January 25-31, 2016

November 30- December 6, 2015

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

It is always magical walking into Temple Square at Christmas time.  This is one of my favorite traditions. 

 1 This year going to temple square was a bit different.  We were able to go with the Meads' family.  It was fun to change it up a bit and have them there with us.  It sure makes it easier to watch all our kids.  It turned out to be a pretty nice night.  The weather was nice and not too cold.

This year they had all these different nativities all around.  It was really cool to see them. 

I love coming to Temple Square and one of the reasons why is because I love to tell my kids about marrying their daddy here,

Walking around the temple can be hard work.  It is time to take a rest.

Just taking a load off.

He doesn't love it but he does it for me and the kids.  Good guy.

 She is just a doll face.

Elsie had to take my phone so she could get a picture of Jesus.  It was so cute, the line was forever long and so everyone decided that they didn't want to wait in it.  Elsie was brokenhearted.  I felt bad but I didn't want to upset the entire group because of Elsie.  Mama was nice enough to say she would wait with her.  I told Elsie that if we stood in line to see Jesus she would miss our time to see Santa.  I said you have to choose which you would rather do.  She without hesitation said I want to stay and see Jesus.  She taught us all a lesson that night.  I was really proud of her for making the right choice.  It ended up that we all stayed and missed our time to see Santa.  All of the kids were glad we did.

Emma just adores her little niece.

The girls, minus a sleeping Emry and Yes, Genevieve is in the picture. 

Watching the Nativity story with Papa

It was a lot of fun to do together.  We were so glad these two made it.

These two reminded us to choose the better part tonight.  Thanks for doing that.

I don't have a pic of Ashlee but I promise she was there.  It was such a fun night.  After the temple we went and saw the Macy's windows.  They were pretty spectacular.  I didn't know this but did you know the old ZCMI sign is up on top of Macy's.  I miss that place.

Getting ready for the big game

Jeron and I kind of have this unspoken rule that we can't buy stuff for our kids "team" related.  So that way I never have to see an awful Spirit, Honor, Tradition shirt on my kids.  But never has anything been mentioned about making something for them.  And lets face it we all know that I don't have to worry about that.  So this year I cut out some foam, placed it on the shirt, and sprayed Clorox over the shirt.

Here is the result.  It turned out so  cute if I do say so myself.  Then again the model makes it look even that much cuter.  

 Those blue eyes kill me.

7-Eleven

Lately life as been so crazy busy I haven't been able to fully enjoy a good nuggle.  Today I decided I needed to take some time out to just love on my little Poppins.  She is getting so big and time just wont slow down.  

 After the nuggles we remembered it was 7-Eleven day.  Which translates to FREE SLURPEE DAY!  One or our favorites.  We headed to K-Town and hit two stores in 10 minutes.  It was fabulous fun for the kiddos.

 When we got home we had to do our traditional pic of lining up with our slurpees.  Then we made a moment out of it.  

 Just then dad pulled up and the day was complete.  

The lights at Temple Square

I love going to see the lights at temple square but this year was amazing.  This is how it always should be when we go to see the lights.  The weather was awesome.  The kids ended up taking their coats off and just wore jackets.  It was perfect.  

 The lights were so pretty this year.  They added little bits of yellow in the red lights and it made it look so pretty.  

 I love my girlies

We have so much. fun being together 

 It is nice to come inside and take a moment to reflect on the Savior.  I love this statue of Christ.

Back in the day when there was a ZCMI.  They would do the most amazing candy windows.  I use to get so excited as a kid to go and see their windows.  For the longest time there hasn't been any windows dressed up for Christmas.  I was so excited to see that Macy's brought back the candy windows.  I was not disappointed either.  They did an amazing job.  The kids were pretty impressed too.  

 So awesome.

 I always love coming to temple square with this man.  After all it is where our happily ever after started. 

 We are so blessed to live by such a magical place.  Seriously, the best lights in the world. 

