Santa Hat Photos 2016

I mean seriously! How cute are my kids! They may be grown, and some may technically be adults, but they are just awesome!

It is so wonderful having him home for Christmas! He has grown so much and has been amazing to watch him still keep his study habits etc from his mission. He is working very hard in his Discovery class and applying for college classes etc. I couldn't be more proud of him!

I still can't believe that Will is a senior! He has grown and changed so much this year too! I have loved watching him and Carter banter again and wrestle around! He is a great example at church and loves being a priest and blessing the sacrament. It makes me happy!

Brianne is turning into an incredible young woman! She is talented, fun and works hard at her job at Sunrise as well as her classes. She LOVES Christmas and just glows all through the season! Just like this photo shows!

Yay for the annual Santa photos!! They are my favorite!

Christmas Deco 2016

The Christmas decorations are something I love doing every year. We didn't change much this year, but the best thing was being a WHOLE family again and putting it up together! Honestly, most I do myself, but the parts we DO together are always my favorite.

Every year when we put up the family tree we watch Elf. THIS IS A MUST! We laugh and put up the ornaments we've made or gotten for Christmas over the years. It's always fun!

Brianne is always the first to say, I'll go get the movie, and get it on for us! The boys, don't LOVE doing the tree, but I wasn't sure if this would be our last Christmas to do it together so I kind of insisted we do it together! I think they were glad we did!

This is over the piano! The lantern is something I haven't had long but I love it!

I love the photo of the kids and their Santa hats! This is something I hope to ALWAYS do every year! And the candy jars with peppermint are a MUST!! :)

I love how the red pillows and blanket look on the couches! So pretty!

This is a new addition, the tree we got at Home Depot that can change from white lights to colored lights. I love how it looks and it is MUCH easier to set up than the previous tree we had! YAY!!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cookies 2016

Yet another change for a Christmas tradition, no more cookie making at Grandmas "house" because she has an apartment now! We were worried that maybe we wouldn't be doing cookies! But, we didn't worry for long because Gamma called and she was still going to host a cookie making party! YAAAY!

Gamma was also pleasantly surprised to see that the kids all still wanted to participate too! Will would have been there too but he was working. The "big kids" still enjoy cookie making too!

Myles was really getting into it! But of course for the littles it's the eating them that they love!

For us older kiddos we really like getting creative and making fun designs! And Gamma never does anything small- so there's always LOTS to choose from!

Papa had just had a knee surgery so he was laid up a bit, so Carter hung out with him for a little bit and watched some sports. He enjoys talking sports with him. It's sweet.

Chloe wasn't feeling her best. She was warm and just wanted to sleep on Mom. I felt bad she wasn't into the activities- poor thing!

I think we ended up making like 4 kinds of cookies! Goodness!! Thankfully we have lots of get togethers so that MANY can eat up all the yummy cookies!

It was a fun day at Gamma and Papa's apartment! They have sure made it a lovely home until they can build their new house!

Honor Roll!!! 2016

These two are doing so amazing in school! They are working hard and it SHOWS! They both made the honor roll! YEEESSSS!!!!! Way to go guys! Keep it up!!

Christmas Lights 2016

This year with Carter and Will being home they decided that THEY could do the Christmas lights. Well, they did, but Chan ended up on the roof anyway fixing some that went out. We ended up having to change some of what they did to make it work! But hey, at least they wanted to help right?

One thing is for sure, it's not Christmas without lights on the house! Right?!!
I am pretty sure that Carter and Will were more about getting good pictures for Instagram. Like this one below! Which, I have to admit, is pretty freaking awesome! The clouds were perfect in this shot! Nice job Will! And the black and white was a nice touch! LOL

Santa Bomb 2016

So this year we recruited Mack to join our Santa Bomb tradition! He just happened to be over at the house the night we decided to do it, so we had him help run Santa next door to the Terry's house. Carter, Will and Mack were all setting him up when we realized that the plug we were using on their porch wasn't working! Santa wasn't puffing up or turning on! UGH! So in a last ditch effort I told them to just ring the doorbell and hopefully there was a switch that needed to be flipped on for him to work! So they rang the bell and ran and we watched from next door as Ryan came out to look at what was there! It always makes me laugh to see people's surprise when they find Santa! But he too was having a tough time getting Santa up and running! But by the next day there he was! All up and happy again! They told us later that the kids LOVED him! It's such a fun tradition!

Merry Christmas neighbors!!

Christmas Wreaths and crafts- 2016

 This year since money was a little tight and I wanted to do something special I decided to learn how to make these wreath pins that Grandma Gilbert had made for the family years ago. She gave me mine not long after I married Chan and she gave them to all the other ladies too. We wear them every year when we get together for Christmas. But Brianne didn't have one and neither did Sophie or Chloe- Brooke and Annies girls. AND Brooke had lost hers years ago. So I reached out to my friend Jennie, who is a master crafter, and got her help to learn how!

For weeks I sat at the table or in front of the TV with my huge thing of yarn making these! The original one I made (pictured above) I used a plastic ring I bought at a craft store to crochet around. But I quickly noticed it was bulky and it needed to be something smaller. The answer was water bottle plastic rings! The part that is left after you twist off the cap! I saved TONS of them and made enough wreaths for my friends, family and work colleagues. When I made my last one I was relieved! It was a LOT of time and effort! But I am glad I did it! Everyone loved them!

Brianne and I also took a day to do some other Christmas crafting. Mostly the wood crafts that I had on hand that were not yet finished. We had fun working on them together!

I think the small pins turned out pretty- here is my Mom wearing hers on Christmas day! Don't you love it! It's a great tradition! :) Glad I could share it!

Crash...

