Sledding in the Backyard

Who would have thought that one of the biggest headaches in our lives, this dirt pile that's more like a mountain in our backyard, would turn into one of the kids funnest winter activities?! After a crazy snow fall we got the idea to let the kids try sledding out in the backyard. It was the funniest thing to watch them get going so fast and having a blast 10 steps out the back door. So convenient and super cheap entertainment. Even Kempers took a ride down the hill. The next day they decided to go out they invited the neighbor kids over and they had a great time too. The more they went down the hill the quicker and slicker it got. Then the next time word spread and at one point I counted 18 kids going up and down the hill and having snowball fights. It was seriously awesome. Good use of a total pain in the neck. Makes me wonder if we should keep that pile around just for next year;)

CHRISTMAS DAY!!! 2016

Christmas Day!!! Man it's even hard for me to sleep the night before. The kids woke up with such excitement and could barely wait to run down the stairs. We began by having a prayer and offering our gifts to Jesus and writing them down and putting them in our box. I love this tradition. We then lined the kids up and I went down first to make sure Santa had in fact made it to our house. We had to wake Kemp up and it was so funny how "out of it" and tired he was. Then they all ran down. So fun to see the excitement in their eyes and their joy seeing so many fun gifts. We are so beyond blessed. They were so darling and appreciative and I loved every second watching them. We didn't have long because we had church at 11:00. In my honest opinion I wish Christmas were always on a Sunday. Couldn't ask for a better day to celebrate our Savior's Life. We got all ready and ran over to the ward building. It was nice to have Toby sit with us because we combined wards and we only had Sacrament. After church we came back and let the kids play with gifts while we got ready to head over to Kathy's. We had a wonderful dinner over at Kathy's house and then went in her living room to open gifts. The kids were so excited to get some Legos, books, a pop up frog tent, and Toby got his retro Nintendo he'd been wanting for so long. We laughed and played and had a great time together and then headed over to my parents to do the same. We decided to just buy gifts for the kids this year and so after they exchanged my parents had put together a little "white elephant exchange" and that was fun to do together. It was a wonderful FULL day. So nice again to have on the Sabbath. The kids ended the night by wanted to sleep together to a movie in their new sleeping bags. It's hard to see the day end. I sure love this little family of mine.

Christmas EVE 2016!!!!

CHRISTMAS EVE!!! My most favorite day of the year. I LOVE EVERYTHING about this day. The excitement, the anticipation, and the opportunity to reflect on our Savior Jesus Christ. We are usually so busy running from family's to family's on this day but this year was different since we had already celebrated Christmas with the Christensen's. Teren had to work so Kathy and I decided that we would just come to her house on Christmas day. And we don't run over to my parents till later at night since all my siblings are with their inlaws. So to be honest it was actually a really nice quiet day for us. We worked on some last minute Christmas things but than the rest of the day was planning our fun dinner together. I really wanted to make the day special like my parents always did for us so I planned a big FONDUE dinner. Oh my goodness it turned out amazing!! Everything about it was so fun! We had a pot of cheese to fondue breads, crackers, cheese and carrots. Then we had the pot of oil going to fondue our meats and we had bought steak, chicken, and shrimp. And then for dessert we had a pot going of chocolate so we could fondue pretzels, marshmallows, strawberries, brownies, and more. The kids LOVED it and honestly Toby and I did too. I think it'll be our new tradition. My parents used to do it on News Years eve if I remember correctly but for us I think it'll be perfect for Christmas Eve. We then put on a movie and cleaned up and headed over to my parents. My Dad prepared a beautiful lesson which is always so perfect for the night and then the kids sang some of their much practiced songs, opened their Christmas Ornaments and PJ's from my parents and got their Christmas Breakfast boxes. We then headed home so that we had time to put the cookies and milk out, spread the magic reindeer food, track santa, and snuggle in for bed to read "The Polar Express." Oh and we let the kids exchange their gifts to one another. That is seriously the best thing for me and Toby to watch. They drew names this year and then we took them shopping to pick out something specifically for that sibling. It is so awesome to see them get even more excited to give then to get. I hope they remember that feeling and choose to do it more. Honestly it was the perfect day to me. The night before we had all slept out under the Christmas tree or as Tate would say "We not sleeping under the Christmas tree. We sleeping on the couch!"