Christmas!

Christmas Eve started as usual, frositng cookies and then having our traditional fondue meal. 

Then onto Christmas pjs and our christmas stories. 

I opted for matching jammies this year. None of them seemed to mind. 

Then off to bed so Santa could come. 

The kids were up and at em at 5 am sharp. That's our rule, but I know they are up before that, they just can't wake me up before then! 

Everyone's loot!

A favorite gift of mine was my new dishes that looked like the ones I saw in Portugal. Aren't they so pretty?!

Bri was most excited about her nikes. 

Carter his spikes too, but they actually were the wrong ones so we had to send them back. Not my fault, the senders fault. And Mollie delighted in giving him a chicken nugget pillow. 

Mol was all about clothes, shoes and jewlry. 

And Chad was actually supposed to be working btut a co worker approached him and asked if he could take his shift so he could be with his family. He explained that someone did that for him when his kids were little and that he wanted to do it for Chad since his family was all grown! How kind! He did still end up working christmas day but didn't have to go in until about 10. And was home in time for dinner. So that was nice. 

All the kids were crashed out the rest of the day anyway. Except for Ry....

Who spent her time building Playdough Barbie clothes! 

And wouldn't you know it, we didn't have a DROP of snow on the ground. How sad is that. This winter has been so warm and weird. While its been nice to not worry about hats and coats and gloves, I know we need the snow pack! So hopefully we get some! 

 Merry Christmas! I'm so grateful for our Savior and that we get to focus on Him. I love spending this time with my family and am STILL feeling so grateful for all that we have and the beautiful Christmas we are able to give our family. 

New things for Mollie

Mol has had lots of changes this month so I thought I'd share some. 

She invited her boyfriend, Hudson, to church. He spent the afternoon with us but we were all fasting so it wasn't that great for him probably.  I was proud of her for not being afraid to invite him to church and for him to be open minded enough to come. 

That same afternoon Mol received her Patriarchal blessing. (which is why we were fasting.) It was very special and a tender moment when we said amen and looked up and everyone was in tears. She's a pretty special kid. 

ANNND she recieved her drivers permit...here we go again...death gripping the seat for the next year while she learns! But really, she's doing pretty great so far. 

And, in older news, she came home from a basketball tournament with a fresh set of concussion papers! Ugh! When she started bastketball, this is one thing I THOUGHT we wouldn't have to worry about. I was wrong. She had a fast break and 4 girls ran after her and plowed into her and slammed her head to the floor and then into the cement wall. Wow. Lots of fun this is. 

Here's to healing and getting better over Christmas break! 
 

Christmasey Things

December always has so much, but I was determined to slow down a bit and focus on the things that matter most. But of course, there are always things. 

We had a team christmas party for the gymnasts at the gym. 

They could all come in pjs...it was so cute trying to teach them the concept of a gift passing/trading game...they were so confused. I was just glad there were no tears and only 1 girl called her gift dumb. 

For our family gift name draw, we had Tony's Fam. I asked for some ideas and he requested that we do a service project and send pics and tell him about it. I came across a project to gather clothes and toys for the Girls & Boys Club in Tooele. It was really fun seeing how far we could make that money stretch. I found a ton of $3 shirts at Ross and so we were able to get quite a few things. 

We sent all the pictures to Tony with some treats and letter explaining what we did. It was nice to do it as a family and work together to come up with some fun things for kids. Our kids even went through their toys and donated several stuffed animals and fidgets and play sets. When we delivered it, they were very grateful and gave us a tour of the facility and it was awesome to see what these community people do for our children. 

Our annual gathering with the Maughans and Farris families was super special as always. We enjoyed sharing how Christ had impacted our life that year. You can't go wrong when you gather with people you love, testify of Christ and fill your bellies. Sad that it is the last year we'll all be together, kids will start leaving to college or missions for the next 10 years until they are all gone. It's such a weird feelilnlg that next year we will be down 2 missionaries. 

This house in my neighborhood....just wow.. Some people love Christmas more than others. 

And I just had to snap this pic! We were so cute! 

And my friend Solly has a birthday in Dec and so we planned a Zumba party like she did for me since she loves zumba! It was a fun and successful turnout. Dancing with friends is funner!

And our ward put on a cute nativity play. Mollie and Rylee were in it. 

Ry was an angel and Mol was a sheep. I didn't even know she was in it until later. 

 They did a nice program, sang and had dinner. It was a nice night. Here comes Christmas!

Bri is 12!

Our Christmas girl turned 12! I was determined to have a good chunk of Christmas shopping done and Brielle's birthday shopping done becasue I knew I'd be cutting in close to getting everything done, so it was nice to come home and just have her birthday things ready to go! 

She's growing and her interests are changing as well and clothes and music things are at the top of her list these days!

And all she really wanted was to get her nails done for her birthday, so with her birthday money, she went for a real manicure and got acryllic nails. 

She was in love and told me how she was going to get them all the time. I reminder her of.....$$$$$. 

We had a pretty simple party for her at home with soup and mini cupcakes and menchies. She had a party coming in a few days so we went easy. Plus there are so many treats to eat and find in December! 

The night of her party came and we gathered with friends and she requested an ice cream cake that I had done for Carter before. It went pretty well. I think it was way too much and too rich for the girls. Not many of them ate all of it. 

Cute friends who came to celebrate. She just wanted a friend hang out with cute cups and ice cream cake, so we made it happen. 

 Happy Birthday my Brielle girl! You are so loved and its so fun to watch you grow and improve in basketball and volleyball this year. You will be very successful and I'm so proud of who you are becoming! Love you much! 

Mollie's Social Dance Performance

Well, there was no rest for the tired, despite getting home after midnight we knew we had to hit the ground running the next day, back to school, back to sports, back to all the things .

Mollie had missed the 1st night of her dance performance and we were so glad that she would get to perform atleast one of the nights. She has grown to love social dance and really mastered it and had fun with it. 

The danced to Oh what a night by Elvis.

Her friend Bridget has done social dance for many years and decided to try her had at the boy part. 

Just loved seeing her smiling and having so much fun. 

I wish more boys would join!!

Cute friends who came to support. 

 Here we go! Back to reality. Luckily we know we have a nice long christmas break coming up.