Getting ready for Santa

Here are the kids with their platter of cookies for Santa and some carrots for the good reindeer.  Kenzie and Jordyn painted some really cute water color cards for Santa as well. 

Christmas with the Carpenter's

For Christmas ever we dolce to my sister, sharons,  house and enjoyed a lovely evening with family. 
We had a delicious ham dinner in a beautiful candlelight setting.  Then we watched the Nativity movie which is always so nice in helping us remember the true meaning of Christmas. 
The Saviour is The Gift and I'm so greatful to have a knowledge of Him and how I can be with him again!
Afterwards, we had a little fun with the extra string of lights while trying to get a family picture with the Christmas tree. 

Snow and friends

We've gotten a lot of snow fall this Christmas break and so the kids have had lots of opportunities to play and shovel.  Jared and I were out shoveling snow from our driveway when Melissa Daniels was out shoveling too.  Her son Teagan was playing in the snow and Her baby,  Addy,  was being pulled around on a sled. 

Jared's 36th Birthday

Jared's birthday was a great day.  I made him schedule 3 weeks in advanced to take his birthday off from work and I did the same. 
We woke up early that morning and got the kids off to school and then we left for our special day together.  We went shopping together,  enjoyed a good movie at the theater,  had a delicious dinner at Jakers ,  and came home to our kids with pizza to share. 
It was such a fun relaxing day together.  Happy birthday to my wonderful husband! You are the best a gal could ask for and better!!

Heath Family Christmas Party

We had the opportunity to get together with Jared's family for Christmas last night. 

Is always fun to get together and laugh and play.  We enjoy delicious soups and rolls and treats and do a gift exchange.  All the cousins pick names randomly and then get presents for that person. 

Once the gifts are all opened the kids go play and then the adults play a gag gift white elephant exchange game.  Sometimes the gifts are horrible in every way,  like you could get a half frozen pig leg... Hoof included,  or a old time movie about a celebrity from Branson,  OH, or even worse,  the many shades of grey books or whatever it's called. 

Afterwards we then do a nice white elephant gift exchange.  This year I scored a selfie stick which will be fun to use and Jared scored a wallet ninja (a card that has tools on it) and a high powered flashlight. 

Hanging with the Heaths is always an adventure! I'm so greatful for my in-laws!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving.  Our cousins,  Kathy and Patrick Jones moved from San Francisco to idaho falls and hosted a lovely evening.  It was great food,  great conversation,  and most importantly,  great family!
 
I'm also very greatful for this season of gratitude and that I have a loving Father in Heaven who gave us His Son to save us all!

And I'd like to share my first attempt at making and baking my first apple pie from scratch.  I made pie filling and then a week later for Thanksgiving made my own pie crust.  On a side note I think pie crust is the worst part of the pie and so I attempted to make a yummy crust by adding some orange zest and cinnamon to it.  And although it sunk down and lost it's proper pie crust shape,  it actually tasted great!

Halloween fun

This year Jared and I were determined to finally dress up in a frankenstein and bride of frankenstein costumes.  It was really fun figuring out what to wear.  We borrowed a broad shouldered jacket from mackenzie Lund and my dress is from Annie Godfrey.  She wore this dress for her mummy costume. 

The kids loved the new costumes we picked up for them and they definitely acted the parts well! Kenzie was a good witch.  Lexie was a dark sorceress.  Eli was a ninja and jordyn was a princess. 

We also had a visit from Byron and Jemaylas family.