welcome 2010

The Nguyen family wishes all of you a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I did it. I posted my New Year wish before the end of January - it is sincere, promise. I am all caught up on my 2009 posts so I have a great journal for my family. Yeah! This year I have to figure out how to get it printed.

Our New Year's Eve was so much fun! We flew home from Utah the day before and had been invited to spend the evening with our friends, Jeff and Michelle (shared a great meal at Jasper's and then had a good visit with them), and then we took the kids over to some other friends, the Alvarez's, for some friends, food, and fun. We brought in the New Year the Argentine way, hats and whistles, hugs and kisses, and upon leaving, the kids found candy in their shoes. It was a wonderful evening all around! Thanks everyone for making it so!

I hope you all have a wonderful 2010! Keep me "posted" on the things in your life!

over the river and through the woods

to Grandma's house we go!

There is a lot of wide open space where Grandma and Grandpa live. The evening we got there had a beautiful sunset. After bundling up because it was darn cold, we were out feeding the horses with Grandpa and the girls posed for me!

Our days were filled with fun in the sun... and in the snow!

Riding our furry friend, Scout. She is a good, ol' horse and the girls, including me, like to ride her.

How many times do I have to tell them to not eat yellow snow?!

Huy was the four-wheeler driving king. He would pull the sled with a couple of the kids in it and whip them around corners until they dumped out. They ALL thought it was the best.

The little girls would run and jump on their sleds to go down a little, but fun hill.

Four-wheelin' rides were always a good time.

The football games in the snow were a bit tougher than games on grass, but the landing was much softer.

My brother, Mark, and his wife, Robyn out supervising all of the activities.


The ultimate sledding hill! A friend in the area let us sled down their hill, which was more like the side of a mountain. We climbed up it the first time, but then this friend came to our rescue and let us use his snowmobile to get rides up the hill. This meant we were on the hill for 3 hours rather than 30 minutes! The kids claim this as one of their favorite things they did at Grandma's house.

My daredeveil, no fear, Kaylie. Going up the hill the first time on foot, stopping about half-way to rest, she insisted we go up further before going down. She was a sledding maniac!


Taylin had her reservations at first, heights are not here thing, but once she conquered her fear, she too had a blast!


And Tanner would get a running start and just fly down the hill on one of the little sleds. They all could have kept going, but it was Huy and I that gave out first!

My mom informed me that this cool stuff on all of the bushes and weeds is called pogonip. When looked up in a dictionary, it says it is a noun, meaning a fog of ice particles. Just fyi.

A beautiful evening looking out at the field southwest from the driveway of my parents house.

So clearly, I took all of my pictures outside. But we had fun inside too! The games, the gift exchange, the food, the dogs, the fireplace - all very good things too! We had a wonderful time Grandma and Grandpa. Thanks for letting us come! We love you!

Christmas morning

This is all I've got. Where was my camera Christmas morning? Not sure, but this is all of the pictures I took that morning. Doesn't tell much of a story, but it must mean we were having a great time!


Santa brought the kids roller blades!

Taylin loved her new chair - zebra print!

Tanner, and Huy, thought the night vision goggles were beast!

And Band Hero! Whoo hoo! It was a very nice Christmas morning.

After enjoying a nice breakfast with Huy's parents, we packed up and headed on our way to my parents home, 3 hours away.

Christmas with the nguyen family

We flew to Utah this year rather than driving which had its advantages and disadvantages, but it sure was nice to be there in three hours as compared to 24 hours. The fun got started much quicker. Kaylie went right outside to play in the snow even though there wasn't much and it was kind of old. She didn't care.


This was her miniture snowman - as cute as a button just like her. She was so proud of herself.

After a few days of shopping to get ready to celebrate, we enjoyed another beautiful dinner at Christopher's on Christmas Eve. We missed having Vu there to join in the fun.

Little Luke and Noah were so adorable. My kids just love them and have so much fun playing with them. They were great helpers while we waited for the meal and afterwards too.

Back at Ba Noi's after dinner, the kids were spoiled once again with the cutest pajamas. They all look forward to them!

The gift exchange began, starting youngest to oldest. It was such a great time to watch their eyes light-up as gift-after-gift was placed before them and they loved what was inside.

We recieved gifts from Ong Noi and Ba Noi and then we received the family name-draw gifts. This year's theme was to get the person whose name you drew a gift that started with that person's first name. Kaylie got a Hello Kitty stuffed animal and a coloring book (for Bubbas). Taylin got a Taylor Swift CD and a t-shirt.

