Merry Christmas!

          We had lots of love for us this Christmas. We had lots of celebrations, parties, and dinners. On Christmas eve eve we went to Jeff and Vicki's. The kids swam till their fingers and toes wrinkled up in the hot tub. Jeff made a delicious Prime rib and we had pies for dessert. It was so fun chatting and hanging out.

           Christmas Eve we had our tradition at my mom and dads with breakfast for dinner.  Madi and Vernon surprised us and went and got snow from Mt. Charleston. It was so fun being able to play in the snow and have a snowball fight on Christmas eve in Vegas! We definitely came in wet and lots of snow in the face. Good thing we had our Christmas eve Jammies! This year I made Emma and my night gowns and loved matching with the kids! Jakes matching pants I bought and were totally ripped and ruined, so he matched us in colors! We watched the Christmas story and read I believe in Christmas. I love carrying on traditions I did my whole childhood and sharing them with our kids. 

Christmas Day our kids slept in!! What?! Jake woke us all up. I love seeing their excitement. Benjamin and Noah got new bikes, Emma got a camera and Navy got a "real" stroller for her babies. Navy loved unwrapping gifts and seeing all the presents this year. Emma and Noah couldn't wait to open and play all their new games. I sure love these kids and am grateful for our Savior that made it so we can enjoy these days together. Family is truly the most important gift we have and each of my older three really understood that this year.

We headed over to DeeDees for her breakfast scones. That yummy scone sauce! She had costumes for all the kids and they all put on the Nativity scene. After we tried doing white elephant with the kids but it ended up being a mad dash and grab. They had lots of fun opening presents with their cousins. Then the adults did white elephant. It was fun playing that game this year instead of trading names. Everyone worked so hard to make day great and it was great seeing everyone.

              Next we headed to my mom and dads to do our gift exchange. We do our sister gift exchange and its so fun seeing us girls and what we picked for eachother. Mom and Dad spoiled the kids and us! This year I did personalized calenders for our parents and I love how they all turned out! I love seeing all the memories we made this year and cant wait to make more in 2019!

Double Digits for our Benjamin!

TEN YEARS OLD! What a great 10 years they have been too. Benjamin is smart and loves to read. This year he is killing it and reading a book in a day on weekly basis plus even more books. He has read 11 of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books in the first semester this year. Benjamin has the sweetest smile and is so kind. He loves his family and is always is thinking of them. He likes to go go go, he rarely wants to sit down just is on to the next thing. His favorite color is still green, he likes to play cards and board games. He wants to be so many things when he grows up haha, Dr, fire fighter, police man... we can't wait to see all you accomplish! 
For his birthday this year we went to Dave n' Busters. We had so much fun running around playing games. I love that it is so much fun for the whole family. Benjamin won at the claw machine on the first time! He had that birthday luck.
On Saturday, his actual big day, I took the older three to see Mary Poppins at the movie and they all loved it. Aunt Kylee and Charlotte came and picked him up and took him birthday shopping. He picked the board game Jumanji and played it with grandpa, madi, vernon, and charlotte. That night we went to my parents and at his request had pigs in a blanket for dinner and donuts for his cake. Benjamin loved being with family and playing games and xbox all day. I love seeing him smile and thanks to all the people that helped make turning 10 extra special for him.

Panaca weekend

We had a fun filled weekend at Jake's family house in Panaca,NV. We went up with his brother Jeff. The kids loved having cousins to play with the whole time. We played games and watched movies. Warming up with hot cocoa all weekend from the cold. Melissa made sugar cookies so we decorated cookies. Navy just wanted to eat the frosting, only about 10% of the frosting would make it on to her cookies. All the kids loved making their designs. We also decorated gingerbread houses. It was Emma, Hailey, and Umi against Noah, Jacob, and Benjamin with my help. They loved packing on as many candy pieces as they could. We went to cathedral gorge and the kids rock climbed and explored as us moms had anxiety with the kids everywhere, but they had sooo much fun. The holiday season gets so busy and stressful trying to do everything, see everyone and make our own memories with our little family and this was the perfect place to make memories and enjoy the simple things. Thanks for a fun weekend away.

Ward Christmas breakfast

We are super spoiled with how great of ward we have. Everyone is so kind and loving. I love getting together and seeing everyone. This year we had breakfast for our party. They went all out and had pancake bars, breakfast casseroles, a donut bar, a cereal bar, a fruit stand, and milk stand. They decorated the gym with giant Christmas lights made out of ballons, with presents, blow up decor, a whole set up for Santa and the nativity on the stage. After breakfast all the kids got dressed and performed the nativity story of Christ’ birth. Benjamin was a narrator, Emma was the innkeeper that turned them away towards the stable, Noah was a dog/stable animal, and Navy was an angel. The whole play all Navy wanted to do was see baby Jesus and kept telling everyone she wanted to hold baby Jesus. (It was a little baby girl) She was so excited when she finally got to the manger.  The kids all did so good with their parts. The spirit was so strong as we watched the kids and joined in singing songs in between scenes. Afterwards Santa came and the kids were super excited. Noah was so worried he didn’t know what to tell Santa he wanted so he ended up with saying bubblegum and balloons. Navy was a little hesitant at first but once she warmed up she just kept taking to him and couldn’t get enough. We had a great morning! Thanks everyone for the effort.

Speedway lights

The speedway here puts up thousands and more lights every holiday. We love going and seeing all the different scenes put up. We drank hot chocolate and listened to Christmas music while we drove through. Grandma Deedee was so great to get the pass and got to come with us for the night. We loved seeing the nativity and the grinch, my favorite is going through all the tunnels filled with lights.  It was a great night to start our holiday activities for the season!

Drive in night!

We love the drive in over here! We went and saw the Wreck it Ralph 2 and The Grinch. Wreck it Ralph was such a cute movie, definitely one of our favorites now! The weather was fine as we bundled in our blankets until the second movie when the Grinch starts stealing Christmas and the wind picked up and we all started freezing!!!!!! The kids had so much fun playing together while we watched the movies and had hot cocoa, pizza and popcorn! Thanks for a fun movie night!

Benjamin got his Nevada Citizenship award

Benjamin has worked so hard to memorize all his Nevada facts; counties, cities, songs, poems, ect. He had to do a project and chose to do a puzzle of all the counties with facts. The school did a awards assembly where the students received an award. Benjamin tried out for a solo piece and each class had a small group of students chosen to sing a part of the song. He was so excited for getting a part. Benjamin is getting so big and such a smart kid. We love you bud! Great job!