Kevin and Sonja's Joys

 Sweet little connor fell asleep on his big brother.  That doesn't happen very often so I had to take a picture.
 Kevin was gone for a week in Arizona and we just kept getting snow and more snow and more snow.  Kam was a great helper shoveling for us.

 Not only was there a ton of snow but super cold too.  The kids had school cancelled three days in a row after Winter Break.  It went well into the negatives.
 Brynn is always doing little acts of kindness to everyone in our home.  She gave this to me when Kevin was gone.  She always makes my day with her sunshine even if we don't see the sun for a long time here.
 Kevin had a good time in Arizona.  He even got to see his brother and his family.  I wish I could've gone!

 Life in the winter at the Staples Home.  Wrestle!  Wrestle!  Wrestle!  We are so happy to have daddy home.
 We love going to the temple.  The kids go with us and we always take them out to eat after.  They love going to the temple too!  Food is a great motivation:)
 Ashleigh made these owl pillows all by herself.  She is our little crafter.  She got these for Christmas from Andrew.
 Wow, 72 cookies sold in a few days.  I won't be surprised if Brynn becomes a sales person.  She wins everyones hearts with her sweet personality and smile.  She loves selling too!
 Kam playing with my phone.
 Like big brother, like little brother!
 Kevin took the kids on a walk by our lake while I had a meeting.  The kids had fun walking on the frozen lake.
 I think all the kids love snow and anything frozen since they've seen the movie FROZEN.  We hear song after song sung in our home!
 This is where Ashleigh decided to put her owls.  They match perfectly in her room.

 Connor loves going to the grocery store especially when he gets to ride the penny horse!

 This quilt was made for Andrew by a sweet friend years ago.  Now Connor loves using it everyday  for his nap.
 Here is Olaf from FROZEN.  He was my favorite character in that movie.

 This is the best toy ever.  Everyone in the family loves to use duplos.  I can already see that Andrew and Connor are following the footsteps of their big brother.  They love to build and create new structures with legos.
 Brynn has been asking for these kind of pajamas forever.  I finally found some on clearance for her.  She is a happy camper.
 Ashleigh has been wearing her glasses since the Fall.  Brynn wanted to be just like her so she bought some fake ones at Claires to be like her big sister.  She looks really cute in them.  She loves to wear them to school too.
 I took Connor to storytime by himself for the first time.  He is always with Andrew.  I can't believe how much he loved it.  He was a completely different person without Andrew.  Connor is our little social boy and loves to go to new places like his mother.  He loved to dance and sing and listen to the stories.  He didn't cling to me like he usually does.  It was a sweet day to watch his little personality come out.
 Ski Club!  Gotta love that hat!  Its from his mission and he loves to stay warm in it.  Ashleigh and Kevin do ski club every Thursday.  This year has been perfect with lots of snow.
 Andrew is always trying to serve me just like his dad.  He has a sweet heart to always help.
 Connor loves the snow.
 Surprise!  This just made my day.  My friend just brought these over to me just because!
 I get to go to SWEDEN!  I'm super excited to be with my cousin Kelli and Mark.  This is a once in a lifetime trip.  I leave in March and I get to do a dog sled ride for a few days and explore Stockholm for a few days. I was names after a Swedish ice skater and I'm Swedish.  This is such a blessing. I bought these hats for Kelli and I to wear and then we got the guys the boy version of these hats.
 We have a new trampoline place in town and the boys had to try it out.  Connor loved every minute of it.  It was nice to get his energy out!  It has been too cold to go outside to play.
 It took a while for Andrew to get used to the new place but after a while he loved jumping too.
 Brynn's favorite dish is hawaiian haystacks.  I'm so glad she loves the food that I loved growing up.  She is always requesting this meal.  It make us think of our grandparents in Hawaii!
 The kids had fun making Valentines for grandmas and grandpas.  Well, Kam didn't have that much fun but everyone else did.
 I hit a curb a few weeks ago and caused some damage to the front right part of the car.  It was supposed to cost a lot more than we paid.  We are grateful for God's tender mercies that the damage wasn't worse.  The boys loved going to the auto shop because there was always popcorn and candy!
Connor loves the big shopping cart!  I don't use it all the time because its very hard to manuever but this was a fun day for him!

 It's snow time!  This is the first of the year!
 Brr...it's cold!
Snow Fort Time!
 Ashleigh did a candy bar exchange at school and this is the one she got!
 Connor loved this pink barbie car while we stayed with Kary and Emmy in Wisconsin.  It was a fun 4 1/2 day trip.

