December Randoms

Not too many randoms for December simply because of all the festivities but we did have a few down days. 

We went and did our traditional pick out our live tree. I really wanted to go big this year but they didn't have any bigger tree's than 10 footers. I was a bit sad but there is always next year and we found a really beautiful tree. 

We cut it down to fit in the holder and then we wrote our name on the part of the wood and hammered it up! 

June and Dan's traditional tree picture. Normally it's having them tie it to the roof but with having the truck this year we didn't do that. haha 

Hanging the star on the tree 

 This might be my favorite picture. Owen in his underwear wearing princess high heels. bahaha this will one day end up in his wedding video for sure. 

 Little Kate had such a hard time with leaving presents alone. She would ask every single morning if it was Christmas and if we could open all the presents. Haha it was a long month for her. 

Cute little girls reading stories before bed. June has become an incredible little reader. She is already at a above scale for a 2nd grader and she's only a 1st grader! She loves to read and we are so proud of her. 

Aunt Michelle took this picture when we were in Vegas but I wanted to document it here too. Their Christmas pajamas from PJ or elf. 

We had fun with PJ this year! He brought us our usual Christmas books, pajamas and lego count down. 

 One day I could not find Ranger anywhere. When I did find him he was hiding in the shelf. So random! Hahaha 

A trip to Braums ice cream after Christmas shopping with our family. It's our tradition to go shopping all together, pick things out for the siblings and then go get ice-cream after. 

One afternoon how Owen was playing on his iPad. He looked so comfy!

Kate loves Brindee. She is one of my besties and I am so happy that my kids adore her just as much as me. 

 One of my young women wrapping the girls up in toilet paper from our Christmas party 

I started a new yoga position and every time we go to the gym Owen points out my picture in the lobby. Haha so I took a picture of it just as record that my picture was in the lobby. 

The fact that he has started making his own breakfast makes me so happy! 

Morning giggles with my little love bug 

 This little girl LOVES baths. Like she takes 2 or 3 baths a day. She uses them as her own personal swimming pools. They have fun and I just sit and fold laundry or blog. It's great and with unlimited hot water I really don't care. 

Our ward Christmas party! We had fun with friends and playing all the games 

Each room was a different craft or game for kids.

 One morning while I was doing yoga, Owen decorated my yoga block with push pins. He loves to do it and it lets me practice. 

Of course I involved the kiddos!! 

Little Ranger just hanging out on my shoulder 

One day I was in a store and the owner came and brought Kate a balloon. It was cute and it made her day. 

Ranger loves coming in the car when I go pick up the kids from school. I love the little buddy too. 

Our Combined Young Women's Christmas party. We had a lot of fun. I love these girls and it's so fun being in young women. 

I was getting ready for date night and Kate wanted to get ready too. She also wanted to to do it all on her own. She cracks me up!! 

Little Christmas treasures that were brought home. The very best!!! 

 Cloud gazing one afternoon. 

Kate showing me her yoga moves 

Dan celebrating my first yoga class. It's in the evenings so he can come and I love it. Though lately our friends have been coming so the girls come to my yoga class and the boys lift weights so I have lost him to the dudes. 

One lazy morning of cartoons and the Switch 

Owen has really improved on his handwriting and he wrote his name on all the Christmas packages that were from him. He also wrote the names of who they were to. It's so fun seeing him progress and we are so proud of the little man that he is becoming! 

And that's it! The rest of the month was all crazy Christmas partying! 

Nutcracker Girls Trip

June and I took a girls trip to Salt Lake to go see The Nut Cracker with all the girl cousins and grandma. It was such a fun trip!! 

We left Thursday night and flew to Salt Lake. June being impatient with the lines to get onto the plane. 

Gramps and gramps sent us this picture letting us know our rooms were ready at the hotel. 

We met up at the airport with Meg and Sammi and then headed to see my parents who came to pick us up at the hotel. We then had a quick bite to eat, got settled in the hotel and fell asleep fast. We were all tired. We were also very excited to get Brooke and Michy here with their girls the next day. 

The next morning we woke up slowly and got ready for the day. We let the girls play around 

We stayed at Little America and we had breakfast down in their cafe. It was pretty good! 

There wasn't much snow which we were a little sad about but we made the most of what was there. Which included snow ball fights with the snow we did find. June's face is pure joy. 

We went and shopped at a cute little village. That is where we met up with Michy and the girls. 

 

We had a lot of fun with the shops and did a little Christmas shopping. 

We took the tram system everywhere which was really nice to not have to find parking wherever we went. 

We made it to Temple Square which was amazing. It has been years since I have been there. It's so funny how much we take that for granted because I used to go there every year with my family and I miss those traditions. 

It was so fun experiencing with June. She was obsessed with all the lights and she loved seeing the Salt Lake Temple in person. 

My mom always goes CRAZY for us girls. she loaded us up with thee funnest stuff for Christmas, including these awesome sweaters. We all wanted to wear them, so we did! haha 

These girls putting on their best pouty faces to have grandma buy them toys in the Disney Store. Of course she caved. Grams can't say no to those faces. 

We did a cute "Favorites" gift exchange with the girls at the hotel. We were missing Lauren, but she was kicking but with her dancing! All the girls brought something that was their favorite. It was a cute gift exchange. 

Michy and I hit the weights while the girls swam. Thanks for the picture Megan (Only 9 month pregnant) 

After workout selfie 

Swimming girls with their dolls 

We got to go do The Light The World giving machines. It was really cool. Where you put in money and pick what you would like to donate. We did an eye exam and glasses, 50+ applesauce and 30+ mac and cheese. June loved picking them! haha I wasn't surprised that she picked the mac and cheese. 

The cute missionaries there helping! They were so friendly. Not surprised at all. 

Loved how everything was so festive for Christmas. 

 The girls ran into the Grinch while shopping 

Love all these cute cousins. 

My mom also gave us all Lululemon gift cards and then plus my discount for being a teacher made for quite a night at Lululemon. It was so fun! We were in there forever!! We had quite the bill walking out of there and the guy that's pictured with us was our cashier and he was so cool with all the charges and how we had to split it up a million different ways. We became best friends by the end of the night! 

Obviously some yoga had to be done. I shared a story about how I lost my phone of the train and then some nice man came running after me asking if that was my phone. My phone is also my wallet. With credit cards, ID and plus my phone. It was have been horrible to lose it! So grateful for kind people. 

A huge gingerbread house all with real candy! It's so cool!! 

Waiting for the train!

Little Livvy broke her knee right before coming on the trip but she was a trooper! She handled that wheel chair like a boss! 

Cute little cousin besties 

June got to make her snow angel and I think that was the highlight of the trip for her. Haha 

 The reason we came was to go to the Nut Cracker. It was fun getting all dressed up! 

Heading to dinner. We all went to Olive Garden. A big Family tradition! 

The girls had matching dresses and then their dolls did too. 

At the NutCracker 

All these beautiful examples I have in my life!! And I guess I didn't get the memo to wear black! 

The show was amazing! We all had a blast and it was so fun all being together! I loved every minute of it!! So grateful for these chances to share with my daughter. 

The next morning we woke up and everyone headed out. June and I were the last to leave. We took Uber to the airport and waited for our flight. 

And just like that it was over. We always love trips like this! Such amazing memories with my sisters and their girls! It was fun seeing all the festivities in Utah and being part of all the Christmas Crazy! Hope to keep this tradition going!