Disneyworld 2011!!

This year Christian's parents helped all of us celebrate Christmas together in Disneyworld!  It was amazing!  I feel so lucky to have married into such an incredible family.  I really can't imagine a sweeter mother-in-law, a kinder father-in-law, or more fun sister-in-laws.  The brothers are pretty nice, too :)

Here we are on Tom Sawyer's island where we ate lunch a few days out of the week.  The kids loved playing on the pirate ship fort!

Before everyone else came down, we were able to stop by and see Cliff and Courtney Luff in Gainsville.  They were the greatest friends and we've missed them so much.  I think of Courtney often since she was someone who gave awesome advice and never minded that I was in work out clothes nearly every single day.  She is one of my favorite people in the world.

Here's a bunch of the group!  Dad made sandwiches for everyone and ran around the entire park retrieving fast passes.  He drove people everywhere, took screaming children and was just hands down wonderful.  I hope my boys grow up to be as kind and generous as he is.

Darcy and Heidi took care of getting everyone matching pajamas...even for the moms!  They are the best, most fun people!

Cassie was an angel on this trip! She was my buddy!

Austin likes his eggos frozen--I think it helps with his teeth!

Christmas morning!  Tyson had been asking every day for months whether Christian had brought him home a helicoptor or not.  His dream finally came true and he was so excited!

Austin got a car that wound up and went on its own.  It was a big hit!

Aubery--such a cutie!

Here we are at the Epcot center coloring our bears :)

Streadbecks with Mom and Tyson.  Clara kept falling asleep and Russ would carry her everywhere so she could get a better nap.  That was amazing!  My kids had to sleep in the stroller :)

Brielle, Tyson and Hyrum showing off their bears!

Brielle chose to pick a clam and keep the pear.  She was so cute!

Austin was still not walking but that didn't keep him from wanting to explore the park!  I was so grateful Christian was there to help keep a leash on him!

Here's our little family!  Austin was pretty mad to be back in the stroller :)

Cassie was so nice to Tyson.  She helped him to not be afraid on rides and rode the Yetti ride with me a few times.  I'm so glad she's part of this family!

Here we are in front of the castle!  It was so beautiful when it was lit up at night!  Tyson kept calling it the temple :)

There were so many people that I'm surprised we never lost a kid!

Tyson loved all of the cool things to see even waiting in line!

Brielle was so good!  It's amazing how fun these older girls become so quickly!

I love Austin's smile!!  Look at those teeth!

Of Course Mary--all I think of when I see her is "EYEBALLS, EYEBALLS, EYEBALLS!" She used to chant that all the time when she was younger!

Here we are on the train!  Heidi is such a fun girl!  She is my inspiration in a lot of ways!

The one character we stood in line to meet-Rafiki!!  Yes, it was worth the wait!

Tyson on the train ride!

Tyson is running to catch up with his cousins and pet the animals!  It was so much fun to see him just light up around his cousins!

Austin makes me feel so loved!

Darcy was a trooper!  She did the first few days with four kids without a husband--you go girl!

Mom and Dad treated all of us to a volcano brownie!  Everyone was so excited!  What an experience!

Christian keeping up with the fast folks!

Austin 'digging it' at the dinosaur dig!

It was amazing to see Tyson and Austin in a new place.  Their personalities just shine!  Tyson is careful and steady, Austin is crazy.  I love them both!

Austin taking a turn steering the ship!

Tyson pulling the sword out of the stone.

Overall, this was one of the very funnest family vacations I have ever been on.  Thank you so much to everyone for making it so fun to be around you and for helping us with our kids!  We love you!  Merry Christmas!

Early Christmas

Since we were going to be in Florida this year for Christmas (wohoo!) we decided to have an early opening of presents so we wouldn't have to pack them in our carry-ons.  Tyson LOVED helping to decorate the Christmas tree!  That's why the ornaments look the way they do--we also had to move them away from the lower branches since Austin LOVED undecorating the tree!  This is the last year we will have to use this ghetto tree from the side of the road.  Only the lower branches light up!  That's one great thing about moving!!

Austin opening his Christmas pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa Coltrin!

He is so cute!  Thank you!!  They are still some of my favorite pajamas!

Tyson was so excited to get a Thomas the train book!

Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Tengelsen sent us a movie and cards.  Tyson was really excited about that!  Thank you guys so much!

Merry Christmas everyone!  I'm so glad we have a Savior, who is the best gift of all.  Tyson had some friends over not too long ago and they asked why we have presents on Christmas and I was able to tell them it was because of our Savior, who was God's gift to man.  I'm so grateful for my testimony of Him and for His love for me.  Merry Christmas!

Austin Turns One!!

I can hardly believe Austin is one year old!  He has been such a joy to be around!  He laughs, and smiles for me and is so fun to watch!  He is a super fast crawler and will walk along the furniture.  I love him more than I ever thought I could love another little boy!  Happy Birthday Austin!

Tyson said Austin wanted a cookie monster cake---this is my attempt :)  It looks more like the "green boy" alien that Tyson was afraid of for so long.  I guess that's fitting since Austin was the green boy!

Looking at the candle...

I think he likes it!  Nobody else really wanted to try the cake after Austin mangled it.  I don't really know why :)

He's such a happy boy!

By the end he had tried crawling out of his high chair and he was ready for a bath!  Happy birthday Austin!

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we were treated to having Dan and Katie come and visit us!  It is so much fun having them live close to us!  Unfortunately, Austin had started throwing up a few days before.  We had just started transitioning him to cows milk and I just thought his little tummy couldn't handle it.  The problem was he was throwing up my milk and water as well :)  Two days later Tyson started throwing up--in his bed!  It was so sad because he woke up wimpering and it was everywhere.  I cleaned everything up and luckily Austin slept through all of it.  We warned Dan and Katie but they decided to come up anyway!  Yea!

So Wednesday night Tyson threw up again but didn't wake us up--so in the morning it was dried throw up caked everywhere...GROSS!!  Then, Christian started feeling queasy.  He asked me to blow up the air mattress and put it in the bathroom (it only fit folded in half) because he didn't think he could make it to the toilet in time!  By the next morning I was feeling nauseated and we were out of salt--oops!  So we had to walk to the gas station to buy salt and 7up!  There was no way we weren't going to have Thanksgiving dinner even if we were just going to throw it up!  I had made a brine for the turkey so it had been soaking for more than a day (we had to move everything out of the fridge so it would fit!) and all of that work and crazy ingredients were not going to go to waste!  Little did we know, Katie was also pregnant and sick anyway...we were quite the family of sickies!  After it was all said and done, we had a simple Thanksgiving dinner that we all ate a very small amount of.  It was nice to have people to talk to since we were going to be home and sick anyway!  I'm so grateful for family.  That is my biggest blessing from God.  I'm grateful for the opportunity to teach my kids the gospel and for our health and for all of the blessings around us.  We are so blessed!  Happy Thanksgiving!