Train ride and K-State pep rally

Buying the train tickets

 The day following our arrival, we headed to the train station with Dad, Suzanne and Dalton to ride to the pep rally.  The train was fun, but the pep rally was the highlight for us.  Being in a sea of purple, connecting with old friends, exposing our kids to the Wildcat spirit - we were happy!

The marching band lining up to enter

Willie and  the cheerleaders

Ashton had enough of the Wildcat spirit - it was a tad loud!

Our friends, Jeff and Amy Naukum that we haven't seen in 17 years

Gold Canyon estate

 The Deckers put us up in one of the fabulous casas, the Gold Canyon estate.  :)  Everyone felt right at home and loved having our own "vacation spot" for our time there.  Thanks, guys!

Ethan in his element: at his computer

Cameron and Suzanne heading out for a bike ride

Road trip to Arizona

 Since we had an extra long holiday break this year, we decided to pack up the car and head to Arizona!  Lots of great views along the way!

Hockey Game

 We had the opportunity to go to Long Beach and see our nephew, Stone play with his traveling hockey team.  The arena was quite chilly but well worth it!

Anniversary day

Derrik and I celebrated 16 years of marriage today!  Yippee!
We had a great day that started early (our 2nd morning this week starting at 6:30) with Cameron, Ashton and Ethan coming in to wake us with breakfast in bed.  (I've had a bad cold so my morning photos look horrible!) 
They made us a card and looked through our wedding photos with us.  :) 

Don't we both look thrilled to be awake?  :P

Ashton took this after we'd taken our Christmas pic

Derrik took me out for lunch and we had a great time talking and making plans for the next year.

Christmas Fun

 Our Christmas Eve included attending the candlelight service at church and then we came home to let the boys open a few gifts, one of which was the traditional holiday pj's.  :)  Then we headed out to look at the Christmas lights.

Cameron loves his Lakers

Ethan and his new bass! 

Cool new car!

A surprised Derrik with a new book

Mommy got new boots!

 Christmas morning started at 6:30 for us with the boys waiting patiently in the hallway.  :)  It was all unwrapped so fast.  I snapped photos as quickly as I could!

Shocked face - "I get my own room?"

Monkey bread for breakfast!

Wonderful day....thanks to our families who helped make it special!

Holiday Show and Ice Skating

The Holiday Show that I put on with the teachers at school went off without a hitch.  Since our stage is outdoors, there was the possibility it might be cancelled due to rain.  It wasn't raining but it was cold!  I didn't end up getting a picture of Cameron since he was on the other side of the stage but I did grab one of Ashton before his class left the stage.

 I also got the gang to go out ice skating this year!  Even though not everyone was thrilled with it at the beginning, I think we'll do it again next year because they ended up loving it!  We ended the outing with Starbucks.  :)

3rd Place for Soccer!

Cameron and his teammates cleaned up (or in his words, DOMINATED) the field this morning and won a third place trophy in their division.  He is so excited since they slowly moved up the ranks and had been counted out by all of us.  They now will move on in January to the playoffs against other area teams.

Christmas concert

We attended the annual holiday concert put on by our church and I snapped a few quick photos of us all dressed up. (Minus Ashton who decided to wear his spring soccer jersey - I'm picking my battles here)  :)

Soccer end-of-season games

 Cameron and Ashton had their last games of the season.  Cameron and his team earned sportsmanship medals and because they won their game, got to go on to the playoffs.  The final game will be next weekend.
Ashton's team also finished well and he's anxious to start playing again.  Spring soccer starts in March.

Ethan woke up and attended the game with us!  It was a treat to have him there.