The Merry Month of December

I was much, much more organized this December (as opposed to LAST year, when I started shopping the week of Christmas...), and as a result, it has been a really nice month! I found myself repeating the phrase "I love....." several times over the month. Here's just a sampling of some of the things I LOVED!

Kayden took charge of getting the Christmas lights up this year (he wasn't very impressed with last year's lights, which consisted of the tree....) The weather has been incredibly mild this year, so putting up lights was actually really pleasant! Kayden did a great job! I loved the house lights!


Taisha turned 13!! For her birthday she wanted German pancakes for dinner and ice cream cake... yummy! I LOVE this girl!!


We went to Soda Springs for Thanksgiving, and all 16 siblings were there! It was so much fun to see everyone! They decided to have pictures taken, and early this month we got the proofs back. Here's our family's proof:

I love it!

I spent a lot of time making things with the kids this month. We made these necklaces for the girls friends.... and yep, I LOVE these! They were so fun to make, and cost just over $2 a piece. Thank you Internet for the idea!

I also helped Kayden make Kristen a quilt. It turned out great! (I love that Kayden is using a ruler to make sure that each of the ties were cut to the exact same length!)

And here are the gingerbread houses the kids made. I love that immediately after the kids made them, one of the first comments I heard was "Hey! Who ate my door?!" It was like a walk-by candy buffet!


I asked Rik to make a manger to add to the nativity things. He re-purposed an old magazine holder, and it turned out perfect! I love it!! (Huge improvement over last year's box and paper towel baby!)


The music this month has been fantastic! Anaya had a Christmas dance performance at the Festival of Trees, which started the month with some fun Christmas music! My poor piano had never been played as much as it had this past month! As you can imagine, McKay was in HEAVEN! He learned something like 16 Christmas songs this month, and practiced them in 2 minute increments all day long. We played a lot of duets together, and I loved it! Even Kayden got in on the piano action. He started piano lessons late this summer, and was busy learning Christmas songs as well. Kayden and I played We Three Kings together at the piano recital. Malia and Taisha both learned Christmas pieces as well, and played and played and played! Our family was asked to sing a musical number one week for church, and this was the first time that we could sing a song with 3 parts (we have no basses in the family....) I loved practicing, and as we were walking back to our seats after performing it, I was thinking how much I loved singing with my family. Right when we sat down though, McKay said, "Phew.... at least we don't have to sing THAT again!" Kristen sang alto with us for our musical number, and afterwards we all went down to the temple to look at the nativity. Have I mentioned how much we love her?


Rik and I went on a double date with Kayden and Kristen to the Jon Schmidt concert here in Idaho Falls. Loved the concert, and loved the company!

I love this year's Christmas tree picture!


The Christmas Eve party this year was so fun! I loved that even though Kayden is older than all the other kids, he's never too old to participate. We had a lack of boys (that would hold still), so Kayden was Joseph for the nativity.



And I loved this picture of all the kids lining up to hit the purple hippo pinata. Can you tell that we go youngest to oldest?


I also loved this picture of everyone doing the chimes. And what I love even more, is that in the picture it looks like everyone is quietly concentrating on what they are doing, but in reality, it was noisy and chaotic, and several times we couldn't even tell what song we were playing! So funny!


I love this picture of Brooklyn as a shepherd, my dad narrating, and Nathan skyping from Afghanistan on the computer next to my dad. I love the technology right now!

Speaking of the awesome technology of today, between Amazon Prime, and my smart phone, shopping was SO much easier this year. It was a piece of cake to check prices, find coupons, and find out what other people were saying about whatever I was looking at. I didn't spend any time buying, then taking back, then re-buying, to get the best price.

I am LOVING the break right now. Rik took all 13 days off, and I have just loved being home with my family. Oh, and sleeping in..... I love sleeping in. And naps, I love them too. I think that just about covers it. =)