TNT: 2014

I had the privilege of singing in a Christmas concert at the Tabernacle at Temple Square, along with my sister and brother-in-law, Sara and Bryce the weekend of Thanksgiving. The next night (Sunday) we went again with Bryce and Sara, and our kids back to Temple Square to see the lights.

We didn’t get around to putting up the tree and other decorations until the following Thursday. We put up more lights than we ever have on our house.

Sunday, December 7th, we had a party with our friends (Tom’s high school buddies).

Although all our kids only see each other a few times a year, they have fun together every time.

We did some family pictures for our Christmas card. It was kind of thrown together quickly and it was almost dusk by the time we took the pictures. But it was a warm night and I thought they turned out cute.

Dolfie, our elf on the shelf returned two weeks before Christmas. Although he was pretty mischievous last year, he was a lot more mild this year. Instead he left a pad of paper and the kids could write him questions and he’d write them back each night.

On Saturday, 12-13-14 we had a party at Tom’s parents house. We all decorated gingerbread (or rather graham cracker) houses.

That night was our ward Christmas party. Lily and I sang in the program.

The following Friday, Tom went out of town with his brothers and dad to watch the Buffalo Bills vs. Raiders game in Oakland.

So I took the kids that night to the big extended family party by myself. It was fun to have somewhere to go for dinner, visit with cousins and not have to cook.

Saturday, we went and visited Santa. This year we found him at RC Willey. Maren and Charlotte met up with us.

Afterwards we went to Arby’s for dinner and then to Cold Stone for ice cream.

Sunday night we got together at my dad’s house. It was a smaller group this year since Aimee and Matt’s family and Tom were out of town.

The kids all did a talent show. Sophie wouldn’t do anything, Cedric did a magic trick, Jeff told a joke and Lily ended up singing with Natalie (although that wasn’t until Christmas day).

The kids acted out the nativity, Lily was Mary, Cedric was Joseph, Sophie was an angel and Jeff was a wise man.

It was fun to just be with everyone and visit.

Tom came home Monday. That night at FHE we decided to let the kids each open their presents from each other. They each drew names and everyone was so excited to give their present and everyone was happy with what they got.

Lily gave Sophie play doh, Jeff gave Cedric Minecraft guys, Sophie gave Jeff a soccer ball and candy, and Cedric gave Lily fuzzy socks, a mug with her name on it (he helped make) and a sketch model doll.

Christmas Eve came on Wednesday. I woke up to Cedric asking if he could pull out his very loose tooth. It was so loose, he was able to pull it out by himself. He wanted to do it on Christmas Eve so both the Tooth Fairy and Santa could come on the same night!

Tom had to work that morning, but the kids and I went to the Herriman rec center and went swimming with their cousins, uncles, and Grandpa.

That night we headed over to the church and had our annual party with Tom’s side of the family. We all brought our own dinner, looked for the nut in the pudding and visited.

The kids did the nativity again. Lily was Mary again, Cedric was a shepherd, Jeff a wise man again and Sophie was a sheep.

We then sang around the Christmas tree and then did our gift exchange.

I was giving to my brother-in-law, Kurtis and made him this board for his marathon medals. I’m not crafty, so I was quite proud of how it turned out.

The kids played with their cousins for a bit before we cleaned up and went home.

When we got home the kids opened up their Christmas Eve present. New pajamas as always. Then Jeff and Cedric slept downstairs in Lily’s room.

Santa Came quickly that night (the kids were all in bed by 8:30! We can’t even get them to bed that early on a school night, so it was nice!). He was quite generous this year.

That morning the kids called our cell phones at 7:30am, since they weren’t allowed upstairs (although, I could hear them talking since 6:40 that morning). We got Sophie up and went downstairs to line up (Sophie was not too happy at first).

The kids loved what Santa gave them and played with that stuff for quite a while before we opened our other presents.

The kids then opened their presents from us.

They were so excited when they opened the XBOX 360 and Minecraft game. Lily’s face shows it perfectly.

Instead of an XBOX, Sophie got an Olaf tea set and she quickly started a tea party.

Tom and I opened presents from each other. My big gift from him were books of the first four years of our blog (such a nice way to journal). I had figured out beforehand I was getting them, but still got quite emotional when I opened them. His big gift from me was a new Christmas tree. We’ve been wanting a new one for a few years now and I couldn’t resist this one. (It’s hard to know what to get a guy that likes to get himself everything.)

Tom and I took down Sophie’s crib and put together her new big girl bed. She was so excited!

We had have such a warm December, so it was quite a magical surprise to discover we had a white Christmas.

That afternoon we headed out. First to give Tom’s parent’s their present and visit for a minute.

Then headed over to my dad and Suzy’s house for dinner, presents and fun.

It was so nice to just hang out and not be rushed. It was the first year we didn’t have Grandma Great’s house to go to, so we could just visit and play all night at Dad’s house.

We then opened presents.

I was so excited to have Sophie give Adair her present. Right after Isaac died, I made a book for her called “My Daddy Loves Me” and I took all the pictures of him and Adair and put together a book. There was such a tender spirit in the room as Candalyn read the book aloud to Adair.