Christmas Part Dos - Hanks

There was a big change in my family since the last time I was home. Unfortunately I didn't get as many pictures as I should have. First, my parents moved!! They didn't move far from their old place, but the new house is exactly what they needed. Much bigger in the kitchen and living areas. I thought I would miss our old house however my parents had done a fantastic job making the new place feel like home. Being with my family is completely different than the hubby's. I have three sisters, two of which are married, but none of us have kids. So it is a lot more calm and relaxing. We love going to both places - it's a nice mix. We had tons of fun with my fam. Lots of eating out and eating in, movies, bowling, shopping, and just hanging out! It is always great to be home for Christmas.

We went bowling the day after Christmas. Above are our best bowling poses. Serious Sharice, Neat Niccole, Astounding Analese, and Combat Curt.

We take this pretty seriously.

Fam photo. Do you love the masked man? Oh, that would be my husband. After we got extremely sick at his parents house, he got a cold sore and was so embarrassed about it...he wore a mask for the next few days! It was so funny. I loved it when we would go out and people would gawk at him - we mouthed to the gawkers "Anthrax" while pointing to Rich.

It's become a tradition to have a friend hoedown for the holidays. This year we hosted it at my parents house. It was so good to see everyone! We caught up, ate soup and treats, played ping pong and reminisced. I wish I would have got a picture before everyone left...next time.

Do you love Rich in his new Adidas suit? His only Christmas wish...my goodness, it has become an obsession.

The besties.

Christmas Part Uno - Babies, babies & More Babies

Look at this chocolate face. What's not to love? For Rich's Christmas break and me saving all of my time off, we were able to go back to Utah. Rarely, Rich's whole family was there this year. When I say whole family, I mean all nine siblings and their families. Needless to say there were a billion people there. We did a lot of fun things but we started the vacation off right by hitting up ColdStone. If I could choose two things to eat for the rest of my life it would be ice cream and cereal...that's how much I love ice cream.

We also had a fun filled night at Trafalga. The kids rode rides, we played miniature golf (I beat Ricardo), laser tag, rock climbing and what I spent most of the night doing was climbing through those hard tubes and riding down the slide. Like the ones at McDonald's Playplace. James (boy above with ice cream all over his face) wasn't big enough to pull himself up on a step in the middle of the tube maze, so I was the designated Aunt that volunteered to go - times 20. I forgot how old I was. My knees hurt, my back ached, my hair was a static mess. Anything for a slide ride :)
Some of the nieces and nephews. This is right before Ricardo & I got virally sick. I mean really sick. Like throw up 15 times and other things, sleeping in the bathroom, and not eating for two days sick. It was the worst I have ever had it. Looking at those lollipops gives me a slight tummy ache.

The Nativity and Santa's visit was a complete comedy. When you are at the Bell's you have to expect someone to be crying and screaming at all times. This definitely held true Christmas Eve.

Above was date night with all of the adults and the tiny babes. This was the first time since Rich and I have been married that we went out with just the siblings and their spouses. It was really nice for a change. And we can't forget the babies below. Four of his five sisters were all pregnant at the same time! They tried to get me to jump on the bandwagon - um, no thanks for now.

Pictures Galore

These past few months have been busy, so these next few posts are going consist of a lot of pictures and a lot less talk.

At the Trick or Trunk with Ashley. We actually knew the kids this year making it much more fun.

Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love dressing up - Ricardo doesn't share this same passion, but he is a good sport. The Graffs' were nice enough to throw another Halloween party. Last year we went and didn't dress up because we didn't want to be the only fools...one of my biggest regrets and I wasn't going to let it happen again. This year we were Russell and the Grandpa from Up!! Thanks to my church calling in scouts I already had most of the costume. We went and grabbed Rich some glasses and some silver hair spray and we were good to go. Super easy and comfortable!

The Parks in our ward were nice enough to invite us and a few other couples over to their house for Thanksgiving. They made us feel right at home and the food was amazing. After dinner we played with their kids and scoured the infamous ads. We love the Parks!

Naomi and I...she's adorable

The Graffs' once again were amazing and planned a Hot Cocoa get together with all the second year med students before we all took off for Christmas. We really enjoy hanging out with these peeps.

This is Tamara. She is my best friend at work. She is absolutely hilarious and I think the world of her. Tamara turned 50 on Dec 9 and threw a wild birthday party. We ate, everyone else drank, Tamara entertained us with her beautiful voice and riotous songs such as "Camel Toe", we met her family and friends and loved every minute of it!

Christmas posts to come soon.