The 4th...Fun, Friends, Family and Fireworks

In 2006, so 9 years ago, our 4th of July tradition began.  

The twins were born, but other than that no babies were in the mix.

Fast forward to this year, 2015, 

a lot is still the same.

Our friendship continues to be so special.

Each of these girls were bridesmaids in my wedding.

Some things are the same,

but a BIG change since 2006 is...

we have MULTIPLIED! 

A total of 15 kids now call us Mom.

It melts our hearts when we see our kids 

bonding with each others kids.

We pray our kiddos will have Godly, dear friendships forever,

just as we have been blessed with.

The Fourth of July never disappoints. 

It is just wonderful, family fun!

Jed and Austin 

 My cousin Luke and his adorable family

 My brother and his wonderful family

 One of the silliest boys I know.  :)

 Auntie Blair with her favorite niece and nephews

 Our family of 5!

 Dad's club

 See...I told you he is super silly.  

I said give me a pose and this is what I get. HA!

 Jesse and Jed

 Blake and Austin

 Dinner time!

 Cousin time!

 My favorite three fireworks.  :)

Our favorite 4th of July crew...

Christmas Eve and Day

Christmas Eve night we went to a wonderful service at People's Church and after they had these adorable vignettes prepared with photographers to take photos of each family.  I wish I had the original on this computer, but you can get the idea.

After dinner we went home and put cookies out for Santa 

and sprinkled reindeer food out on the grass. :)

On Christmas morning, 

Aubrey Rose was soooooo excited Santa got her the two things she wanted.

Belle doll to sleep with and a bow and arrow.  

I have no idea why a bow and arrow.  

She got the idea while looking in a kids toy magazine 

and it stuck for a good month or more before Christmas.  

She would ask for it constantly.  

She loves it!!

Then, we went over to Blake's parents house. 

Here is our little girl who has now lost a total of FOUR teeth

and these days her favorite song is,

"All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth."  :)

Fresh squeezed orange juice and monkey bread.

Yep, it's officially Christmas morning!!  :)

 HAHA!  Blake liked his shirt.

Blake's parents tree is even prettier in person!

After a family picture, we were ready to open up presents.

We got matching polka dotted pj's

 The boys got matching pi's with skiers on them.

 We are BIG Sequence fans!  

Now we can all play at our own homes!

 Oh, this one melts my heart.  

Love these two together, especially when they are puttering around on Big Papa's antique train.

 They love their Auntie BB!!  

The fox slippers were a hit!  HA!

 So were this boys new cars!  :)

 Not sure who liked this gift the most…

the little one who the gift was for or the one who was teaching him how to use it.  HA!

The following morning we left for ski trip to Sun Valley!

More to come!

Christmas with the Penner's

I left off last post with the Gingerbread house competition.  

I wanted to fill you in on the winners.

Here are the competitors hard work...

 Emotional draw with this one below!  Our future retirement family retirement compound

 There were two teams who won this year. 

These two pretty ladies made the most impressive Christmas tree.

They won the votes from family members.

 Allie and Andrea's gingerbread tree even lit up.

Aaron and Christy were the winners from the votes on social media.

 Later in the afternoon we got back together to go Christmas caroling.

 My favorite part was when we went caroling at a friend of my Aunt Rose's. 

After we finished caroling, the friend mentioned that she loves having Aunt Rose's piano.

We didn't even know where it had ended up at!

It was such a wonderful surprise.

Here is Chelsey in front of her mommy's piano.

It was such a special moment.

 The annual cousin picture was taken at almost 9:30 at night!

More smiles than I would have expected at that hour!

 The boat lives on in the gift exchange.

These fine people are winners of the past.

 Check out the newest member of the pirate ship club.  HA!

 My side of the family

 The following day we went bowling.

 Everyone had a great time!

To see more of our Penner memories from Christmas, 

click HERE or HERE to see two wonderful posts my sister in law wrote on her blog.