December

My sister surprised my parents by flying into town for a weekend. She wanted to do the cemeteries together while she was here so I was in charge of making sure that got scheduled. She got a cold and called to see if I thought she should come. I told her we should reschedule so that mom and dad didn't get sick, but that she really needed to talk to them. She called and they said to come no matter what. I picked her up from the airport on a Friday morning and we went straight to my parents house. We visited and decided to go to Trader Joes, out to lunch and then to pick up stands for the wreaths for the next day. It was so fun to be together with my sister and parents, just the 4 of us like old times! I took the day off work so I could spend lots of time with them. The next day we went to the cemetaries with Steve, Linda, Andy, Tammy, Mara, Danny, and Allie. We started at Mt. Olivet where my kids made the best snow man and snow dog! Then we went to the city cemetery to see the new stone Steve and Linda had ordered for their baby daughter who was born sleeping. After all the cemeteries we went to Hires for some lunch. It was so nice to be together. 

Here's my Great Grandparents headstone at the city cemetery. Their names were Harry and Dorothy and I named my zebra finches after them when I was younger. 

Alana let Sam do her hair and it looked so cute. Alana said she didn't like the way it looked, lol! 

We got milk shakes and french fries and onion rings. Hires was Grandma Ruths favorite place to eat so it was fun to be there and think of her. 

Sam got Alana a chinese jump rope for her birthday and we had fun playing next to the long arm machine. 

Here's me with my parents and sister at Litzas Pizza. It was so yummy! 

Its always neat to see deer at Mt. Olivet. 

Lizzie got a hot chocolate bomb from my parents and dove right in. 

Here we are making our snowman:

This is Uncle Steve and Aunt Linda's daughters headstone. 

We got a new primary chorister at church and we made the old one a nice card with all the kids hands! 

My parents did another craft show. They worked so so hard to sew blankets and make crafts to be ready. Unfortunately they didn't sell a ton, none of the vendors did. That Saturday I also got to go to an area training with Elder Bednar. It was really neat to hear from him and learn about so many things. I loved the words he shared about agency and how its ours to give to God. And he talked about focusing on confirmation and sacrament in addition to baptism.

Brett's clay project at school is looking amazing!  

Oreo is snuggling:

Alana joined the Mountain Point Melodies with Lizzie and they did a great job in their Christmas performance. 

I made Minky blankets for all my kids for Christmas this year and had leftover scraps. I made some small blankets for my friend Stephanie's girls. 

Kiwi slept like this one night =) 

My sweet room mom decorated my door for my birthday. She did such a great job and gathered donations from the other families to get me a little gift bag and some gift cards to cold stone and olive garden. 

Stephanie brought Sean and I Nothing Bundt Cakes and a student brought me a cookie. Zoe brought Sean and chocolate cake. 

There was lots of yummy food and sweet gifts and visits from friends. 

The girls after their choir performance. 

Alana decided she was ready to get some hair cut. We took off 6 inches and it looks very healthy and still super long.

The PTA put together a great faculty Christmas party. They got donations from all around the community and every staff member got a super nice gift. I got passes to an escape room and a free pizza and paints. They also had a yummy baked potato bar and gave us all free dresses! 

Brett does this fun dance with his arms waving! I just love him! 

Lizzie has been practicing her "monkey barring". She has gotten so good and has the calluses to prove it! 

We had our annual gingerbread house party and invited our neighbors the Cameron's this year. 

Sean and Alana made a dark chocolate snow man house, but unfortunately the red cinnamon bears were trying to invade. 

Lizzie made a  tall house that she decorated very nicely:

Here's our spread. I need to remember to get paper table cloths next year to help the cleanup go smoother. 

Here's the Cameron family:

All the kids:

Petersons:

My train:

Brett's house:

Stephanie and Mike celebrated their anniversary and we watched their girls over night. They were so sweet. 

One of the moms in Alana's friend group hosted a little Christmas breakfast. 

Snuggling cute cookie:

Brett doesn't quite fit as well as a 12 year old =) 

The tree is bursting with gifts:

Lizzie at the school Sing a long:

Alana and her friend Brooklyn at the School sing along

My cute class with me on pajama day:

I rearranged my classroom just a little right before I left for Christmas Break. 

One of my favorite gifts =) 

Lizzie is doing so well with her handwriting:

She made Sean and I this card for our birthday. It has a picture of us helping her find Bear.