Our Christmas Update + tons of Photos!

I finally have time to go through all the pictures and brag about all my kids and what we did. There are a bazillion pictures so brace yourself.
We had the Lowry party at our Provo house this year. I was so worried we would not all fit in the condo but amazingly we fit perfectly. I thought anyway. There were 41 in attendance. We had a buffet dinner, then our traditional snowball fight game. Sara put this all together and does this with such flare. Thank you Sara. We love your enthusiasm. We then moved on to our white elephant gifts that weren't so white elephant. I thought they were pretty good little gifts. I loved my vinyl wall saying that I ended up with. All that was missing to make it a perfect night was Tye and his family, Bart, Dad and Afton, Grandma Lowry and Angie and her family. Sorry you weren't there as you all missed out on a great party.
On Tuesday Tye and his family came to town and Trevor and his family left for Canada. That was a bummer that they couldn't both be here together but I know I have to share Shari with her family. I was just happy and thankful to have Rachelle and Tye's family. We missed Trevor's family for Christmas for sure. But loved being able to catch up with them at the end of the week.
We spent Christmas and the rest of the holidays hanging out at the condo in Provo. It was just as cold in St. George and even snowed there so I didn't mind being up in the snow.
We made cookies Christmas Eve after dinner for Santa. I have never done that before.( I've put store bought cookies out but not made them that night), it was fun. The boys were so excited. Christmas morning we made the traditonal Swedish pancakes (Yum) then opened presents.
Rachelle and Matt were so good to drive back and forth from Eagle Mountain almost everyday that Tye and Tara were here. We played games, shopped the after Christmas sales and put together puzzles, well... Rachelle did puzzles. she would have them done by the time I got to sit down and do them with her. She can put a 1000 piece puzzles together in just a few hours even holding a baby most of the time. I think I put in 50 pieces on 3 puzzles that Rachelle ended up doing the rest. She is the puzzle queen in our family.
We celebrated Traven's first Birthday on Dec. 30th. We also attempted to take a group family picture 3 times!! Either Danny and Tilly weren't around or Matt or Trevor's family. It was crazy. It was my goal to get everyone together at one time and it just never happened. I will have to photo shop everyone into one picture somehow.
We also blessed Crew and then had a big family dinner at Peggy's house with her family that was really fun. Thanks Peggy for having my family all over with yours. I loved getting all the cousins together while Tye was home. Of course Trevor was not back yet!
I wanted some pictures of all the grandsons while they were all here. That was a crazy photo shoot as all the boys were not into sitting still at the same time. Thaxton and Traven were like holding on to two little tigers trying to take the pictures.
I feel so blessed with such great kids and I love being a Grandma and watching my family grow. Dan is so good to put up with the chaos and the loss of my time as I am consumed with the kids and the mess we all make. He is always supportive of everything I do. He is my gift everyday.

HaPpY NeW YeAr and let's hope 2009 is better then 2008. (Although we were thankful for the new healthy babies that joined the family). Hope you enjoyed all the pictures.