Meet The Newest Members of the Staley Family

I would like to introduce you to the newest members of our family.

Please welcome Rascal (orange) and Gracie (diluted calico).

They joined our family on Christmas day and things will never be the same again.

Christmas and Everything Else

I know, I know, I know. This post has been long overdue and I am sure you will all just graze over the words and look at all the pictures.

I will start off with the latest and work my way to the earliest news.

Our tree is always the last tree on the street to drop it's leaves, I don't know why, but is always the last and always drops them right after Thanksgiving. So we piled up the leaves, made sure to leave a pile in the middle of the grass, and waited for Cameron to come home from school. Boy did those two have a blast.







The Sunday before Christmas my family headed out to Christmas Tree lane, like we do every year, and walked around and looked at all the lights. It was nice, but so very cold. This Christmas season has been really great because Madeline has really gotten into it this year. She gotten into it so much that she even opened presents 2 weeks early only to have them wrapped up again.







And finally we come to Christmas and all the presents and family gatherings. It was a busy one for us this year, but we enjoyed every minute of it and I think the kids did too.





Now we are on to the New Year and new beginnings.

Christmas Lights Parade

So I hauled the kids off to our local Lights Parade that they hold every year thinking they were old enough to not complain too much about the cold. I was wrong. With only half the parade done I had my leg peed on because there were no bathrooms in the vicinity of the parade route and the boy was tired of being in the cold and wanted some dinner.

The parade was much longer than in past years, so it took 2 hours before it was finally over. Yet I made them stick it out until we finally got to see Santa close out the parade. If I was going to be out there with a wet leg they could make it to the end of the parade. Then we walked as fast as we could to the car, turned the heater way up, ran to Taco Bell for dinner, and made it home to cuddle under the blankets and watch some movies together.

Note to self for the next year, it would be much better if you have friends to go with, because they can commiserate with you and your kids about how cold it is. I will be investing in a cold weather thermos for next year to haul in my own hot chocolate. Starbucks was far too busy and I didn't stick around to buy my kids some hot chocolate to quench their poor little appetites and bodies for warmth.

Acoustic Christmas

Our local radio station puts on an acoustic show every year right around Christmas, hence the name Acoustic Christmas. This year they had a stellar line up and I had to go, and take two of my sisters with me. It was awesome. So glad I spent the $70 to go. I hope that they have just as good a line up next year so we can go again. Third Eye Blind
Mat Kearney
Ingrid Michaelson
Green River Ordinance
A Fine Frenzy


Amanda, Myself, And Laura

Cutting Down the Tree

Again this year we were along for the ride and the company. Paul was working and we don't get a tree without dad. So we went to enjoy some great company with the cousins, their great friends, and my wonderful grandparents.

We head up to Apple Hill every year to cut down the tree, stop at the farmers market for some farm fresh apples, and then back to the grandparents for yummy hot soups.

It was great. Loved the extra time with the cousins. And even got a picture of all of us cousins that were able to go just like my Aunt Wendy used to do when we would go to cut the tree.

Thanksgiving

It was an absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday this year. We had a total of 36 at my parents and it was wonderful. We had so many cousins that we have not seen in a number of years and all sorts of nieces and nephews running around and some really great friends that helped make the holidays even sweeter. It is holidays like this that really makes you appreciate how important families are and how lucky we are that we get to spend eternity with them. For that I am thankful.

I don't have a lot of pictures from the festivities at dinner, but did catch some photos of Cameron playing with my cousin Ashley's little girl Dakota. They really enjoyed themselves.

I hope that we can do that again very soon.