The one unifying force in our house right now...

God bless the inventors of  LEGOS!

Happy New Year 2013!

 Our Nana and Papa were in town for New Years, so you know we had to celebrate!

The Girls spent hours creating a feast of savory dishes.  Then it was time to eat and celebrate.  First a late Christmas and then the NEW Year!  Here's hoping this year is full of joy!

Gingerbread Men

For as long as I have known him, Jed has told stories about making and hanging gingerbread men on the Christmas tree when he was growing up.  Okay, let's be honest....the stories are really more about how he and his siblings would sneak bites of the gingerbread men, until eventually only a few heads were left hanging on the tree. For years "make gingerbread men with Grandma" has been on our list of Christmas "Things to Do".  Finally this year we were able to make it happen. 

Christmas Day 2012

 Christmas Day began with a miracle!  Is that Davis hugging Kate? 

Kate loved her Legos from Davis.

 Davis loved his football from Owen.

 We all loved the Lego Friends Advent Calendar.

 Santa was good to all the kids!

 American Girl Doll books!  Loving it.  The girls were not loving having to stop for a photo.

 Gracie and the fabric dolls I made her. 

 GOOOOOO Cougars!  Barbie's a BYU fan. Didn't you know?

 We love having Grandma here.  She is such a good sport.  

I love how she enjoys playing with the kids.  She is very patient and loving. 

 Cute snow hats from our cousins in Colorado! 

Gracie's wore her's from the moment she put it on until the end of the day.

We finished the day....puzzling and still in our pajamas....perfection achieved!

Christmas Eve

 Jed's Mom arrived on Christmas Eve and Kate was thrilled to have someone willing to hunt with her for beautiful things in the yard to make into a centerpiece for our dinner table.  We had dinner together with our family friends, Mr Pete and Miss Loretta and then the festivities began.  

First on the list...

 New Pajamas! 

Then...

 The reading of the Christmas Story from Luke, a beautiful Bible Video put to music and of course the book "I Believe in Santa Claus".  

Next up...

 Exchanging gift with Loretta and Pete!  Many of the gifts were selected by Miss Carol before she passed away earlier this year.  This made the gifts even more meaningful.

 And they still had Christmas ahead of them!  Lucky and Loved.

Snow Day!

The last day of school before the Christmas break we had a snow day!  Seriously? The one day of the year the kids are dying to go....school sing-a-long, Santa, class parties, teacher presents...Oh well...we made the best of it!  Will we actually have a White Christmas?????

 I have a memory of my Dad building a HUGE snow slide in our yard when I was 3 or 4 years old and we were living in Utah.  I confirmed with my parents that this actually did happen and wasn't a dream.  Then of course I had to build a not-so-huge slide of my own.  That was a serious work out.

It's Christmas time!

 Christmas Tree

 Gingerbread House

 Work Lunch

Church Party

Dance Performance

The Bear Hotel

 Music Class