Dec. '18- Week 4- Part 2- St. George, Family Pictures!, Escape Room, Kari's BD, New Years!

Wednesday we woke up to 7 inches of snow.  We ate, packed up, and started our drive south around 10:30am.  

We stopped for lunch in Scipio and a very brief (because it was soooo cold and windy!!) visit to my Thompson Grandparents.  Then we split off... Smiths, my parents and Mickelle and Jonathan all together, Websters all together and stopping in St. George.  We stopped for one other ancestor visit on the way to see Francis Webster in Cedar City. 

We got our hotel around 5pm and had leftovers for dinner in the room.  

Then we went swimming, took showers, and were asleep before 11pm! 

Thursday we had hotel breakfast and left by 11am to go to Snow Canyon and do some hiking.  First we climbed the petrified sand dunes.  So cool!  Bethany was quite scared coming down even though it was like walking down stairs...but she did it! 

It was much colder than we expected and SUPER windy!  We packed a lunch and had to eat in the van since it was so cold and windy outside.  

We drove around a bit and saw some beautiful views.  

Our next little hike was to see some old Pioneer Names written on a rock with wagon axle grease.  

Dan and Ben made it higher than the girls.  

After Snow Canyon, we went to Thunder Junction park.  Alice had fallen asleep, so I stayed in the car with her.  

Then we went back to the hotel and had a family meeting about the new Come Follow Me curriculum we'd be studying as a family next year.  We had dinner at a Mexican place and went swimming again.  We watched "Ratatoullie" and Alice had a hard time going to bed that night.  Dan and I watched "Dr. Pimple Popper." :)

Friday morning I worked out at the hotel gym and ate breakfast. I loved the cups with all the lips and mustaches.  Then we headed out for some church history sites, specifically the St George Tabernacle and the Brigham Young Winter Home.  

We had lunch at the Pizza Factory and then drove to our Air Bnb for the night in LaVerkin and to meet up with the rest of my family.   I had a bad head ache and got a great nap with Alice.  Mom, dad, Mickelle, and Jonathan got there around dinner time.  We had tacos for dinner and watched a holiday show on Netflix before going to bed.  The Smiths stayed with some friends that night.  

Saturday we met Emily and Jusitn at the St. George Temple to do sealings.  Then we checked out of the AirBnb and started for home.  We had lunch in Cedar City and got gas in Scipio.  I mostly napped and listened to the Book of Mormon off and on.  That night, my parents had dinner with my Dad's siblings.  We had mac and cheese and unfortunately, Bethany threw up! :( After showers and baths everyone went to bed and we watched a little "Try Guys" with Mickelle and Justin.  

Sunday the Moultons spoke about goal setting.  After Sacrament meeting, I took Alice and Bethany home.  Had to document matching outfits though. :) 

Alice was giving my dad some great snuggles! 

We watched "Singin' in the Rain" and had enchiladas for dinner.  After kids were in bed, we watched "Jurassic World 2."

Monday was Kari's birthday! We also went to the State Capitol with Lara to get family pictures taken.  

We had pizza for lunch, then Marcie and Brooklyn came over to babysit.  All the adults, plus Kari, did an escape room in Salt Lake.  It was our first time and we did NOT make it out in time, but still lots of fun! Then we had Kari's BD dinner and hung out with Grandma Pat.  She brought puzzles for everyone so we enjoyed our time doing those.      

 Alice was also making quite good progress with crawling!  

We watched a count down on Netflix (early) and toasted using many different flavors of sparkling juices.  

Then we smooched at the real midnight and went to bed!    

2018 brought our last baby to the family, for which we are eternally grateful!  I feel like it was a year of learning to manage my time better since having 5 kids is super busy!  We knocked down a wall in our house and continued to strive to find joy in the normal things of life!   HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Dec. '18- Week 4- Part 1- Nelson Family Party, Christmas Adam, Christmas Eve, Nativity, Christmas Day

Saturday we worked on packing for our post Christmas trip.  Emily and her family went skiing for the day!  I organized Alice's clothes while Dan and Ben got haircuts and the girls painted nails.  In the evening, we went to the Nelson Family Christmas Party!  The Nativity is always so fun to watch and this was Anna's first year agreeing to participate.  :) 

McKenna and Ben had little speaking parts as narrators.  

