Christmas Morning

Christmas was a lot of fun this year.  It came and went so fast!

The kids woke us up at 4:45 this year!  The kids were ready to go.  It is always so much fun to see the excitement in your kids faces.  We had Church at 9 am, so waking up that early was perfect!  We had it all done and our breakfast eaten with plenty of time to spare.

Here are the highlights...

Santa brought Izzy her kitchen and a pillow pet.

Ashton is in love with Mac from Cars, so this was a huge hit!

 Ethan, as you can see was super excited about the Mario I gave him.



 Cole was beside himself when he unwrapped this Lego set!

The kids loved all the gifts from Santa and from family.

This is what Kevin and I gave them this year..

We pack that night and headed to California the next morning.

One of the ornaments we got for the family on Christmas Eve, so we could always remember our sweet girl.  We sure missed her.



                   Ashton crashed later that day with his pillow pet and all his favorite trucks!

It was a great day!

Family Hike

The day before Christmas Eve we decided to take advantage of a beautiful Arizona day and go on a hike together.  It was great to spend some time together outside.

Our house and MWU somewhere behind Kevin and Ashton. 

The kids on some switchbacks.

Izzy and I by a cactus with mouse ears:)

Christmas Activities

We've been busy enjoying the season together as a family!

This week we wrote our letters to Santa while eating s'mores topped with a Kiss.

Yesterday we made treats to hand out to our nieghbors and friends.  The kids were a big help dipping pretzels and unwraping candies.  It is fun to do the cooking together.

Today we handed out the treats.  Izzy loved going to the doors and handing the plates out.

The other activity we had tonight was having our dinner by candle light.

The kids really look forward to this, it is a family favorite and this year was another big hit!

 

Ashton couldn't wait for everyone to sit down so we could get started.



I can't believe how fast this month has gone.

One week left until Christmas!



Ginger Bread Houses

Decorating ginger bread houses has got to be one of our most favorite Christmas traditions.  When our advent calendar told us that it was today's activity the kids were super excited! 

They couldn't wait to get started.



 This was Ashton's first time decorating a house, last year he mostly watched. 

He had a lot of fun!

Our little village!

Temple Lights

On Saturday we went to Mesa to see the Temple's Christmas light display.  We went with some good friends of ours from school, Kate and Cameron and their son Peter.

The Temple was beautiful! 

We enjoyed walking around seeing all the pretty lights, listening to the children's choir that was performing that night and seeing the nativity displays. 

They had a collection of many different nativities from around the world.

Pizza, Friends and Hats

December is here!  It is one of my favorite months. 

We have fun doing a little something every day until the 25th.

It helps us to get in the spirit of Christmas. 

I love all the memories we make.

On the 2nd we had pizza for dinner and ate it in our Santa hats. 

It was tons of fun!

We also had a guest that night, Cole's friend Brady.

Izzy's dance recital

If I can get a video to ever load, it will go here:)

The party after the recital.

Izzy and Miss Becca, her teacher.  She was such a fun teacher and Izzy just loved her!