Since Carter has been home he has jumped back into working out with John Madsen at his gym over in Holladay. It's not a horrible drive, only about 15-20 minutes, but he LOVES to work out with him and sees the benefits when he does. So we got it worked out for him to go and he's been loving it. Since Carter was in Florida for two years when the first real snow storm arrived I reminded him of driving safely in snow and what to avoid, but even though I did............

This happened. :( Now I should mention that this could have been MUCH worse! He tried to stop when other cars ahead of him did and he couldn't- he just started sliding. Thankfully he knew to turn the wheel to try and avoid the car, but unfortunately he just slid sideways and ended up hitting the passenger door pretty hard. Enough to put in a big dent/scratch. He did manage to avoid damage to the other car- only minor tail light breakage there. But I guess now he can officially say he's been in a crash! Oh well, I guess it was bound to happen right?

Yuletide Concert at Alta

It was time for Christmas Concert number two! This one was for her choir at school and it was titled the Yuletide Concert!

It was fun when we arrived to see Brianne and her "Hawkappella" club singing to us as we bought our tickets and waited to enter the auditorium. They sounded so good! It's impressive considering the group is run solely by the students! Christian Affleck, in the center of the picture, does all of the arrangements and everything! It's a fun club that Brianne enjoys! They also performed at a few Ward Christmas parties etc for the holidays. Super fun!

The choir concert was good, but honestly was a little long! The boys and Chan were getting restless! I actually had to shoosh them a couple times! Haha! Towards the end of the concert one of the other groups sang a song where they put in random words from the audience and had to sing them! It was AWESOME! A couple of the words were "dab" and "trees" and they did the dab and a tree hand motion as they sang! We were all laughing pretty hard! They made it look easy but I'm certain doing a song like that on the fly would be really hard!

It's been fun to see the song choices and soloists etc for choir. Each concert I feel they get better and better. This was a fun one and a great way to feel the holiday spirit!

Christmas Dance at Alta

This year for the Christmas Dance at Alta Will and his friend Hayden decided they were going to do the ugly Christmas sweater thing! So they raided MY closet and took what I had for their outfits! LOL!! But before that could happen they needed to get dates first!

I helped Will on this one as it was kind of last minute! I went to the dollar store and put it together for him and all he had to do was deliver it with some candy!

Thankfully her answer came pretty quickly! And it was just as clever! Don't you love how funny these are!

Now it was time to break out the sweaters and turtle necks!! HAHA!

I think Will actually makes that sweater set look pretty good! LOL! And I found out later that they went down to turtle necks while they were dancing because it was just too hot! I was not surprised!

 I am glad that they had a fun time! That is all that matters! And dances like these are the best because they are low key and don't require all the other "day date" stuff!

Hayden and Lala looked great too! These guys are all such great friends that they laughed and had fun all night!

Chan Holiday Party

This year for Chan's work Holiday party they had it at Clark Planetarium! They had stuff on all levels of the place! There was music and dancing, food, desserts, drink stations and we could also see the exhibits and movies! We went in and watched one on National Parks- it was great!

One of my favorite parts was this picture booth! It was hilarious to watch people pull out these props and take pictures on the "moon"! They also always cater the food and this year it was yummy! I am glad that he works for a company that takes care of their employees and let's them enjoy a little holiday cheer! Thanks Demandware!

Work Move & Holiday Party

Right before the holiday break my office moved again! We had moved to the back area of the CAB East building for our district months ago while they did a remodel of the front and HR offices. It was VERY needed, but during the remodel our HR office was spread out all over the building in different areas which made some things difficult. But thankfully now it's ALL done!

I love the new office! It's MUCH brighter, has much better flow, and my desk is back to being HUGE again! YAY! My desk in our temporary office was small and I didn't have a ton of space to lay out my stuff! This is awesome! I'm a happy girl!

Our HR office always does fun parties for holidays and other things. Christmas is no exception! This year they did a white elephant exchange and at first I ended up with this shirt, which would have been fun for the holiday parties, but it got swiped by someone else! I honestly can't even remember what I ended up with but it doesn't matter! It was a fun time! I love my job!

Will- Dixie Bound!!

Well this kid right here got some FANTASTIC news in the mail! He was accepted to attend Dixie State University! YEEEEEESSSSS!!! Chan and I were especially excited as it is where we attended college! He's still not totally certain where he will end up, but this is a HUGE deal and he was very excited to get it!

Will has always thrown out there that he might want to attend school at Dixie, he's also mentioned Southern Utah University and the University of Utah. It will be interesting to see where he ends up when the time arrives! :) Way to go Will- we are VERY proud of you!

Brianne- Her first recording experience!

This year Brianne's vocal coach gave her the opportunity to do a recording of her Christmas song. Brianne had never had studio time before and jumped at the chance! I was lucky enough to be able to go and watch too! What an incredible thing! They recorded her singing in segments and pieced it all together along with the back track and harmony vocals.

When it was all said and done she had her very own version of The First Noel on a CD!! We made copies for our family members to have for Christmas! We were so proud of her and how she sounded! It came out just fantastic! Her vocal coach also put together a music video of it from the studio and holiday concert and put it out on You Tube! It's awesome! We're so proud of her! I've attached a link below! Go check it out! :)

Brianne Holiday Concert-2016

It's that wonderful time of year when choirs and people are singing wonderful Christmas music! I especially love her vocal class recitals because the music is fun and different.

Brianne wanted to do something new too and decided to sing her own rendition of the First Noel. It has similar sound to the one Pentatonix did, but with her own twist.

She did such a beautiful job! Angie has really helped her grow in her talent and she surprises me more and more every time she sings! Her confidence has grown too- which is so great!

There's no better way to bring in the Christmas cheer than with a beautiful song! I am happy that Tom and Kathy were able to come and hear her sing along with us! It was a wonderful concert!