Christmas Lights

On Saturday night we went to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights.  We were questioning our decision when the traffic was so bad that it took us thirty minutes to move two blocks downtown. 

We stopped at the big Christmas tree in City Creek Mall to take some pictures.  I love how this family one turned out!

After that we made our way to Temple Square.  It was packed, but the weather was great!  This was our first year without a stroller.  It was great to not have to push a stroller around in the crowds.

I love this family of mine.

Tiff's family wasn't able to come because Tessa threw up.  We sure missed them. 

It's been a long time since I have had a picture with my parents.  I'm sure grateful to have such wonderful parents and great grandparents for my kids.

Ah Matt, I love him.  He is so fun to be around and always makes me feel so good about myself.

My boys love to play with their cousins. EJ is such a stud.  He is so good to my kids and so fun to talk to.  He makes me excited for my kids to get older.

Elijah is hilarious.  I had fun visiting with him this weekend.  Wyatt adores him! Elijah is always willing to play with the younger kids.

The kids had fun walking around together.

Hallee loves all of the attention the older kids give her. Dante is always very sweet to her.

Hallee was a good sport about walking around, but she wouldn't pass up getting carried by mom or dad.

We took a picture of Wyatt with the temple so he can hang it up in his room.

We stopped to listen to the nativity on our way out.  I love this picture of Keith and Hallee.

After that we went back to my parents for cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate.  It was a great way to end a wonderful weekend.  Tiff came up and we stayed late visiting at my parents and then Mel, Tiff and I went to Matt and Lori's hotel to visit a little longer.  We had so much fun with them.  I was exhausted after four very late nights and so were the kids. It was a wonderful few days with my family.

Family time

The kids loved having Cody and Elena stay over for two nights. 

They had fun playing scum.

On Friday night mom and dad treated us to Leatherby's. 

Wyatt was thrilled when he saw how big his root beer float was.

After Leatherby's we played scum. 

Hallee wanted to be on grandma's team. 

On Saturday we went to the movie.  The boys went and saw "Justice League."

The girls saw "Wonder."  It was so good!  Mom was nice and kept Hallee and Wyatt while we were at the movie.  They were so excited to have a date with grandma and help her make cinnamon rolls.

I love hanging out with Lori.  She is so easy going and so fun to be with.  Matt hit the jackpot with her!

After the movie we grabbed pizzas for dinner and then we all headed down to temple square.  I love this picture of dad in the car, especially with Cody photo bombing it!

Thanksgiving 2017

We were so excited that Matt and Lori came into town for Thanksgiving this year.  It's always a party when they are in town. 

We went over to my parents house for the day. 

Caitlyn was so excited to spend time with Elena.  

Lori had the idea to have the kids learn a Thanksgiving song called, "Thankful."  I worked with the kids once and then forgot about it, so we scrambled to learn it that morning.   

The kids held up signs while they sang.  It is a great song with a great message.  The kids sounded beautiful.   

Our kids each made a sign of something they are grateful for.  The song definitely helped us focus on our blessings.  We have so many!

Mel's family came over after dinner.  The cousins had a great time playing while the adults visited. 

Oh that Damon, he is a cutie! 

I love my siblings! I love that they are my best friends (cheesy, but true) and that I love all of their spouses too. 

We missed Gary and we always miss Jen, but it was fun for the rest of us to be together.  

The boys love to play video games every chance they get.  

It was so fun to have Cody and Elena here.  Cody is such a fun kid.  I love to talk to him, he has a great sense of humor and he is so sweet.  He is so good at listening and making everyone feel important.  My kids love him and so do I. 

Elena played with the younger kids on the trampoline.  They all loved it.  Elena is so fun, she is always happy and excited about everything.  She is so creative and generous and her laugh is adorable! 

Keith took our kids and Cody and Elena home that night while I stayed in Salt Lake.  Matt, Lori, Mel and I went shopping.  It was fun to hang out and laugh and visit.

Holiday Weekend

We kicked off our long holiday weekend on Wednesday.  The kids didn't have school so we met Allison and her kids at the South Town Mall.

The kids always love to see the Moon's.  The older kids went off and looked in the shops while Allison and I stayed in the play land with the little kids.

Hallee and Jack had fun in the play land.  Max and Jonah let Wyatt go around with them.

We wanted to see the Harry Potter world.  The line was really long, but we decided to stand in the line with the little kids while the older kids looked around.  We finally made it in and it was a glorified gift shop.  It wasn't worth the 45 minute wait!  Oh well, we had a fun day with friends.

Last week we promised the kids that we would set up Christmas stuff on Wednesday.  I didn't realize that Matt and Lori would be at my mom's that night so we didn't do it all together.  I started Wednesday afternoon with Hallee and Wyatt.  The older kids were gone and didn't mind missing it, but Hallee and Wyatt were so excited.

After I picked Jonah up from basketball we went up to Salt Lake.  Caitlyn was already up there with Amarie.  Keith, Wyatt and Hallee finished up the tree that evening.

I'm sad it didn't work out for all of us to do it together, but I'm glad we have the tree up.  I love Christmas time!

Primary Program

Last week was the primary program.  This was Hallee's second time so she knew what to expect.  She was excited for it and worked hard to memorize her scripture that she repeated with her class.

She was excited to wear her new dress.  She sure looked beautiful and she did a great job singing all of the songs.

This might be Jonah's last program, depending on what month they do it next year.  Jonah won't admit it to me, but I think he likes to sing.  He does such a great job and knows all of the words.  They had all of the 11-year-olds sing "Choose Him Again."  It was beautiful, I loved the words to the song and it was so touching with Jonah and all of the kids his age singing it.  

Hallee and Jonah have a special bond.  They have similar personalities and Hallee just loves Jonah. He is great to give her special attention and look out for her.  He is a great big brother.  There are a lot of younger kids that look up to Jonah.  He is so good with younger kids and he loves to make them laugh and teach them things.

Poor Wyatt was having a rough morning.  He is either really happy or really mad, there isn't a lot of in-between for him.  He goes through periods of time where he gets upset a lot and we are in one of those phases.  It is really hard for him to calm himself down when he gets upset. 

Luckily he calmed down in time for the program and did a great job saying his part and singing the songs.  He was back to his happy self after church. 

Caitlyn is happy that she gets to sit back and watch the programs instead of be in them. 

It was a great a program.  Grandma, grandpa, Dante and Alexys came to watch the kids.  It was great having them there with us.