Final snow pictures.

 My sweet brother was kind enough to let my sister and I bring our kiddos up to go sledding in the field behind his house.  He has lots of fun "toys" to pull them behind so we spent several hours there while they indulged our children (and M.) with tons of sledding fun. Thanks again Dan, Colleen and fam, we had so much fun.  (E's in the blue coat btw. Riding with his cute cousins).

 See what I mean about indulging M?

 X. rode in that little trooper-car-thing (I have no idea what it's called) the entire time.  Those girls were so sweet to keep him.

 My brother also had this amazing rock wall that he let the boys climb.  E. mostly just swung around pretending to be Spiderman.  He even tucked his legs up and hung upside down for a second.  He is still talking about that.

It was oodles of fun.  Family makes everything fun right?

Flu filled holidays

Our holidays were lovely in Utah.  They were so lovely that they needed to be filled with throw up and diarrhea to make them just that much sweeter.  So, the gift came and we all spent a lot of time sick.  Between sickness though we were able to have this much fun.  Check out this spread.  It was a surprise that was beautiful, kind and so wonderful.  I didn't get many pictures but here's some pre-meal chatting.

 Papa helped X. open his present.  He was so excited.  If my boys are anything, they're definitely animated.

 He was looking to see what it was.

 Then he realized it was Salty the Train and he lost his little one-year old mind into happiness overload.  Look at that face!  Priceless.

 If you know X. this is his happy stance accompanied with an "Oh!"

 He was so overwhelmingly happy he then threw it in the air!  Happiness is expressed in all forms huh?

 These boys were so cute.  I love that feeling when you give a gift that the love and are so happy about.

 Christmas Eve was right before the barfing for M. started so we were still having a lovely time at this point.  Here are the boys new jammies.

 This was the best shot I could get.  Sad huh?

 Between these shots was quite the miserable night for Mom and Dad, and not because we spent all night putting together toys.  So, M stayed in bed and I woke up to look at stockings with these crazy kids.

 Our stocking tradition is...unique.  We use pantyhose and fill them to the brim with canned goods, shampoo, toothbrushes etc.  Then they get toys and treats hanging all around with loads of goodies underneath.  This is X's and the next is E's.  Next time you see M. ask him about stuffing stockings while eating sausage pizza.  I don't think he'll ever look at sausage or pizza the same again.  TMI?  Maybe.

 Then we begin the crazy Christmas morning of craziness.

 M.'s position by the fire.  Nearly my entire family comes to visit for breakfast that morning so he had visitors that didn't come too close but would say hi between him dashing upstairs.

 Without M. as the designated photographer these are the only pictures I have of my kiddos opening gifts.  Sad, I know.  Enjoy this little bit though.

Happy holidays to you all!  I hope they were great and now that it's nearing a month later that we're all less stressed and not so sick.

Gaucho Mario

I will let M. decide whether or not to tell y'all about his pilgrimage to Argentina but here are some pictures of his homecoming.  It was grand and the boys wouldn't let him out of their sight.  We were so happy to have him home, giant beard and all.

 E. held this sign for a good 25 minutes.  He didn't want to put it down.  Tough man.

 The boys ran to him and jumped on him.  E. kept playing with his hair and X (as you will see in a picture coming up) wouldn't stop attacking his beard.  It was so cute.

 It was so sweet to have Lela come with us.  She's only been back to Argentina once in over 30 years.  I know it meant a lot for her to hear his stories and be with him.

 See, beard picture.  He mauled him like crazy.

It was a good trip, and we're glad he loved it but we were so happy he made it home.  Then we ate Cafe Rio because that's how we celebrate when we're in Utah.

SNOW!

 The holidays in Utah were so lovely.  They were particularly happy for E. because of...SNOW!  That's all he's talked about, sung about, and dreamt about for days.  He was obsessed with the snow and would go look every day to see if we had any.  It's Utah, so we had plenty and he had loads of fun.  X had oodles of fun too.  They were so happy.  This is all just the FIRST time we went out.

"Primordial bliss."

 Action shots!  X. looks like he's on Toddlers and Tiaras.

 He finally gave up, sat down and just ate it.  So cute.

 I pulled them for hours up and down the hills.  If you know me you know that means I must really love my kids.  Because I hate playing in the snow and I hate to be cold.  I was freezing too.  I must love 'em a whole lot.

 After snow hot cocoa party.

 Grammy even made fresh banana bread.  Could they be more spoiled?

 These two shots are my favorites!  So cute!