To the Aquarium we go with cousins...

It is bitter cold outside so anywhere we can go that is inside, we will be repeating a lot this winter and the aquarium is one of those places.

Jax, Rio, Ethan and Tyler enjoying the ride of the "wild frog"

Aunt Kisty and Ethan hanging out by the baby sharks

Aunt Kristin, Brinlee, Hayden and Tyler with the sharks too

Rio, Ethan and Jax "row, row, rowing"

Jax decided that the fish weren't fun enough and that he needed to climb this tree instead - tons of energy for this one :)

All the Morris cousins :)

*Rio, Jax, Austin, Ethan, Brinlee, Hayden, Tyler and Cole out front*

The Gilbert crew

Erin and Cole

Me & the kiddos minus Logan

*What a fun, fun day at the aquarium*

Christmas 2012

Okay, I took WAY TOO MANY pictures on Christmas so this post is only going to get a small taste of our fabulous day together and with our extended families.  It was a wonderful day and I am so, so grateful for the generosity and kindness/thoughtfulness of my family and I am especially so grateful for the celebration of our Savior on this day.  How grateful I am to have a Savior and a testimony of Him!

Well, here was what Santa left for the kiddies this year!

*Sleds, scooters, tea sets, dress-ups, shirts/pj's, slippers, books and a few small toys*

Yum-yum!  Santa ate up almost all of his cookies and he took almost all the carrots out to the reindeer too!

Rio and I showing off her adorable head bands from her stocking.  She insisted I wear one too!  Oh man, she's beautiful isn't she?

Spence and the boys showing off their dress-ups & little stuffed puppies

Spence and Logan opening up his stocking gifts.  I wrap up all their stuff in their stockings (a tradition from my granny) and Santa also leaves a few goodies :)

Woo-hoo!!! We got the kids hoppity horses this year too and they LOVE them!  They are so cute to watch hop around

After our fun, we moved onto the Morris fam household and enjoyed everyone there.  Grandma and Grandpa Morris got the trips a Rapunzel doll and the boys got Flynn Ryder.  They were on cloud 9!  Thanks so much - this is where they hung out almost the entire time we were there playing with their stuff.

All Hail King Jax!

Mike's mom (so my brother-in-law's mom - so incredibly nice) made these for the boys so now they have "boy" dress-ups and don't have to wear Rio's princess dresses.

Aren't they absolutely adorable!!!  She is amazingly talented and so sweet to do that for us - thank Kristin and Grandma Jan

Here's Austin's "kingly wear"

We got G&G Morris a hot air balloon ride this year for Christmas.  So fun I thought.  Bonnie had mentioned to me a few years ago that she really wanted to do that "someday".  Well, someday is now :)

My parents got the kids their scooter helmets and they wore them around almost all night.  Halle joined in the crew for this pic with my mom

Here is some of the Fank kids (Zak, Anna, Ella and Gabe) and my dad to the left.

Rio, Logan and I wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful day with our incredible families!  Love you all so much!

Temple Square Lights with the Morris Fam

I love the month of December because it is honestly filled with traditions!  That is why I love the holidays, tradition and fun that I now get to share with my kiddos.

We made our annual trip to Temple Square this year for the lights.  It was a mad house when we went because it was a pretty warm night so everyone was out and about but it was still so much fun and gorgeous to see all the lights.

*Spence and Ranger with Jax*

Grandma Morris carting around Rio so she could see the manger scene.  Rio was in heaven.

The whole family (well, the ones that were there)

*Hayden, Brinlee and Tyler with Mike behind them. Marc with Austin, Kristin, Spence with Rio, Grandma, Me with Logan and Ranger with Jax*

 

(Just another shot)

This picture is so fun I think because of the crazy lights behind us!  So cool what lights do in pictures

*Our little family*

GORGEOUS!!! Love the temples that we are blessed to live by!

Rio, Austin and Marc checking out the memory pond

WHY DO YOU HAVE ME IN THIS TIGHT POOH-BEAR ONE-SIE??

Oh, okay, I'm alright now mom

He's adorable!!!!

Rio, Spence, Erin, Cole and Jon

 

The Gilbert crew

Me and the trips!  We were looking at all the lanterns

Erin and Cole - "hmmm Aunt Summer, quit taking so many pics!"

Me, Logan, Marc and Austin

It really was a warmer night, we got so lucky and had a great time

Austin was connected to Marc's shoulders if you can't tell by all the pictures of them together.  Thanks so much Uncle Marc!  My kiddos absolutely adore you!

Austin, Marc, Spence, Jon and Erin

This was Jax's attitude at the end.  Ha-ha.  He literally stopped walking.  He wouldn't even come as we moved on and left him behind for a minute to see if he would catch up.  Nope! He didn't - he just stayed on the ground.  Love that kid! 

Anderson Family Scone Breakfast '12

Woo-hoo!!! Fav tradition of mine!  Love, love, love seeing my awesome Anderson family.  They are so much fun and such wonderful people!

We got together, ate some yummy scones and talked and played - it was so great to see everyone...well almost everyone :(  There were lots of people absent this year so I'm banking on next year having everyone

*Barry, Steph, Haley, Aunt Betty, Sky, my mom*

*Gabe, Allie holding my Logan, Uncle Jeff, Corinne and Kayla*

*Zak and Cody in front*

(Same pic as above with just me at the end by my mom and not with Steph)

This was where the real party was...downstairs with Spence and of course, the kids!!

*Rio, Austin, Anna, Mia, Luke & Bailey*

*Jax, Luke, Rio sliding down, Austin showing off his bear, and Spence and the girls behind*

My Aunt Betty with Logan - she was making him laugh so hard; it was so cute to watch!

After the scones and chit chat...the kids all played wrestling time with Spence and each other.  Cute cousin Gabe took down Rio and she absolutely loved it!

We came home to a beautiful sight after...these gorgeous deer were in our neighbors side yard right by our driveway.  So amazing!  They were close enough to ride :) I told Austin he should go get on and once Rio heard deer, she started singing "Rudolph"

*So lucky to have these little creatures so close during the winter*

Quadruple Triplet Playdate

I know I post all the time about our triplet friends but here's another one.  We got together with 3 other families and had a fun playdate, lunch and Christmas cookie decorating date.  It was a blast!

Thanks Roxy, Ang and Kara!

Here we are eating lunch with all the kiddos

Ang and Roxy making the frosting for the cookies

We're waiting...

Finally they got their cookies and well, you can tell they didn't do a whole lot of decorating but mostly they just ate them separately in giant gulps.

Austin and Rio decorating their cookies - these two actually did quite well.  You can see Rio's got her red sprinkles as well

Jax on the other hand pretty much just ate his frosting from his knife :)

These 3 little cuties added the 13, 14 & 15 kids to our triplet mix.  These little ones were all born within 4 weeks of each other.

*Spencer, Karson and my Logan*

And here they all are - all 15 little cuties!!

*Sunny, Christian, Gabe, Spencer, Karson, Logan, Hunter, Lia, Avery, Jax, Reese, Rio, Austin, Lucas and Caden*

 

What a blast it is to be in all the chaos and love every, single minute!