Hodgepodge

Okay, I lied. I promised more pictures from Vegas. But then I found all these old pictures that I meant to post and never did. So rather than just waiting for a chance to steal Craig's phone, I figured I'd go ahead and post all these.  Most of them are from Christmas, so I'm sorry if I'm totally confusing your sense of chronology!  Try to enjoy them anyway!

Ryder likes to play on the piano.  And since it was free, I let him.  
In this picture, I love how his black pants make him look sort of formal with the black piano, but then he's not wearing a shirt.  So instead he sort of looks like a chippendale dancer...  Nice!

At our ward Christmas party, the theme was "A Morning in Jerusalem" which was very nice.  But it meant that we didn't get a visit from Santa for all the kids.  A friend of mine was annoyed about that, so she asked Santa to make a personal visit to her home.  Then she invited us and a few others to come and enjoy meeting him, too!  The kids were thrilled and it was a great evening!

Story time with Santa

That day in school, Bentley had made a reindeer hat and sweatshirt, which he dutifully wore to show to Santa

Santa even knew to hold Ryder facing out so he wouldn't realize a stranger was holding him.  

What a pro!

Pensive Ryder

And sleepy Ryder

Bentley "reading" How the Grinch Stole Christmas to Kendra and cousin Samuel

Going on a walk with Grandpa Rex

Most of the Bentley girls-- Rachael, Natalie, Mom, Tracy, and me

(Only Leah is missing from this shot)

And of course, Dad with his women!

Craig gave me this beautiful Hawaiian skirt for Christmas

Craig was excited to stuff the turkey for Christmas dinner

Caleb and Ryder in their matching outfits (compliments of Aunt Tracy!)

This picture deserves some explaining.  My Dad very kindly carried a chocolate Santa in his carry-on that my Mom wanted to share with the whole family.  Unfortunately, TSA does not look kindly on huge chocolate Santas (you can see it perched on the bumper of my van), so they proceeded to check my Dad in all sorts of fun ways to make sure chocolate Santa wasn't housing a bomb.  In this picture, my Dad is re-enacting his treatment at the hands of the TSA.

Chocolate Santa sure was yummy, so I think it was worth all the trouble, Dad!  Thanks!!!

 

I love how Ryder is totally photo-bombing Bentley all posed in his Batman costume here.

Way back when it was freezing cold outside, we took the kids to the Museum of American History.

Bentley's favorite part, as witnessed here, was the Metro ride.

Sheer joy, right here.

Kendra and Daddy were pretty excited to ride a train, too.

I think Ryder was just excited to have his picture taken.

And apparently I didn't even know I was having my picture taken!  Oh, well.

You can see how bundled up we all were.  It really was wicked cold that day.

Walking back to the Metro after the museum.  I really love this picture.

Here's another one with a story.  I made rolls that day, and Bentley was so excited that he gave me a sticker to thank me for it.

Who says motherhood is a thankless task?

Well, I guess it's so thankless that when I do get thanked, I have to document it.  Even if it means a pretty bad picture of me.

I don't know why, but babies playing in boxes is just cute.  So I took pictures.

Next post: more about Las Vegas.  This time I mean it!