Christmas Day

 The boys were up early! Well, they were up at 8 which is early to me on a day off! But I realize more families with young kids are probably done opening all of their presents by that time. When everyone else woke up we had our traditional breakfast with cinnamon rolls and Brad’s omelet. Then we headed downstairs to open gifts. Everyone enjoyed their presents. Tenley was sweet enough to get each one of us a gift from her. It was very thoughtful. Luke got a few Lego sets and spent the rest of the day building them. One set was 8 plus and had 8 bags! It literally took him until bedtime to finish. He was downstairs listening to Christmas music while he worked. It was adorable. The kids also got a drone and they had fun taking videos of the house Christmas lights when it got dark. And the weather was nice enough to get out for a walk which we haven’t been able to do in a while. It was such a wonderful Christmas Day!

Christmas Eve Dinner with the Elders

 Christmas time with young kids in the house is the best! Ryder and Luke were so excited for today. We did a lot of baking today and a lot of wrapping. The kids also delivered a lot of gifts to our neighbors. We got to have our missionaries over for dinner tonight. They are the best and may very well be our favorites! We had a delicious dinner and then played a fun game of Settlers of Catan. 

The kids opened their pjs and we had a sweet little devotional and the kids went to bed so willingly because they’re so excited for tomorrow!

The Ward Christmas Party

 We had our ward Christmas party tonight. Tenley and I spent a few hours at the church this morning helping set up. She loved it. I think she’ll be a good party planner in the future. 

She’s wasn’t sure about going tonight because of my damaged face, but I really wanted to see my kids play and sing so I went anyway. Ryder and Luke sang “Stars Were Gleaming” with the primary kids, Kade played a solo on the piano, “Carol of the Bells,” and Tenley accompanied us all in singing “Silent Night.” My kids are amazing and it was worth being there!

The Christmas Stroll

 George and Judy left this morning to hopefully beat a snowstorm. They made it to Idaho Falls tonight with no problems so that is good! We had a fun time with them here. George listened to the kids play the piano all morning. He enjoyed his concert.

Tenley and I had a lot of practicing to do. We got to play at the Christmas stroll tonight to provide some live music for the passers by. Kade was going to join us as well so we could do a duet together but he is feeling really sick so he stayed home. Tenley played a few songs on the piano and then I accompanied her on the piano while she played the flute. We practiced having her playing my arrangements with me on her flute and it worked out pretty well. It was fun to play with her! I was impressed with how well she could sight read and follow along. We need to do it more often!

Christmas

 We had the best day as a family today. The kids weren’t up until after 8 and then we had our traditional cinnamon rolls and omelet breakfast. After breakfast we went downstairs to exchange gifts. They all seemed happy with what they got! Luke got two Lego sets and spent the rest of the day building them. He finished them both right before bed! I asked him if he had a good Christmas Day and he said, “Yep I had a good Lego day because that’s all I did today!” 

After gifts Brad had a scavenger hunt planned for the kids. It led to his truck where they found a 3D printer. The kids are excited to make things with it! And then he surprised even me when Tenley found a clue for a scavenger hunt for me in one of my presents. I usually enjoy sitting back while the kids run around but this time I had to join in and figure out each of the clues. One of the clues led me to a puzzle which took me 10 minutes to put together only to realize a piece was missing. Brad had the missing piece and on the back he had written, “Just kidding! Your next clue is actually in the mailbox…” Oh my word…But we did finally find out that he planned a family trip for us all to Kauai for next month! He booked an Airbnb and flights and everything! I don’t know how he kept it all a secret from me. We are so excited. I’ve been wanting to go and have dropped many hints to him. I guess he listened!

Brad and I went for a walk tonight and as we were leaving the house a family was there looking at our lights. They asked if the wind really knocked our tree over. I guess they thought the grinch was so funny on it that maybe we actually did that on purpose! It’s a sore topic for us. Hopefully next year is better.

It really was just a great day hanging out at home and enjoying having nothing to do!

Christmas Eve

 We had a fun Christmas Eve today! Kade and Tenley delivered the last gift of the 12 Days of Christmas. We really enjoyed doing that for our neighbors. We made fruit cocktail and all the kids helped. Luke cut up the grapes and did a really great job. They all did a great job it’s just cute to see little Luke getting involved with the big kids stuff.

We had a delicious turkey dinner and while I was making it I realized that I didn’t have any candy canes for our peppermint ice cream! All the major grocery stores had already closed for the night so I drove around to some gas stations hoping for a miracle and found nothing. As I was on my home I saw that Walgreens was open! And they had candy canes for half price. What a life saver. The kids were so happy. So we got to enjoy our chocolate cake and our peppermint ice cream. It was delicious. The kids opened their cozy new pajamas and went to bed so happy that tomorrow is Christmas!

