December 2016

December was a great month!

 At the beginning, I had a recital for my voice students at the studio and they did fantastic!

There was hardly any notice, but they pulled through and sang great!

I was given a few new students when the other voice teacher moved. One of them is a sweet 15 year old girl who has a gorgeous voice and made me this lei!

We got to go to the zoo for free! It was busy, but the boys had a blast!

This little boy loves to help me with the dishes. It helps me put them away really really fast. haha

I've convinced C that nutella is Mommy Medicine. muahahaha!

This cutie likes the christmas tree. He'd sit there and just look at it. And he would also push the button to turn it on and off and on and off.

he likes my things. haha

Playing on the ipad with Daddy

hahaha love the crying baby with the pretty tree

Our friends wanted to go stargazing, so we packed up and went with all our kids. The kids didn't last very long. It was well below freezing and late, so their kids watched a movie in the car and I snuggled my very cold A boy.

Then began the real snow of our winter!

this picture cracks me up!!

We went to Tessley's house to get some weapons for J's birthday party and the kids played in the snow together.

I got to watch the kids in workout class. It was a busy day and we had a tiny room. 35 kids, I believe! craziness!!

Crazy cool icicles!

Reading books at the Distribution Center

They played outside a bunch this day. Love it!

Facetime with J's parents for his birthday

My birthday present for J. haha Like I'm asking him on a date. Love it

J couldn't decide what he wanted to do for his birthday party, so I had him decide on a movie to be the theme. 

He chose World of Warcraft.

Neither of us had seen it. I did tons of research and decided on a few things to do.

I made an archery target Orc, and a beard and hair.

Becky let me use her tree so we could pin the peon. 

Everyone had to make their own peon who would be chopping the tree-like the old video game.

Then we did tail on the donkey style blindfolded placing.

I set up a really awesome photo booth with weapons and costumes.

There was face paint, too! We discovered pretty quickly that it was not really washable... 

Sorry, Tess!

These three guys are great. Such nerds and silliness combined!

Ricky, J, and Brady

J and Brady

J and A

Benji and Hyrum

Julie and Ricky

We're so cute!

We love going to Tucano's for birthdays! C really enjoyed it this time and that was awesome!

I love his curls!

But it was time to cut it! Sniff!

But he was handsome and it was still curly!

Reading together

I did a great job staying on top of Christmas presents this year! We had tons to take with us to Arkansas!

The snow was piling!

He had a cold. I love snuggles when they're sick!

These water beads are so cool! They start out teeny tiny and get up to small marble size after being in water long enough. We like to play with them in the tub after we've washed and gotten new water.

We were invited to the sealing of one of my young women! She also went on her mission to Arkansas! Love this sweet girl!

I had C get dressed back up to go to the reception, but he had no interest in it. So I had to compromise with this outfit-sweatshirt with tie and suit. haha

At the reception

Star Wars day at the library! It was when Rogue One came out, so they had a place to make lightsabers, Darth Vader to fight, and the movie to watch!

We had a really cute program for our Christmas party. All the Primary kids were in it.

My cute angel

We had Mexican food, singing, and a pinata!

And of course Santa!

There was a kid pinata and an adult pinata. C broke off one of the arms!

This cute girl is Andrienne. She is with her dad on Sundays when he has ward council, so I watch her on those Sundays. She's a sweet girl and C loves her!

Before we went to Arkansas, the boys got an early Christmas present! 

We got this awesome kitchen full of tons of play food and pots and pans!

The boys played for a good 2 hours between dinner and bedtime!

 I vacuumed the van and it was crazy because my vacuum water froze!

Sleeping baby

A jumped in on the selfies and awesome pics this month!

We had presents with J's siblings before we left. A got 2 watches! Toy Story and Star Wars! He was so happy!

C got an awesome Minecraft Lego Set! He was so happy!!

Sorry it's sideways. But look at that awesome writing!!

On the phone and reading.

Headed to Arkansas!!

He got to watch a movie over and over and over! It was Winnie the Pooh and Toy Story. 

We drove through the night and into the night again. It was exhausting. But we made it!

This is breakfast in Colorado

When we got there that night. Zonked out!!

Had a family dinner in Downtown Little Rock

Showing Gma his lego set

My dad has a Beta Fish that my boys love to see. They wake up and ask to see Nephi every day when we're there!

We went to Liz's house and made cookies for Santa! Such a fun time!!

The kids ate their Christmas Eve Pizza

We had our Nativity story

Then when the kids were watching Christmas movies, the adults got to have a delicious meal!

Christmas morning!!! C is trying to see his toys and A is excited about what he's found

arrows for his bow, a dragon, candy, and a lego tie fighter

Another dragon! candy, and a train.

Christmas morning was church. I love being able to feel the spirit on such a beautiful day!

 After church, we had naps, exchanged presents, and had Christmas enchiladas

This is one of my mom's favorite decorations. As a little girl, I would sit in front of the fire with these carolers and sing Christmas carols. 

pretty adorable, right?

We went to go see Rogue One and MMae was sweet enough to watch the kids for us to go!

here's Charlotte playing with the bunny they were watching for the holiday break

We went to the mall and got their dragons stuffed at Build a Bear! They each got one from Santa and one from mom and dad. They were so happy and thrilled to do it!!

I left a cupboard open and ran into it. It hurt soooooo bad!! I still have a small mark from it in March...

We went to Garvan Gardens for their beautiful light display. It was awesome!!

Lucy in the sky with diamonds!

We played DND with Star Wars miniatures!

It was so fun!

E's crit of the night

We went to SING -We really liked it!!

Checking out C's new arrows!

 And climbing trees!

A and Charlotte playing piano together

I love books. And Barnes and Noble has a place to play, too! Double win!

Went on a motorcycle ride with this stud!

Ev is such a sweet young man!

Got my hair shaped better! 

At least twice, we had this little boy locked in the bathroom holding toys sitting on the toilet. Haha

Bathtime in Gma's 

New Year's Eve!

The beginning of this game was fun. Then it got crazy... haha

Gma's windup toys are super cool.

Hanging out under the desk!

 This sweet boy had us both in tears after we drove away from Gma's house. He missed them and wanted to stay. Me too, kid. Me too.

Sam was driving to Idaho at the same time and we caught up to him in Utah!

Almost home!

The drive home took 31 hours. Yikes! Down took us 28 hours.