That night we had fun hanging out with the Smiths.  

Sunday we combined with the 6th ward for Sacrament meeting only and Dan's dad spoke.  Then we worked on taking pictures for a Christmas/Anniversary gift for my parents.  We had a white sheet up so the kids did a puppet show as well.  

After lunch we packed up and headed to Mantua for our Webster family Christmas Adam celebration.  

Yummy dinner! 

The kids made an ornament, we prepped food, hung out, and then enjoyed the talent show.  

Grandma and Grandpa gave everyone matching Mickey Mouse jammies!  

After kids were in bed, we played "Heads Up", leg wrestled, and did human pyramids.  

Everyone was mad at me for wimping out and not climbing all the way to the top... I was too scared of hurting someone.  

Monday was Christmas Eve!  We woke up and had a delicious breakfast! 

The kids had fun doing tricks with Laurie while waiting to open presents.  

We opened presents and, once again, we were blown away by the wonderful and generous gifts from everyone. 

Matching!  

We cleaned up and headed back to Bountiful by 3pm.  

My parents flew in from Florida and we had fun doing word searches and puzzles with Grandma Kelly.  Bethany loved hanging out with Uncle Justin. :) 

After our traditional pizza dinner, the kids got in costume and acted out the Nativity.  

We loved having the Smiths here to help complete the cast! :) And it was wonderful to hear my dad's voice narrating from the scriptures like he had all my life.  

Part 1

Part 2

Then we opened our new Christmas jammies!  

After kids were in bed, we wrapped gifts and hung out with my parents and siblings.  

Tuesday was Christmas Day!  The kids were up by 7am.  We lined up, looked at the Santa cookie plate, and started by opening our stockings.  

Alice woke up a little later and opened her gifts.  

Our last BIG gift a a trip to Disneyland in February!!

 Love seeing all the cousins playing together! 

We had our German pancake breakfast then opened family gifts.  Then hung out, took naps, and the kids watched a movie.  

We had our fancy Christmas dinner then cleaned, packed and just hung out!  It was a lovely Christmas Day with my whole family!  

Dec. '18- Week 3- Breakfast with Santa, Piano Recital, Ugly Sweaters, Zoo Lights, Johnson Files Show, Smiths Here!

Saturday was Breakfast with Santa at the Davis County Conference Center!  This is always a favorite tradition!  We had a little scare when Clara was lost for a little while, but she was thankfully found under a table, possibly after falling asleep there.  We're not sure.  

On to the face painting!  

Meeting Anna, Elsa, and Olaf!

Cookie decorating!

Always so fun to be with the whole Webster family! 

We got a picture with Santa, but it was printed and I forgot to get a picture of the picture.  

In the afternoon, McKenna went to Camille's house for a holiday party.  They went caroling and did a gift exchange.  I worked more on neighbor gifts and filling and stamping Christmas cards.  

McKenna also had another "Christmas Land" show that evening.  Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa and Mickelle for coming! 

Sunday our Sunday school lesson was about exaltation.  The third hour, all the adults met together to talk about the new Come Follow Me curriculum.  We had Webster family dinner that night then McKenna and Ben had their Piano recital!  They played so well! 

Ben- "Wild Colt"

Ben- "The Clock Shop"

Ben- "Up on the Housetop"

McKenna- "Rockin Around the Christmas Tree"

McKenna- "Joy to the World"

McKenna "Spanish Caballero"

Monday we started getting new rain gutters installed, but they unfortunately brought the wrong color.  So they took down the old ones then left for the day.  The kids came home early that day due to a power outage at their school.  That evening we delivered neighbor gifts.

Tuesday I exercised and Anna and Bethany went to the Alexander's to play.  Our new gutters were finished being installed.  Bethany had a PJ day at preschool and I stayed for the first hour to help with centers for their Christmas party day.  I played letter bingo with the kids.  I learned that Bethany is so smart!  She knows all her letters and I saw her shushing other kids to be quite and listen to the teacher. :)  I ran and errand then headed to the school for the Peter Pan play parent meeting.  Adam took Bethany home after preschool and Bethany loved playing with Mia!  

