Monday, December 26, 2016

Day After Christmas Traditions

What do you do the day after Christmas? Why put together all the stuff your kids GOT for Christmas of course! So grateful that Nana and Papa helped us out!

Making a FUN backyard!

Collin's Christmas Tradition: Rogue One

And it didn't disappoint! Nana and Papa got to be there with us, which was even better!

Sleeping in the tent

The boys put up their tent in their bedroom and have loved sleeping in it!

Pie Face Fun

It's all fun and games until you get a face full of whip cream...

Merry Christmas!

Headed off to church to worship and celebrate the birth of our Savior. I actually LOVE when Christmas falls on a Sunday!

Christmas Morning Excitement

Santa brought some great presents! The girls got bean bag chairs, the boys got Pokemon. Bubba got a tablet, Collin got a Paw Patroller. What a morning!

Waiting for Santa

All in our new Christmas Jammies, awaiting the arrival of Santa!

He came! And did not disappoint!


Christmas Eve Dinner

I love getting family together for celebrations and holidays. This year, we were able to have my parents, Shayne's parents and Thomas, Averi and Jenna's family. It was a full house with lots of delicious food. A perfect way to celebrate!

Prepping for Santa

We have to make sure to keep Santa well-fed on Christmas Eve with some of the most delicious sugar cookies around!

Our favorite ones make it onto the plate for Santa.


All the left overs are fair game for the rest of us.


Delicious! YUMM!

Christmas Tradition-BBQ Tri Tip

Even a rainstorm wouldn't stop our hero from bbqing 4 trip tips for Christmas Eve dinner!

My Major Award!

It rarely happens that I win anything, but I won a raffle for a gift basket!

For the entire day, we all commented on my "Major Award" 
(from A Christmas Story)

Chore Patrol

There are those moments when someone needs some super-supervision on their chore capabilities. Shayne drew the short straw and decided to catch up on some comic reading while seeing how the job was going.

Keeping an eye on things

Always watching!

Izzy's Christmas Tradition: Gingerbread Houses

We always love the delicious mess that gingerbread houses bring!

Preschool Polar Express Party

Not much is cuter than 12 preschoolers all in their jammies watching Polar Express and enjoying Christmas Excitement!


The gingerbread houses were a HUGE success!

Lightsaber Battles

Love it when Nana and Papa come to town and we have lots of wrapping paper tubes around the house for battles!

Food Storage Closet

Still trying to get everything unpacked into the new house. Finally got all my food storage into one place. In our old house, I had food storage hidden everywhere: in cabinets, under beds, in the kids' closets, pretty much every single nook and cranny possible. Here I've got it all in one place! Love it!

Bubba's Christmas Tradition: Lights and Hot Chocolate

We have some amazing Christmas Light displays around town, and Bubba decided he wanted to go see some, and then top off the night with Hot Chocolate from McDonald's.

Ok, so no one ended up drinking hot chocolate


...except, ME!


A great family night together!

Grocery Shopping

Someone was too pooped to grocery shop today. Made getting our groceries a bit more difficult.

Just because...I LOVE HIM!

My husband is simply the greatest! I love him!!

Isabelle's Field Trip to Lake Pleasant

Izzy had the COOLEST field trip to the Learning Center at Lake Pleasant. There was so much to see and do!

We got to look at the lake water under microscopes and were amazed at all the different micro organisms alive and thriving!

Of course lunch on a field trip is the BEST!


Outside they learned a little bit about the Hopi tribe that used to inhabit the area and played some outdoor games.


What a majestic place for a field trip!



I loved loved loved that I got to spend the day with Izzy on this amazing field trip!


We even went hiking around the lake, it was fabulous!

Light Wars

Little did we know when we moved in that our entire street participates in "Light Wars" with each other...lots of lights is an understatement! Can you spot which house is ours?



Winner! Winner! My kids were so sad that we didn't have more lights put up this year.

Multiplication Graduation

Izzy's teacher is so much fun! Once they pass all their multiplication problems, they get to have a Multiplication Graduation Ceremony. Isabelle was in heaven!

GS Adopt A Family

For a Christmas service project, Izzy's troop really wanted to Adopt-a-family. In our ward, there is a young married couple who recently adopted four siblings from the foster family. They went from newlyweds to a family of six quickly and they were a perfect family for the troop to adopt. The girls really came through with a ton of presents and needed items for the family. I love to see kids getting into the Spirit of Christmas.

Newest Addition

I've always wanted a toy train to run around my Christmas Tree. Apparently my boys feel the same way because they haven't left the train alone since we got it!

Just What I Needed

I love my new house, and my new giant bathtub that I can fill with Japanese bath salts, and a cold diet coke, and wash away all the stress of the season!

Jonna's Christmas Tradition: Cookie Bake Off

I always like to do something new for my christmas tradition, so this year I decided to invite some of our family's friends over for a Christmas Cookie Bake Off!

The Rules: Must make 4 dozen
Every person attending gets 1 vote
Winner receives bragging rights for one year

We chose Molasses Cookies

We had over 30 people (6 families) attend and it was a blast! Cookie overload, lots of fun and laughter.




Our prizes for the winning family...


AND...the winners were the Pond Family! Enjoy that title...You won't win it twice in a row!

This Year's Wrap Up

 I love our family's blog books. I love capturing the moments and freezing them in time so we can look back and relive those fun memorie...