December

Santa Claus came to the school employee/family party.

Megan



Tyler



Emily



They had a piñata for the kids at the party.

Emily and Megan





Tyler was one of the older kids and he got to go last.  He smashed it open.



The kids singing with the Primary at the ward Christmas party.



We decorated buildings from the gingerbread village kit I bought.

Emily's



Megan's



Tyler's



Tyler bringing the ball down the court (behind the girl in red with the braid).  He made baskets several times this season.



One night we went for a drive to see Christmas lights and then stopped at Arctic Circle for a treat.

We made sugar cookies.

Emily



Megan



Tyler



Our annual decorating party



The girls had a Christmas recital. 

Megan is doing jazz/ballet this year.



Emily is doing tumbling.



I couldn't help but find this memory from 3 years ago.  My how they've grown!

    

My parents were able to attend the recital and treated us to Menchie's afterwards.



The school's annual holiday showcase.

First grade



Third grade



Tyler was one of the Timbuktu sign holders.  (He's holding Tim--in the green shirt.)



One of the parents from my classroom had the kids make these adorable sock snowmen.



The girls brought home coupon books to do acts of service.  Emily insisted on giving me breakfast in bed.  (Never mind that I had to get the pancakes out of the freezer, warm them up, pour syrup on them, pour myself some milk and carry it all upstairs to the bedroom--it was still an endearing sentiment.)



Tyler was invited to a birthday party at jumping place and the whole family was able to go.



We had our annual "sleep by the Christmas tree" on December 23.  The kids are showing off the surprise nativity crafts that Aunt Kimbo sent in the mail.



Working on a holiday puzzle.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in California with Darrell's mom and had such a wonderful time.

We spent one day at Discovery Cube where the kids (and adults) could learn about science type things.  We stopped for lunch at Burger King (love the palm tree's shadow).



















The kids' favorite part of the Discovery Cube was the shopping experience.  They had a shopping list to complete.  Once they found the item and chose the correct product, they would scan it and earn points.



At the checkout they got a photo taken if they got enough points, and then their picture was featured on "the wall."







This photo of Darrell and Emily makes me laugh.  They didn't know where to look when the camera was taking their picture.



Sadly Tyler never got enough points to get his picture taken and there wasn't enough time for me to go through another time with him before it closed.



Thanksgiving dinner was at Brenda's house.  It was a beautiful day with temperatures in the 70's!



We were able to meet little Kayden, David and Kathryn's baby.  Here he is with great-grandma Carol.  Such a sweet picture!



The kids had a lot of fun playing this bean bag game.





Jeff's girlfriend-Farrin's- family came over also and it was fun to visit with them and play games.



The yummy spread.



Tyler and one of  "the puppies."



Good food with great people!



Farrin's sisters are twins, so we had to get pictures of the twins with the twins.



Farrin is SO good with kids.  She did the girls' hair and brought crafts for the kids to do.  She also played games with the kids.  Megan and me playing Uno.



We went to watch Trolls at the movie theater and had to get a picture by this huge Christmas tree.



Tyler helping sweep the walk.



The kids always love a trip to the park.  This day we made it to the park just in time to avoid the rain that came.

The girls never tire of swinging.



Emily



Megan



Darrell and Tyler playing frisbee



Tyler on the monkey bars.



We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving. It is always fun to be with family, and the out-of-this-world weather made it even better.