Home for the Holidays part 4

Rees Family Christmas continued.....

(I promise I'm almost done with Christmas posting)
Here's the Rees boys-never a dull moment. Take Dave and times him by 5...a laugh a minute!!!

My sister in laws--I completely lucked out. All three of them are perfect!
Evan and Charleigh...the newcomers! Their dads look the most alike out of the brothers, yet they don't look a thing a like. Their mommas genes must be a little stronger.
Left:We had dinner with a few of Dave's Sigma Chi friends-(Casey on the right may be familiar to you who live in Utah...Casey Scott on KUTV 2 news in the a.m.) He's a great friend of Daves...brothers for life haha :)
Right: We spent an evening with our old neighborhood friends, the Smith's and Lowders, celebrating Marc Smith's 40th. I can't believe it's already been 6 years since we shared memories in Bounty Cove.

Pirates Cove in Orem-We found out that the 40 slice pizza still wasn't big enough for my Hooper family. Don't ever underestimate us...We can definitely put the food away!!!

Christmas with the Rees Family

This picture pretty much explains itself....It's all about competition when you have 5 brothers in the house. Lets just say my big, burly, very strong husband won the arm wrestle.
The girls with their Grandma MaryAnn....hmmm Cara doesn't look like her Grandma or anything!!!

We got a little snowman building in. It was FREEZING though so it didn't last long. I have not been that cold in a really long time. Gotta freeze for the kids though.

Carson's Grandpa Jim is just so kind to him. Carson is a big board game player like his Dad and Jim is just so patient and helpful with him. Carson really enjoys being around his Grandpa. Jim does a wonderful job of making Carson feel very very special.

Christmas Morning 2010
Score!!! The room was filled with presents for 12 grandkids...it was so fun to see all of the presents wrapped and ready to go. The adults were just as excited as the kids.

I don't think there was one thing that Santa forgot~He was a busy man this year. The biggest gift at our house was Carson's baseball bat...or should I say biggest bill :) He was pretty excited and I am still so shocked at how much baseball bats cost. Cara loved her D.S., Ryleigh was thrilled with her Barbies, and Evan well lets just say the Dollar Store still works for him. It was a great morning and all 12 of these kids were very blessed this year.

Home for the Holidays Part 3

Christmas Eve with my family

My Dad and Mom~The two very special people that are at the head of this chaos~okay so only their kids and grand kids cause the chaos!!!
My very handsome, talented, well-mannered, funny, sweet, smart,....

Well you get the point.....anyone have a younger sister??? He's really a catch and look he can even play the ukulele...what a super talented guy he is. haha!!!

Evan's first Santa experience~He didn't even blink. He's the most chill baby!
My Mom's neighbor played Mr. Claus and did a great job. He gave each kid their "Children's Place" jammies....I love checking Christmas blogs because almost each one has pictures of their kids in those warm fuzzy jammies. "Children's Place" must make a killing on those!!! My Mom and Dad are taking all of us on a California Summer Vacation. We're so excited and it will be here before we know it. It will be so much fun to be all together again as a family, only this time the sun and beach will be joining us too...yippee!!! Thanks a bunch Mom and Dad-We truly are blessed.
Of course you can't have Christmas Eve without some sort of reenactment of the Nativity Story. It was so funny because as we looked around it was only in-laws in the play (as far as adults go)...see what ya gotta do to get in the family, how easy is that!!! Reiley all you have to do is find an angel...pun intended :)
Producer-Abigail Warnick

Director-Abigail Warnick

Narrator-Natalie Warnick

Accompanied by-Reiley Hooper

Angels-Abigail and Ryleigh

Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus-Cara, Carson, & Evan

Wisemen-Tanner, Carter, Ty (Greg)

Shepherds-Matt, Collin, Angela (Everest)

Costume designer-MOM

In their fuzzy warm jammies....Off to bed kiddos~Santa's got lots of work ahead of him.

Merry Christmas to All and to All a Goodnight!!!

Home for the Holidays Part 2

Papa's Christmas party at the Cottonwood Club

We always look so forward to the Peck family Christmas party. I've been going to the Cottonwood Club since I was a little girl and now it's so much fun to watch my little ones do the same. They have so much fun with their cousins. Papa and Grandma have always made sure that we take time out for family and cherish the memories that we have with each one of them...and that we do. Grandma is always missed but I know she's always there celebrating right along with all of us in spirit.
We're going where.....
That's right...on a DISNEY cruise!!! My grandpa has blessed us with so much. This year he gave each one of us a DISNEY Cruise. My kids are more than excited. They've seen commercials and now their DISNEY dream gets to come to life. I'm so excited and can't wait to share this DISNEY adventure with my Peck family. Papa you really outdid yourself this time!!!!

Surprise Papa~you too are going on an Alaskan cruise. Wow, this family is so generous. He was so excited when he opened his gift and I know his kids were all just as excited to see him open it.

As always we had a wonderful time. I just adore this family. As Papa always says...we don't have one "weird one" in the family....well maybe except for Dave Rees haha!

Home for the Holidays Part 1

Sledding up at Mutual Dell....One of my kids favorite Christmas memories~
My Grandma and Grandpa Hooper with their Great Grandchildren. They look awesome for being Great Grandparents. My Grandma Hooper has more energy than anyone I know at her age.
All of the cute little kiddos singing Christmas carols super loud, hoping that Santa Clause will hear them....and he did!!! My cousin Val's husband Jason was Santa's helper that night. He did a great job. Best twenty year old something Santa I've ever seen~
Evan with his Great-Grandma Hooper. Pictures like these are priceless!! My two cute little snow bunnies enjoying the REAL snow of Utah. My kids have no fear when it comes to trying new things. We had to search up and down for snow gear but luckily a friend came through who had lots of stuff for us to borrow. My Mom did such a great job of putting this sledding party together (per request of Carson). Those of you who live in Utah, I totally recommend Mutual Dell. It's a big cabin up American Fork canyon with a full sized kitchen, lots of seating, and great sledding right out the back door. My kids had a blast sledding with their cousins. It's not often that many kids get a chance to make memories with their, first, second, and third cousins....very cool!!!

Happy 40th Birthday Dave!!!
Dave celebrated the big FOUR-O on December 16th. I had a surprise party for him at Huey's with some of our Collierville friends. He almost ruined his own surprise a few times because he kept trying to redo his schedule for work, but luckily it all worked out and I think he was surprised...at least that's what he tells me. Dave looks great for 4o and his small patches of grey hair just give him that very distinguished (Sean Connery) look haha!!! Thanks to all of you who added to his Birthday/Memory book. It was a big hit!!!