Most Wonderful Time of the Year

 Hello Friends!  We've been busy celebrating this wonderful Christmas season!  

I love this time of year!

We'd heard awesome things about the Alpine Living Nativity.  We decided we had to give it a try.  Yep, it was pretty cool, and also freezing, but they give you hot chocolate at the end, so it's all good.  Lainey is now convinced that the 'real' Mary has blonde hair, and she knows the baby Jesus is "so cute!" because she's seen him.  :)

We loved the camels!

Our ward party had a special visitor:

 Daisy's not feeling so sure about this stranger with the big fake beard.  I was impressed she wanted to give him a try!  She said she wants nail polish for Christmas.

 This little lady was feeling shy too.  She wants lots of candy.  Go figure.  She is my sugar girl.

 Missy wants a furby.  I don't even know really what a furby is.  All I know is that they look like a big waste of money.  Santa's going to see what he can do.

 Everett is turning more and more silly.  Just look at that face!  He told Santa he wanted a cat.  A real one.  Santa tried to convince him otherwise, telling him that cats poop and how about a stuffed one that you could sleep with?  Good job, Santa, good job.

Ellie is apparently too old for Santa.  She didn't even come in the room.  Sniff, sniff, kids growing up.  She is still a believer, though, she can just see right through this guy's facade.

Found this picture of my boys:

 I'm pretty sure Nick wanted it on the blog.  :) Love this man of mine, and that crazy boy too!  By the way, early Merry Christmas to me!  He's on school break right now!  An adult to talk to at the end of the day!  It might just help me get back to being a normal person again!  I miss him when he's in school.

My momma had her annual Christmas party, which we all look forward to.

Cutie cousins:

We always do a talent show.  This year my girls both played a Christmas song on the piano.  That can be tough!  I'm so proud of them for doing it despite feeling nervous and pushing on through when they may have played a few wrong notes.  Piano playing is not for the faint of heart! 

And, of course, the Nativity: 

 My big girls love this.  Ellie always asks to be an angel, Maren always asks to be Mary.  Everett is also there as a shepherd, and Lainey is a wise man.  Oh, and new addition this year - Holstein cows!

Kids decorated cookies:

 And then, lots of relaxing, chatting, eating, playing games and just enjoying family.  Thank you, mom!  It was wonderful, as always.

In our family, we rotate names every Christmas among us 12 siblings.  There are some siblings you really look forward to because they have amazing talents that they are known to share for Christmas.  This year, this sister had my name:

Not only does she have many amazing talents, she's a bit quirky too, which I love about her.  :)

Anyway, she is an amazingly talented woodworker, and made us these incredible walking/hiking sticks:

I should have taken close up photos of the detail that went into these babies.  Every stick is different.  Daisy has daisies and fairies. Lu's has princesses.  Everett has snakes and bats and spiders.  Maren's has geckos.  Ellie's has butterflies.  Mine has a mama bear with 5 cute little cubs down the side.  Nick's has a papa bear with 5 paw prints down the side.  

I can't forget my favorite part - mine also has Winnie the Pooh on it.  That is meaningful to me because when I was young, I got the nickname of Winnie the Pooh from my family (I was named after my great grandma Winnie, and my name was almost Winnie instead of Wendy - thank heavens it's not!! ;).  Apparently, I'd tell people my name was Winnie the Pooh, or just Pooh, and my older siblings would call me that.  They still do sometimes, and it has become a term of endearment for me.  I love that they remember that.  And, I love that I was given a walking stick with Winnie the Pooh on it as a reminder of that.  :)

Always a silly one:

We can't wait to get out in the mountains and give them a try!

Fancy Weekend

 First of all, doesn't this look nice:

It makes me want to go climb back in my cozy warm bed.  I love it when my kids are lovey dovey with each other.  It makes my momma heart happy.  :)

Lu was so proud of her sock puppet she made at school:

My twinner girls:

We got a good 6 inches of snow last week.  And my kids pretty much lived outside in it every chance they got.  We have a retention pond just across the street, and I'm so glad!  My kids spend a LOT of time there when there is snow on the ground and it becomes a gathering place for the neighborhood kids.  Lots of Winter fun.

Snow cones in the snow: 

 Haha!  Her face!

Maren built a really tall snowman with neighborhood friends:

Last week, Nick was at a conference in Las Vegas.  To all those moms out there doing it on your own, you have my admiration and respect.  Lots of it.

The best way to end the week was to drop the kids off with my awesome sister-in-law and Nick and I spent the night at the super fancy St. Regis at Deer Valley for Nick's work party.  Any hotel that has valet parking and a tv in the bathroom mirror is super fancy to me.

It is not often that I get to dress up and pretend like I'm glamorous:

A sampling of our four course meal:

Nick has loved his work, and we are grateful they do fun things like this that includes me and sometimes our family as well.

In the morning, we put the "fun" in the funicular.  Who knew there was such a thing as a funicular!?  We, of course, had to go check this out.

We very much enjoyed our time together.  I needed some good honey time.

Meanwhile, our kids were being spoiled.  Movies in the home theater, bubble baths, gingerbread houses and bowling:

Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!  to my brother and sister-in-law.  I knew they were in good hands.

We have Christmas in full swing around here.  Last night we went to my mom's and helped her put out all the nativities she has collected over the years.  My favorite job was hanging the stockings.  It always has been my favorite job.  Well, that, and setting out the old chipped and glued nativity.

I'm just always in awe when I look at the row:

That is what a family of 14 looks like at Christmas time.  Wow.  I'm so grateful to be a part of this (big) bunch.

My nativities are my favorite decoration as well.  Here's one from my childhood: 

 Sweet, huh?

