Happy Birthday & Santa's Visit

Happy Birthday to Chris and Kris, and Santa stopped for a visit like he does every year. He must always know when the party is! Our kids were not excited about sitting on his lap. They all had a meltdown when he came in, which I expected!

The whole gang!

Happy Birthday Chris, We Love You So Much!!

Dancing around the Christmas Tree

We were listening to Christmas music and Ava grabbed Crew's hands to dance with him. It was cute, she was showing him what to do. I thought to myself there might be a glimmer of hope that they will like each other some day rather than taking toys from one another and fighting most of the time.

Dinner and The Roof

We have gone up to The Roof to dinner with Sean and Shelley every December since before we were married so we continued the tradition and went last week. It's always fun to have a nice quiet dinner and visit!

Festival of Lights

Every year we pile in the back of the car and go to Spanish Fork to the Festival of Lights. It's fun to listen to Christmas music in the car and drive through the lights!

Little Gym Show Day

Last week was parent Show Day at Little Gym for the end of the semester. The kids got to show all the things they've learned. Ava was excited that dad got to come with us!


Ava's class and her teacher Miss Allie. She is so cute with the kids, Ava loves her!

Brandt and Ava being little monkeys.

We've been Elfed

It's scary how natural Crew looks at being a little dancing elf. We've found his calling in life. It's good for a laugh anyway!

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/CSjTqxzvLTa1IeXx2HvP

I Knew This Was Coming

I knew it was only a matter of time until one of the boys pulled the tree over. I figured it would be crew and sure enough! Luckily it was one of the smaller trees and not the big one, that would be disaster!

And this is why our tree now only has decorations on the top half. They WILL NOT leave the ornaments alone. Ava never touched the tree last year but I think they are partners in crime once they are shown the idea.

Ava loves leaving her shoes out at night before bedtime for Santa to leave treats in them. I remember we loved that tradition growing up. It's fun to see your own kids get excited about the same things you did when you were young.

Show Me Your Teeth

Ava had her first dental visit this week with uncle Dr. Rick. She, of course, was a bit nervous of going to the dentist. I couldn't even pry her lips open for anyone to get a glimpse of her teeth but she loved her bag of goodies, including a new Ariel toothbrush and a token for a prize when we left! Oh well, we'll try back next year!

Gardner Village Elf's

We went to Gardner Village to see the Elf's. We walked around and the kids did the little hidden scavenger hunt and were most excited about their treat at the end for finishing it! The elf's were all really cute to see!

Shaley and I went with all the little girls on the horse and carriage ride with Mrs. Santa Claus while the others took the babies to sit and get hot chocolate. It was so cute, she told us a story and then we all sang some Christmas songs together!

All the "girly girls" with Mrs. Claus

Holiday Decorating

We did our Holiday decorating this past weekend. We are officially ready for Christmas, it just needs to snow so it actually feels more like the holidays!

Ava decorated her purple tree for her room! She loves it and wants the lights plugged in at all times whether she's in her room or not!

The boys just played with the ornaments as balls and got tangled up in the light strands. Luckily the box said "shatterproof" and they really were, none of them were broken despite their throwing them around!

We put Chris's Grandma's old ornaments on the boys tree. She handmade them long ago and we got a few of them when she passed away. They are really cute!

Ava wrote her wish list to Santa. She wants a "chit-chen" (kitchen) this year, that is if she doesn't end up on the naughty list!

Turkey Day

We had a fun Thanksgiving Holiday with our Families. We have so many things to be grateful for this Holiday Season that I couldn't possibly list them all! We are thankful that our families live close so we can spend time with all of them often!








In the evening we all decorated Ginger Bread Houses and ate leftover turkey sandwiches!

All the gumballs that Ava lined up along the top of the roof later caved in when the sides settled. So much for all her hard work!