2011 Reflection

As today is the last day of the year I thought I'd just quickly write down my feelings from this year...

It's definitely been a roller coaster.  We've had some great days, months and moments, and not so great...

*The biggest happiness came when we found out our third child would be joining us at the beginning of 2012.  The joy was even bigger when we found out it was a baby girl.  I wouldn't trade my two little men for the world and can't wait to see them love and adore their little sister.  She will add so much to the family.

*The biggest sadness was the loss of my Grandma Neiger in August.  How our Heavenly Father nudges us throughout our life to do things...it was inspired to go visit her in May...really just weeks before she'd get the diagnosis that she had terminal cancer.  I never saw her again.  I will always miss her for many reasons but I have a feeling she's never too far from my little family.

*McKay was a trooper through work life in 2011.  We have a love/hate relationship with the sales industry here.  The good times make it well worth it, but the bad make for hard, long weeks and sometimes months.  I appreciate the many hours he spends working to provide a good life for our family.  He is one of the hardest workers I've ever known and I am so grateful for what he does for us.  One bright financial note was our qualification for refinancing our house...saving almost $300 a month and no mortgage payment in January will be awfully nice!

*We definitely need a fun, family vacation together this next year because our time spent away was seperate!  I had the chance to go down to St. George with Melis, Ange and Kels as well as Washington to see my Grandparents and family there.  I also went to girls camp which is always a fun adventure!  McKay went on a few fishing/hunting trips to the Uintas, Logan Canyon, and Idaho.  Our one quick family roadtrip with to California to say goodbye to Grandma.  McKay and I did manage to get away overnight for my birthday in Park City...we had a great time.

*Young Women kept me very busy.  Love the girls and working with them.  I look forward to a time of more relaxing church work but for now I will cherish my time with the 22 girls I get to spend time with.

*Peyton and Chayce were the highlight of the year.  Those two boys bring so much to our life and I couldn't imagine my life without them.  Kids don't come without their challenges but as a Mom I'd never trade the hard times for the many more good things that they bring.  Each year I grow to love and appreciate their sweet personalities and love watching the little people they are turning into.

*Hard for me to believe I've been married to McKay for 8 1/2 years...known him for almost 10!  He is ever patient and loving to me and I appreciate the person he is and strives to be.  I love you babe!  Thanks for all you've done to make my life better this year...and here's to a great 2012 for us!

I have to say thanks to many friends and family who have supported and loved me and my family through this year.  I will say I look forward to the upcoming year with changes and challenges but lots of excitement and love too. 

Baby Gap

For documenting sake, I had to post my love and slight obsession with Baby Gap.  I remember with Peyton really loving their little baby boy clothes, but had veered away once I realized everything was much cheaper at Old Navy, H&M and Target (and looked almost the same).  I'm sure eventually the same will happen with girl things, but for now I can't leave it alone!  Online shopping at Baby Gap has of recent days become my biggest weakness!  I never buy anything full price there but they always have online sales which makes it too hard to resist! Here are a few of the purchases I've made...

(This dress came from Aunt Chels with Christmas money...thank you!)

Is this not the cutest swim suit you've ever seen?



Now that her closet is fairly stocked I'm hoping to leave this store alone for awhile...

Tepanyaki

The post-Christmas Tepanyaki dinner with the Erks is such a fun night!  We all look forward to it.  It is so yummy and definitely didn't disappoint this year!  Too bad I only have two bad pictures documenting the evening...it was wonderful though!  The boys were very intrigued by the fire on the grill and we had a very entertaining chef.  Thanks Wayne and Pam for this fun tradition!

After dinner, everyone came over for a visit for a little while.  The kids ended up in our bed watching Thomas.  Love them!  The adults watched Jimmer play in his first game as a King.

Such a fun night to end all of our Christmas festivities!

Christmas

The most wonderful day of the year!  And it was another great one for our family.

Santa definitely made his stop at our house.  Daddy read the letter he left for the boys.



Daddy fixed the boys up with their OWN cowboy hats!  They really are cute.  His cowboy ways are rubbing off on them.  Mommy doesn't mind...unless it's time to wear their normal clothes for something!

Chayce is really into trains (much more than Peyt ever was).  He got a few train toys and hasn't had them out of his sight since!

