DECEMBER 2016

Christmas shenanigans this year. We got their cute striped pjs off of amazon this year, they are my favorite we have bought so far. They are thick and well made. Ashlee did a float in La Verkin's Winterfest again. It was an avengers float. She swears it is her last year, we shall see about that. She won which is a bonus. Christmas Eve was spent playing in the snow, it was snowing so hard we could only make it to the turn off to Smiths Mesa. We went to Chance and Brooke's for my family party, then to Lirpa's for the Ballards. At my families party we did a fun new tradition of everyone buying their favorite $5 thing. Everyone brings one for each couple. The kids brought their favorite game or movie and they drew numbers and picked. We had a white Christmas! Just for a couple of hours in the morning but I will take it. We went to Bruce and Linda's ward because Eric Dodge performed with the choir. It was amazing. I think the boys loved their presents. They all got scooters, Gus got a new bike and star wars toys as well. Oliver got a sweet Millennial Falcon and a whole bunch of star wars guys. Jack got a vacuum that he loves so much and he was rocking the scooter so good by the end of Christmas day. We met Old Saint Nic a couple of times before the actual night, Gus wasn't scared at all, Oliver hated him overtime and Jack was neutral about him.



We kept our cute pumpkins we grew until the first of December. We never carved pumpkins this year so we did an impromptu pumpkin carving activity. I did it so I could save all of the seeds from them. One of these years my pumpkin patch is going to rock.



Before Travis quit for the season he let all of us go up to the Whiptail and we gorged. He invited his sister and her kids as well. This is a picture of Oliver and Brigg's (Alecia and Heinz Rahde's boy) they were instant friends. The food was super yummy it was just hard eating a big huge meal right after Thanksgiving.



Grandma Linie is so sweet and will take the kids to a movie every once in awhile. I think this time they went to Moana? I'm actually not really sure it just some cute pics of their excursion. Thanks Lirpa for the pics.



Being 16 months old and 3 hours of church is hard for tiny tots. He is a trooper though. Love this little kid.



Kyle took these two mountain biking. He said Oliver did really well, we were both a little surprised because Oliver likes to be indoors playing with guys most of the day. Gus was a rockstar at it.



The Friday before Christmas we went swimming at the rec center. Grandma Linie and Grandpa Bruce brought the Bringhurst kids. For some reason its their tradition to sleep at Grandma's house the day before Christmas Eve. I think we need to adopt that tradition although, we do have a lot of fun as a family that night. Grandpa treated us to Pizza Factory afterwards and we drove around and looked at Christmas lights.



This kid. Determined, helpful, sweet, sassy, soft, mean, and energetic wrapped up all in one tiny little human body. Extreme love for his sweet smile, and willingness to help. Marylu told me when Kyle was out raking leaves with the 3 boys she heard him say, "Oliver, Jack is outworking you" which is very true a lot of the time. He likes to work.



We took a trip to Carlsbad after Christmas. It was so much fun. Our favorite beach there is Leucadia state beach. Our hotel had a pool and hot tub so evening were spent there. We ate yummy "The Taco Stand" tacos, Fish 101, and yummy ice cream forgot the name of the place. Onjali, my friend from high school, lives in San Marcos which is right there so the first day we met up with her at the beach. It was fun to see her and her kiddos again. I think I need to live closer to the ocean we love that place.



The Barney's got this game for Christmas its hilarious. I wish I could remember the name of it. This pic of me is priceless almost as good as my Emery picture.




Our ward was in charge of the bulletin boards. The theme for primary is CTR so I had a vision of hot air balloons and clouds. We added the words Rise Up and Choose The Right above all of the balloons:)