Monday, December 29, 2014

Scary Santa and $1.31

12/18—Annual Ornament Party!!  I bought my ornament for this party weeks ago and fell in love with the little blue bird I picked out.  I strategically went to the party hoping to get my own ornament.  I even wrapped it in ugly wrapping hoping no one would pick it.  Someone did, but luckily I had a pretty high number and stole it from them!  I love it!

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12/19—Ella insisted I take her picture next to this manikin at Kohl’s.  Not sure what she was thinking, but it cracked me up!

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Christmas Sing-a-long at the school!

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To celebrate the start of Christmas break we took the kids to Five Guys and then to get frozen yogurt.  Yay for 2 weeks off from school!

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12/20—Bishopric Christmas Party.  We hosted the party at our house this year and served up fajitas. 

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No party would be a party without Scott Sterling from Studio C.  lol.  We also went around the room sharing embarrassing moments or things no one knew about us.  It was a fun night!!

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12/21—Christmas Sunday.  I had to play the piano for two musical numbers during sacrament meeting so it wasn’t quite as relaxing as it could have been!  Luckily I nailed them!

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After church Santa (Jeff’s dad) stopped by to see how the kids were doing. Ella has been scared to death of Santa all month.  She cried hysterically and hid in the office when she heard him at the door.  When I did bring her out, she wouldn’t even look at Santa. 

I’m pretty sure she was scarred cause for several days after that if someone knocked on the door she would start crying and say, “Santa, I don’t want it.  I don’t want it.”  It didn’t help that Darrin kept walking in the door saying Ho Ho Ho really loud.  And if you ask her if she wants Santa to come to her house, she adamantly says “No!” 

(She’s a little more open to Santa now that she knows what he brings,  but still scarred- I’m pretty sure.)

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That night we drove around looking at Christmas lights.  We’d heard that Andrew’s teacher at school has awesome lights so we set out to see for ourselves.  It was pretty awesome!!

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Playing games.

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12/22—Filled up the van for $23.21!!!!  Yay for Fred Meyer rewards and getting a dollar off per gallon making it $1.31/gallon.  Woot!

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We went to Chad and Julie’s to watch the BYU game and decorate sugar cookies. 

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The cougs blew it.  But at least the cookies were good! 

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12/23—Christmas baking day!  Each of the kids were in charge of a treat to make.  Luke-Oreo balls, Andrew-Peppermint popcorn, Josh-Rolo pretzels, Mom-Peppermint Brownies and caramel, and Dad-Almond Bark. 

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Ella thought it’d be a good idea to lick the spoon that was used to measure the peppermint extract.  She doesn’t like that flavor anyway, but the potency of the extract just about put her over the edge! 

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Silly kids!!!

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Sunday, December 28, 2014

Thanksgiving in OK Part 2

11/26—I got up early to get Daylight Donuts.  It’s definitely a must have when we go to Oklahoma.  Someone famous was getting donuts too when I went through the drive through.  Ha.

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Later in the morning the boys helped Uncle Cory unload their moving truck into a storage unit.  They were great helpers!

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Ella practiced her smile for family pictures. 

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Luckily there were a few pictures with her more natural looking smile. 

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More cheers with Mckayla!

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And tickles with Blake!

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And sometimes you just need to find a place to watch a show by yourself!  Silly girl! 

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We went to Braum’s for dessert and Luke lost his first top tooth eating ice cream!  I didn’t even know it was loose.

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11/27—Thanksgiving day!  The boys, Aunt Kristin and I all went on a run to work up an appetite for the big meal. 

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After dinner we had a family talent show.  Grandpa played the saxophone. 

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Luke and Cory did a cute skit where Luke was a dog (Perrito) and Cory was his owner who gave him commands in Spanish.  When he tried speaking English to the dog, he didn’t know what to do.  It was very funny!

IMG_8538 Some other acts were piano playing, video making, joke telling, poetry writing, and acting. 

The grandkids help Grandpa with the song he wrote about our Thanksgiving together. 

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Then it was pie time!!

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Ella and Blake

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Video games.

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11/28—Before we left for the airport we all went to eat at Mazzio’s.  Then we came back to Grandma and Grandpa’s house to start off the Christmas season right with a sing a long. 

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We got on the airplane and flew home.  Our plane didn’t land until about 10ish which felt like midnight to us.  I tried so hard to get Ella to sleep the whole flight, and she finally did the last 15 minutes.  Isn’t that how it always is???? 

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And Luke loved this thing hanging from the PDX airport ceiling.  He insisted he borrow my phone to take a picture of it.  lol. 

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How grateful we are for our family and the memories we made.  We had such a fun trip and can’t wait until we can get together again!  Love you all.  xoxoxoxoxo