 In the last few years they have redesigned the nativity in the middle of Temple Square.  It is so realistic now. As I was watching I got emotional thinking about this very special day.  This is by far my most favorite part of the Temple Square experience.  

 After we headed over to City Creek to go and see the big man himself.  Elsie was so excited to see Santa.  When we got there Santa was gone for the evening.  We felt so bad because Miss Elsie's heart was broken. I felt so bad for this little lady.  

 After some snuggles and talking Elsie was able to find some comfort in knowing we would see him another time.  She had to tell him that she really wanted roller blades and a sleeping beauty wig for Christmas.

Jeron has been trying for years to make this a tradition that we do every other year.  I hate to say it but he is out of luck.  I wouldn't feel like it was Christmas without going to see the lights on Temple Square.  This is one tradition he won't be able to mess with.

Baking Night

Jeron decided that we needed to have a baking night.  Since I have not had a very good relationship with food the last 3 months this was a bit of a daunting task for me.  Jeron tried to make it as easy as possible.  He brought up a chair for me to sit on while I made the food, which helped a lot.   We made Chex party mix, and sugar cookies to have on Christmas eve.  He helped out a lot at first but when it came time to make the sugar cookies he disappeared.  Hmmmm, whats that about.  The kids stuck with me to the bitter end though. 

Right when we put the first batch in I realized that Jeron was in the basement.  His Christmas present was hidden in the basement.  I FREAKED out, ran down stairs and it looked like he had maybe seen it.  I was so upset.  I knew that he would love his present and I finally got him something he didn't know about.  He swears he didn't see it...but I have my doubts.  Then after FREAKING out I remembered the cookies.  I slightly burned the first ones and yes, I might have cried a little bit over it.  There is nothing worse than making the dreaded sugar cookie and burning a batch of your hard efforts and work. 

The kids assured me that they would still eat them so I guess the tears were unneeded.  They are sweet to worry about my silly feelings. 

I am glad that Jeron suggested that we have a baking night.  I hope we continue this in the future. 

I wish we had a picture of Jeron but he really was MIA most of the time.  He did successfully clean the basement though. 

The Minivan Express

I found the cutest idea on Pinterest...or someone found it and I repinned it, anywho, It was to take the kids on a Polar Express minus the train. You simple make a ticket for each kid, place it on their bed while they are getting ready for bed.

Then you prepare Hot Chocolate, and popcorn and go put it in your van and start it so it is nice and warm for the kiddos.  Make sure there is Christmas music playing when they get in. 

It was so fun.  Jeron got them ready for bed and we said family prayers and then sent them off to bed.  They were so excited to find their tickets.  On the way done the stairs Elsie said "We are going on an adventure!"  That made it all worth it.  The kids got in the van, found their treats and more squeals of delight came. 

It really was a lot of fun.  We drove all over Farmington, Kaysville, and Fruit Heights and just looked at house lights.  We actually got lucky because FM100 was playing their 100 hours of Christmas Music and it started just an hour before we left.  Worked out perfect.  It  really was a great time, and best of all it was a wonderful memory that cost nothing.  Love it. 

Temple Square Lights

This year when we went to see the Temple lights we went with another idea in mind. We decided to seek out Christ just like the Wise Men did. So our first stop was the nativity. The kids loved watching it light up. They loved the star but most of all they loved the baby Jesus. We had great intentions of going up to see the Statue of Christ but the line was out of control so we just looked from the window. There really isn't a prettier place at Christmas time.  The lights were amazing. 

We almost bagged it when we couldn't find parking but I am really glad we held out.

The colors were amazing, and the kids love it.

Elsie asked if we could go inside the temple and see Jesus.  How sweet is she.

It is funny because every year we dread going and fighting the crowds and staying warm, but every year we walk away loving every minute of it.  This year we went up into the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to look out the windows.  It is spectacular from up there.  Now it feels a little more like Christmas.