A Merry Little Christmas

As I crawled into my bed last night, after another wonderful Christmas, my heart was full. It felt full to overflowing with gratitude for the numerous blessings that have poured into my life. Yesterday was so full of joy. It was sprinkled with a little stress and a little chaos, but what Christmas day isn't? I was surrounded by family who I love and love me back. My kiddo's were so much fun to watch as they soaked in the wonder of Christmas morning. I feel blessed for all the moments that I have with these little people. I love seeing their facial expressions, listening to them talk about their presents, reminding them to say thank you, watching them play with their toys and each other. I feel blessed that we were able to provide them with the things they need as well as the things that they want. I realize that there are many who are not so fortunate.
I am thankful for my wonderful husband. He is a wonderful companion and friend. I am thankful for his job, and I'm thankful that his job didn't need him on Christmas day. I love being able to watch him play with our children, to see him teach them and love them and know that he will be there to guide them as they grow. I'm glad that he understands me. That he knows that sometimes I get a little crazy and he knows how to deal with that.
I felt blessed that we were able to be surrounded by our family. The blessing of one another's time is so wonderful. I love that the Christmas spirit encourages the expression of love toward one another. That we spend time talking, sharing memories, eating great food, continuing traditions and expressing the love that fills our hearts makes my heart happy.
Most of all I am thankful for the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I don't know if I can fully express the love I have for him and for the knowledge I have of his atonement. I know that because of His love and life that I will be able to continue on after this life surrounded by the moments and people that I hold so dear.

Christmas Time's a Comin'!

'Christmas is the spirit of giving without the thought of getting. It is happiness because we see joy in people. It is forgetting self and finding time for others. It is discarding the meaningless and stressing the true values.' ~Pres. Thomas S. Monson

I am so thankful for the Christmas season and the spirit of love and family that is present. We were blessed to be surrounded by our extended family this Christmas. Mallory flew in from New York with her friend Rafael. Nana, Papa and Kenzie also came to visit. The little kiddos were in heaven having so many people to love and play with.

I was scheduled to work on Christmas eve this year. When I arrived home from work I was lucky enough to get the first peek at what Santa Claus had brought for us.

I was pretty sure that the kiddo's would be thrilled. And they most definitely were. I love watching their faces light up as they enter the room and see what is waiting there for them. Their little faces are so expressive and show very clearly how they are feeling.

Of course Santa left some My Little Pony treasures for these cute ladies.

He also knew that Miss Sadie wanted a toy bird,

and Mya wanted  the newest My Little Pony, Princess Sterling.

He also surprised them with a bow and arrow and crossbow to practice their archery.

Little Mister Hayze woke up a little later than everyone else so we all got to share in his excitement as he discovered the new friend that Santa had left him. If there was any worry about him being afraid of his new pal, it was quickly put to rest. He immediately climbed in his lap, hugged him and then started using his little Mickey to give big Mickey kisses.

He also got his very own wheeler.

This little man was in his happy place with his wheeler and his Mickey. 

Aunt Kenzie got a pretty fantastic surprise when she discovered that she was going to have one of her fan girl dreams come true, One Direction Tickets.

Mal and Raf. 

I love every single minute that I get to spend with Mal. She is just lovely in every way and it seems that our minutes are far to few these days. But I'm so glad that during her break from grad school in the big apple she was able to come and visit. We were also lucky enough to meet her friend Raf. He was so polite, he called me ma'am, which kind of messed with my mind a little bit. Ha ha. The kids loved him and he went cow elk hunting with Cody so that's an automatic pass.

Little man was thrilled to discover the box of 'E-O's' that Sadie got. In fact, he picked them up and took off with them to stash them somewhere.

But, since we wouldn't let him keep the entire box he was content with the one papa snuck for him.

Christmas afternoon they broke out the wii that Nana and Kenzie brought back with them from Denver. It was pretty hilarious to watch the little ladies wiggle and try to figure out how to make it all work.

Papa's Christmas present.

Later that evening we celebrated with Grams and Grandpa, Uncle K, Megan and Uncle Tyson. The kiddo's were spoiled again by everyone!

Oh, Sadie...bless you and your silly eyes.

It was cute to watch Hayze unwrap this, he kept saying 'Oh wow! Wheeler!'

Grams and Grandpa surprised the girlies with wiggle bikes of their very own. Hayzer was thrilled with his new lawnmower and he's been mowing all our floors ever since.

Winter Recital

The girls had their first dance recital together this month. They were both lovely and I was so proud of them! The few weeks before the recital Sadie was pretty nervous. It was kind of sad actually. She asked me one day if she would have to go to jail if she forgot the steps. I felt so bad that she was so worried about it. Knowing her, she probably let herself worry about it for quite a while before she asked me. Sweet little miss had nothing to worry about, she did absolutely great!

Miss Mya was able to perform in 2 different dances this time. I missed a picture of her first cute little tap dance. This is her ballet class, they performed a selection from the Nutcracker. Little miss stole the show as she tried to direct the two girls closest to her, making sure they were in their correct spots.

We had a little bit of stress that morning. We were getting ready and getting things gathered when we realized that Mya's dance bag was no where to be found. This wouldn't have been so bad except that her ballet slippers and tap shoes were inside. We searched high and low, everywhere we could think of with no luck. Thankfully we had a pair of each shoe that she had recently grown out of so she had to make due with some squished little tootsies. 

Grams and Grandpa were so sweet and came to watch. 

I love this sweet little miss and her crazy eyes.

Silly little ladies. Mya was quite concerned about the face makeup. She just kept talking about it, wondering if she looked silly and asking how soon she could take it off. Don't worry she had it picked of her face before she had herself buckled in her seat.

First Grade Christmas Concert

We have reached that point in our life, the time for darling little first graders to sing Christmas carols at the top of their lungs. Mya has been singing Christmas carols since the end of October. I was impressed with their darling program, these cute kids learned 17 songs! I can truly appreciate the amount of work that goes into teaching a group of kids one song let alone 17! Mya' favorites were 'All I want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth' and 'I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas'. 

I love watching my little miss and her facial expressions. It made my heart happy to watch her as she sang with so much excitement and expression. It reminded me of a quote by Elder Falabella, 'A Child who Sings is a Happy Child.'

And can we all take a moment to notice that poor little lady next to Mya. I'm pretty sure she was not excited about being up there in front of all those people.

A Little Bit of Snow

Before Thanksgiving we got our first snowfall down in the valley. The girlies were beside themselves with excitement, especially Sadie. There wasn't enough down by us to play in so we decided to head up to the Heber area to see if we could find them some to play in. Sadie kept asking Cody to drive faster because she was worried that all the snow would melt and we wouldn't be able to see her go 'dashing through the snow'. Worry not, we made it in plenty of time.

Little man was quite entertained by the whole experience. He wasn't deterred by the face plant he did after his first few steps. He had a great time going down the slide and was pretty upset when we made him get back in the car because he was a little Popsicle.  

 These two cuties were beyond thrilled! They were flying down the slide, playing puppies in the snow. They played and played together until the sun was down.

Love my little miss-matched bundles.

Look at this little lady with her missing front teeth! It's changed her little fact to me so much. I'm not sure how I feel about it.