DECEMBER

December seemed to go by in a blink.  I have a feeling that January is going to go by as slowly as December went by quickly.  Here is our December in reverse...We ended the month with some Banbury Cross doughnuts.  They do "hot" doughnuts every Monday evening.  We must have missed the hot doughnuts but the kids each got a free doughnut and the other doughnuts were just a dollar.

We also went up to the Kaysville Theater to see Moana 2.  There was a new ice cream place close to the theater that we may have to go back to try out.

 

 

Millie and I went to Walmart a few days after Christmas and found some great deals.  One of our favorites was this Reece's play-doh kit.   

 

We also went to the Planetarium twice.  We were hoping to go to the Mannheim Steamroller laser dome show and the first time we tried they were sold out.  So we bought tickets for a couple days later.  The kids loved playing in the gift shop.

 

 

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The also loved all of their typical exhibits.

 

 

Millie happened to be wearing a green shirt so she disappeared a bit on the green screen.

 

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I would say 5/6 of us enjoyed the laser show...Lou was not a huge fan.

 

 

We had previous next-door neighbors visiting from Indiana.  We were so excited that they made time to come and visit us.  Millie loved being reunited with Betty and I loved catching up with Jill.

 

 

A neighbor gifted us a karaoke microphone. We have implemented it into our nightly scripture study which has very much motivated the kids to all participate.  

 

 

We went downtown for our annual progressive dinner and to see the lights.  We weren't sure if there would be lights on temple square but the area between the conference center and the tabernacle is pretty much complete and this was were we found the best lights.  They have removed the stone walls on North temple and the view from the tabernacle to the Conference center is quite breathtaking.

Ice cream from the BYU Creamery in the Deseret Book is always a highlight.

 

We walked a little through City Creek.  Silas memorized "The Night Before Christmas" for his Christmas program and could pretty much say the whole thing with this display.

The giant gingerbread house at the Grand America was also a hit...I think a couple of our kids wouldn't mind living in this sweet residence.

 

The window displays at The Grand America were so fun this year.  Our kids loved looking for the Yeti in each display.

 

 

The lights at The Gateway were really fun.

We also played a few arcade games at Dave and Busters.  It was fun to see our kids battling it out on giant Hungry Hippo arcade game.

 

We also enjoyed some pretzel dogs and boneless chicken wings at Dave and Busters.

  

Christmas day we were at home.  Lou got lots of new books.  She has been obsessed with Princess books lately.

Phin got some Bluetooth headphones that he has pretty much worn around the clock since Christmas.  He loves listening to audio books and is currently enjoying the Michael Vey series.

 

Silas got the Nerf gun he so desperately wanted.  He also got some fun magnet toys and a rock tumbler.

 

Millie got some new Nike's, perfume, Elephant and Piggie books and some new earrings.

 

We had matching PJs for the kids but Lou insisted on wearing the cute kitty PJs that our neighbor Emmy made for her.  I love the anticipation of Christmas morning before any presents have been opened.

 

We spent Christmas Eve day up in Hyde Park with Seth's side of the family.  Phin LOVED the grape juice we brought and loved drinking it out of a fancy glass.  This kid had at least five glasses.

 

I managed to get a picture of the little kids table.

 

We got together with my side of the family the Sunday before Christmas.  We celebrated Andrew's birthday and Lou was a huge fan of his cake...especially the frosting.

 

Christmas Sunday we got an email that the boiler at the church was down and we were encouraged to bring blankets.  We knew Christmas quilts from Nona would be perfect.  

 

Seth and the kids built our Christmas Lego trains.  We had cousins over to drive them.  This year we added a Hogwarts train.

 

 

Millie has been having lots of dance parties with her disco light. 

 

Silas loved building the Christmas trains and village.

 

We also added Santa's sleigh, a Christmas tree and a Nutcracker to our collection.

Silas participated in the annual 1st Grade Christmas Program. 

 

I took the three youngest to a Santa and the Sheriff event.  The got prizes, made ornaments and ate doughnuts before meeting the big guy.
 

 

Here are some photo ops from the Family Performance of Silas' program

 

Phin made this cute Snow Globe cookie during his Christmas Party.

 

Lou Lou loved playing in Nona's sewing room one day when we visited.

 

Lou also met Santa at school.  He brought her two pairs of socks: a Santa pair and a Red snowflake pair.  She has been obsessed with these little socks.