This is the hug Tanner gave his sister when he opened his Tommy Gun.

Linh got a long sleeve sweater. Mark got a massage and M&M's. I got a Deseret Book gift card for knowledge. Huy got a hoodie sweatshirt. And Vu (who is also known as Teo) got theater tickets. It is always a fun challenge to buy something for someone.


Huy's dad's eyesight is not too good so everyone gave him this remote. We hope it helps! : )

And these are Huy's super cute parents. They are the best in-laws. (Here they are showing their gifts - The (Tay), a scarf and hat from his wife and Lien, a red pea-coat from all of the kids.)

We had a wonderful time with the Nguyen family. We weren't able to go to the extended family party and so we missed seeing a lot of his family, but hopefully next year. Thanks everyone for all the nice gifts and especially for the wonderful memories!


P.S. I had to show a picture of these super cute hats that Ba Noi knitted for each of the kids. Tanner isn't wearing his here, but the girls almost wore theirs out they loved them, and used them, so much. She is a super-talented woman! Thanks Ba Noi.

the clarks and waco

It has become tradition to get together with our friends and have a gift exchange and create some fun memories. Sometimes the days of December are so busy that we don't have enough time to go to one or the others home so we like to meet half-way... Waco, Texas. Now what is there to do in Waco you ask? Well, not much, but we are finding things.

After dropping Nike off at Dogtopia for the night, we met at a Mexican restaurant, the best in Waco, . We enjoyed the good food and then checked in our hotel and the kids were so excited to have the gift exchange and so it began!

We start with youngest to oldest and this is Lillers (the nickname I call her). She got a Littlest Pet Shop toy and a book.

Kaylie of course, loving another stuffed animal.

Lauren got a scarf and some earrings.

Taylin got some type of girly game.

Cole is super excited for his iTunes gift card.

And Tanner will get a lot of use out of his Nike earband.

The great thing about keeping your own blog is that you don't have to post pictures of yourself opening your gift when you have weird face expressions, but I like this one of Karmen so I do get to post it. She got a Scentsy warmer and some waxes. I got a cute snowman ornament for my tree to go along with my collection and a cute snowflake tree. Huy loved his pet camera and has used it a lot, but mostly gotten pictures of Nike's bed. I guess all he does is sleep when we leave the house. And Ty got a magazine subscription.

The kids went for a swim and then we all crashed watching Elf. On Saturday, we went to the movies... the boys saw Avatar and the girls saw Princess and the Frog. But then we all had to get home so we said goodbye and Merry Christmas!

Thanks guys for all the wonderful gifts and for a great time! Next year, the Dr. Pepper Museum!

this is how we know Christmas is coming

School parties...

Kaylie's first Holiday class party - sugar, book exchange, sugar, game, sugar = fun!


Taylin made this cute reindeer pot. Her dad joined her for the fun, but I'm not sure what they actually did.

Creating...

This girl comes up with some funny ideas. Here, she wanted to fly like Rudolph so she made some antlers, put on a nose, and off she went.

Ward Party...

This is Kaylie's buddy, Anna. They spent the whole evening together doing what they do - being so silly!

She thinks she is getting to old to sit on Santa's lap. I told her, "Are you kidding me? Have a seat!"

And this guy is just loves it. No problems here. Happy as can be!

Dance party...

The younger classes were invited to share their holiday dance for their parents and watch the Dance Company perform a holiday story. Kaylie's beautiful dance to one of the Nutcracker songs was so cute. She didn't think it was much of a "party," but she had a good time.

Main Street Bethlehem...

We weren't planning to go this year, but when a friend of ours was taking her daughter, the girls and I decided to go along (the boys missed out). Main Street Bethlehem is this super cool, wonderful way to feel and remember the real spirit of Christmas. In Burnet, Texas, about 45 minutes away, they put on a town of what life was like back when Jesus was born. People are dressed up everywhere as if they were back in the time of his birth. They talk to you and ask if we have seen the Mesiah that was born and they point you to the star.

The girls are watching this tax collector talk to a person who doesn't want to pay their taxes. They stood in awe watching this whole thing play out for about 5 minutes.

And of course, they wanted to pet the camels. They saw the donkey, and went to a room in the Inn, they looked in on the prisoners in the jail, tasted some bread, walked through the market, and finally saw the baby Jesus with Joseph and Mary. It was a beautiful experience for the girls.

We had many great times as we prepared for our trip to Utah for the holidays!