Christmas Break

I kicked off Christmas break with a nasty stomach bug.  I'm not sure what it was, but I felt terrible Monday and Tuesday.  Hallee and Wyatt were so sweet and brought in a sign that said, "Wyatt's and Hallee's diner."  Wyatt put on a tie and Hallee was ready to take my order.  I think they were a little disappointed that all I wanted was toast, but I couldn't handle anything else. 

I love that Wyatt put a flower on the plate with my toast.  They are such sweet kids. Not only did they take care of me, but they were great about entertaining themselves and playing together.  I sure appreciate them!  Keith came home from work and did laundry and made dinner.  By Wednesday I was still tired, but feeling much better. I was able to clean and sanitize in hopes that no one else would get it. Thankfully no one has.  I don't know if I could have handled missing out on another trip because of sickness.  We are leaving for Arizona the day after Christmas and we need this vacation!  We were so disappointed that we couldn't go to Oregon and we haven't been anywhere all year, so I'm very antsy for a vacation. 

Caitlyn was so excited for Christmas break.  She had her final Math test before the break and she is done with Math 1010.  She was thrilled that she ended with an A. She has worked so hard in Math, it will be nice that she won't have that class next semester.  Caitlyn loves to hang out with her friend Nicole, from work.  They got together to make and shop for Christmas gifts.  

On Saturday Caitlyn got to watch Amarie dance and then hang out with Amarie that night.  She loved hanging out at their house and doing more shopping. 

Caitlyn sure looked cute in her new sweater from Hallee and her new coat.  She was able to see Bella one day too.  I'm so glad she has had time to have fun with friends and catch up on sleep. 

Jackson looked so cute in his pajamas playing with his dog toy. 

I ran to the bathroom before I cut Jonah's hair and he left me some fun selfies on my phone!

I finished up a roll of wrapping paper and Hallee and Wyatt both wanted the cardboard tube.  I hate making decisions like that.  We finally settled on cutting it in half and Hallee was not happy about that, she threw her half on the ground and said she didn't want it.  I told her she should have said that before we cut it and that she better do something with it since she agreed to cut it in half.  She went in her room and cut it up into little pieces and said she made confetti, ha!  

Hallee and I ran to Target yesterday to look for a gingerbread house for them to decorate.  The store was packed and I did not last long before I was not very nice and needed to get out of there! I'm so grateful for online shopping and curbside pickup!

We got a kit with three gingerbread buildings.  Jonah didn't want to do it, so the kit worked great. I love that Wyatt sticks his tongue out when he is concentrating. 

Caitlyn has been working during the day a lot this week.  It's been great to have her home in the evenings. 

Hallee would use her mouth if she couldn't get the frosting to come out.

They turned out cute!

Hallee rolls her eyes a lot.  Anytime she doesn't like what I say, I get an eye roll.  She rolled her eyes at me when her candy fell off because she thought it was a bad idea to hold it up in the first place.  Ha! I'm glad I got the eye roll on camera. 

The kit was a great way to go. It was so easy and the kids enjoyed it. 

Keith's employees' got him this shirt.  I love it!

They closed the office today so Keith had the day off.  Jonah and Caitlyn had to work. Hallee and Wyatt helped Keith and I with lots of projects.  We got the storage room cleaned out and moved some stuff out to the garage.  Wyatt had fun climbing on the shelves out in the garage.  We all worked all day and got a lot done.  I can't believe it is already Christmas Eve tomorrow.  We worked hard today, so we can relax and enjoy the holidays!

Secret Sibling

We had our sibling gift exchange and lesson on giving on Sunday. This has evolved over the years, but we usually have a lesson about Christ and the true meaning of Christmas and make sure we are focused on giving instead of receiving. I gave a lesson and had Caitlyn read The Light of Christmas. We watched a new video from President Nelson that talks about sharing Christ's Light with those around us.  It is important to remember that we don't have to give something huge, it's those small gifts of self that mean the most and help spread Christ's Love throughout the world. 

After that we did gifts.  Caitlyn wanted to go first, she had Wyatt this year.  Caitlyn is a great, thoughtful gift giver.  She loves to give people gifts and always puts a lot of thought into something they will really like.  

Wyatt loved his new science set and video game.

Wyatt wanted to go next.  He had Jonah. We all agree that Jonah is the hardest to shop for.  It took Wyatt a while to come up with an idea. He surprised Jonah with a number 5 and a chain for it to go on. 

Jonah lost his and I think he was surprised and excited that Wyatt thought to get him a new one.

Hallee went next, she had Caitlyn.  Hallee and I went shopping to look for a gift and I kept showing her things and she didn't want to get them and then she went off on her own and found this sweater that she thought would be perfect for Caitlyn. 

She was right, Caitlyn loved it!  

Jonah had Hallee.  He thought of a few different things for Hallee, but decided to get her LED lights for her room.

She loved them.  She said, "I didn't even know I wanted those lights, but it turns out I did."

Wyatt wanted to use his science kit right away.  Caitlyn and I had fun doing some of it with him.

Keith helped Hallee hang her lights up around her room.  She had fun drawing in her room with the lights on.

We played Bingo and then we did Left Right Center with money.  The kids were excited about that!

I think we will have to make this a new tradition, it was fun.

It came down to Hallee and Jonah.  Jonah spun and got a right so he had to pass his money to Hallee and Hallee won.

You can tell she is pretty happy about that!

Hallee was so sweet and said she wanted to give everyone $1.  We did one more round to see who could keep their dollar.  It was great to have such a nice family day!

Christmas Dance Recital

Hallee has been working hard on her dance for her Christmas recital.  She loves dance so much and loves to come home and practice.  Last week they had a dress rehearsal in class and we got to go take pictures.

I can't believe how grown up Hallee looks.  She is a beauty!

Hallee loves going to dance every week.  She loves the girls in her class.

And Hallee loves her teacher! Annie is so fun and a great teacher.  She does such a great job with the choreography too!

Saturday was Hallee's dance recital.  It was a long day for her with her voice performance before and they did the dance performance twice.

Hallee is born to be on stage, she just comes alive up there!

She has a huge smile on her face throughout the whole performance.  

I know I'm her mom so I'm biased, but seriously, her showmanship is amazing.  She always gets lots of comments about it, so I know it's not just me.  Our neighbor, who had a daughter in the show,  came over and told Hallee what an amazing performer she is and how much she loves to watch her. 

They danced to a song from the Polar Express.  I loved seeing Hallee sing along to the words while she performed. 

Their outfits were really cute and the choreography was so good.  It was such a fun dance to watch.

I'm so glad Hallee enjoys dancing so much because I just love watching her. 

Caitlyn was really glad she took the day off to watch her.

After Hallee's first dance Caitlyn went up to Salt Lake and watched Amarie's performance. I was sad that I missed it, but I'm glad Caitlyn was able to go. 

Grandma and grandpa had a full day with Hallee's two performances and Amarie's performance.  I'm glad they enjoy supporting their grandkids so much.

Tiff and Tessa were troopers with the long day too.  They are so sweet to always support Hallee. It means so much to Hallee and to me.

I heard Tessa say to Hallee, "I can see why they want you for a competition team, you are so good." I thought that was so sweet.

It's hard to believe that this is our youngest child! I guess it's good because Keith and I are old and tired! Time goes so fast, so I'm just trying to soak it all in. 

Hallee was exhausted after her long day, but she loved every minute of it.