Airport

LeeAnn stayed with me for a couple of days after Mom and Dad left for the MTC. She was a ton of help and made things a little bit easier.

We all saw Mom & Dad off at the airport. It was a very emotional day. We are so excited to have Mom and Dad serve a mission. We are so grateful for their service and example. We also miss them terribly!

I have been an emotional wreck this week. I will gladly blame the pregnancy. We sure do love and miss you Mom & Dad. On a fun note, we have had four family members all in the MTC together this week. My parents (Micronesia Guam Mission), my brother Dallin (Las Vegas Spanish Speaking Mission), and Rich's sister Ann (California San Fernando Spanish Speaking Mission). We are so proud of you all!

Santa Gifts

Christmas morning was so much fun. The kids always seem to make it magical. We had a lot of fun together with just our family opening gifts. Then, we headed out to Gordon and Jenn's house for a fun day of scones for brunch and hanging out together. Thanks for hosting and making Christmas so much fun this year Gordon & Jenn!

Lydia with her new camera.

Rachel with her baby doll "with socks and shoes" and a bottle.

Jacob with his rip stick.

Richie with his marble toy.

Christmas Morning

We have a tradition of lining up on the stairs on Christmas morning. The kids get to come down one at a time and see what Santa has brought.

Christmas Eve

We went to the Dallas Bar Association Christmas Party. We left at 5:30pm in hopes to arrive by 6:00pm. It started to ice outside and there were lots of accidents. We arrived at 7:50pm and the party ended at 8:00pm. The kids were such troopers. Luckily we were able to see Santa before the party ended. We arrived back home about 9:30pm.

We went to Jared & Sara's home for Christmas Eve. Dad read a story to all of the kids before we went home. Thanks to Jared and Sara for a very fun evening.

All of the kids got to share a talent. Most of the kids sang. Lydia played her violin while Anna played her guitar and Maddie sang.

Dad and Emily together.

Kankles

OK--This post is just for you Gordy. Gordy calls fat ankles kankles. So, I thought that I should show mine off. I think that they get bigger each day. The worst part is that the tops of my feet get swollen too. So, today I wore slippers everywhere. Not one pair of shoes would fit. But on the bright side--my toes do look nice.

Getting ready for Christmas

We got out Christmas decorations for FHE.
Rachel quickly found the non-breakable nativity to play with.

The kids got to decorate the tree all by themselves this year.

They did a great job!

Jacob's Baptism

ALL of the Foote's were together for Jacob's baptism. So, we took a family picture. We also wanted to have a picture for Mom and Dad Foote for their mission.

Our family right before the baptism.

Jacob and Rich all in white. What a special day Jacob!

Linnae and I posing after dinner. Linnae is also expecting a girl--just one month after me.

We had a lot of good-byes to say. Can you tell that I have been crying all day! Within 24 hours, Dallin left for his mission, Grandma Evans went back to Utah, the Vallerys went back to Arizona, and Linnae and Brett moved to Wyoming. Rich's whole family that was in town also left. It was very emotional. We truly loved being with all of the Foote's and Phillips for such a special weekend.