I'm finally getting around to Christmas. We had a great time on Christmas Eve starting with a fancy dinner, watching movies, and then the kids opened 1 present...pajamas, of course. Chandler wanted Stacie and Tim to open the present he had made for them in Preschool. It was an ornament that he had painted.
With all the people that would be there on Christmas morning, there were a truckload of presents under the tree, and spilling into the piano room. 
Our 9th grandchild was born on December 17th. Desiree and Nate finally had their forth and "final" child. She is beautiful!
I love this CrAzY pose. That's what the kids prefer - so much so that it's hard to ever get a serious pose out of these guys. When Jake was on his mission, it was hard to find any pictures we could put in our family letter where he wasn't pulling a face or in a goofy pose. Vacations.....the same.
Here is a serious version of that picture.
Here are my (Kathy's) beautiful children! I absolutely love these guys.
Here are our two youngest kids with my grandkids. This was the best picture we got, since they had had enough by the time they had their turn. We had to get Shaun's family and Stacie's family done quickly so they could leave, so they were getting pretty tired. I'm very happy with it considering the circumstances! 
Today we celebrated Jake's birthday. Tyler was pushing for a Transformers theme. You can see that he didn't get to blow out his candles by himself. Chan is ALWAYS willing to help. Of course, the trick candles gave them plenty of time.
A festive bunch!
Well, Jake. Here are pictures from both ends of the extreme.
I've always loved how you would spend time with your siblings...talking for hours, playing games, going to movies, dancing, and of course, Xbox!
It seems that when the family gets together, you can be found with a baby in your arms.
We've spent lots of time together as a family, and have made many memories. I hope you'll always remember the good times! Some of these pictures are from when Josh came home. I love those reunions! The others are California, Hawaii, and Zions.
I just wanted to wish Jake a very Happy Birthday! You're a great son, brother, uncle, friend, grandson, nephew, etc. I hope you accomplish great things next year. I have a lot of faith in you and know you can have and do whatever you put your mind to. Thanks for the times you ran me in and for all the babysitting, shopping, driving, etc. I know your brothers and sisters, and nieces and nephews love you very much and the little ones look up to you. Teach them good things!
We had our annual family party last Saturday. Of course, the high point was when Santa surprised us with a visit. He came in and immediately took off his heavy coat and hat, explaining that it is extremely cold where he lives, so it seems really warm here.
Everyone got a chance to sit on his lap and tell what they wanted for Christmas. He remembered what Rach wanted, since she told him a week before at our ward Christmas party.
When he was done with the kids, we played a game with him, and he left enough time for family pictures with him.
I had to include this adorable picture of my great-niece, Carly. Grandma couldn't be left out, and a picture with all of the kids.
This is our famous Christmas cake inlaid with pictures of our dinner. It was yummy!
The Pinata was another high-point of the day. My brother, Dean, gave the final blow since it was his birthday. Candy scattered and kids were everywhere. It was a lot of fun to watch.
We tried a new game this year call Broom Hockey. It looked like a lot of fun, except for the broom that got broken. I guess that's to be expected from this game.
Bingo was the finale, but not to worry...the "Left-Right Game" will return next year for sure! 
We were very excited to see Shaun after 2 months at Basic Training. He was able to come home for 2 weeks for Christmas. After that, he goes back for another 4 weeks.
Look at this happy family - together again. While I was trying to get a picture of Shaun and Isabel, she started crying, so Shaun made a sad face to match hers. During their visit to my house, I don't think I ever saw Lisa without a smile on her face. She has been missing him. 
I love the picture of Jake and Ty working together. Ty is a "little Jake" spend time with him. Lisa and Stacie worked VERY hard on their houses...
I LOVE THIS PICTURE! Our grandkids had an absolute ball with each other!!!! They helped each other, and they were extremely excited to decorate their own little houses.
Mike and Liz joined us a little late, but still had a good time. Rach and Aubrey helped Brandi with her house. Look what a great job they did! Brandi was happy with it.
Tami and her friend made a great house as well. Chandler is working hard on his house.
Manda and her roommates and friends came down from Logan to see the lights at Temple Square, so they were able to participate with us as well.
Even Rhyder and Isabel got in on the action. As you can see, Rhyder had other activities in mind. So typical!
This is SO Chan!!! I love his great big smile. Isn't his house awesome? He made it all by himself!
These kids love to be together. I had to snap a few of their happy little faces. There's nothing better than to have our kids together. We enjoyed ourselves as well! I love my family so much! Aren't they wonderful! 
We spent 1 day in Venice. It was really pretty and NO TRAFFIC! It is really weird to see water for streets, boats for taxis and buses - even police cars. We took a gondola ride with the kids. 
Gary's work took him from Milan to a quaint, little town called Bergamo. It has a lot of history, so we had a great time learning. While Gary was working, the kids and I went shopping and walking around the town a bit.
After we arrived in Zermaat, we took a train up to the base of the Matterhorn. It was a beautiful ride. We noticed that Switzerland is much cleaner and more friendly than Italy.
We took a beautiful ride on a train from Zermaat to Interloken. Life is much slower there and the chocolate is to die for.
Milan was not what we expected. It reminded us of New York City with a lot of well-dressed people rushing from place to place. It was weird to see men dressed in expensive suits riding bikes. In this main piazza, there were streets that didn't allow cars, so there was a lot of walking.
The pictures show the main shopping mall there. It includes stores such as Prada, Louis Vuitton, Gucci. We are standing in front of the Louis Vuitton store. It was interesting that there were guards posted at the doors. The bottom left picture shows the big cathedral next to the mall. The main door of the cathedral was made of brass and had different scenes of Christ's life on it. Some people believe that if you rub Christ's knee, it will bring you good luck. Who knows why the leg of the abuser was shiny as well.
We had a nice, relaxing time in Tuscany. It was so beautiful everywhere we looked. I enjoyed running the scenic route in the mornings and we loved our bike ride to see some of the very old buildings and churches around. The nearby towns were quaint and just like the movies. People here were not very friendly, but we still had a good time. For fun, we went swimming in a nearby hot spring. It was so much fun!
