Decemberings

The Elf got really naughty as December wore on.

This was a selfie he took in the night.

The kids thought this was pretty hilarious when they found him in the morning.

We broke out the fancy winter coat and so Lanaya graced us with her most dignified pose.

We were spoiled with treats by our friends and neighbors.

***BRAGGING ALERT***

This was a snapshot I sent to Blake of my anatomy grades after they were all submitted.  I was more than a little proud.

Kayli got this doll and blanket combo and gave the doll to Lanaya.  Lanaya was so excited I could hardly get a photo that wasn't a blur of enthusiasm for her new "KiKi doll".

Temple Square

Even though it's been several years since we lived back East, I still get a little nostalgic for New York City at Christmas time.  All the lights and festivity.

Fortunately, there's a pretty beautiful substitute not far from where we live.

And I happen to know a couple of world class musicians who play there every year.  At least the last two.  They're a little small behind that gigantic chandelier, but if you look closely... you probably still won't see them.

But they agreed to pose for photos after the performance.

And then we had a big family outing to go tour the lights.  I love so many things about this photo.  These kids love their cousins.

The Salt Lake City temple at night is always beautiful.  With the lights at Christmas, it's even more spectacular.

Look how cute we are!

I love the lights at the temple and the lights at Temple Square.  They are a beautiful reminder of the Light of the World and how blessed I am to have Him guiding my life.

The End of The Beginning

That's probably an overly dramatic title, but I'm going with it.

This is what it looked like when I left my house in the wee morning hours to make it to my first final by 7 AM.  I left myself plenty of time, but still barely made it on time.  Thankfully, I did make it.  And I scored fairly well on it.

This is what it looked like on my way home.  I hate driving in snow.  But I did like having one final done and one to go.  Unfortunately, the weather was pretty similar for my second final.  Fortunately, I did pretty well on it too.

Now that my semester was over, I wasted no time in making good on a semester-long promise.  For months this little princess asked me every day at nap time, "Mommy, will you sweep wiss me?"  To which I would respond, "I wish I could!  But I have to do homework."  And then she would say, "When you finish wiss you homewoik, then will you sweep wiss me?"

So, now that I was all finished wiss my homewoik, we caught up on some much needed snuggle time.

And then the kids asked me to go sledding with them.  Again, I had spent the past few months having to decline almost every request for together time because I had to study.  It was definitely time to say "yes".

How can you say 'no' to this face?

Sledding with my babies was a great way to spend the afternoon.  The boys were sledding too, but were moving too fast to get any decent photos.

And then a couple days later, my friends went out with me to celebrate my return of freedom.

Time to let the Christmas celebrating truly begin!

Fun Photos

Blake and I teach the 12-13 year old Sunday School class at church.

It took us 6 months, but we finally managed to schedule a party when they could all make it.  We had so much fun teaching them all year.  These kids have strong testimonies and are developing great faith.  It was a privilege to meet with them each week!

Barbie had a busy December.  We found these guys in the toy room one night, apparently  courtesy of Lanaya.

Playing with the Little People nativity set was one of her favorite things all December.  I stopped trying to set them up the "right" way, because it was just going to be however she wanted it.

And then we continued the handprint tradition on our tree skirt.  Their hands are getting so big!

Snow Much Fun

Bryce and some of his best buddies at Cub Scouts.

They let all the kids build marshmallow snowmen

This is what happens when you put a giant marshmallow into your mouth all at once.  She was like this for quite a while.

Trey decided to "connect the dots (a.k.a. "knots")" on the bunk bed.  Amazingly, I was able to get it off with "Oops".

Bryce begged to join his school choir which meant getting up early twice a week to make it to practices before school for a couple of months.  I was really proud of him for his dedication.  And then this is how not happy he looked during the performance.  Actually, this is the happiest he ever looked.

Until it came time to shoot of the confetti sticks.  Then he had a little fun, at least.

More skiing fun!

Great times making great memories!

December Traditions

Early December has some really fun traditions for us.

Like celebrating Blake's mom's birthday with fondue dinner and lots of cousin bonding time.

And enjoying Grandpa's train display.

We were excited to commission this unique family portrait done by a talented young artist from our church congregation.

Elf on the Shelf  is not one of my favorite traditions, but the kids love him and this year he got a little more creative in his shenanigans.  Date night with Barbie was one of his favorites.

And this is something I'm hoping is a new tradition.

Thanks to a really cool program through the schools that makes skiing free for kids and a very dedicated, patient, and fun grandpa--Kayli and Bryce got to learn how to ski and spend time with their grandpa and cousins several Saturdays this winter.

After Thanksgiving

We took advantage of having so many cousins in town and made the most of it.

The dads kindly took them hiking.

It was freezing cold!  So, I was really happy to look at these photos and hear about their adventures after they returned to the nice warm home I had stayed in.

The kids couldn't get enough of the cold apparently.

So they had a nice snowball fight!

Some of my favorite memories are from when my much older cousins played with me and made me feel special.  I'm so grateful my kids will have similar memories!

6-Card Golf will always be fun.  And will always make me think of my grandma and grandpa.

Looks like my kids will have memories like that too.

Cousin bonding time is the best!

And then we went home and decorated the tree.  Welcome, Christmas!

Thanksgiving!

I really love Thanksgiving.

We got up bright and early so I could run my annual turkey race.  I took this after a pretty good 10K run.  Proving that I still can't take race selfies.

These cuties sweetly got up early and even braved the cold to cheer me on (for about 5 minutes--the rest of the time they were in the car).  I can't wait for the year that they run the race with me.

Then we headed to the bowling alley for Blake's family's annual Thanksgiving bowling.

Umm... these two were adorable to watch.

Excellent technique.

She was pretty happy.

Blake and his dad.

Blake won the men's division and Kayli was clearly proud and pleased to pose with him.

Blake's mom Cindy won the women's division.  Woot! Woot!  Definitely a champion family!

This year we went down to my parent's house for the big dinner.

We were a little behind, so thankfully, I had professionals to help with my portion of the meal.

Look at this adorable fruit turkey my niece put together!

If my dad had known that I was taking this pic, that smile wouldn't have been there.  I'm so pleased that I caught it!  He was carving one of the tastiest turkeys I've ever eaten!

My mom and the food!

If you look closely, you can see that those aren't apples.  They're actually turkeys.

The excitement before the meal!

This happened after dinner.  If you want to make my little guy happy, spend some one-on-one time with him.  It makes his mama pretty happy too.

And then the kids made up some skits to entertain the rest of us.

Lanaya was so happy snuggled up with her sweet cousin there.  My kids are so blessed to have such sweet cousins who love them and make them feel special.

Thanksgiving was a great day--with so much to be thankful for!