Happy New Year!

We had a wonderful Christmas.It was really crazy with all sorts of family parties and things to do before we left. I was questioning whether traveling at Christmas time was a good idea. But it was definitely all worth it. Greg has most of the pictures on his camera and he is already out of town again for a work conference, so I may have to post most of the photos later.

Trip highlights:
*Watching my nephew Ben play in his first basketball game of the season. He is a senior this year so it was my only chance to see him play.
*My sister Amber is Director of a non-profit organization the does gift boxes for families in need. Items are donated and funds collected all year. Families are given food enough for about 7 meals, toilet paper, paper towels, soap, fresh produce and families with young children also get gifts. So our whole family helped in putting together boxes for 46 families. It was fun and went quickly with so many of us there helping out.
*There are five siblings in my family (including me). We are all married and there are 6 nieces and 12 nephews, including my mom, there is a total of 29 people. We will be 30 in March when our baby is born. Children ages are: 1-8 month old, 4-2 year olds, 1-3 year old, 2-4 year olds, 2-5 year olds, 1-7 year old 1-8 year old, 1-9year old, 2- 10 year olds, 1-12 year old, 1-15 year old, 1-18 year old. So of the 18, 15 are age 10 and under.
*We spent 4 nights with about 25 of us all sleeping in the same house. Now it was crazy, but oh so much fun. We played games every night and one evening several people were in tears from laughing so hard.
*Santa visited the kids on a fire truck. He also rode on a Zamboni on the hockey rink and his elves handed out candy.
*Decorating gingerbread houses and sugar cookies.
*We spent Christmas day with my sister Amber. She has 3 boys all close in age to our girls. Being at Danny and Josh's house for Christmas made it all the more exciting for us. It was the first year that we woke up early for presents. Denali actually woke up because she was so congested. Big surprise that all of us being in the same house, most everyone ended up with colds. Amber made a yummy prime rib dinner and we just hung out all day long. It was a nice relaxing day.
*Alexis got a tea set and Denali got twin babies from Santa. And they were very spoiled by all of our family with exciting gifts.
*We took half of the kids to Bear's Tooth. It is a movie theater that has little tables in front of you. So you order dinner and eat while you watch. We saw Madagascar 2.
*We attempted sledding on my brother's hill behind their house. But it was pretty cold, so we didn't last too long. It made Alexis excited to try it again though.
*I got to visit with 4 friends I grew up with and meet two of their new babies.
*My 10 year old niece actually had to fly to Utah for back surgery. So we did an extreme room makeover in her bedroom. I can't wait to find out what she thinks of it. They still are not home yet, but her surgery went well and she is doing just fine.
*Needless to say, a lot of our time was spent taking care of kids and just being together. 3 meals a day with all of us together takes a good portion of the time. It was a really great visit. I already miss them very much and wish I could visit more often. But it felt good to walk into our home.

We flew back on December 31. Shortly after we got off the airplane, we got a phone call that Greg's Aunt Claudia had died that morning of ovarian cancer. We were able to see her before we left and Greg took a family photo. I feel blessed that we were able to do that. Aunt Claudia was one of those women that you strive to be like. We miss her already, but I am sure that Greg's Dad is happy to see her, along with their brother, sister and Grandpa Dart.

We did get together with some friends that evening to celebrate New Year's. The Willis family are some of our good friends from Alaska. We are excited they live close enough to visit and had a great evening with them. Greg has some great sparkler photos.

Some of my resolutions are:
*Be debt free other than our mortgage.
*Start and continue to attend water aerobics.
*Use my treadmill 3 times a week. (10 minutes is all I made it today. I already feel like there is no more room in my belly and have 11 weeks left!)
*Do my best to have healthy baby boy and keep my sanity with 3 children. Alexis and Denali are very much looking forward to having a baby brother.

Also, we need some help choosing a baby name. Greg and I both lost our Dad's to early deaths. Greg's Dad is Dick and mine Rick, however we think Rick Dick Dart would just be cruel. So we have chosen that the middle name will be Richard in memory of both. Names we like are:
*Trey- Alexis would have been named Trey if she was a boy. I am just not sure if I still like it as much. There is no meaning with this name, just one we both like.
*Mark - Mark is Greg's stepdad. We thought it would be nice for him to be named after all 3 grandpas. I like Richard Mark better than Mark Richard.
*Jack - I really love the name Jack and Greg's Grandpa is Jack, so that would be appropriate too.
*Hunter
*Kenai- Another Alaskan name.
I think those are our top choices. Although that could change. So feedback is welcome!!!

I hope you all have a great new year! And hopefully I will get caught up on reading all the posts I missed while we were gone.


5 cousins in a tub
There is an old Shel Silverstein poem that goes something like this:
There's so many kids in this tub,
There's so many elbows to scrub.
I just washed a behind
that I'm sure wasn't mine.
There's so many kids in this tub.

Decorating sugar cookies