Christmas Eve/ Christmas

Christmas Eve we spent with the Burns eating yummy food, playing games, and doing the nativity.  I love how the kids are SOOO excited. 

 Mary

See what I mean? 

 then we headed on home to get the kids to bed.

 after Santa came

 after Santa came w/out flash (I think our tree looks prettier this way!)

 

 one of Jace's favorite toys from grandpa Sheffield

checkin out her new Rapunzel tower

new scooter

new Ariel doll from Aunt Stacy.  That makes 4 Ariel dolls.  This one is 1 1/2 feet tall though...

Present Highlights:

Scott- Blu-ray player/movies

Kristie- Wheat grinder/ watch

Makenna- Rapunzel tower/ bunk bed

Jace- nerf gun/ train stuff/ bunk bed

New Mexico Bowl

We went to the New Mexico Bowl this year with BYU playing against UTEP.  I made the mistake of asking Scott, "So where in the heck is UTEP?" at the beginning of the game only to have the lady in front of me whirl around and give me a lecture on why UTEP is the best ever.  Well lady... they're not... haha.  We about slaughtered them.  I almost felt bad for them because it was such a lopsided game!

not my fave but whatevs

 haha, this guy sitting in a sea of UTEP fans was brave... (see flag!)

Fellow fans- Scott, Jeff (brother in law), Kobe (nephew), Jeff's friend

Christmas stuff

I tried to make Christmas really fun for my kids this year.  My hope was to do something fun every day in December before christmas... didn't happen.

This is the first year since we've been married that we didn't chop down a tree... sad...  The month was crazy for us.  So instead we headed over to galloping grace to pick one out, which ended up being really fun!  They had this cute gingerbread house for the kids to play in...

 This one's blurry, but you get the picture!

 Riding the train

 cute sister

I am so lame I didn't get a picture of the tree... stay tuned for christmas day and you'll see it.  It was pretty much PERFECT!  The perks of buying a tree.

We also went to River of Lights this year for the first time...  It was really pretty.

 penguins

 Jace pushed around Camden for half the time.  The kid never got tired of it

 Jace's favorite 

The girls' favorite

These two have become best friends.  Kyla is Makenna's cousin that is about 3 1/2 years older, but they get along so well.  It's really sweet to see.

Well so by the 12th I decided to get my junk together and started a little 12 days of Christmas for the kids: 

Day one- christmas craft

Day two- gingerbread men

Day 3-christmas movie

Day 4- build a snowman/ hot chocolate (this was spontaneous!)

Day 5- Temple nativity scene

Day 6- Christmas sleepover w/ cousins

Day 7- Open  new Christmas book and read

Day 8- Make goodies for friends

Day 9- Deliver goodies

Day 10- Gingerbread houses

 with cousins (love Briggy)

 best part- eating!

Makenna's

(Jace's)

Day 11- Christmas nativity

Day 12- Christmas!

Nothing much but gave the kids something fun to look forward to every day!

Dance Recital

Makenna had a little dance recital (like a month ago!)  This is her dance group that is taught by a 14 year old named Cassie.  Makenna loves this class, and was a cute little performer up there on stage.  I wish I had a video to show ya- she was such a crack up!

They performed different Disney songs which the girls love!

Performing "Cruella Deville" 

and this is when my camera ran out of battery...

enter crappy camera 

 a friend took way cuter pictures of the girls, I will update this when I get them!

Pure JOY!

It snowed- FOR REALS!

  I am thankful for snow because it brings out so much joy in my children!  

One of my fave pics ever!

Santa Claus

Makenna said she would like a barbie

Jace was not shy at all with Santa (for the first time).  Love how he's holding his hands in this pic

He told Santa he would like a baseball

Side note- Scott told the kids he is tight with Santa and calls him all the time on his cell phone.  He also calls him "Sant" cause they are tight like that.  Well the other day, he let the kids call Santa on his phone (Richie), and they thought it was the coolest thing ever!!!  I love using the Santa leverage to get the kids to do stuff... wahhahahaahahaaaa.

Thanksgiving fesitivities

to all my fans (ha ha):

Sorry I have sucked at blogging.  Truth is, it's not all that exciting around here.

My family came to Albuquerque this year for Thanksgiving!  They were supposed to come Monday night, but instead decided to come early and surprise us at church.  We sat there in sacrament meeting for about 10 minutes before I realized they were sitting a few rows in front of us!  I about peed my pants!  Then I had a heart attack thinking about the condition of my home,  followed by a chill pill because it meant I had an extra 2 days with them!!  We had a grand time.  We hung out at old town, went to Explora, El Pinto, and of course BLACK FRIDAY!!

A few years ago, I never would have gone, but now I think it's the BOMB!  It's so fun, and seriously not that crowded.  Best deals: leapfrog ($25) and cricut ($59) booya

 

 Kara fell in love with a cowboy...

 The leaves were gorgeous!  So thanksgivingy

 with 2 of my sistas, Kara and Stacy

Love this cute pic

nothing much, but want to remember how the house looked on my first thanksgiving.  The hard wood floor came in handy; it became our dining room.

The garland on the mantle has paper leaves on it with things we are thankful for.  Yeah can't take credit for that, but the kids really loved it!

Good times.  Don't be afraid to come on back here now, ya hear?

Halloween

For Halloween this year, Makenna was Dorothy, and Jace was Diego!  We went to our ward trunk or treat a week ago, went to a fun carnival on Saturday, and had a relaxing halloween on Sunday.  We took the kids to see a few of our neighbors that love to see them each year, (our kids are the only kids on our could-a-sac) but other than that it was such a nice relaxing night.  I kind of like having halloween on Sunday!  It switches it up a little.

cutest Diego ever!

There's that smile again from Jace, and Makenna's "Dorothy pose"

Jace was a tired boy

The best neighbors ever!

the loot