Sadie's Birthday, The Train Park and Temple Lights

Sadie's 6th Birthday

We got to celebrate Sadie's birthday with her by eating pizza (her request) at our house. Tiffany made some wonderful ice cream cakes too. It was fun to share Sadie's special day with her. We love you, Sadie!

 

Train Park

Jeff's parents arrived in Mesa on Thursday, Dec 27 so they could be here for Claire's baptism. My Mom also came for the baptism and she arrived on Friday, Dec 28. We went to The Train Park in Scottsdale right after my Mom arrived. BJ & Shannon's family, Holly & Jeff's family, Ty & Tiff's girls, my Mom, The Boyers and I all went. We went to the museum, the train displays and we rode on the train.

                                                                                  

 Kylie is almost as tall as Grandma Clark!

The kids and some of the adults rode on the carousel. Kylie opted to ride in the covered wagon instead of an animal.

 

 

 The kids at the train museum: Sadie, Claire, Ethan, Lexi, Kylie & Sam (and BJ)

 At the train displays.

 In line for our train ride.

 Grandma Clark, BJ, Shannon, Hannah and I on the train - ready for our ride!

 Holly and Wayne & Sue Boyer on the train car in front of us.

 BJ, Jeff and the kids getting on the train. 

Mesa Temple Lights

We went to see the Mesa Temple lights on Friday night. It was a chilly night for us wimpy Arizonans! Even the out of towners thought it was cold, so we're not all that wimpy I guess.

 Brodi and Sadie wanted to hold Grandma Clark's hands all night. They sure love her!

 

 4 generation picture at the temple.

 

The night before their baptism. What better way to spend the evening?

 The whole gang, except for Tiffany, who was taking the picture. Thanks, Tiff!

 

 

Quads, Goldmines, Bank Robbers and kids at work!

This little guy was in HEAVEN when Uncle Ty brought out his quad for the kids to take turns riding! Ethan dreams of having his own quad someday when they live in their forever house. Tyler scored major points with Ethan this trip!

 And Claire loved it too - and did very well all by herself.

 Ethan and Sam waiting their turn to ride the quad. These two little guys were born the same day - within 2 hours of each other. Sam is older, but Ethan is definitely taller! They sure are cute.

Goldfield Mine

BJ, Sam Brodi, Holly, Jeff, Claire, Ethan and Bryan and I went to Goldfield Mine one afternoon. The Boyers went on a tour of the old gold mine while BJ, his kids and Papa went on a train ride. I kicked back and waited for all of them. While we were there, the volunteers performed a gun show for us. It was really fun to watch. Here are some pictures of us at the gold mine.

 It was crazy because the cowboy kept telling Ethan to point the gun at him for the picture. However, Ethan had just had a lesson on guns when we went shooting and Uncle Tyler told him to never point a gun at anybody, so Ethan was very reluctant. This was as close as he would get to pointing the gun at him. Good for Ethan for listening!

Claire got a mineral kit for Christmas where she had to dig for rocks in a sand block. She and Jeff spent hours digging her rocks out and she loved it! Notice the safety glasses? Good job, Claire!

 While they were doing that, Ethan was hard at work in the back yard putting nails in some boards that Papa found for him. Good work, Ethan!

Christmas Day - Merry Christmas!

It was so fun to have Holly, Jeff, Claire & Ethan with us on Christmas Morning. Here is a picture of them as they waited for Papa to turn on the Christmas tree lights and check to see if Santa came.

 

Here is Ethan with his presents.

 And Claire with hers.

I am so impressed with Claire and Ethan. Some of their main Christmas presents were left by Santa at their home in St. Louis and they couldn't open them until they got home. There was not a word of complaint - they were thrilled with everything they received! Ethan was especially excited about his little pack of tic tacs! 

After we opened presents from Santa, it was time for the rest of the family to come over for our traditional German Pancakes and to open more presents from Nana and Papa. Here are some pictures of us opening presents on Christmas Day.

 Kylie and her new bike

On Christmas Day, BJ and Shannon went to Glendale to visit with Shannon's family and Ty, Tiff, Holly, Jeff and Bryan and I went to see the new movie Les Miserables. The kids all stayed at Ty and Tiff's house with Kylie babysitting. The movie was fabulous - we all enjoyed it very much.

Here are some gingerbread houses that the men helped the kids with. They did a great job!