Laney's Fat Lip

Laney and Susanna spent the night at Jessi's house to have girl time with the cousins.  Laney fell while riding one of their new scooters and smashed her lip into the road.  Poor girl.  She was so tough even though she was embarrassed to have a big lip for a few days.

Enjoying the Temple Lights

We didn't have time to see the temple lights before Christmas, but we were able to make it before they took them down.  Our sweet neighbors Jim and Gisela went with us.  They said that they had always wanted to go see them but had never made it out there.  We were excited to have them go with us. 

The Nativities are stunningly beautiful.

Under our olive tree.  We danced in the rain under that tree on one of our first dates 20 years ago!

We, completely by chance, ran into Jessi's girls at the temple with their dad and grandparents.  It was a fun surprise.

Sadly, I think that this is the only picture that I got of Jim.

The temple was beautiful with the white light and dark night sky.  It was a lot of fun to all go together.  We love Jim and Gisela!

Goodbye to Elder Fackrell

We love Elder Fackrell.  He has become part of the family so we were sad to have him leaving Arizona to go back home, but happy for him to start the rest of his life.

He was no longer serving in our area so we had to go meet him at a McDonalds in his area. It was wonderful to be able to say our goodbyes in person.  We love you Elder Fackrell!

Bob and Linda and Our New Bars

Bob and Linda came over to visit the day after Christmas.  Bob, Papa Ely and the missionaries helped us to put in our new parallel bars and chin up bar.   

Poor Linda had been super sick for Christmas Day and was still recovering. She was still lots of fun.

We played some a new Christmas game with them, What's Yours Like and did a puzzle.  It was a fun day with lots of snuggles too.

Christmas Eve and Day

Christmas Eve we stayed home and had the missionaries over for dinner.  We got out the nice plates and goblets.  It was very nice to be at home for a change.

Elder Wilson went home a few days later.  Elder Merrill has gotten to stay with us for  a while.

I always love the early Christmas pictures before the kids see everything.  The tree is so magical!

Santa always brings cereal.

The traditional pre-presents picture on the stairs. It is sad to be missing Sammy.

The first moments of seeing what Santa and Mom and Dad brought.

My favorite part of Christmas morning is always watching the kids give the gifts they bought for each other.

We got a tv to replace the old box tv we had in the loft. So much lighter and easier to see for everyone!

Josh was so excited about this one.  We had convinced him that we weren't able to fix up the old violin for Christmas, but that was what he wanted more than anything, even though it would still belong to the family.  He was overwhelmed!

Richard and I found this awesome Barbie house at a second hand store.  The girls were in heaven.

All Daniel wanted was an android device.  He put all his money in on this gift.

It was a wonderful morning together with so many blessings to be thankful for.

Caroling and "Gingerbread" Houses

Bob and Linda were here for Christmas so they were able to join in the "Gingerbread House" fun and our caroling.  Sadly, Tim and Sara were home sick. They had both been sick for DAYS and DAYS with a respiratory flu.

We caroled at Uncle Tom and Aunt Judy's retirement home.  It was so wonderful to see all the smiles and sentimental looks on the residents' faces.

All the kids attacked Bob and filled his clothes with leaves.  He was such a great sport about it and claimed to have enjoyed playing with the kids.  

Nellie girl

Goofy Laney

Teenage Tyson

Not sure about Daniel

Cutie Pie Tori

Benson and Nan

Ella

Heidi and Laney

Gwen

Lilli

Lucas

Tori

Wilson

Susanna

Susie and Bob

 Bob and Linda with a bunch of crazies!

Jessi

Drew

 

The kids did a white elephant gift exchange game. They handled the random gift giving really well.

Grammy

Dandi photo bombing the food picture