That evening the Beehives babysat 3 of my 5 kids for free while I ran another errand with McKenna and Alice.  

Wednesday was the kids' ugly sweater day.  We don't really have any, so we decorated some sweaters we had by pinning on bows, tinsel, and ornaments.  Amy Pugsley watched Bethany and Alice while I helped in Anna's class Christmas party making these pipe cleaner and beads candy canes.  I spent much of the afternoon making our German pancakes for Christmas morning.  The Alexanders also came over to play.  

Thursday started our Christmas break!  No school! I worked on blowing/raking leaves for 2 hours and man was I sore!  The kids played a little inside and also in Jerry's tree house.  I made more German Pancakes.  Ben went to Taggart's BD party.  That evening, Dan went to Zoo Lights (and Ugurt afterwards) with many of the Websters.  I stayed home to continue to prep the house for Emily and her family to come the next day! 

Friday I went to the temple.  McKenna had an ice skating/gift exchange party with some school friends.  Bethany, Anna, and Ben went to the Roth's cookie decorating and book exchange party.  Dan ran some errands while I worked on cleaning and more cleaning!  

Around 5pm the SMITH Family arrived!  The kids hadn't seen each other in person in a year and a half, so they were pretty excited!  

Shortly after they arrived, Dan and I ditched everyone because we had previously bought tickets to the Johnson Files improv comedy show.  We had dinner at Texas Roadhouse before.  The show was hilarious and tons of fun!  We weren't brave enough to ask for a picture with them (or wait in the long line), so we snapped a quick picture from the side and left.  Dan's car hit the 60,000 miles mark.

Dec. '18- Week 2- Prelude to Christmas, Cute Videos of Alice, Bethany, and Anna, Anna's 2nd Lost Tooth, Tab Choir Concert, McKenna Student Council Service, McKenna Christmas Land Show

Sunday Ben and I (and Brynn) sang with the stake choir for the Prelude to Christmas program.  This is one of my favorite traditions during the Christmas season because I LOVE to sing Christmas songs!  Ben did great singing with the youth choir.  They sang "The Friendly Beasts."  

Bethany singing "5 Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree"

Video: Cute noises from Alice

Video: Alice Laughing

Video: Anna squeaky toy laugh!

Monday Anna lost her second tooth!  She actually LOST it.  Probably swallowed it.  She had this cute way to play with Alice as well. :) 

Monday Anna played at Alexander's.  I ran a ton of errands in the afternoon, Ben worked on his book report, and we got all the laundry done like usual.  

Tuesday I exercised, and did ministering visits to Shelly and Amy.  Dan went to the temple in the morning, but then came home for the day! :)  After Anna had ballet, we ate dinner and Dan went to church meetings.  We cut snowflakes and I worked on gathering Christmas card addresses.  

Wednesday we got lots of snow.  I went with Anna to music.  Dan printed all the stuff we needed for our Christmas cards!  

Thursday Anna had a play date at Annie's. I exercised and started putting together our neighbor gifts.  I listened to a lot of my book club book.  Dan won a free dinner to R&R BBQ for their soft opening night and took his friend, John Leavitt.  I stressed about who to take to the Tabernacle Choir concert due to McKenna being stressed out and tired.  So we ended up taking Ben with us and he loved it.  Mickelle babysat.   It was an awesome concert!  Kristin Chenoweth was so great!  

Friday I went to ladies lunch.  Swa watched Bethany and Alice while I went on a Student Council field trip with McKenna to deliver the donations their school collected for the youth homeless shelter.  

That night McKenna had her first performance at Backstage Performing Arts.  The show was called Christmas Land!  She was the Lollipop Fairy and sang "On the Goodship Lollipop" and "Lollipop, Lollipop."  

Right after the show, we drove to Layton to have a hotel night!  Once kids were asleep, we hung out with Brynn, Swa, Adam, Sam and Lara, and Katie and Whitney.  We never have a good sleep at a hotel, but the kids still think it's fun.  The next morning was Breakfast with Santa!