Christmas!!

We let the kids open their pajamas 2 days before Christmas instead of waiting till Christmas Eve. Kallie didn't like hers. They were too small. Fail on my part. Ava didn't love her baby yoda ones either but that was Brandon's doing ha ha.

We went to dinner at my parents house on Christmas Eve. We did a pasta bar and had a short program. Ken, Kjersti, and Sky showed up and surprised us all. It was good to see them.

Back home to build the legos they opened from Grandma.

 

Cookies out for Santa and the kids decided to have a big sleepover in Mckinley's room. I really like the sound of making this a tradition.

They were so cute in there!

Got everything all set up for Christmas morning. We did presents and stockings downstairs now that we have our new couches down there and it was wonderful. Definitely what we will be doing from here on out. We decorated a kids tree downstairs with all the ornaments the kids have made at school and Home Depot over the years and I love it!

Christmas morning! Stockings.

The oldest three each got one of these chairs. They all love them!

Jackson got a big new train track and loved all his toys.

Ava ended up sad once she saw her small pile of presents. She cried and said "Santa must not love me as much as he loves everyone else." She did get the shaft this year. I think the big (used) kitchen she got didn't really compute in her mind as a great gift. Oh well.

Christmas tree waffles!

Christmas was on Sunday this year but luckily our church is at noon so we had plenty of time to do all our stuff before church.

Family selfie (minus Mckinley) over at Marmee and Grandpa's.

Home to play our new games. Candy Land for Ava.

Chinese checkers for Tyler.

Boxing day was fun as always.

Jordan and Annie got to town on the 23rd and we played hard with them every day that they were here until New Years Eve. Their kids love our kids so they called us every day wanting to play. We did so much with them! It was exhausting but so much fun. Bean Museum one day.

Followed by the tiny dinosaur museum.

Jackson and Charly practicing their bingo skills. Lol.

All the girls went to Megan's class at the Orem Rec Center. It was fun! Went for ice cream at Menchies after.

Jackson went and set up this bed for himself on our bench and told me to come look at him. He really fell asleep like this. 

Bowling at Fat Cats on Lincoln's birthday.

Followed by some arcade games.

Then we had to stop by the dinosaur museum again since Mckinley wasn't with us the first time. She was playing bingo with all the teenager cousins when we went the first time.

Skookies for Lincoln's birthday.

Pizza Factory with a lot of the cousins. Always a crazy time! But so yummy.

We went straight from Pizza Factory to Classic for the bounce houses with Jordan and Annie's family. It was seriously non stop that entire week!

We played Five Crowns while the kids bounced. Win win!

These cousins seriously had a blast together.

December and the start of Christmas Break

Mckinley had her 2nd and last choir concert a few days after we got back from St. George. Brandon had to miss the first one because of a soccer conflict and he ended up missing this one as well because it was the exact same time as our ward Christmas party. I enjoyed it though.

Love these Home Depot kids craft ornaments they do every Christmas.

Went to the Bean Museum on a random Saturday. Just trying to get out and do things. It's always fun!

Tried out the giving machine for the first time and then saw lights at the University Mall.

Had the make our joy school letter Christmas themed. Love how these North Pole N's turned out!!

Got some snow!!!! The kids went out sledding and I got Jackson all dressed and he actually ended up liking it. Love our little hill!

Ava with Miss Bethany, the cutest Kindergarten intern student ever! She's gone now though...

 Youth temple baptism trips!

Christmas sing and class parties at the school before the break! So fun.

Ava and Hazel. Hazel was over for a playdate and we found enough snow stuff for them to both go out and sled.

Tyler got to ride the front runner and go to a jazz game with Hudson and his family. Then Brandon and I got free tickets from Jayson Curtis so we were there too, but separate from him. We found him in the crowd and went and said hi.

Super fun date night with Brandon!

So someone started doing the 12 days of Christmas for us and the kids were STOKED! Until day 2 when we realized it was all food storage. Then it seemed a little weird, and then Brandon told me he found out it was his dad. We didn't tell the kids, but Ross revealed himself on Christmas to everyone.

So Brandon went to Albuquerque for a football game the weekend school got out for Christmas break. I was lucky enough to go out with the kids on Saturday and have the most magical time sledding out on the golf course. Some of the best fun I have ever had in my life!

Brandon freezing in the evening game with 20 degree temperature.

Jackson had his last Sunday in nursery while Brandon was gone! We are done with nursery forever in our family!!!! What a great milestone to reach.

After Church he insisted on coming to choir with me. Then he wouldn't play in Gay Lynne's toy room and fell asleep in my arms. Of course.

Had another super fun day out on the golf course with a bunch of neighbors we invited. This was Alex's birthday. He, Andrew, and Charles all showed up with no snow clothes on. So they didn't last long. Tyler was able to go with them to a trampoline park to celebrate Alex's birthday. Ugh, we are going to miss Alex so much!!! Tyler and him have been friends since Kindergarten.

I invited Kristin Murri to come play in the snow with us. Sure love her to death!

The next day I took my kids to Utah Lake. We were hoping to see the cool ice chunks I have seen people post in the past but no such luck. The lake was just frozen flat. 

So fun adventuring now that all the kids are big enough.

I have never once taken my kids to a park in the snow. Let alone worn our snow clothes and driven in the car to go anywhere, ha ha. I guess Brandon has taken them to Soldier Hollow the last couple of years, but I have never joined. Anyway, it was so fun to be able to do new things and life is just feeling so good with Jackson getting older and no more babies!

The hill at Grove Park was super fun to sled down, even though the snow was getting old and crunchy.

Saw this car parked at the mall and when you look a little closer...

So cool!!!

Day at the library.

Then hit up the park next to it. Like I said, I never would have done this in the past, but with all the kids being older, we can do new things and it's so exciting!!!

Went to the museum of art one day.

This picture was amazing!

Jackson can go cross-eyed and it's so cute!!

The sleeping pictures. They never get old! I should sift through and find out how many I have in all.