A Fun-Filled Christmas Night

On Christmas afternoon we headed up to Mom and Dad's
for another evening of
fUn FuN fUn FuN fUn!
We exchanged more presents, opened more presents and ate lots more food! :) Oh, and we played some games too!

Hayzen read me his new book he got from Grandma and Grandpa and Quinney took the picture. :)

Ruby and Justin. What can I say, best friends are hard to find these days.
HA HA HA HA HA!
Just admit it Justin, you know you like her! :)

And the best part of the whole night, you ask?
Well, that's easy, it was being together and having fun with
FAMILY!

We had a
Jolly Good Time!

A Magical Christmas Morning

Avery and Quinn were thrilled when they woke up and realized that the Reindeer food had indeed worked. 'Cause they definitely lead Santa to our house...

What can I say, it was a
magical morning!!!

We were lucky enough to have Grandma, Grandpa and Josh come over to our house for breakfast on Christmas morning this year. We had ham, scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, orange cranberry pull-apart bread and orange juice to drink. It was DELISH! I should make breakfast like that more often! We are so glad they could come, it was a special treat having them here with us on Christmas morning.

Since Josh was going to be here for Christmas, Quinn wanted to give him a present too. What a little sweetheart, he picked it out all by himself.

A new soccor tie! Wahoo!

And of course Quinney had to get a matching soccor tie for himself! Best pals! :)

On the Night of Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful time on Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa Smith's house. We ate the traditional Lasagna dinner accompanied with salad, garlic bread a few delicious appetizers and of course peppermint ice cream with homemade hot fudge for dessert. So yummy!

After dinner the grand kids put on a talent show. Ashlee played the piano, Carson played the violin and Madelyne and Avery sang songs. Quinn was going to sing a song too but he developed a little bit of stage fright. So the ending number was Justin, Quinn, Hayzen, Avery and Madelyne leading us all in Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Jolly good time!

Here's Avery singing her little heart out then taking a bow.

Grandma Smith then told the story "Penny's Christmas Jar Miracle", and challenged each family to fill up the jar she gave us with spare change and do something special with it for someone in need next Christmastime. What a great way to remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Is there anything more exciting than to have Santa show up on Christmas Eve? The kids don't think so, they were thrilled to see him. They took their turn sitting on his lap and Santa even brought each of them a present to open. Lucky kids!

The kids also got to exchange their name presents with each other. Another present to open? Lucky kids!

Welp, believe it or not, they got to open a third present on Christmas Eve, their Christmas jammies of course! Wahoo! I do love a good set of coordinating Christmas jammies, that's for sure! Like I said before, lucky kids!

Madelyne and Savannah got the same jammies too but by this time, both Savannah and Hayzen were a little out of sorts for picture taking.

When we got home we had to do our last minute preparations for Santa's arrival. Quinn's little friend from preschool gave him some Reindeer food to spread on the grass so they could smell it and lead Santa to our house.

It worked like a charm!

Merry Christmas to all
and to all a good night!

Spirit of Christmas

For our first FHE in December we set a goal as a family to spread the "Spirit of Christmas" as much as we could until we celebrated Christ's birth on Christmas. We talked about the true meaning of Christmas and how we could spread that special Spirit to everyone by being like Jesus and being kind, helpful, sharing, doing good deeds for each other and doing service for others.

Whenever we'd spread the "Spirit of Christmas" around, we'd get to put a sticker on our chart. The kids LOVED this! And to be honest, so did I, I love stuff like this! If it has anything to do with lists, charts or schedules, I just eat it up! ...so does Avery, like Mother like daughter! :)

As you can see, we spread A LOT of Christmas Spirit around. I hope many family/friends/neighbors felt it 'cause we sure could. Our house was over flowing with it this Christmas!

Avery and Quinn were so sweet in their encouragement to each other to be happy, nice and helpful so they could put a sticker on their chart. They were also so generous in reminding me that I did something special so I could put a sticker on my chart too. "You were so nice Mom and helped us clean up our toys, so now you get to put a sticker on your chart!"

For the record, Justin actually spread his share of Christmas Spirit around too, he just wasn't as into the chart/sticker aspect as much as me and the kids were. Ha ha!

I'm so grateful for my sweet little family. My kids try so hard to do what's right and be good and I couldn't ask for anything more. And I really couldn't ask for a better husband, that's for sure, I'm one lucky gal! I really am so blessed to have them and I love them so much!

"It's Santie Claus!"

On Wednesday we went to Willard to see the "Lights by the Bay" with Chad, Lyndee and Allee. We were planning to go on the horse drawn wagon ride through the lights but the pouring rain ruined that plan in a hurry! Dang rain! Where's the SNOW??? Ugh!

We still got to see the fun lights though, we just rode in a different kind of wagon..... the swagger wagon to be exact. haha! :)

We heard that Santa Claus was visiting Willard Bay too so we went to see him and put in our last minute Christmas requests before the big night.

Much to mine and Justin's surprise, Avery wished for a Barbie.
Umm, excuse me... What?
Isn't that great two days before Christmas?!! Gotta love it! :)

Quinney wished for a pillow pet, which he has consistently wished for since he started wishing.
Thank you sweet Quinney! :)

And Hayzen..... well.....

Oh Christmastime!
Pure bliss, isn't it! :)

Have a hOlLy jOlLy ChRiStMaS everyone!!!