Happy New Year!

Playing at the Park

Snow!

The day after Christmas we went to Show Low to play in the snow!  We rented a cabin with the Owen's family, and stayed two nights.  We had so much fun!  It was Caden's first time in snow and he loved it.  The weather ended up being pretty good.  It had snowed a few days earlier, but it was actually pretty warm with highs in the 50s.

The boys without their shirts because we were eating spaghetti. 

The kids (and Matt!) couldn't wait to get out and play in the snow.  Even though it was getting dark, when we got there, they went out and made this cute snowman.  It actually lasted the whole time that we were there, at least until Caden knocked the head off, but the body was still standing. 

Ashlyn, Hadley, and Caden coloring.  Caden had so much fun playing with his cousins.  They are all so nice to him, and he loved being with them. 

We also went sledding!  This is Austin going down the hill. 

Matt and Ashlyn 

Here is Caden all decked out in his snow gear. 

Me and Ashlyn.  This was my first time sledding ever, so I was a little bit nervous.  It ended up being so much fun!   

Matt and Caden going down the hill.  Unfortunately Caden was a little scared, and didn't seem to enjoy the sledding much.  Maybe it will be funner when he gets a bit bigger. 

My two cute boys!

Christmas With Grandma Shobe

Then we went to see Grandma Shobe . . .

After Caden opened his presents we went home to get dressed and Caden took a nap.  Then we went back to Grandma Shobe's house for Christmas dinner.  Caden let me take a few pictures of him in her backyard with his cute Christmas outfit on.

Christmas With Grandma Nancy & Papa

After Caden opened his presents from Santa we went over to my parents house for biscuits and gravy (yum!) and more presents.  Caden was really getting into opening the presents now, and there was definitely no help required from us. 

 Grandma Nancy

 Uncle Mikey



Caden & Papa 

Caden sized table from Uncle Mikey & Christina.  Caden keeps trying to make Matt sit at the table with him. :) 

Caden has his very own convertible.  He got a little nervous when he saw that it moved, so I guess that he is going to need to practice his driving a little.  I'm sure that he will be a pro in no time.

Christmas Morning

We had to wake Caden up early on Christmas morning to open his presents from Santa before we had to leave.  (We are lucky to have lots of family to see on Christmas!!)  He was perfectly happy to get up once he saw that Santa had come.  This year was really fun with Caden because he was so excited to open presents and see what he got.  I'm thinking that next year we may not be the ones waking him up.

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve with Matt's family.  We had turkey dinner and got to open some presents.  Caden always loves to see his cousins!

Christmas with Mike and Beth

Tonight we celebrated Christmas with Matt's dad and Beth.  We had yummy food and lots of fun!

Caden got a hot wheels track that goes on the wall.  He also got a Cars game and a Transformer.

Matt got some hair clippers and a new hoodie.

Here's Mike with the grand kids.  We are missing Noah and Delilah since they are in Sweden and the Coles because they couldn't come from Alabama. 

Our little family. 

Caden loves loves loves his new hot wheels track.  In fact it's 9:45pm right now and he is refusing to go to bed because he is still playing with it.  I guess that we should've waited until tomorrow to put it up.    

I love my new wreath! 

and my new table centerpiece!  Thank you so much for everything!!

Santa Picture

We hadn't taken Caden to get a picture with Santa this year, so we decided that we would go tonight.  We didn't really want to pay a fortune for a picture at the mall especially when I was pretty sure that Caden would not want to have anything to do with sitting on Santa's lap.  I remembered that they were taking free pictures with Santa at Bass Pro Shop plus they had a free Christmas craft, so we decided to go over there.  When we got to Bass Pro Shop at 6:15 or so, they said that they had given out all of the passes for Santa pictures for that day.  This made me a little mad because their website said that Santa pictures are until 8pm and makes no mention of having to get a pass.  We decided that we would at least be able to make the Christmas craft which was decorating cookies.  Well we waited in line, and went it got to our turn they ran out of cookies.  Anyways I am not really excited about Bass Pro Shop anymore, but here are a few pictures of what we did do while we were there.

 They had a free carousel ride.

 Caden liked the really cool big fish.

He also liked "riding" on the quad.

Since we were not able to get a Santa picture at Bass Pro Shop we decided to go to this house near where we used to live.  The people who live there have the house all decked out with Christmas lights, and the man dresses up as Santa and poses for pictures.  It was really nice with a short line and free hot chocolate.  We definitely should've just gone there first!  Caden was not too excited about sitting on Santa's lap, but he was distracted by all of the candy canes. 

He was ready to get down once he had his candy cane!

Zoo Lights

We went to Zoo Lights at the Phoenix Zoo last night, and we had so much fun.  It was a little chilly but definitely not freezing, and Caden was so excited about all the lights.  His new favorite phrase is "oh my gosh!" and we heard that several times while we were there.

 You probably only see scorpion Christmas light in Arizona!

Caden kept saying that he wanted to ride the camel, and I thought that he would probably chicken out last minute.  I was wrong though.  As soon as it was over he was begging to go again.