Before Christmas... December 2015

December 16th-

December 17th-

When Aisley shares her toys with Rich, And, my new (and much needed) snow boots! Yay for having boots that actually keep out the snow and wet!

December 18th-

Aisley "talking" to my uncle Erik on the phone. She calls him all.the.time. They just chat it up for a bit almost daily. She checks in on him making sure he's doing good, having a good day, etc. They're just close like that. Ha, ha.

 

Me, Justin, and Rich partying hard at Jordan Wong's surprise 30th birthday party!

December 19th- Christmas cards! I ordered 150 cards this year and only had a few left once they were all mailed out! Feeling blessed to have so many loving family and friends to send Christmas wishes to.

December 20th-

December 22nd-

Seeing Santa! Whew! The kids nearly didn't make it to sit on his lap before Christmas. (Once again, I blame it on my sleep deprivation...!)

I took this gift over to a friend in our ward who just lost her 7 month old baby to SIDS. I don't really know how to help her and I feel like much of what I try to do probably isn't much of a help, but this plaque, given to me by my Grandma Adams during a hard, hard trial in my own life brought me so much comfort as I'd see it in my home everyday. It was very hard to part with, but I felt like if these words could give me that much comfort, that maybe, just maybe, they might bring her a tiny bit of comfort during this very trying time in her life.

Neal holding Rich at Ann and Jon's annual UGLY SWEATER Christmas party!

All the ugly sweater wearers. :)

Tad and Heather won the prize for "UGLIEST SWEATER!" Oh my...!

The 2nd half of November 2015

November 16th-

November 18th- Keaton and Aisley filling their shirts full of blocks and having a great old time! Silly kids.

November 23rd- Keaton's war wounds from a mishap with Ellsie. (She was having a moment...!)

 Shauna's surprise birthday party!!!

November 24th- Keaton and Hunter zonked out on Grandma Melanie's couch,

November 26th- Family pictures by Justin's parents Christmas tree.

 November 27th-

November 28th- Our live Christmas tree! (I didn't end up taking any pictures while we were out hunting for it!)

Our tree, Aisley, a surprise, and all wrapped up...

November 30th- "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!"

Aisley riding Grandma Shauna's dinosaur toy. Don't let her face fool you- she really was loving it!

During the month of November Justin's mom had this little Thanksgiving house up in their home and every time we came over I would tell Shauna how much I loved it! What a cute little pilgram and indian nesting doll set! The kids also both really loved playing with it- well, Shauna surprised me with my own little Thanksgiving house that she found for $5 at the DI! (I looked and looked for them online, but just couldn't find any that weren't really expensive!) I love my Thanksgiving house! Thanks Shauna for finding it for me!!!

24 Christmas books all wrapped up and ready for Keaton and Aisley to open- 1 a day till Christmas Eve! A new family tradition that I am so excited to start!

Our first REAL Christmas tree!

November 29th- I went out and bought a bunch of fun new Christmas decorations for our first ever REAL Christmas tree! I had such a fun time picking out the perfect ornaments for our family to enjoy for years to come. It made me so happy and excited for Christmastime! Then after putting the kids to bed Justin put the lights on the tree so that it would be all ready for us to decorate in the morning!

Christmas tree hunting!

November 28th-

Getting all ready to go and look for the perfect tree. 

Keaton and Grandma searching together.

Maddie and Keaton...

Finding the perfect tree and then singing, "We Wish You A Merry Christmas!" around it per Keaton's request! :)

Finding Grandma and Grandpa's perfect tree! (Yes, we sang around this tree too!!)

Our tree is HUGE. But, we all loved looking for it and so therefore we love our 1st ever real Christmas tree and look forward to tree hunting together as a family for years and years to come!

(In the end, it was quite the day! After finding our tree, eating lunch, and starting on the drive back home our truck gave out and my parents had to tow our truck a good distance into Corinne where we left our truck at Grandma Norman's house and borrowed her car for the night. Our $5 tree permit and trip tree hunting turned into a pretty expensive day $300 later after Justin replaced the fuel pump in our truck the next day. --- (Then on Sunday our Yukon battery died! Lots and lots of $$$ for car repairs lately! BOO!!!)