My all-time favorite:

December is my favorite month of the year.  It is just so filled with love.  Love from neighbors, friends, family, but also love from my Heavenly Father.  I feel it in all I see around me.  Love this time of year.  I think I'll finish every post I write in December that way.  ;)

Where I Belong

We had a most wonderful Thanksgiving break, and I'm so sad it's over.  The best part?  I had my honey around.  It's not often these days that I get quality time with that man.  I miss him.  It was so wonderful to have him all to myself for days on end.

So, we've had some snow in the last week or so.  My kids were so thrilled to get out there and play in it!  This photo was taken at about 7:30am:

 I don't know that I've seen my kids so motivated to get ready for school so they could get outside and play.  All in about a 1/4 inch of snow!!  :)

 It snowed again a couple days later during the break, and after getting home late, they just couldn't resist the pull of newly fallen snow.  I sat and watched from a window, all cozied up inside as they made snowmen at 10pm at night.  Simple pleasures, people.  It was one of those rare moments when everything just feels right in the world.

Speaking of snow, they'll be so excited to come home from school today - there's a good couple inches and it's still snowing!  Snow before Christmas is exciting.  Snow in February, not so much.

We had cousins over one evening and no time was wasted.  These girls got straight into throwing a fancy party:

 Those are some cheesy, fake grins.  Mom and her camera as so inconvenient when fun is to be had.

On Wednesday, we continued our tradition of a family movie - we went to see Moana, and loved it.

And then, Thanksgiving at my moms:

 Can you spy Uncle Nate?  We were lucky enough to have him along with us.  He chose to sit by the cute red head.  Go figure.

 It was a wonderful day.  As wonderful as Thanksgiving gets.  There was delicious food and fantastic company.  The kids enjoyed playing with cousins, running around the farm, four-wheeler rides and watching movies.  I enjoyed a long country walk with my sisters and a game of cards.  I love these people and am so grateful to call them mine.  

Are you fans of Brene Brown?  I am.  She's changed the way I look at people, myself included.  I love her thoughts about belonging and have been thinking a whole lot about it as of late.  Here's one of her quotes:  "We can only belong when we offer our most authentic selves and when we're embraced for who we are."

I belong with my family.  I feel so safe, happy, and comfortable when I'm around them.  I can be my honest, goofy, half-crazy, sometimes blunt, sometimes ornery, sometimes silly self around them, and guess what?  They still embrace me for who I am!  I mean, they may look at me cock-eyed, but they still love me!  I think I've taken that for granted my whole life.  I don't anymore.  I am so grateful for that gift.  I realize that it is not always given so freely.

What comes after Thanksgiving?  Christmas, of course!  The kid were begging to get Christmas out of the boxes.

I love this time of year.

The rest of our weekend was spent lounging, napping, some shopping, eating too much, watching movies, and scooting around on the plasma car if you're under the age of 11.  My kids were lucky to have K stay with us.  That kid blends right in and is a pleasure to have around.  And now, play time is over.  :(

November

 November's calendar is sparse, remember?  I don't have much to share.

It has been fabulously warm, and we've enjoyed it.  We like to go to the pond and feed the ducks:

Daisy was trying to keep it out of their reach, because they'd come up to her and just snatch the entire chunk out of her hand.

Lainey trying to keep her distance (to no avail):

Nutella face:

And just today we enjoyed the wonderful sunny and warm weather at the park:

My dear friend just released her second novel!  I had fun meeting these ladies to celebrate.  I'm so proud of her and so glad to call these ladies friends.  Note to self:  wear shoes with heels.

If you love regency romance, try Paula Kremser's To Suit a Suitor.  You won't regret it!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloween Festivities

 Our October calendar was jam-packed with activities, and now that I've turned over to November, it's surprisingly sparse.  Ahhhh, feels good.

Our raspberries are loving the cooler weather.  They are huge:

Our raspberry days are numbered, but we are enjoying every delightfully delicious bite.

We had our ward carnival.  We had to take a pic of Ellie and her friend:

 Their costumes couldn't have been better matched.

Not because they actually act like a devil and an angel, but because they are opposites, get it?
Oh, nevermind.

Face painting and games:

And then Nick's work had their party:

 They brought in a reptile show, and the star of the show was a HUGE Burmese Python.  Like, 4 adults had to lift that thing up.

I love Sunday mornings.  I'm gonna cry when our ward changes to 9am.  I love that we can stay in bed.  I love that our mornings are lazy and relaxed.  I love that the kids play together (no tv around here on Sundays) and really use their imaginations.  Like this:

They made these masks and then put on a little show for mom and dad (when we finally decided to get out of bed, that is).  It was pretty awesome.

Sunday evening, pumpkin carving:

People! 3/5 of our family can carve a pumpkin ON THEIR OWN.  Man, this makes life a little less complicated.

Also, our traditional orange popcorn balls (because who doesn't need more sugar for Halloween?):

Someone is always picking at their nose...

School's parade:

 Everett was feeling a bit shy about this whole thing, can you tell?

Ellie, our angel, off to trick-or-treat with the big kids this year: 

 She scored big time.  Lots of full size candy bars, and she had to come home halfway through to dump that bag.  Lucky girl.

My witch:

Princess Lu:

Princess Daisy:

 Who was crying as they left trick-or-treating in true 3 year old fashion.  I don't remember what she was upset about.  Probably shoes.  Shoes always seem to be the culprit.

Everett, who is, uh, a boy in black?  a vampire?  a cloaked assassin?  you pick.

Off they go!  Daisy has slumped shoulders because Dad wouldn't carry her.  "But you're a big girl," he says.  "No!  I'm a baby!"  Poor girl.

Don't worry, her bucket started filling with candy and that perked her right up.  Everett has his bag on his head.  Why ask why?

Enjoying the loot: