Christmas Eve 2009

For Christmas Eve we once again went to my dad's cousins house in California. After dinner we always have the kids act out the nativity scene. Then it's performance time; piano solos, carols, etc. It's tons of fun...especially because the Roberts family is so talented and we Crafts enjoy sitting back and watching!:)

Ella was Mary again this year. I've never seen her be so quiet and listen so well as when she plays this role.

Kash was Joseph again..we were all laughing because his "turban" looked more like a "do-rag." sp?

Here is our little nativity: wise man, angel, mary, joseph, baby Jesus.
We even got all of the men to sing a song!

Papa and Ella....maybe this is where she gets her cheesy grin?

Kash entertained himself by jumping off of the staircase.

This was the only group shot I got:

Once we got home my mom decided to carry out my great-grandma's tradition. My great grandma Nona would always give all of her grandchildren their gifts on Christmas Eve. So this year my mom did this for Ella and Kash, and the rest of us got our matching Christmas pajamas.

I'll be home for Christmas?

We were on our way to California for Christmas when Ella needed to go potty. We had just got to Vegas so it was a good time to pull over. As we were pulling into the parking lot, Matt had to turn sharply to avoid a car. We immediately noticed our NEW car did NOT sound good. It was making a weird noise and we knew right away something was really wrong. Luckily, the next store over was a repair shop so we had them check it out. Well, they had to order parts and it wouldnt be done until MONDAY! My kids were running around the shop like crazy, Matt was telling me it was going to cost $1500 to fix, and I was crying. It was not fun. Here are my kids playing...they had to entertain themselves seeing that we were there for a couple of hours.
We had to rent a car if we wanted to get home for Christmas but the rental place was across town and we had no way of getting there. Chris, the mechanic, who is from Boston with a strong accent, bald head, and a total BIKER guy, offered to drive us in his truck. We had to unload the entire car, which was packed full of Christmas stuff, and put it in his truck, drive a half hour, and unload it again into the rental truck. It was quite the ordeal.
Matt had to keep reminding me that we were actually really lucky. We could have broke down in the middle of the desert instead of next door to the shop. We might not have met the nicest guy who offered to drive us across town so we could be home for Christmas with our family. We might not have been in a repair shop where the guys offered our kids cookies, toys, and constantly told us to not worry about them running around. It was really frustrating, especially because this was our first trip in our new car and it had a freakish problem!!! but it was our little christmas miracle at the same time! can you say cheesy? :)

Family Pictures

My dear friend Krista took our family pictures. It was quite the event; dealing with Ella who does NOT smile for the camera, and poor Kash who had JUST got up from a nap. But we still got a few good shots!

The Ben Craft Family

The Sisters

All of the girls

All of the boys, they are a bit outnumbered!

MY darling boys

And the entire family!

Weird?

Yes, this is a trail of red rose petals that leads to my bedroom. No, it was not left in an attempt at a romantic gesture by my husband. Ella got a Hawaiian lei from her room, tore it up, and spread the petals like this. Umm? I'm not sure what to think about this. I'm going to go with she was just making a mess!

Dickens Festival and Santa

We went to the Dicken's Festival and as soon as we got there Matt got these deadly weapons for the kids. So for the entire stroll through the crowded festival my kids were stabbing everyone that passed by.
While we were waiting in line to see Santa, we were right next to this ride that spins you upside down. Even though we could hear all of the teenagers screaming their head off, Ella insisted that she wanted to go on it, and she wanted to go on it by HERSELF. So, we let her, not knowing how she would handle it. She thought it was awesome and the second she got off she wanted to do it again!

Ella is a little obsessed with Santa this year, and Kash is a little terrified. At the Dicken's Festival Ella is smiling sweetly (which doesnt happen very often) and Kash is screaming and lunging off of Santa's lap. So at our ward party while we were in line once again to see Santa, I asked Kash if he wanted to go and he kept saying, "nooooo!" So we didn't make him go through the traumatic experience again. But as you can see, Ella could NOT wait!

Over the HILL!

I really cannot believe that I am old enough to be married to someone in their THIRTIES! haha yes it's true, Matt just turned 30. I think it's crazy but Matt could care less. I am already starting to not particularly like getting older but it is just not a big deal to him. So, for this monumental birthday I planned a little surprise. He thought we were going out to eat to Red Lobster (he always chooses to go here because it is the only time I will go....I want to vomit the second I walk through those fishy doors..yuck). But instead we went with a bunch of friends to Mesquite. I know it sounds ghetto, who wants to go to Mesquite? But we went bowling which we had not done FOREVER, and it was so much fun! I always forget how much I like bowling. So we bowled a couple of games and then played Bingo. I think my old man of a husband had a pretty good time so I am happy!

