December 2016

I try to get Christmas card sent out at the beginning of December along with all my shopping so that I can enjoy the month and not feel so busy. This was our card for 2016.

Our ward Christmas party is always the first weekend of the month so that was our first Christmas activity of the season. This is Olivia right before we left. I always buy Olivia's clothes bigger so they last longer and as I went through pictures to blog I realized she wore the same snowflake sweater to the Christmas party this year too. Along with all her other Christmas clothes from last year. I don't mind though, the more use I can get out of clothes the better!

 December 2, 2016

She's always putting on jewelry and other accessories to dress up her outfit.

December 5, 2016

We have 2 Christmas trees, one "pretty" tree with all silver and white ornaments and the other is the kids tree. We collect an ornament from places we travel and it's the best part of putting up the tree is remembering each place we bought them from. I love sitting in the living room at night with the tree's lit up, it's one of my favorite things to do in December.

December 5, 2016

The first year dancers don't perform in the dance recital so they have a day that parents can come watch them to see what they've learned. She had the biggest smile on her face the whole time.

December 7, 2016

Kaleb's art teacher has an art show to display things the kids have done over the semester so we went to see the different projects he had done. He's always been a good artist and he definitely doesn't get it from his parents!

December 15, 2016

Olivia trying on a funny hat at the store.

December 17, 2016

Christmas baking is a lot of work but I also enjoy it. It's the one time of year I bake lots of yummy treats to share with friends, neighbors and coworkers. This time I made turtles, caramels and toffee. It was my first year using THIS recipe for caramels and I'll never try another recipe again. They are so good and so many people told me how amazing they were. I used the same caramel on the turtles too. And Matt is always awesome and helps me with all the baking and he goes out with the kids to deliver them too, I couldn't do it without their help!

December 18, 2016

Elsa still makes a regular appearance. :)

December 19, 2016

And Olivia is a good mom to her dolls.

December 20, 2016

I can't remember the last time we took the kids to see Santa so we went early to the mall before Santa started so we didn't have to wait in a huge line and saw him on Christmas Eve. The boys were playing with my phone while we were waiting.

December 24, 2016

I wasn't going to spend $35+ for the pictures so I asked if they would just sell the digital downloads to me for $15. She said it's all one package price but she ended up giving me everything for that price and said Merry Christmas. So I was thankful for her generosity and I think she knew I had no problem walking away without them. [I can't stand places like this that print the pictures out and then charge a ton for them. And then since I won't buy them they get thrown away. It's such a waste, if they'd just charge a reasonable amount more people would buy them.]

I asked the kids what Santa was telling them when he had them all lean in and he was telling them to tell their parents thanks for all they do. He was a good Santa and the kids really liked him.

That evening we had Christmas Eve dinner at my parents house. My sister always gets them new pajama's. I unfortunately was really sick over Christmas for the second year in a row so I sat in the corner and didn't get the best pictures but we had a fun evening.

And later that night it started snowing just in time for Christmas.

The kids were excited to start opening presents the next morning. Thankfully they don't wake up earlier than any other day so usually around 7 they come in to get us up.

December 25, 2016

The kids always act extra excited when they get things like bathroom stuff or clothes so Kaleb's really excited for his deodorant and body wash set.

As much as I don't want to post this flattering picture of me sick I have to document that I was actually there too!

My parents and sister came over for breakfast and to see what they kids got.

I took a nap that afternoon (which seems to be the normal lately for me on Christmas-oops!) and then we had a nice dinner at my aunt and uncles. Moana was there too!

One of the games Olivia got was a twister type Disney game. It was funny to watch the kids try to play it.

December 27, 2016

We try to go up to the cabin to celebrate New Year's and my parents, sister and brother's family all came up too. We first had to hike up to the cabin to get the snowmobile and I pulled Olivia on a sled.

December 31, 2016

That afternoon one of the neighbor's dogs came to play with us for awhile. Olivia loved him and followed him everywhere he went.

The little kids stayed closer to the cabin on the smaller hills but Kaleb and Ashton usually go to the big hill at the end of our road.

We usually leave as it's getting dark out. The day went by way to quick but we had a lot of fun and it's always pretty being in the mountains.

Someone had too much fun sledding and fell right asleep that night. And I can't get enough of her sleep mask that she's obsessed with.

December 31, 2016