Neighborhood Christmas Party

For the past, oh I don't know, 5 years now our neighborhood has stopped giving neighbor gifts and instead we have a little get together (outside) with bon fires, and hot cocoa, treats and yes, Santa Claus. We use the money we would have spent on gifts and put it towards a charity of some kind. This year we donated books and toys for a new autistic school in the area.


Our Santa was having a wardrobe malfunction. His beard kept slipping off. Some of the moms had to keep fixing it and it got pretty comical.



Look at that, Breckyn and Graci together again. Weird.



After Santa left, Kaden thought he would take over.



Just some pics of the neighbors.

Ward Christmas Party

Just trying to get a picture of Mady with some of her friends at the party... I don't think that husband of mine is ever going to grow up... and that's okay.



Breckyn and Graci, Best Friends Forever! (yes, I made that tutu thank you very much!)


This is Kaden's good friend Dustin. He wanted to make sure he didn't forget anything to tell Santa so he brought a list! I love it! I think he had like 15 items on that list. Hilarious!




Seriously, these two are joined at the hip. They have to do everything together! You should have heard their list. Just imagine this in your best valley girl voice... Um, I want a cell phone, and a TV, and a car, and one of your reindeer... yeah, we want Rudolph!



Oh I'm so sad! My girls are getting to old to sit on Santa's lap



By far my most favorite thing that happened at the party... Hows the smell in there Branson?

Atkinson Christmas Family Party

Every year, ALL of Dusty's family get together and have an Atkinson Family Home Evening. We always have a nice little program and then we eat and eat and eat. It's really fun to see everyone, some of these people we only see once or twice a year! This year part of the program was to do a sub for santa with a twist. All the kids lined up and gave Santa a gift and then he will deliver them to those in need this Christmas. It was a nice change to have the kids give Santa something instead of always telling him what they WANT.



Just to give you an idea of how big Dusty's extended family is, here is a picture of us eating in the gym. (We have to hold this party at the church). I don't even think half of the family is in this picture...



So, this was funny. Dusty's brothers always tease him that he is the 'golden' child of the family. They say he is their parents favorite, he always wins everything, blah blah blah. Well, Dusty's aunts were holding a drawing for all the centerpieces on the tables and his brothers immediately start piping up about how Dusty is going to win and sure enough, the first name drawn is Dusty's. :) It pays to be golden...

Gingerbread Houses

Dusty has a tradition in his family of decorating gingerbread houses at Christmas time. I have no idea how far this tradition goes back but we have been doing it ever since I can remember. We all get into it, parents and kids alike, sometimes going with a red and green theme, sometimes thinking up something special (Dusty's brother Shane made his house an In-N-Out burger joint this year...) it's always lots of mess and lots of fun! The kids go first and they each get to decorate a train car that usually sits under Grandma's tree but since their 'house' isn't finished yet, the kids each get to take home their trains this year.



If you know Dusty at all, you'll know that he is right in the middle of helping the kids with their trains. He walks around with a tube filled with icing and goes to whichever kid needs him at the moment. He helps the little ones with general icing so they can put their candy on their train and he helps the older ones with decorative fixtures like teaching them how to make icicles.





Here is where you will find Dusty's mom. She is in the kitchen mixing up batch after batch of icing. As you can imagine, we go through a lot.



Some of the kids got a little out of control and decided that the icing looked better on their faces than on the trains... is that Rudolph?






Here is our train. Mady decorated the engine, Breckyn and Kaden had the two middle cars, and Ashlyn got to decorate the cabaoose!



Here is the house Dusty and I made. We decided in honor of Mia, our new dog, that we would make a dog house. And since she loves to eat socks, there is even a sock in one of the piles of poop in the yard... we had to make it realistic of course.

Live Nativity

There is a stake in Draper that puts on a live nativity for a few days every December and it is such a neat experience. The set they have created is amazing and to have all the characters played by live people makes it so much more ... real. It takes the story of the birth of Jesus and puts you right in the middle of it. The lines do get to be pretty long but it is worth it.

Here we are at the start of our journey. Mady's being a bit of a ham in this picture and squeezing out Alisa and Bella!


The whole nativity takes place outside and while you are standing in line they have various goats and sheep that the kids can pet. My kids LOVED this part.



As you walk through the line they have different scenes depicted. This is the first one of a prophet receiving revelation about the upcoming birth of Jesus. Later down the line they had the three wise men and also the shepards with their animals.



Yes, they even have camels! Who has camels in Utah? My kids were completely transfixed by these animals. They couldn't get enough of them, we had to drag them away from the pen.



As you get to the end,they have set up an entire city of Bethlehem. Before you can go in you have to pass the 'tax' man, who is counting out coins and secretly pocketing a few every so often. Inside Bethlehem is unreal. Actually, it is too real . You pass all sorts of shops, bakeries, animals, even a leper - which was really sad by the way. It really is incredible.



As you pass the inn and round the corner you come upon the manger. They have beautiful music playing and a light shining on the manager scene. The whole mood just changes, you can feel the spirit and everyone is reverently staring at the baby Jesus, who is sleeping in the manger, with Mary and Joseph staring adoring at him and then... I take a picture and make the baby cry. Oops.



Even though my kids got cold and hungry waiting line, this was a wonderful experience for them. They felt that warm fuzzy feeling of the spirit of God as they watched the baby in the manger and I can't help but think that the story of Jesus' birth is a little bit more than just a story to them now. That night they all asked if we could go again next year and I think that's a great idea!

O Christmas Tree...

Our house has actually been decorated for Christmas for the last two weeks but I thought I should wait until to December to post it. So, here we are two weeks ago decorating the tree. We have a fun tradition in our family that everyone receives a new ornament to put on the tree each year. The kids really get excited to see what ornament they are going to get and they have a great time going through all their old ones and putting them on the tree. It's especially fun when I can find an ornament for them that reflects something about them that year. We all love this tradition, for the memories that it creates and for the opportunity to share it with others. Almost everyone who comes to our house after the tree has been put up asks to see the new ornaments for the year and the kids love to show them off!




Mady decided that we needed some cookies to go with our decorating. She's quite the little baker, I'm gonna gain 10 pounds before Christmas over!



Opening the new ornaments...



Here are the new ones for the year. Kaden's is a little reindeer with up cape on flyng a toy plane. Perfect for him this year since he loves to dress up as superman, batman, any jedi, storm troopers, indiana jones... the list goes on. Breckyn's is the little mouse playing the piano since she is learning to play the piano this year. Ashlyn's is a reindeer on a cell phone... now if only it had been texting instead of talking then it would show what Ash does 80% of her day. Mady's is a snowman baking ... need I say more?


Here is the tree before mom and dad got to it to even it out. The picture is pretty blurry but it's the only one I got of all of them in front of the tree.

Britt's Birthday Weekend!

Today is my good friend Brittany's birthday! Her cute little husband (actually that sounds funny to call Mont little, he's 6'5") planned a surprise weekend for her at The Chateau at Deer Valley and we got to come along. First we went to a yummy dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and then went up to Deer Valley to stay at The Chateau (which is sweet by the way). Britt opened her present from us, her favorite present ever I believe. She's been wanting a Sheewee ever since she heard of them... (if you dont know what a Sheewee is you'll have to ask me later, I'm not putting it on the blog) And then we stayed up late playing games and I lost but we hadn't placed any bets so I didn't have to do anything stupid like the running man, or sing the National Anthem in an English accent, etc. Britt and Mont were mad because I usually never lose so the one time I do there are no consequences. Ha, ha. Even when I lose, I win! But anyway, Happy Birthday Britt! As Mady would say, I luv ya like a sista!




This is what happens when your husband packs for you. "Hun, I packed your striped socks to go with your striped PJ's"


What! We have to leave The Chateau?