Christmas 2015

We had another fantastic, magical Christmas here at our house. On Christmas Eve we took the kids to see the Peanuts movie. It was a fun show and everyone liked it. They also liked getting their own popcorn. :) That afternoon we just got the house tidied up and had some down time. That afternoon we started prepping for our fancy Christmas Eve chicken scampi dinner. Everyone helped prepare it. Ian diced the chicken, Davin was my egg man, Weston was excited to be promoted to breadcrumb boy, and I did the actual cooking part. It was a delicious meal by candlelight, using the good china and silver. It's fun now that the kids can anticipate the meal and the candles. And now that they are better behaved and better eaters. :)

After dinner we cleaned things up while the kids got in jammies. Talia went outside to sprinkle her reindeer food in the front yard. Then we each got to open one present. Instead of jammies this year (since no one really needed them) we all got cozy socks. It was a fun and different.

Once we were all settled in our new socks we read the story of Christ's birth in Luke and sang a few Christmas carols. It was fun to be able to take turns reading out of the Bible this year. Next we put out some treats for Santa and Rudolph. The kids picked out a See's candy to leave for Santa and one to eat. A carrot was left for Rudolph and Talia had a painting she left for Santa. It was pretty sweet and they were all so excited. This was a pretty magical year. Finally we were ready for bed!

Once the kids were all settled down for the night Ian and I got to eat some See's and relax. Santa needed a little bit of help with putting things together, but he came and left fun gifts for everyone, even though there was a lot of snow that fell!

Christmas morning the three big kids came and woke us up at 6:45 (the time we had agreed on). Beckett was still sleeping, but since we were ready to start opening stockings and we didn't want him to miss out, we went ahead and woke him up. The kids had already seen that Santa had come, but they were so good and hadn't opened anything yet.

After stockings were done we went downstairs to see what Santa brought! The big kids all got scooters. Talia's big Santa present was a dollhouse and two Barbies to go in it. Beckett got a big dinosaur that roars, a fuzzy orca and a big lovey dino. Davin got a Minecraft Lego set. Weston got a Mip robot.

We opened the presents under the tree too and then started playing! It was a fun day playing with the toys and hanging out. I love my new quilt that my mom made for me! Ian installed my new jewelry organizer too. Davin got right to work on his Lego's and had finished his Minecraft set by lunch time!

Ian took the big kids sledding while Beckett napped. Then the other Bowles' came over for Christmas dinner. We played with new toys and visited while the food cooked, then enjoyed a yummy ham and cheesy potatoes meal. After dinner we all curled up in the living room and watched Inside Out. It was a lovely Christmas day!

Talia is 5!

Our little Miss Talia has been a handful since day one, but now it's official! She had a fun birthday! We started celebrating a day early since Ian and I had his company party the night of her actual birthday. Friday I took her to get her birthday hair cut. I love that she still wants to do this. She and Beckett both got cuts this time. She decided to keep her hair short. 

Later that night we met up with the Curnow's for an In N Out birthday dinner. Talia loves spending time with her family and her Auntie Mel and Uncle Brad and Wilson, so she was really happy they could come celebrate with her. These kids are so silly. Wilson joined right in with the silly faces.

After dinner we came back to the house and Talia opened her presents from her aunts and uncles and grandparents. She got lots of fun art supplies, a cute blue sock monkey, and an Elsa doll. She wanted to wear her birthday crown from preschool the whole night. It was pretty adorable. Her silly brothers had to vie for a some of the attention too. Goofballs.

Talia chose ice cream sundaes as her birthday treat. We had ice cream, whipped cream and cherries. Talia wanted 5 cherries since she was 5. She also did awesome blowing out her candle and got it on the first try!

On her actual birthday, Saturday, she got up and had Lucky Charms for breakfast and got to open her presents from us. Then we took her on a birthday outing to the Planetarium with a couple of her friends. She loved bringing friends with her and it was a pretty low key outing. The kids were great. We explored the exhibits, got popcorn and sodas, then watched a show in the dome theater. On the way home we stopped at McDonald's for ice cream and to play for a little bit. Happy Happy Birthday to my big girl! We love you!

December 2015

December was, of course, a busy whirlwind month. There was always something I needed to be doing. It was exhausting in the best way. We got to make lots of memories and see lots of friends and family as we celebrated Christmas.

We kicked off the month with a drive through the Thanksgiving Point Christmas lights. It was very similar to last year, but still fun to go and see. We read Christmas books and had a treat in the car while we waited our turn.

The next day I got to take my little Beckett on a mommy date. While Talia was at preschool we snuck off to the movie theater and saw The Good Dinosaur. We got popcorn and soda and had fun together. Beckett loved the movie. I thought it was a little bit weird, but the dinosaurs were fun. Plus Beckett is just the cutest! Love my little man.

Speaking of my little man...he is my favorite snuggler. After he wakes up from his nap he is especially cuddly. And he loves to give kisses!

