Parties, Parties, and More Parties!

December is a marathon month for us. But it is a marathon of party after party. One of the traditions with the Heider family is Christmas caroling after Sunday dinner before Christmas. There is a lot of complaining from the kids, but I love it, and I know it is my mother-in-law's favorite thing. I hope you continue the tradition, Jan! Here we are all piled in the car driving to homes to carol. Abby wanted to wear her goggles. It's cold out there!

All of us in our singing glory! Watch out Osmonds...the Heiders are taking over!

At the McCurdy house, we all put together a Christmas dinner to help out a family that we knew. It was exciting to watch all the kids so willing to help out.


We exchange gifts between the cousins. Parker picked out Miller's gift all by himself.

He knows Miller so well. Nothing like a weapon to liven things up! Thanks, Parker. Miller has slept with that bow several nights since he opened it.

Our annual Heider kids Christmas Party. We always get together for lunch, exchange presents, and decorate candy trains. 18 kids, plus frosting, and candy...you can imagine what follows!

Miller with his finished masterpiece. So proud. At least this year, most of the frosting was on the train. (His shirt is still white...yeah!)

All the Heider Grandkids.

Happy Anniversary!

Bret and I celebrated our 11th anniversary this month. Eleven years! Where does the time go? As I reflect on my life since I met Bret, I am flooded with some really great memories. I would be lying if I said that we never had a bad day, but we are human...and I wouldn't trade any moment or experience that we have had together because they have made us who we are as a couple and as a family. Bret is my best friend and an incredible father to our son. I love to see the two of them together. I wish I could slow time down, because I know that sooner than I would like, Miller will be all grown up, but I am excited for what the future holds for us. It has been an extraordinary ride so far, and I can't wait to see where life will take us.

I love you, Bret! Happy Anniversary!

Fun in Sun Valley

We took a mini vacation to the condo in Sun Valley with some friends and family. We were ready for a lot of fun in the snow, but surprisingly, there wasn't much of it...snow that is. We had tons of fun!

I love this picture. Miller is grinning from ear to ear and Denton looks like he is going to throw up. They were both laughing by the time they got to the bottom of the sledding hill.

Miller's feeble attempt to make a snow angel. He couldn't figure out why he couldn't get his legs to move. Sorry bud, a bit more snow would have been helpful. Or maybe just a different spot with more snow.

Having a great time!

The best part of running around outside...nap time!

He never listens!

I am always telling Bret that he never listens to me. I am convinced that most men have selective hearing. At our gift exchange this year, Bret ended up with this gift. So ironic, especially since this party happened to fall on our anniversary. It was a great party with lots of laughter and Yankee Swap fun!

Weekend in Utah

We went to Park City for the weekend with Chad and Gina and their family. We had a fun-filled day planned in SLC and we started with ice skating at the Gallivan Center downtown. It was packed, but we had a great time anyways. This was Miller's first time ever on the ice.

One time around the rink was enough for Miller. He didn't like slipping all over the place. So he was thrilled when we let him walk around the rink in his skates.

After the ice skating and lunch at Crown Burger, we hit the Gateway for some fun with the splash park. I had no idea that they run it even in 30 degree weather. That didn't stop the kids from playing in it.

Toby, Miller, and Abby were really enjoying the water while the rest of us were huddled around the fire. We tried to keep them as dry as possible because we still had lots to do and no change of clothes.

I love this shot of the three of them racing through the water.

In my 31 years of life, I have never seen the lights at Temple Square. That was the purpose of our whole weekend. It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It will definitely become an annual tradition for me. I will check the schedule for SLC next time, however. There were so many people at Temple Square and downtown...The Mormon Tabernacle Choir was performing, The Jazz were playing the Lakers, and The Forgotten Carols was somewhere there in the mix.

Miller and Bret at Temple Square outside the North Visitors Center. There were so many people there, I was lucky to get a picture with only the two of them in it.

Our little family. Not the best picture, but it was the perfect ending to the perfect day. Thanks to Chad and Gina and their family for letting us share that memory with them. We had the best time.

Snow day!

Happy to be outside in all the "white stuff".

Lots to explore around the house. Lots of snow to disturb with his footprints!


No day out in the snow is complete without a snow angel! And how happy I am that there is grass under our snow this year instead of mud! YEAH!

Enjoying the snow...not so much the cold.

The best part about being out in the cold? The hot cocoa when you come inside!

It's certainly Miller's favorite part.

We love Christmas time!

Miller is totally into Legos! They will certainly be the death of me, but I found this Lego Christmas advent calendar. He absolutely loves it. The first day I pulled it out and we opened one door, I explained that he only gets to open one a day and when he gets to the door that says 24, Santa will come that night. I guess he thought that meant if he started with the door that says 24, Santa would come that night even if it is only the 1st of December. I made him put that Lego guy back and he was not happy. But he does know that it is getting closer every day. Kids are so funny.

Miller helping me decorate our Christmas tree. Bret went hunting for this tree in the South Hills with his brothers. An annual tradition. He did a great job.

Got the thumbs up from my little helper.

Our finished product. And we didn't beak one ornament or knock the tree over. Success!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving day. Grandpa's basement. Grandpa had gone through his library and was getting rid of all these books. He had them all separated and organized on top of the pool table so we could go through them and take what we wanted before he got rid of them. Well...the boys got to it first. And grandpa took it pretty well. This is Miller attempting to help clean up the mess. We love you, Grandpa!

Thanksgiving at grandma's house.

The traditional kids table. It gets bigger every single year!



All the grandkids together for one picture. Of course it has to be a silly one!

Miller and his cousins. They are very close in age, and have the best time together, causing trouble of course!!

More fun with the cousins. They were so proud that they put the puzzle together..and then the boys tore it apart!

Family Pictures

I finally booked us some family pictures. Paula did a fantastic job. Check out her blog. It's on my blog list.

Miller fell asleep on the way to the hills where we took the pictures. He wasn't too thrilled about taking pictures, but we finally talked him into it and he really warmed up to the photographer.

Miller kept giving us that really goofy smile. I love this picture because it captures that sweet personality of his. He is quite the mischievous boy, but when he breaks into this smile, he just melts my heart.


I love this picture. Our little family. We needed some new pictures for our adoption profile, so hopefully these pictures will be out-of-date and we will be a family of four, sooner rather than later!

Boys......So frustrating!

I walked into my closet the other day after bringing Miller home from preschool and happened to glance down at this pair of shoes. To my surprise it looked like there was water in my favorite pair of shoes. Upon closer inspection I discovered that it wasn't water....

....for reasons he still cannot explain, Miller thought that peeing in my shoe was a better option than peeing in my toilet! What was he thinking? I hope this was a one time thing. Needless to say, I check my shoes before putting them on!

Cooking Class

Miller's preschool class offered a cooking class for kids and their families. It was so much fun. They had the kids do everything...including cracking the eggs! Miller had the best time.

He loved making the biggest mess.

Teamwork!

We got to take some of the cookie dough home to share with Daddy. We had the best time.

Hanging out with the boys

It's hard to get all that energy out when it's too cold outside to play. We have a great warehouse full of inflatable slide that does the trick. We just throw in a couple of cousins and it makes for a great afternoon!

Miller loves the ball pit. Mom just hates having to collect all the balls he throws out of the ball pit. On a previous trip to this particular ball pit, Miller was put in time out by a staff member for throwing the balls out of the pit. In one ear and out the other! Or maybe it is just his selective male hearing?

What a bunch of goofballs. I managed to get all four of them to hold still for this picture because they can't all fit through the exit at the same time!