Christmas Day 2014!

We were all excited for Cary's first Christmas. My best present was a smile from this cute boy!

Lavender got some fun gifts from Santa. 

She loved her giant teddy bear and her gold, fuzzy boots, 

but her favorite present was probably her kitten Marie from the Aristocats.

Leighton loved her Frozen backpack!

Brianne got a baseball mitt from Carolyn

Lavender models her new Marie shirt

Ryan and Molly show some of the books they received.

Lavender got a backpack from Grandpa and Oma too!

Carolyn was sick and couldn't be with us on Christmas, 

but she wanted to see pictures of Aaron opening his gift.

It's a Viking helmet!

We were all pretty worn out by the end of the day.

Even bear baby and Marie were ready for bed!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Christmas is Finally Here!

We were a little worried about Christmas eve because Ryan and Molly were going to her Dad's house. We talked it over with the Bakers and the kids were worried it was going to be boring. Then my brother Scott, his wife Denise and their family decided to come down for the day. My Dad also came over for awhile. Then Ryan and Molly surprised us by showing up that night.  All in all it was Christmas eve.

Ammon and Denise opened presents from Grandpa and Carolyn while Scott took pictures and Evan watched.

Heath, Jenna and Alec check out their gifts.

Scott models one of the girl's scarfs.

Grandpa was especially excited for Heath to open this Robot Raptor.

Everyone had to watch the raptor.

Scott with another great scarf.

Later we went to LaJolla Cove to see the tide pools.

Christmas eve at the beach was wonderful!

December Fun for our Little One!

Lavender loved the excitement of Christmas time, but she carried on with her usual playtime with her babies. She brought them all in to enjoy the magic of the Christmas tree.

She used her sweatshirt to made a carrier for "baby girl Jesus."

Puppy and "Jesus" nap on a Christmas pillow.

Snuggling with Edie and Hop Hop

Edie was my doll that my mom made for me when I was about four years old.

Here she is kneeling down to say her prayers and/or play with the light up reindeer antlers. The Christmas bunny wanted to join her and she has carefully placed him in kneeling position. I always kneel on a pillow to pray and she follows my example.

We also got to babysit our granddog Teddy and his friend Bo. Lavender had a great time with them.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I love Christmas time and we all enjoyed getting in the spirit of the season! When we came home after Thanksgiving, John and the boys got to work setting up the tree. I don't know what we will do when they're not around to take care of that job!

All done! Bring on Christmas!

We had our ward Christmas party in early December and we were grateful that my Dad's recovery was going well and he was able to come join us. It was also Lavender's chance to meet Santa!

Carolyn and I rocked the mini Santa hats.

Dad even donned a hat!

Lavender was nervous about meeting Santa, but she didn't cry like last year.  It may have helped that Santa bore a striking resemblance to Dan Warren, long-time friend and home teacher.

We had fun decorating and getting dressed up!

We even used our leftover pumpkins to make this snowman

We spent lots of time by the tree

    

and snuggling in Grandma's Christmas quilts

All was merry and bright!

2014 Family Photos

Our good friend Trevor Davies took our family photos up at the lake this year. It is a nice spot and we have lots of great memories there from when the kids were younger: feeding the ducks, paddle boating, hiking, Cub Scout camp and birthday parties.

All eleven of the Happy Hartz

John and I. The ones who got this party started.

Our kids. First up, Ryan

Then Molly, our daughter by marriage with baby Cary. Ryan picked a good one.

Next up, Aaron

Then comes our sweet Marianne

And our youngest son Evan

and our baby girl Lavender

Then we've got our wonderful grandchildren, Brianne, Leighton and Cary

My favorite picture of all is of my two girls. Marianne was posing, but Lavender had to join in!

Finally here is one more of the whole family. We used this one on our Christmas card.

 I love how the little girls are holding hands.

Thanksgiving 2014

We weren't sure how Thanksgiving would turn out this year. My Dad was recovering from open heart surgery and Ryan and Molly had a newborn. My brother Scott invited everyone to his house for the holiday and it turned out that all of my siblings were able to make it. It was wonderful to have everyone together!

Here is the whole gang. My Dad and his wife Carolyn, plus all of my siblings and our families. The only person not pictured is my brother David's wife Annie. She had a hard week at work and was resting at their hotel.

 Here we are letting loose. This is probably my favorite picture of the whole weekend! I made magnets from it and sent them to everyone for Christmas.

My nephew Cole was very popular with the ladies.

With Jenna

With Marianne

With Carolyn

Jumping and fighting over water bottles with Lavender and Leighton

Our grandson Carrington Vaughn also received a name and a  priesthood blessing. He was blessed by his father, Ryan (holding him) and (from left) his Great Uncle Scott, Cousin Ammon, Great Uncle David, Great Uncle Jason, Great Grandpa Bob, Papa John, Uncle Aaron and Great Uncle Brian.

Cary with his dad Ryan and his mom Molly

Our oldest son and his oldest son.

Later we took a walk to the park to work off some of our delicious dinner! Me and my siblings (birth order listed in parentheses): Jason (4), Scott (2), Jenny (3), Me (1) and David (5).

Birthday twins Heath and Marianne. I should have gotten a picture of Scott and Aaron who are also birthday twins!

Brooke and Lavender had a good time together. Brooke gave Lavender a doll just like she has. She said it was "baby girl Jesus" and Lavender promptly named her baby the same thing!

The next day the guys went for a hike together.

Meanwhile the girls went to the Reagan Library and saw the California Christmas tree display.

It was a great Thanksgiving and it was wonderful to be together!