We had our ward Christmas breakfast the first weekend of the month. The only thing I had to help with was the kids' craft, which I didn't even have to help with the whole time. I also brought a breakfast casserole, but it still felt good to not be in charge. I LOVED the way it was set up this year. The tables were all set and the food was put directly onto the tables so no one had to wait in a giant line to get food. It was so much more relaxing and pleasant. The food was good, the kids did a cute craft and then Santa came.

We spent some time curled up watching Christmas movies all month, which I loved! We also ran a lot of errands. One day we did some errands with Auntie Mel and Wilson. The kids got to color while Mel and I shopped at Penzey's Spice. Pretty fun!

We got a major snow storm! It was fun to play in for about 20 minutes before we were freezing. :) It was so much snow that Ian actually worked from home, which was also pretty nice!

We hosted the annual Bowles/Bayles/Wilson Singalong party! It's always a fun time when we all get together! Alison planned a fun game for us where we had to try to unwrap a ball of paper and find prizes in it. We had soups and rolls for dinner and lots of treats. Then we sang! So glad we have these forever friends!

The last week of school before Christmas break meant performances and parties! The boys had the Jingle Jam on the same day that Talia had her Christmas dance performance. Beckett was at preschool during all of it, so it was just me and Tal at the Jingle Jam. I couldn't see Weston too well since he was in the front row, but his grade did awesome! Loved their Reindeer Rap and Feliz Navidad. Davin was front and center! I snuck up and got some good pics of him. He got to play the kazoo during one of his songs too. It was adorable.

After the Jingle Jam Talia and I got a snack and played at McDonald's for a little bit then headed to her Christmas performance. She had so much fun showing off her dance skills and performing to White Christmas by The Drifters.

The next day I got to go help with Weston's classroom party. I planned a fun game where the kids decorated one kid as a Christmas tree. They had fun. I helped with the snacks and cutting out a craft while I was there too. When Weston's party was over I popped into Davin's classroom and caught the end of his party too. Pretty fun!

Grandma Denny and Papa came into town late the night before, so I got to do the class parties without little ones in tow. We had so much fun spending time with them too! Eli and Emilee and their family came on Friday from FL. They stayed with Emilee's sister just down the street from us. On Saturday everyone came over to watch the BYU v. Utah bowl game. The cousins had fun playing and we ate good food and had fun watching. The game had a pretty painful start and even though BYU played great the rest of the game we couldn't quite recover and lost our bowl game. Sad day.

Sunday we had everyone over for dinner. It was so great finally meeting James, Eli and Emilee's youngest, and letting the kids get to know their cousins better. Even more fun to have Grandma and Papa there too! Davin and Grandma stayed busy inside making paper snowflakes, which Davin taped and hung all over his room. Monday afternoon the adults plus Weston and Davin went to see the new Star Wars movie. We were all pretty excited and it didn't disappoint. So fun!

Tuesday morning it snowed! Grandma was so excited to play with the kids in it. They built a huge snowman! When Eli and Emilee brought the kids over a little bit later they built a second snowman. Unfortunately Grandma and Papa had to head back to OR that afternoon, but we are so glad they came!

Wednesday was Christmas Eve Eve and I took the kids over to Thanksgiving Point that afternoon to say hi to Santa's reindeer before their big night. Beckett was fascinated by the reindeer and did not want to leave. It was pretty cold out though, so we headed over to dinner at Slab pizza. Ian met us there and we had a fun night out. A little bit later that night we got a special visit from Santa himself! He stayed for about half an hour and chatted with us and the kids. We love that extra attention we get from him!

Christmas Eve and Christmas were magical and so much fun with just our little family. I will post about them separately.

The day after Christmas was pretty chill. Talia actually wasn't feeling good and threw up. She spent most of the day on the couch. Luckily no one else seemed to catch whatever she had. I got Christmas all taken down and put away that day.

The other Bowles' came to stay with us on the 27th. They stayed in the basement for a few days before they headed back to FL. We spent a day playing with them at the children's museum, which was lots of fun. We also just hung at home and played and watched movies together. Yay for cousin time! Once we got kids to bed at night we binge watched Brooklyn 99 with Eli and Emilee. So fun.

The Bowles' flew out early on the 30th. We are so glad that they came and we were able to spend time with them. On New Year's Eve morning we headed up to the Planetarium to see a 3D IMAX movie and explore a little bit. We had a fun New Years Eve dinner and arcade night with the Matagi's. We went to Pizza Pie Cafe for dinner then hit up Nickel City. One of these days Tara and I will get to actually hang out during these outings, but sadly this was not that year. The kids had tons of fun though.

When we got home Talia and Beckett went to bed, but the boys stayed up and we watched Captain America The Winter Soldier. Davin barely stayed awake, but once the movie was over and we were getting ready to ring in the new year he roused. :) We toasted with Martinelli's and talked about our favorite parts of 2015 then we went to bed. Happy 2016!