 Off to sled in the freezing 7 degree weather!  I didn't last very long.
 Aaron and Kimberly were so sweet to play games with the kids.
 Andrew bonding with his cousin Faye.  He is so used to playing with his sisters that it was easy to play with Faye.
 Sister in Law Megan did the fun photo shoot while Sister in Law Kristi made the best Christmas meal!
 Kam loves pics! Can't you tell?   While driving over to Aunt Kristi's house all the kids say she makes the best treats.  It's true!  I put on a few extra pounds that weekend.
 Andrew got a cape and mask made by his cousin Faye.  Kevin is posing for this gift:)
 Brynn made this infinity scraf for Kimberly.  She looked beautiful in it and it matched perfect with the outfit she was wearing.  She is the oldest cousin.  She is our BYU girl.
 After the Christmas gathering we took some of the cousins shopping to the outlets.  The cold doesn't stop us from shopping!
 Brynn and Audrey had fun making cows from the busy box.  I think they tried every craft that is sold at Michaels.
 More snow time with cousins.  Building forts are so much fun.
 Kam and Kimo had fun playing Monopoly with Uncle Kary.  I can't believe I loved playing Monopoly as a kid.
 We had a fun nail party!
 Andrew loved playing with the Lincoln logs.  He's our builder.
 Lexi, Ash and Andrew had fun sledding.
Kimo and Kam really bonded.
 These boys are so sweet toether.  I didn't understand why Andrew's shirt looked so small.  He was wearing Connor's shirt.  Oops!
 Ashleigh made this infinity scarf for Lexi.
 The kids loved going to Chuck E. Cheese after Christmas.
One weekend we got to do game night with our friends.  Its our favorite thing to do in the Winter.
 Sweet Connor is cuddling with Uncle Kody!  It's so great to be with family.
 We were in charge of making the name tags for the Christmas party.  Ashleigh and I made them!
 What a reunion it was to have four of Kevin's siblings together for the Christmas season.  I was in charge of the Nativity and I used the material my friend gave me and made the costumes!
 Here are the three kings.
 The sweet angels!
 Wise Wise Shepherds that will not be separated.
 Mary, Joseph, Mary and the great donkey
 Acting out the Nativity.  This was one of my favorite moments with family.
 All the cousins exchanged presents.  They had to give something from their home or make it.
 Lexi and Ash had a blast sewing pillows for their sisters.  Shh, it's a surprise.
 Kary and Emmy were kind to put up with our chaos of five children.  I feel overjoyed with how well the cousins bonded.
 I love this pic.  This was taken at a park near our home when there was a freeze.  So beautiful
 We got to have Christmas eve with Kody and Megan.  all the kids got to open up their pajamas.
 Merry Christmas!
 Good Morning!  It's Christmas Day.  All the kids are ready to walk down and see what they got from Santa.
 Connor just needed oreos.  He is super happy for treats.
 Ash was so nice to make bacon to go with our eggs for our breakfast.
 Kam found the pickle this year on the tree which is our tradition but Andrew cried so much that Kam said Andrew found it.  What a nice bro.
 Brynn loved her art easel she got.  She hasn't stopped playing with it yet.
 Connor is waiting his turn to open his presents.
 Andrew loved putting together his puzzle he got from Kam.  The kids each drew a name to give a sibling a present.
 Here is the pillow Ashleigh made Brynn.  It matches their room perfectly.
 Skis, Skis!  Ashleigh gets to do her first year of skiing.
 Every year I wrap the kids presents in a different wrapping paper.  Here is what I wrapped the presents in this year.
 Ashleigh is our singer and is enjoying her new karaoke machine.
 Grammy and Grampy Staples gave them all Hawaii shirts.  They love wearing them.  It reminds them that there really is sun out there somewhere.
 The boys love their sea turtle shirts.  Look at those cute feet.
 Kam got risk and ticket to ride game.  He can't stop thinking about playing.  It's been a fun Christmas break playing with him.
 This is the first time Kevin got to be home for most of the Christmas break.  This is a new tradition.  We loved having him home.  We rode the trolly.
 It was so cold outside but Brynn still insisted on riding the trolley outside.  She didn't mind the weather one bit.
 Connor loved the trolly too.
 Happy Trolly Riding.
 Having fun walking the park downtown.  We love all the decorations.
 Here are the boys Christmas outfits.
 The girls Christmas outfits and Kam wouldn't pose.  I'll have to get him another time.
 I hit a curb last Sunday and I made it home.  Kevin said it was a miracle.  I had no idea it sliced the tire and should've flatted instantly.  I know it's God's tender mercy.  I thought for sure we had to pay for a new tire and they replaced it for free.  I'm so grateful.
 All the kids got to choose something to do during the break.  Brynn chose to bowl.
 Kam played the games while they waited for the girls to finish up bowling.  These boys won 5,600 tickets.
 Ashleigh chose to go out to a restaurant so we had her favorite, spaghetti and meatballs.  I loved how everything was decorated.  Very Italian.
 We took the kids ice skating at our local University.
 It was so much fun to have time with Ashleigh.  Brynn was at a birthday party and Kevin stayed home with the boys while they napped.
 Ben and Kam forgot how to ice skate.  They needed some with the ice walkers.  Not really, but it looked fun for them.
 Happy New Year!  We went to our friends house to play games on New Year's Eve.  We loved it.
 They had a dress up parade at the party.  Ashleigh was a clown, hula dancer fighter.  Very creative.
 Our new tradition is serving the homeless on New Year's Day.
 My new year's goal is to have a green smoothie a day for 30 days and to not eat sugar for 21 days.  I have to get off all the Christmas pounds.
 Andrew and connor got this castle for Christmas.  They loved watching a movie in it for Friday movie night.
 Brynn is ready to go down the hill.  This is our third time sledding.  We've had a lot of snow already this year.
 Connor insisted on going down the hill all by himself for a full hour and he was in charge of taking up his sled.  He did great.  He was the smallest sledder there!
 I wanted to swim at the Y so after we swam the kids played raquetball.
 We have two little heaters that we love to use at night time before we go to bed.  The kids love to read books by the heater to get warm.
 So warm.  It's perfect to get them ready for bed.
 When Kevin is out of town the kids each get to take a turn to sleep with me.  Ash got the first night.  The simple things are so exciting for kids.
 Yummy chocolate chip pancakes made by Ashleigh.