Christmas in Moab

We had Christmas in Moab this year. Everybody in the family was able to come. We had about 15 people there! It was crazy but tons of fun. You can see from the stockings that this isn't a small family. It was fun to spend the week with everybody.

The family hung a little stocking for baby boy. Bart and Rebecca are also expecting (in May) so they had a little stocking too. Soon we won't be able to fit everybody's stockings on the same beam! It is so fun to watch the family grow! Another additon to the family will happen in March when Sam and Holly get married, we are so excited!

 It is amazing how fun a box can be! Our two nieces, Addison and Mckenna played in this box for at least an hour. Charles was the "lucky one" who got to pull them around the house (a good way to burn off Christmas candy though!)

Oh baby, look at that tummy! Only 8 weeks to go! Its funny how a big tummy is like a magnent to all hands around you. I can't tell you how many people rubbed my tummy during the Christmas break. 

This is a common scene around the Francis household during Christmas. Everybody gets some sort of video game for Christmas. As you can see the TV in the back ground has a game going, Charles and Leonard are trying their new games and the TV in Maralee's room is also being used for gaming purposes. To keep myself sane, I brought a bunch of crafts to do and I also started a good book.
The whole family headed to the La Sals to sled. It was quite the production getting everybody bundled up, but it was well worth it. We couldn't go very high due to one of the cars not having 4-wheel drive, but we still had tons of fun.

Sam and Charles testing their luck on the first hill we found. As you can see, we didn't have a ton of snow to work with, but the bushes poking out just made extra jumps for people to crash on. 

Charles and Sarah trying to dodge all of the bushes. Two people in the sled proved to not work very well. I tried going down with Charles a few times. We never made it to the bottom and I just got tons of snow down my pants. Oh well, it was worth a try. 

Leonard and cute little McKenna. She is such a sweetheart! She braved the cold pretty well, but eventually got fussy. She and Addison were little troopers!

Addison and McKenna. McKenna was still trying to figure out if she likes being pulled in a sled. I think the final decision was that she would rather be held. 

 Leonard got his Eagle Scout while we were there. We had a little ceremony and then a big party with a bunch of poeple from Moab. It was tons of fun to see everybody.

Leave it to Jacob to wear a funny outfit. He definantly got the reaction he was looking for.

All of the Francis boys with Eagle Scouts. 

Charles' uncle is the head ranger at Dead Horse Point. We went there on Saturday to visit and enjoy the view. It was pretty cold, so we didn't linger too long, but we did get some nice pictures.

McKenna was so funny the last few days of our trip. For some reason, she decided that she loved me more than anybody else. She refused to go to anybody else, even her parents. Chris and Becca wanted some family pictures, so they took her from me, you would have thought that she was being held by strangers by the way she was crying. She kept reaching for me and saying momma. She is so cute I didn't mind, but I felt bad that she wouldn't go to her parents. I don't know what triggered it, but it was fun while  it lasted.