Christmas Eve

My mom and dad, and my sister Abby and her husband came to Spokane for Christmas. We had so much fun! On Christmas eve we all went out to my brother Colin's house for the night.

We decorated (and ate!) a bunch of cookies for Santa.

Everyone opened their Christmas jammies.

It's hard to get a decent picture of these 8 kiddos!

Grandpa in the middle of the action!

And this girl...

I think I'm in love!

FINALLY!!! They all fall asleep! :)

Christmas, the build up...

I have lots of blogging to do before the year is over to get in all of our Christmas stuff! The week before Christmas we had great plans to go to the temple on family night to see the new nativity display they have, only to be disappointed when we got there and found locked gates. But the kids got to walk around the outside of the temple and we got some great shots of our beautiful temple at night.

Later that week we baked all day and made lots of Christmas cookies to decorate.

Just 'cause she's so cute!

And the kids were crazy, as usual!

More Christmas to come!

Merry Christmas!

We hope it's merry and bright!

SANTA!!!!!!! I know him!!

The big guy showed up at our church Christmas party on Saturday night. The kids were really excited, although I think Grace has him figured out. After the party she said, "That wasn't Santa, that was the guy we got my baptism clothes from". Can't fool that girl! Then she said, "he must just be one of Santa's helpers". Exactly. My friend Misty took pictures of all the kids on Santa's lap. Thanks Misty!






I wish Maggie didn't have sharpie on her forehead!

Yes, I know Naomi is dressed completely inappropriately for winter, but you have to pick your battles...

Santa Clause is comin' to town! Only 10 more days, yikes!!

Trimming the Tree

We were going to get a real tree this year. The top of our fake tree broke off last year and half the lights stopped working. However, in an attempt to save a little cash we just fixed up the old tree. It's amazing what a little duct tape will do. And we got some new colored lights to put on. I LOVE them!

The finished product

The kids all working hard to separate all the branches

Ray made all the kids stand in line a few feet back and take turns putting ornaments on to avoid the chaotic free-for-all that usually ensues.

Waiting patiently

Front and center, of course...

I didn't get a pic of Grace hanging up an ornament. I was probably distracted by this hilarious ornament she made in preschool. Love those school pictures!!

I can't adequately put the awesomeness of this picture into words, so there you go!

Merry Christmas!

Snow!

Well, it looks like we probably aren't going to have a white Christmas this year. We haven't had any snow since the beginning of November.



As it turns out that's all we've gotten so far. I'm not complaining, it's much better for business, but the kids sure love it when it snows! Elliot went out and built his own snowman.

Maybe we'll have better luck in January! (or not :) )