Thursday, December 31, 2015

Christmas Break Fun

We have had the best Christmas break! I wish we had another week off from work and school. Being able to spend so much time together makes me so excited for summer.
The day after Christmas, Daddy took the kids sledding while Mommy stayed home with a napping Caleb. They were gone for a couple of hours and had so much fun!










 Adam made some new friends and they made a human chain to go down the hill. 
 Love Tessa's hair in this picture....and Daddy's shadow. Proof that he was there. 
 After sledding, we warmed up with hot cocoa and played our new game, Pie Face. We laughed and laughed! This is our new favorite game!




 Caleb was totally confused by the cream on our face. Gwen didn't play. She said she just wanted to be the clapper. 


 On Monday, Mommy, Daddy and Adam got to go see the new Star Wars movie. We loved it!! Mommy tried not to cry when her favorite character died! I'm still in mourning. 
 Tuesday, we headed up to Salt Lake and met up with our cousins at the Discovery Gateway. It was packed and we were never in the same area together, but the kids had a ton of fun!



 Wednesday's adventure took us to the ice rink for some ice skating. Gwen has been asking to go ice skating for weeks (thank you, Daniel Tiger). We weren't sure how everyone would do, but this activity was a hit and we practically had to drag Tessa off the ice when it was time to go.


 Tessa got about half way around the rink with us and then took off! She skating like she has been skating for years. She loved every minute of it and was spinning and jumping by the time we left. She begged us to make this a new Christmas break tradition. 
 Adam had a harder time picking it up, but we were so proud of him for never giving up. His pants were soaking wet from falling by the time we left. He got frustrated, but was determined to keep trying. And he did. He got more and more confident and better at skating the more he worked at it. 
 Gwen loved it, but was ready to be done after about 30 minutes. 


 Daddy and Adam

 Tessa love skating out to the middle and working on her tricks. 
 Mommy and Tess might have to sneak away now and then for some skating sessions. This is our thing!

 After Gwen finished skating, she was a good sport about waiting for the rest of us and just wanted to take a nap. Her tiny ice skates were so cute!



 Mommy trying to teach Adam how to stay up. 
Besides all of our fun outings, we have had movie nights and spent some time purging our house. Everybody's bedrooms and closets got cleaned out and reorganized. It feels good to start the new year with a more organized house. Hopefully it stays that way longer than a week!

Christmas Day!

Christmas Day was a wonderful one. Full of magic and happy faces. 
The kids slept in until a little after 7am....which we were totally fine with. Once they started to trickle into our room, we woke up Caleb and got things started. We always begin our Christmas by having Daddy read the Christmas story from the Bible and having family prayer. This is always such a special time for us. 

 Next, we open the first present of Christmas, which is always a new picture of the Savior to display in our home during the next year. This picture just spoke to me. This is a story of faith and I feel like faith is something we are needing to have more of in this day and age. More faith in our Savior and His Atonement and more faith in our Prophet and other leaders and the counsel they give us. 
 Santa came and did not disappoint!
 We let Caleb go downstairs first for a couple of minutes so he could take everything in before the chaos began. He immediately went to his basketball hoop and started playing. 


 They were so excited to see new scooters for each of them! Adam was excited about Caleb's hoop too!
 Santa left Tessa a fur scarf. She is so fashionable now!

 Gwen kept asking Santa for a necklace and he brought her one!
 Santa also left the 3 oldest a small wrapped present (which he normally doesn't do). Adam got a rubix cube, Gwennie got some toy horses, and Tessa got.....her Mexican dancing dress!!


 Her happy face and squeals of delight were the best part of the day!

 She wasted no time and tried it on immediately. 

 Gwen was so excited about her new scooter!
 So was Caleb!
 Her horses from Santa!
 Santa was good to Tess. He even left her a giant bag of Swedish Fish in her stocking.
 It took Caleb a few minutes to understand the point of unwrapping presents. He picked it up quick though and got some fun new toys. Mostly doggies.


 Gwen's turn to open couldn't come fast enough! 
 She got a Little Mermaid costume, Care Bear toys, and Daniel Tiger toys.


 And new sparkly shoes from Aunt Dee and Uncle Eddie! Which she hasn't taken off. 
 Tessa got a cool underwater light show from Mamma and Bampa.
 They got their new school shirts.

 A dinosaur toy and a science kit. This girl had a good Christmas!
 Adam got a Harry Potter trivia game from Mamma and Bampa. He literally played it all day on Christmas and most days since. It was only out of his hands when he took a shower that morning. He loves it!
 A remote control car!
 Caleb tried out Adam's new baseball bat. 

 Nerf guns and encyclopedia's....which he stays up way too late reading. 
 The aftermath picture. Such a fun morning!

 Daddy got a new wallet and a new hat and......

 Season Tickets!!

 Mommy got an awesome new tote bag and Poldark!

 And roller blades and new beautiful dishes!
 Ma, Pa, Uncle Danny, Aunt Katy, Uncle Ben and Uncle Andrew all came down to see us on Christmas morning. Uncle Danny had a tea party with Gwen on her new tea set. 




 Gwen got a unicorn from Ma and Pa!
 A scarf made by Aunt Katy
 And lots of new painting supplies from Ma and Pa!
 Tessa got a new fuzzy blanket and Teddy Bear from Ma and Pa.
 Modeling Clay

 And rain boots and a new umbrella!
 And a Calvin and Hobbs book.

 Adam got a BYU puzzle and a Davy Crockett movie.
 And a beautiful new chess set. 
 Daddy got some gift cards and BYU basketball tickets. 

 Mommy got some awesome new music and more dishes!

 Caleb got a puzzle and a ball and a fun new tunnel!


 Ma taught Tessa the Mexican Hat Dance.
 Such a happy Christmas! We are so glad we got to spend some of it with Ma and Pa!

 That evening we headed up to Aunt Angel and Uncle Jake's house for more Christmas fun. We ate delicious food and had fun playing with cousins and visiting. 
 Adam and Zeke got drumsticks and were happy boys!

The next day we took pictures of all of their new things and got to work on finding new homes for everything. 




We had such a fun month celebrating Christmas. We can't wait to do it again next year!