Christmas Activites

One of our favorite activites is going to the live nativity at Tuacahn. 

The polar express is another fun activity we do each year.  We give the kids tickets and then crank the music in the van to the polar express songs.  We usually go to Tuacahn and sit on Santa's lap. This year the line was so long we didn't get pictures with him.  We then go back to the van and have hot chocolate and go see all the Christmas lights around town.

This year we did something new and had a sleepover around the Christmas tree.  We watched movies and left the Christmas tree lights on all night.  Only the girls ended up sleeping there all night but it was such a fun night spent as a family.

Gingerbread houses are something we like to do each year.  This year we did mini ones so the kids could design their own.

Christmas Lights

One of my absolute favorite things about the Christmas season is all the twinkling Christmas lights. I especially love the lights I put up above our dining table that gives us the ambiance during dinner each night. We enjoy having candle light dinners with all the twinkling Christmas lights.  It's becoming a fun tradition that I especially enjoy but I think the kids like it too.
 My sweet friend sent me some balls to put over the lights to make them twinkle even more.  I've searched for them for years and she saw them and got them for me. I was beyond excited!! I feel so blessed with such sweet and kind people in my life.  I leave the lights up until Valentines.  I love having that extra special ambiance throughout the dark nights of winter.

I added the white balls but the silvery shiny ones are the ones my friend sent me.  Love them!

These pictures were taken before the silver shiny balls.  Next year I'll get a shot with both of them.  It's awesome!

Merry Christmas

Wyatt's Tree

I have so much to blog about that it's a little overwhelming...Hawaii, Birthday party, Baptism, 16th birthday, Christmas, Elf on the shelf, etc. etc.   It's been such a busy and eventful fall but hopefully when January comes and things seem to slow down a bit I can catch up on it all.

I do need to post a few pictures of Wyatt's tree.  Such an emotional thing for me each year.  As we put it up and hang each and every ornament we think of each of you that contributed to his tree and that have helped us through such a difficult trial.  I labeled each ornament when I got it.  That way we could always remember who gave it to us and think of them as we place it on his tree each year.  We feel so blessed with abundance and are so beyond grateful for the kindnesses people have shown to us. There is GOOD in this world and Wyatt's tree is a symbol of that.

This year I decided to use all the white, gold, and silver ornaments for the front of the tree and then the colored ornaments on the back. I love how it turned out.  I also bought some fun little white squiggly things last year on clearance to add to it.  Love how fun it makes it.  Also, last Christmas my brother gave us some crystals from the Provo temple's celestial room chandelier that they were replacing.  I love them!  They make his tree sparkly and in the afternoon his room fills with Rainbows.  That has been such a tender mercy this year and so much fun.  Thank you Kurt and Shanna!

We miss our little boy and there isn't a day that goes by that we don't think of him but we know he is near and loves us very much just as we love him.  Our love is ETERNAL and I'm so grateful for that.  I do look forward to the day when I get to see him marvel at the Christmas lights and open gifts on Christmas morning. I do believe that I will get to do that with him and it will be the most wonderful thing ever.

 One of the crystals from the temple chandelier.

 A new ornament this year from some wonderful friends.  Love it!!!

Rainbows on the walls of Wyatt's room from the crystals.

Christmas Macie

I took a few pictures of Macie by the tree this year.  I wanted to learn how to get the blurry lights in the background. It was a fun little photography experiment.

Forever Plaid

Another fun thing we did during the holidays was go and watch the show "Forever Plaid".  We were blessed to be able to see it 2 times.  Such a fun show.  One of the nights was spent with my cousins and their family. We went to dinner first and then the show. The girls had such a fun night laughing and enjoying their 2nd cousins.  It definitely was a memorable night.

The Piano Guys

This is kind of a crazy picture but I wanted to remember that we went to see the lights by the Tabernacle before we went to the piano guys. The lights were really pretty they just did weird stuff to their eyes.

We got tickets to the piano guys about a year before it actually happened.  So, needless to say we were very excited when the actual day came. We as a family have been following the Piano guys for as long as they have existed.  I personally have followed Jon Schmidt for years.  So to be able to go to their concert was so fun for us.  It was a great concert that we won't forget.  I'm glad we got to go as a family.  I love music and I'm so grateful for it in my life.  Such a fun night to remember.

Em getting a piggy back ride from her brother.

All ready in our seats.  We were just a couple of rows from the stage.  Up close and personal.  Love it!

Jubilee of Trees

The girls got the opportunity to play their violins at the Jubilee of Trees this year.  What a neat event.

Hayley's Baptism

Hay was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Saturday December 1st.  It was a wonderful and memorable day.  Hay is such a sweet heart and we feel so blessed she is in our life.  She has been the sunshine in our lives that past 5 years as we have mourned and grieved over her little brother.  I will be forever grateful to her for being there for me and for her sweet and fun personality.  Her dad baptized her and joked for the weeks prior that he was going to hold her under the water for a long time. Well, he kind of did do that.  It was the longest under water baptism I've seen. The spirit was strong and on these kinds of occasions we feel Wyatt's spirit especially strong as he wouldn't miss his sisters baptism.
We had many wonderful friends and family come and support us.  We are so grateful for all of them.  It just made her day that much more special.  So grateful that she has choosen to make that first step back to her Heavenly Father and that first step to make it to the celestial kingdom where her little brother has already made it.

With her cousin that will be getting baptized in July 2014.

Grandma and Grandpa J.

Family and friends.

Grammie and Grandpa L.

The desserts from the luncheon we had after at the church.