 

Lou has also been obsessed with her baby dolls.  She insisted on sleeping (with the baby in the front pack) one night.

 

I have been baking SO MUCH sourdough.  I made quite a few loaves for co-workers in November and then in December I made many many loaves for neighbor gifts.  I found a "Christmas" scoring that I like.  Can you see the Christmas trees?

 

Brady (the Insurance guy that Seth works with at work) spoiled us with a reservation for a fancy dinner and a night at Luminaria at Thanksgiving Point.  It was easily at the top of my favorite things we did this Holiday season.  I didn't get any pictures but my favorite part was the sculpture garden with the sculptures depicting Christ's life.  They had lanterns placed throughout that area of the Ashton Gardens and it was beautiful.   Overall we spent two hours walking through the beautiful lights.  We ended the night with a Fire and Ice show by the big waterfall.

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About half way through they had a fun area with hot chocolate, treats and lots of games.  Our kids loved this giant version of Guess Who...Reindeer style.

 

This was probably our favorite area and the kids could have spent a ton more time here.  Each time we stepped on these little "stones" the colors would change.  It was so fun to run around here.

 

This was my favorite section...tulip Christmas lights.  

 

 

 There were also tons of spots for photos inside the greenhouse at the beginning of the gardens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Millie had a piano recital in December.  She played Silent Night.

 

 

 

We also took a very sleepy Lou to family dinner one Sunday.  She fell asleep on the way there and stayed asleep on the couch for over an hour.

 

I was the Activity Co-Chair for the Ward Christmas Breakfast the first Saturday in December.  It was a massive undertaking.  I only managed to get one photo.  We did a service project for the Bountiful Food Pantry.  We assembled "Pantry Packs" which are quart size bags filled with foods that young kids can independently prepare (Easy Mac, Oatmeal, Granola Bars, Fruit Pouches, Fruit Snacks, Drink Mixes, etc.).  We collected donations for 200 packs and then assembled the packs at the start of the party.  The 200 packs filled 10 banana boxes with panty packs.

 

We also did the Jingle Bell Fun Run this year.  Millie invited her friend Delaney.

 

Phin invited his friend Rockwell.  After the run and ice skating we got some fun drinks at Fiiz.

 

Lou is the best afternoon buddy.  We found this little Grinch display at the post office when we were picking up holiday stamps.

 

Here is a better picture of her in her "kitty cat" jammies.

 

Millie has been dying to learn how to make caramel apples.  So I bought a guide and some Peter's Caramel at Orson Gygi and we gave it a go.  They turned out really great.  We ended up making some later in December for the kid's teachers.

 

Nona and Papa gave the kids their Christmas PJ's at the beginning of the month.  Happy December!

NOVEMBER

We ended November and Jamie and Jotham's annual shotgun shoot.  Jotham was kind enough to let the kids ride his horses.  I love this photo of Phin riding with Lou.

 

We brought our bells and the kids got to play a few songs with their cousins. 

 

Lou and Millie loved running around and playing with their girl cousins.

Phin spent almost the entire time out by the shotgun shoot.  He tried to learn how to hand throw the clay pigeons.  He also loved activating the automated clay pigeon thrower.

 

Seth's work rented out a theater for Wicked the day before Thanskgiving. Nona and Papa were able to join us.  

 

The three oldest kids all worked hard on creating a Yearbook cover for the yearbook cover contest.  Lou also wanted to participate.

 

A neighbor was giving away a trundle bed so we did a little room re-arranging.  Silas moved in to the lower bunk with Phin.  Millie is now in the "girls" room with Lou.  It has been so fun to see these two bond with dance parties and playing.

 

We took a little trip to the Lego store which is always a hit with our kids.

 

I love that Lou looks like she is taking a selfie with her little "pretend" phone.

 

Millie was also incredibly brave and got her ears pierced.  She had been wanting them pierced since her birthday back in September and we finally found a free Saturday.

 

I am also proud of Phin.  He has been participating in a 40 book challenge at school.  He finished his first 10 books and his teacher gave him a gift certificate for a free pizza.  It reminded me of when I used to get Pizza hut personal pan pizza coupons when I was growing up.

 

The kids have been playing a lot of "the floor is lava."  They got these stadium seat pads at a trunk or treat and found a more unique purpose for them.

 

We started the month off with a trip to Discovery Gateway Children's Museum.  The kids didn't have school the day after Halloween so we went on an afternoon adventure.