football, roadtrip, christmas, and puppies

Tanner's school flag football team is doing great, they are undefeated and only have 3 games left in the regular season.

A couple of weekends ago me and Kevin took a quick weekend trip up to Vegas, we left the kiddos at home with cousins and Aunt Kim. There was a beautiful sunset on the way up.

The reason we were going up was a surprise, we going to pick out our puppy. That we were going to give to the kids for Christmas.

It was love at first sight and it was so hard to keep it a secret from the kids for 2 whole weeks

We took in some sights while we were there.

The desert is so beautiful.

Christmas is a great time of year for Kali, she obsesses over it. Here she is as Santa in her bubble bath.

We made and hung snowflakes for hours

Some bad news at the Roark house hold. Tanner broke his thumb. No not in football, (which I was certain of), but doing a skit in front of his class. As part of the skit he was tackled to the ground. He must of hit it just so and it broke. He wasn't sure it was broken, he even had to redo the skit because the camera recording it was not on. He went to the nurses office a little later when it was swelling up real bad. I got the phone call and came to pick him up, freaking out the whole way. He was as calm as could be. We went to an Urgent Care and was told it was broken. I had to laugh when she told us it was broken, I tried not to but when your kid texts as much as mine it is kind of funny when he breaks his texting thumb. Poor guy. He gets so tired and sick after a tragic accident. He was so excited to get a cast for his friends to sign though, because his last brake he did not get a hard cast.

Here he is feeling better

Here are the kids the other day leaving for school on Silly Hat Day.

On the 17th we (me and the Kids) took the long trip back up to SLC for Christmas. We left right after school on Friday and straight up to the airport to pick up Grandma, who graciously offered to drive up with us so I didn't have to do it by myself. Kevin (being the new guy t work couldn't get all that time off) got to fly up Christmas eve.

We had to stop for a potty break and take some pictures of the cool Joshua Tree Forest

We spent the night in Las Vegas. Here is my mom crushing on Donny Osmond

Kaden loves Greek Mythology so we wondered forever trying to find this statue.

The Bellagio is always decorated so beautifully

It was rainy and cold, so we didn't explore for long

Tanner just had to stop by the Pawn shop. The one on Pawn Stars on the history channel. It was pretty cool, the guys were not there but they did get to see some of the stuff they showed on the show.

We finally made it to Utah. The ride didn't seem that long, thanks for the company mom.

Here is Xander with his Great Grandma and Grandpa. Xander is the first Clark great grandson, there are over 50 great grandchildren before him, but he gets the title because non of the other boys were born to a grandchild with Clark as a last name. (if any of that made any since)

Aunt Mim and Xander

We haven't been with my family for Christmas for 4 Christmas's so we got right into the swing of things and made gingerbread houses with Ethan and Mylie.

The little kids love IPods, if you have an IPod you have there undivided attention.

Winter did not disappoint, well we wish it would of snowed a little more but there was enough for a little winter fun.

Tanner building a snowman in the street so we could hit it with the car, but some one beat us to it.

Kaden and Tayler's cute snowmen

Then all the cousins got in on the action. It was surprisingly easy to get a smiley photo of the big kids with the little ones taking a nap at grandmas.

Kaden made a little man of snow for the sled.

Kali and Mylie were the sledding queens.

It was great packing snow, we could roll a snowball until it was to heavy to roll anymore

Cutest little smylie girl

Tanner built a few jumps, they didn't work out very well. They were very skinny and the kids kept missing them.

Here is the kids huge snowman

While the girls were sleding, the boys were building a fort with snowman soilders

I walked Mylie and Tayler home, they were so cute they held hands

Kali planned this outfit before we left home, she is so cute with her festive clothing.

We even were able to join the Shannon Family party. Here are 3 of her granddaughters. Rogan, Coco, and Shea

We sang a few Christmas Carols, Tayler was not enjoying it.

Cory, Jennifer, and Jake

We always do White Elephant Gifts at this party. Here is Kali's treasure

Creapy Tanner

Christmas Eve is the day my family always gets together and exchanges presents. It was so nice to be back.

Here I am opening up a present from Chelsea. Loved it

Tanner is way into hugging lately, expecally hugging his grandma. So cute

Kali was sad about something, but I love how she posed for a picture anyway

We got Mylie a Caboodle, she loved the make up. sorry Amy

The proud new Daddys

Kali always has to do the traditional letter to Santa.

And cookies, carrots, and Eggnog

Christmas morning, we got up about 8:00, not bad. The kids were excited, and then dissapointed just like everyother Christmas. Ba Humbug. T.V. shows engrave unrealistic illusions of Christmas in my childrens heads I think. Thats ok I new there was more to come. (puppies)

I forgot to take a picture of all the kids presents, I will see if I remember what they got.

Kali: Boots, saggy hat, plaid shirt, toy motorcycle, Ihome, fishing pole

Tanner: Helicopter, Ihome, fishing pole, Phiten

Kaden: Helicopter, Ihome, fishing pole, Phiten

Being with my family for Christmas just secured the thoughts I have about the holidays. It is not at all about the presents or how much you spend or someone getting something better than someone else. Its all about being thankful for the family around you. It was so great to have that feeling again.

Tanner and Kaden wanted to go snowboarding with Jason so bad, so we let them go. Kevin ended up going with them. Kali wanted to go too, but I didn't want to buy an all day pass for her, I didn't think she would stay all day. So we had Kaden and her split a pass. Me my mom and dad went up to Park City for the day so we could do the switch.

We went and visited Shannon at her new volunteer job at the Park City resort.

Here is Kali before she went up. What a cute snowbunny

Here is Kaden when he was done for the day. He had a few good runs and a few good falls.

Here is Tan the snowboard natural, I was told he did great

Here is the whole gang. Thanks Jason and Kevin for taking the kiddos, they had a great time

Right before we had to head home. We got a visit from my cousins, Missy and Clark and there new babies. Here are the newest members of the Arben Clark family

The Nevada sign to add to my collection

Kali was getting into the spirt of Las Vegas. Even though we spent the night in Mesquite

Before we finished our trip home we stopped by to pick up our puppies. I got no picture because I filmed it. It was so worth the 2 week wait. The kids could not wipe the smiles off their faces. We visited the Hoover Dam, although we could not park and take a tour because of the puppies we still took in some sights.

We are enjoying our new puppies so much. We went to get get one girl and ended up with a boy and a girl. She just asked us if we wanted him because she didn't want to try to sell him. So we took him home intending on selling him or giving him a good home, but he is so cute, smart and sweet, I don't think we can get rid of him. I think our home is his new home. Charlie is the dark one and Rylie is the lighter one.

Kaden is even loving them, he has had no allergic reaction yet.

They are so cute, they do everything the same, it makes the kids laugh. The sleep at the same time, turn their heads at the same time, pee and poop at the same time. They sleep together in a crate at night and they have not whined or peed at all during the night. It has been so nice they they have each other.