This was the year of the Power Wheels Jeep from Santa.  The boys didn't get a whole lot because of this gift!  They love it and beg to ride it everyday.  Well worth it!



It was nice to go to church on Sunday and take some time to sit and reflect on the birth and life of the Savior.  It also made for a nicer looking picture in front of the tree with our Sunday best on.

Papa and Grammy came to church with us after stopping by to see all the fun presents!



After church we made our way over to Grammy and Papas for breakfast and more gift opening.  My boys are in LOVE with their new baby cousin Jersey.  Watching them with her made me so excited for their little sister to come.  They will be so sweet to her!



Chayce got this fun Shake and Go race track with cars from them.  It's a fun toy and he loves it!



Peyt was surprised with this awesome new bike/car toy to play with outside.  He can't wait to build it and drive all over.  They also got hooked up with lots of fun things in their stockings from Grammy and Papa.



The Erk siblings.  I love this family so much and feel so blessed to be a part of them.  Wayne and Pam were extremely generous to all of us and gave us money for this upcoming year...it will be so helpful to us and we are so grateful.  Pam also had our name crocheted and framed and we received the Christmas Jar book and a jar to start the tradition in our home.  We've done it one year and it was a great experience...definitely a tradition we need to start.



These two can always been seen in this position at some point in the family parties...between a hug and a tackle :)



Baby girl was also spoiled on Christmas.  Here's her darling pettiskirt Grammy found for her.  We took home a few boxes of clothes and a bag of girl toys as well.  She's pretty set!



Lisa gave me the idea to make them a family tree for Christmas.  I found pictures of their parents and both sets of grandparents.  I like how it turned out and I think they did too!  Thank you Wayne and Pam for another memorable Christmas.  You are always too kind and we love you!

Christmas night was spent at the Neigers.  They waited to open presents with all of us this year which was really fun!

This was the highlight...new cowboy boots...and blue even!  His had definitely seen a better day and are now worn around the house (and sometimes out...) by Chayce. 



Aunt Chels went in on the boots with us and he LOVES them and LOVES her.  She is so great with my kids and spends so much time and attention on them.  We love her so much and are so grateful for our relationship with her.  I didn't take a pic but she got Chayce a few more trains which he loves and the CUTEST peacoat for baby girl.  She has spent WAY too much on her but we appreciate all she's done for us!  I also got a gap gift card from her (my favorite!) and McKay got a nice shirt from Banana!  Thanks Chels!



Uncle Jack also loves these boys and is a great uncle to them.  Can't wait to add another aunt this next year!  Rach was with her family most of the night but we got to see her at the very end.  Thanks for the pirate dress ups, book and date night out for McKay and I.  Nothing better than that!  We love you Jack and can't wait for your wedding in June!



These two are some of the greatest people I know for obvious reasons!  I love my parents and appreciate all they do for me and our family.  My kids continue to receive so many wonderful opportunities to experience life and the world from Grandma adventures.  They do so much and I will forever be indebted to them for their love and support.  This was the fun pirate ship they got...and they love it!  Thanks for all your generosity to the boys!



And here they are with their Cars 2 costumes...also from Grandma and Grandpa.  They left them on all night and love them!



Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are so busy but I wouldn't want it any other way because of who we get to spend it with.  What a blessing to have everyone close and be with them!

Mom (and Santa) forgot to check that the Jeep battery needed 18 hours to charge before it could be used.  So the boys had to wait until Monday to take it for a test drive.  Well worth the wait!





Another wonderful Christmas come and gone...bring on 2012!



Christmas Eve

We started our day off at Grandma Ruthies.  She has the prettiest Christmas display in her front room.

We love her so much and enjoy time we get to spend visiting with her.   Thank you for the Christmas money!  We will spend it doing something fun together as a family!

I must say Grammy and Papa are the king and queen of spoiling their grandkids ROTTEN!  This picture was taken in three waves and it's too bad the last one when all the kids were finally there was the worst!  Still a cute bunch of kids! 

The boys got to open a present on Christmas Eve this year from Papa and Grammy.  Both were things they love!  You  never know what kind of face you'll get from a four year old in a picture!



The Erks always have a gift that represents something funny/significant that happened to each adult in the past year.  I got a baby girl banner and McKay got a box full of cowboy things.  He's becoming more in touch with his cowboy side and everyone can't stop talking about it!

