Happy Anniversary Babe!

So for the last of my marathon posts, today is mine & Chandler's 6th Anniversary. I thought of trying to write a wonderful and witty poem, like my cousin Jaime (I think the theme of my blog is turning into "I want to be just like Jaime") but decided it would not even compare. Then I thought "Why even bother?" because let's be honest, Chan probably looks at our blog about as often as some of your cousin's friend's brother's sister-in-law's, but I don't want to appear ungrateful of my wonderful thoughtful husband. So Chan, thank you for a wonderful 6 years and I look forward to eternity with you and in order to avoid all the mushy talk let me just sum up with a cheesy but classic line from a film I never should have watched because of it's rating but did anyway because I was with someone who could fast forward through the bad parts (mom - I repented) and say "You complete me." I love ya babe.

Sledding with the Manwarings

The day after Christmas we called up the Manwarings to see if they wanted to go sledding and they said they were game so we went to the hill across the street from our subdivision to try it out. I thought McKin might be scared but she was loving it!Halle was quite the trooper too!

Yes, I did take her down a couple of times. I'm not a complete wuss. Is that even how you spell that word, you all know what I'm talking about right?
Justin and Chandler had something to prove because they both tried to haul all four kids up the hill but ending up needing some help to get it done. Here's Ellie, McKin, Ogden, and Anna.Well, that fun didn't last too long so we decided to step the fun up a notch and headed to Amber's parents house to hook the sleds to the four-wheelers.

They were having quite a bit of fun until.........

McKin took quite the spill and came in crying. She had snow stuck in places I didn't even know existed. As bad as a felt for her, I can't help but laughing at this photo. She was pretty much done after that, but we did take Halle for a quick spin since she looked so stinking cute in this little snowsuit that Amber let me borrow.
We ended the day by taking the girls to see Alvin and the Chipmunks at the good old Blackfoot Plaza Twin. Thanks to the Manwarings for the great time as always and the Ogdens for letting us use their home and 4-wheelers!

A Merry Little Christmas

So, we had a great Christmas. On Christmas Eve, we went to my parents house and played out the Christmas story. McKin was the angel, Easton was baby Jesus, Whit was Mary, and Garrett (very begrudgingly) was Joseph. Oh, and Tanner was a very weak Sheperd and Chan and Shannon were even weaker wisemen. In fact, reading this post might be this first time they even realize they were supposed to be playing wisemen. Here's McKin as the angel (how ironic that sounds to me) amongst our very wordly pile of presents.

We continued our tradition of giving our gifts to Christ via the white stocking and reviewing our last years gifts. I wonder if it's bad if you put the same goals for like 5 years in a row, oh well. We also shared some thoughts about what Christmas means to us, and I really lost it when I talked about my two grandmas and the way they always reached out to others. It was kind of embarrassing, but I'm emotional what can I say? Here's Mary, Joseph (did Joseph really eat chips??), and the angel (again, the irony.)

Then we dug in to the presents and McKin was so excited that she thanked the person for the gift and told them how much she loved it before she even opened it. One of my favorite parts about Christmas is seeing everyone's reaction to the presents that I've tried hard to pick out well. I was very excited to find out that Chan had gotten me a trip to NYC for Christmas!! We leave Jan. 2nd and he even got tickets for Phantom, Wicked, and the Conan O'Brien Show. I was shocked and very excited!

The next morning we woke up to find out what Santa brought. McKin got a barbie bike and a strawberry shortcake salon among other things and Halle got lots of clothes and a little bike/push toy. It is so fun to see your kids get so excited.

We then went to the Daws for a great prime rib dinner and more presents! YEA!! It was fun and it was also great to then have a relaxing night at home. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Marc & Hailey Farewell Party

So, I haven't posted anything for a while so I am playing major catch up. On the 20th we had a dinner with my family at my house since Hailey & Marc were leaving the next day to go to Boise for Christmas with the Bradshaws. McKinley had a Polar Express Party that day at Preschool so she was in her Pajamas all day. She had a great time and came home with all sorts of goodies. She got to open her present from Hailey & Marc which was Gabriella and Sharpay barbies from HS Musical and a coloring book. She has had to have them with her everywhere she goes and always wants to tell me stories about "a girl named Gabriella who was a really nice girl and a girl named Sharpay who was pretty rude."

This is a shout out to my wonderful cousin Jaime Grant, who introduced me to my newest love in life, the Back to Basics Cocoa Latte. The Cocoa Latte debuted at my party as the main character in my hot chocolate bar (also Jaime's idea) which was full of all the great things you see below. We have had hot chocolate nearly every day since and yes my fridge is still full of coffee mate. I went a tad overboard, but I hate for people not to have options.

It was a great party, thanks to my great family. We definitely missed the Bradshaws for Christmas but were glad to have this little substitute.

Kin's Photography

So these are some pics I found on my camera, apparently at 9:48 a.m. on the 23rd someone had some fun. Where was I you might ask??? Probably looking at all of your blogs. She actually got some pretty good shots of Halle, so I can't complain.

The White Stocking

At my parents house they have a white stocking hanging up that is "Jesus's" stocking. Every year we write down a gift we are going to give to him and then the next year we can pull it out and read what we gave Jesus and evaluate our performance, for lack of better words. McKinley asked who's stocking that was and I told her it was Jesus's and asked her what gift she wanted to give Christ this year. She said "Ummmm...probably a gift card." Merry Christmas to all our family and friends!

Hope Big Brother isn't watching

Recently, Halle has taken up the use of biter biscuits or infant "crackers." McKinley has started to call crackers "crack," and Chandler and I have followed suit out of nothing more than habit and the hilarity of our daughter using a street drug as a name for Halle's infant food. If the government randomly decided to put audio only surveillance in our home, this is what they would hear:

McKinley: "Halle, do you want some crack?"

Angie: "That's a great idea, McKinley would you get Halle a crack?"

or

McKinley: "Dad, I'm going to get Halle some crack."

or

McKinley: "Halle, you just love crack don't you?

Chandler and I have started laughing so hard every time one of these conversations come up that we haven't felt compelled to correct it because of the laughter it brings to our home. Once our girls get older and have to face the mean streets of Blackfoot we'll enlighten them to the fact that crack is a horrible and dangerous drug and not an infant food, but for now we'll just laugh.

Belated Christmas FHE

I got this gingerbread house kit at the store (I know I'm extremely craft challenged and not afraid to admit it) and thought it would be fun to make for FHE, but Chan played raquetball on Monday night, so we decided to do it last night instead. McKinley was extremely excited to make the gingerbread house, she was jumping up and down and wouldn't even stop talking to breathe. She has started to say "Take it down a few knotches" since she hears it so much from Chan & I.

Chan did all the frosting and then let McKinley put on the candy. Whenever I would make a suggestion she would say "Oh, that would be perfect," or "That's just a great idea."

This is what is was supposed to look like.This is what it really looked like, not too bad for an outdated jock, a 3 year old, and a craft challenged woman...well ok, it's pretty weak but we like it. We'll say it has personality.
McKinley took this photo of us at the end and I thought it turned out pretty well. Maybe photography is in her future.....
Merry Christmas Everyone!!!