They made us all wear hair nets (something that Reagan protested against the entire time) and take off all jewelry. A tour guide took our family through the entire factory, explaining how everything worked. It was fascinating and delicious (they let us sample candy as we went)! 
They didn't allow cameras in the factory (so I swiped this one from their website), but my favorite part was watching the orange sticks being made ... they are the only company that makes orange sticks (orange gelatin covered in milk or dark chocolate) and I've been eating them since I was little. My parents have put a box of orange sticks in my stocking every single year and I love them.The other interesting part was seeing how they make their cinnamon bears ... instead of pouring the hot gelatin into a metal mold, they press the metal mold into a pan of packed cornstarch. The cornstarch holds the shape even better (so you can see the small details). Then the hot liquid is poured onto the cornstarch. Once the candy cools, the cornstarch is blown off and the bears are shaped perfectly. It's amazing. In fact, if you press your finger into cornstarch, you can see your fingerprint. I thought this was fascinating.
After our free tour, we were each given a bag of salt water taffy and then we went shopping in their gift shop. Reagan was dying for jelly beans.
Alyssa picked out some raspberry sticks
Blake, Alyssa and Reagan
My mom treated us all to some candy :) Thanks for buying, Mom!
As I tried to snap a shot of Reagan, Blake jumped in front
Makenna
After the candy tour, we went to lunch at The Training Table (Yummy!), then John and I took the girls to my grandparent's house (my dad's parents).
My grandpa brought out his favorite toy, the Elmo who does the chicken dance.
Reagan and her great grandma, playing catch with a ball of green yarn.
Grandma helping Reagan build a chain of monkeys (remember the old monkeys in a barrel?)
My grandma taught my grandpa how to knit hats out of yarn. He's really good at it!
When I saw this picture on the wall, I couldn't help but take a picture of it with my camera. It's a classic. It's of my dad's family (he's the oldest of 7 kids). I remember this day so well - it was in Murray and it was freezing cold that day! I didn't realize until just now that my grandparents aren't in the picture ... I guess they just wanted it of their kids and their families. Anyway, I'm on the bottom right, in a light pink dress with black shoes. My little sister Camille is in the red and white dress and my older sister Benee is in the red dress, with the scowl on her face ... we've been making fun of her ever since!
That night, my parents took us to a new favorite Japanese restaurant called Matsu.
The next morning was NYE day (Dec. 31st). Reagan insisted on wearing a dress that day. Here's a cute picture of her eating breafast with Nana.
John and I left around 11:30 AM to go skiing for a half day (we're not in the best shape, so we knew we wouldn't last a full day on our first day of skiing in 2 years!). We were there for the 12:30 afternoon start time and I took these pictures with my iPhone ... it was a beautiful sunny day, 45 degrees up there!
I took this picture as we were going up our first lift. John and I love going skiing together. We always have such a great time. After skiing for an hour and a half, I took out my phone at the top of the moutain to take a picture of the beautiful view ... I noticed a voicemail from my dad. Aw-oh. When I called him, he said that Reagan had tripped and fallen right into the corner of the coffee table. The bleeding had stopped, but he figured she needed stitches. John and I raced down the hill, jumped in the car, and headed down the canyon. We met my mom and Reagan at the new IHC hospital ER.
The doctor numbed it first by putting a soaked cottonball on the wound for about 30 minutes ... here's a picture of her with a bandage wrapped around her head to keep the cotton ball in the right spot. She wasn't happy about it, but she was a pretty good sport overall. Thank goodness for my iPhone, since she watched some of her favorite shows while we waited for it to get numb. When the doctor came back and looked at it, he opted for the Durabond glue, since it would be much less traumatic on her than stitches. We're a little concerned about what kind of a scar it will leave, but at least it's right above her eye brow - we hope it won't be too noticable.
We came home from the hospital and let Reagan sleep ... she took a nice long nap (unusual for her). Then Benee and Doug dropped off their kids for the NYE festivities, since they had dinner plans with their friends.
Camille and my mom organized dinner for everyone and it turned out wonderfully: we made our own version of Cafe Rio's pork salads.
Alyssa and Blake
Blake and Makenna ~ Reagan (nice pose!)
The kids started playing dress-ups and we all had a good laugh watching them. My mom kept all of our old dance costumes which have been perfect for the girls ... since Blake felt left out, she got him some gender appropriate dress-up clothes :) Poor Blake, the only boy with 5 girl cousins!
Too funny
Samantha wanted in on the fun, so Camille helped her put on this skirt - as you can tell, she was very happy to be following the big kids!
Reagan and Alyssa
Avery
My mom sent Reagan this pink tent to NJ, but also bought one to have at her house for the grandkids ... Avery and Samantha were playing together so well, going in and out of it.
Bring on the Guitar Hero Rockband!!! 
Do we look like rockstars??
We celebrated New York's NYE (10:00 vs. midnight) ... we all went outside and made a huge mess! Benee had purchased all kinds of fun items for the kids.
I love this action shot of Alyssa getting me with silly string
LOVE the silly string ...
... the kids were covered in itIt was a fun NYE celebration. John and I are looking forward to a really good year in 2009 :)
Marcelo and Reagan
Amanda and Reagan (putting the Christmas stockings on her feet as 'socks')