Old Christmas Cards

My uncle posted some of my grandparents old Christmas cards on social media today. They were from way back when they still had kids at home! I guess Christmas cards have been around for a long time! It was so much fun to see their old pictures and hear their memories of each year. I should be better about a family update with our cards. And I should be hanging on to them for my posterity! Because I sure loved seeing the old cards!

Sunday Christmas Service

 We had a one hour church service today because it’s the Sunday before Christmas and it was a beautiful service. There were several musical numbers and Brad narrated the whole thing and then shared a meaningful testimony at the end about how life doesn’t often go as we plan but Christ will make it right in the end. He shared the story of Lazarus from the Bible to reiterate his point. I loved it. My favorite musical number was a duet with a father and daughter. He played the guitar and she played the violin. It was so beautiful and touching. It definitely put me in the Christmas spirit even more. And now we get a whole week together to hang out! No school, work, or lessons. Just family time. That’s the best part about Christmas break. I’m so excited for this week!

Homemade Ornaments

 We got a lot of house chores done today. It feels like we haven’t had an open Saturday to do that in a long time. I even started building a new desk for my new office that I’m so excited for. And Tenley helped me finish making some homemade ornaments that I plan to gift to our friends and neighbors. I grew up getting handmade Christmas ornaments from my grandma each year and I’m trying to start the same tradition myself. I’m not a crafty person and I’m sure I’ll never knit or crochet ornaments but making these homemade salt dough ornaments was a lot of fun. And I think Tenley put more work into them than I did. Luckily she loves to craft! It’s such a fun tradition to keep using! Especially with Tenley’s help!

One other fun thing, I came home tonight and there was a couple on a walk with their kids stopped in front of our house admiring all the lights. Obviously the lights have been so disappointing for us this year so to hear the kids laugh about the grinch and have the adults thank us for spending so much time on the lights meant a lot!

Piano Recitals

 The kids had their Christmas recital today. They all practiced so hard on their songs and it paid off. Tenley played two flute solos, one group flute piece, two piano solos and a piano duet with Kade! That was a lot of work! Kade played a very long, difficult and beautiful arrangement of Still, Still, Still and the duet with Tenley. Ryder and Luke both played two songs each and they were adorable! I love listening to them play. We took them out to dinner to celebrate it being done.

12 Days of Christmas

 Last weekend Tenley had the idea to do the 12 days of Christmas for our neighbors with three cute little kids. We spent all day Sunday planning each day and she spent the next few days making tags for each of the days and planning her route to drop off the gifts. They have a video camera on their doorbell so it makes it tricky! Tonight was her first night leaving a gift and she dressed all in black to hopefully disguise herself. I think it worked out! I love how much detail she uses when gifting to others. She has a huge heart!

Nativity Skits

 We had our ward Christmas party this morning. It was a lot of fun! Breakfast was delicious and so was the hot cocoa bar. But my favorite part by far was the nativity skit put on by the primary kids. It was so adorable. Ryder was one of the three wise men and Luke was a sheep! I loved the sweetness and simplicity of it. They sang primary songs and then we all sang Joy to the World together at the end! It was the best Christmas moment so far this year.

Ryder’s Motivation

 My kids were excited to put Christmas decorations up today. I think Ryder was the most excited and motivated. Luke made sure the Christmas Eve song by Trans Siberian Orchestra was playing on repeat and Ryder got to work. He even put the downstairs tree up all by himself! I was so impressed and so grateful!

Ryder also did so well at his basketball game. He stole the ball from the other team and ran it back down the court and made the basket! Yay!!

Kade, Tenley, Ryder and Luke

 My kids were rockstars today! They were such hard workers and I was so impressed by them. Brad left early this morning to drive over three hours to Billings to pick us up a new car and then drove all the way back home. Even though he was gone the kids still worked on putting up all of the Christmas lights. I think they’ve done more work on the lights this year than Brad has! They are enjoying it though and they’ve been talking about having light decorating contests between their own houses when they’re older! Haha. I love that this has become a fun tradition for them that they want to carry on. 

Family Projects

 The kids have been so helpful with putting up Christmas lights. Ryder even said it was his favorite part of the day! Our house is looking festive but there is still a lot to do!

Dominoes

 We drove by a Domino’s pizza the other day which led Luke to asking me about what dominoes are. We got the game out later and Ryder and Luke have been playing with them daily now. They haven’t played the game but they love to build things! 

Brad and the kids made a lot of progress on Christmas lights today. I think the candy canes are done and the big Christmas tree pole is ready too. The kids are excited!