

Merry Christmas

Hello everyone!

This year I'm sending our Christmas cards electronically. I'm sorry if you wish you could hang them on your fridge, but I suppose that hanging your smartphone or computer on the fridge wouldn't do the trick. I have never, ever sent out a Christmas letter so some of you may have no idea what we are up to right now. We are living in Colorado and have been here for two years now. Jeremy is working as a dentist and loves dentistry. However, he wouldn't mind a little more time in his day so he could fit in some extra rounds of golf. Cambrie just started afternoon kindergarten this year and is totally in love with school. She has plenty of friends in her class that we know from church, and has made many more. She is learning how to read and sometimes it still surprises me when she reads a label on a bottle or a sign on the side of the road. This year she also learned how to ride a two-wheeler and we can't go on enough bike rides to keep her happy. McKenzie is our pretty princess. She wears a dress every day, normally a dress that twirls, and I paint her nails at least once a week. She really misses her sister when we drop her off at school and so we have been trying to keep her busy with as many play dates at possible. In order to keep up with Cambrie she has learned to ride a scooter and as long as she doesn't get distracted by pretty things on the sidewalk, she does a pretty good job of keeping up. Meanwhile I stay at home with the girls trying to become a better cook and seamstress. We are very excited for Christmas this year and I'm impressed with my girls understanding that we celebrate because of our Savior. They have sweet little testimonies and we are lucky to have them in our home. Merry Christmas!

Love,

The Rogers

Jeremy, Annette, Cambrie and McKenzie