Wendi also joined in on the fun and gave Canyon a bag of dog treats to clean his teeth :)  She isn't so fond of dogs and would rather Canyon stay farther away than closer.  Not too far off from how I am with dogs, but I'm learning :)  So she had to tease McKay and show her love for the dog.

Our white elephant exchange was quite eventful this year.  Kimball decided to wrap up a LIVE MOUSE!  YUCK!  Very luckily Dan opened it so it didn't cause too much harm.  None of the girls were too amused.  Chayce on the other hand...



The boys got their cute Christmas jammies.  They were perfect!  We had a great time at the Erks and love them all so much!

To finish off the night we had our annual dinner with the Neigs at Outback.  It was delicious!  My parents are so generous to take us out!  Racheal joined us for the first time this year which was fun...we missed Chels who was flying.

Ended up at my parents playing a rousing game of Aggravation (boys won...boo) before heading home to put the kids to bed and wait for Santa to come. 

Christmas Eve Eve

The annual McArthur/Ercanbrack Christmas party was great.  Davy and McKay are "brothers from another mother" so it almost feels like a family Christmas party.  We had dinner, let the kids open their presents from each other and even fit in a quick game of Sorry amidst the kid chaos...it had been too long!

Love these kiddos...they all bring such a fun dynamic to our lives.

Showing off their gifts.  Thanks Porter and Khloe for the fun gifts for the boys! 

Love this family!

December 22nd

 My parents were so sweet and organized a fun evening at their house.  We went over and had dinner and the boys watched the Polar Express with them.  It is such a cute movie and my Dad loves it...so it was the perfect activity to do with them!

He also pulled out about 1,000 old business cards and the three of them had a blast throwing them around.  How fun is Grandpa!

We love you Grandma and Grandpa!  Thanks for all the fun memories you create for us!



December 20th

After spending a great morning at the temple with my husband and his family for his cousin Tiff's sealing (which was beautiful!), I took the boys shopping with their money Grandpa Johnson sent for Christmas.  What did they pick???

We are pirate lovers here (along with cowboys, cars and trains).  I tried to convince Chayce to pick something else out, but when he saw what brother was getting he had to have two of his own!  At least they are all different!  They will go great with a gift Peyton might be getting from Grandma!

And this is what I bought with my money...



Surprise suprise that it's baby stuff!  Thankfully we are almost done with purchases and maybe someday I'll get to buy myself something with gift money!

Thank you SO much Grandpa and Grandma!  We love what we got and wish you could have been with us to pick it out!  Merry Christmas!

December 19th

Davy and Lisa had last minute free passes to go see the lights at Thanksgiving Point so we took them up on it!  We've never done it before so it was fun to take the boys for the first time.

The boys got a front row seat and got to help daddy drive.  I think they enjoyed that as much as the lights!  We had a great time as a family looking at the display! 

Thanks for helping us with our Christmas activity tonight McArthurs!





December 18th

Today McKay spoke in church about the gift of repentance and he did an excellent job!  He prepared well and I think he touched a lot of people...very proud of him!  I also got to share the Christmas lesson in Young Women...always a good one.

For our Christmas activity we headed to my aunt and uncle's house in Cedar Hills for dessert following dinner at my parents.  We walked across the street to their neighbor's house who has more than 300 nativity sets she's collected and displays.  They were a cute older couple who shared their stories on where they've found all the nativities.  We had a good time listening to them and visiting with family!

December 17th

I have been DYING to meet this little sugar and today I finally got to!  Nasty cold kept me away for almost two weeks!  Jersey was born on Wednesday, December 7th and Ange did super!  She is a sweetheart and is so good for her Mommy and Daddy.  Can't wait for her little buddy to be here!

Thanks Kurt and Ange for letting me come over! 







December 16th

Today was one of our best Christmas activities yet! After running a few errands in the morning, the boys and I enjoyed an afternoon at the movies seeing Arthur Christmas. It was so cute! I really liked it and I think the boys did too (along with their popcorn!)

Afterwards we headed to Orange Leaf for some delicious yogurt thanks to my great friend Steph! So yummy!

This is one of my favorite desserts...coconut yogurt with strawberries and waffle chips! YUM!

McKay was duck hunting this weekend so later that night we brought home Cafe Rio and watched Elf together. What a fun day!