Here is the birthday boy in all of his glory: bowling with his tongue out!

And yes I made everyone pose for a cheesy bowling ball picture!

Happy Birthday Matty! I love you.

twenty five

For my birthday Matt took me to dinner just the two of us. It is amazing how dinner with your husband becomes such a treat once you have kids! It was really nice and we tried out this new place where they bring you different kinds of meat to your table-all you can eat! My favorite was the grilled pineapple...yum. Anyways afterward he had arranged for me and some friends to go see New Moon. What a thoughtful husband! He knows all the tricks let me tell ya. When we got back to the house I was STUNNED to see that HE had made me a cake. ALL by HIMSELF. This may not seem like a big deal to most of you, but my hubby struggles with a box of mac and cheese. This was a big step for him and I thought it was the best present ever....well, next to my new pair of Hudsons and new dress haha. I am spoiled, I know!

During the day I also recieved a special delivery....probably the biggest bouquet of 25 roses I have ever seen. I couldn't help holding them and doing a miss america wave! I am such a nerd.

Here is Matt putting the candles in the cake.

Kash woke up with all the commotion so he helped me blow out the candles. Don't we both look SO scary? Especially Kash...

And I had to put this picture on here. When I got the flowers I told Ella they were as big as she was. She insisted on laying down next to them to see if it was true. It was.

It was a good day. And I still can't believe I am so old.

the DERBY

My crazy brother in law Mike is always fixing up old cars for the purpose of the DERBY. The boys get together and pretty much crash into each other until their cars die! Sounds safe, I know. Occasionally they even paint ball while doing this. One person drives, while their partner sits in the passenger seat with the paint ball gun. I've never actually witnessed this before.... I don't know.... I guess the thought of watching my husband get critically injured has never appealed to me. But over Thanksgiving weekend we ALL went to check them out in action. You can't really see from this picture, but here are 3 of the cars. When they were not running into each other they were attempting different jumps.

Here are the bystanders...

Poor Kashy was having the hardest time keeping his hoodie out of his face.

After the derby (no one was hurt or killed) we all went shooting. My dad was really wanting to go since he now lives in California and can't drive down the road to shoot his guns in the desert. It was a lot of fun and once again, thankfully, no one was hurt or killed!

Here is my little mom who almost fell over with the force of the gun!

Yes, Whitney and I are in matching outfits. The exact same jacket, pants, and boots. No, we didn't plan this, but it is not uncommon for this to happen because we have all the same clothes.

I guess I didn't know we were smiling for this one...aren't you supposed to try to look hard core while holding a weapon?

You got to love Utah where you can crash cars and shoot anywhere you want! :)

McLaws Party!

The day after Thanksgiving we had a McLaws get together at Dave and Mandy's house. Matt's side of the family doesnt get together very often so this was a special treat. After eating delicious food (Mandy is probably the best hostess I've ever met), we went downstairs for some Karaoke! They have the BEST Karaoke system I've ever seen, with the whole sound board and everything. I don't particularly like getting up in front of people, but in this case it didn't matter. Matt and I are horrible singers, but that didnt stop us from getting up there and screaming into the microphone! It was a really fun night.

This is Matt's oldest brother Dave, Kyle(who is married to his neice Kim), and Matt.They were the funniest to watch because they got SO into it.....and they really thought they could rap...:)

Some of the girls trying it out...
Mandy(my sister in law), Me, Nikki(my neice)

Ella and her cousin Joel rocking out! Ella could not get enough of the mic, she kept singing, "la la la la."

Matt attacking Kash...

Gina, Joel, Nikki

Kash was obsessed with the pool table balls.

These 3 kids are SO crazy. Kash, Adam, and Ella kept running around the pool table...it didn't help that Matt was chasing them I guess.

It was really fun, we should definitely make this a tradition!

Thanksgiving Day

All of my family was in town for Thanksgiving so we pretty much had a party from Wednesday until Sunday! We had so much fun, but I didn't take a lot of pictures ( too busy eating I guess). Here is a pic of me and my HOT sisters:

Nikki, Mandy, Whitney, Karlee, Lindsay

Cute cousins: Julia, McKell, Madeline

Random picture of Kashy man.

This is Ella with Lily and Sydney who are her cousins that are closest in age to her. They are pretty cute with her. I made Ella stop and smile mid-roll!

Ryan, Nikki, Mandy, Whitney

I had to add this picture. My mom got Santa slippers for Ella and Penguin slippers for Kash...they loved them but Kash could NOT walk in them! It was pretty funny to watch.

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.