December 2017 Part 1

I love looking back on these photos and soaking up all the fun & happiness the anticipation of Christmas can bring. December is my favorite month because I love all of the activities, music, food, etc - I am just a giddy lady all month long. We sure loved this past December and were sad to see it go, but are so grateful for the memories we made.

Ryan flew out to South Carolina one weekend to suprise his Dad for his 60th birthday! Suprise of the year - they had a great time!! Love this picture of pure suprise just moments after Ryan popped out of the trunk of the car where they were meeting his Dad for dinner. 

While Ryan was in South Carolina, the kids & I went to our community Christmas party. We enjoyed a horse drawn carriage ride & visiting Santa.

Griffin trying to explain to Santa he is a good boy. Don't worry buddy, he knows that!

Mario Kart on N64 - love when the kids play well together

We visited another Santa at Kneaders & got some delicious french toast - win/win!

Crashing our recently split (other) ward Christmas party - we were going to miss ours so I took the kids to the ward we just split from. Fun to see friends again!

Seeing a third Santa at the party.

Dressing up for Ryan's work Christmas party. It's fun to dress up and feel all pretty for a nice event - so glad his work threw a party this year! Such a good night spent with my favorite person.

Daddy & Griffin playing batman one night before bed

We decorated sugar cookies with the kiddos one night. I think the kids thought it was a contest to see who could put the most candy on a cookie contest.

Caught this precious moment during a quick cat nap

Christmas sweater party! This year it was an escape room - our first one. So fun & such a cool idea. We received escape room date coupon from Ryan's parents for Christmas - can't wait to try it!

Christmas Eve 2017 - new pajamas

Christmas Eve family games

The kids love the watch your mouth game. Whats funny is I can practially make my mouth this big and wide without the special mouth insert.

Looks like Santa came - love the magic Christmas brings. My favorite thing about Christmas morning growing up was to sneak upstairs in the middle of the night and turn the Christmas tree lights on and look at what Santa brought me and in the dim room. Brings back beautiful memories!

The kids loved their tents & sleeping bags from my parents.

Avery loved all her unicorn gifts

Reading Griffin's poke-a-dot books

Avery got some cute play dresses.

The kids got a 1 lb gummy bear to share - they have been eating it the last few days and have been loving it. Christmas night we packed up and flew to SC to enjoy the rest of the holidays with Ryan's side of the family.

November 2017

Griffin has been taking speech therapy from Miss Jenni for the past 9 months and has made such amazing progress. Griffin just adores her! We are sad to see her go, but Griffin has done so well he doesn't need it anymore. Way to go Griffin! 

 This is what happens while mommy is putting away groceries. Yikes! Vaseline is very hard to get out of clothing!

 Dallin & Teesha flew over from Utah to spend Thanksgiving week with us. The kids LOVED the extra attention and we all had a blast.

 We spent a lot of time playing at the park. Griffin loves to dunk the ball with Daddys help.

 I can't believe this boy was turning 3 that week! Where has time gone?!

 We had a big Thanksgiving dinner at the house - complete with all the fixings except pumpkin pie. There weren't many fans in the house so I opted for something more people would enjoy. Peanut Butter trifle.

 The kids loved smothering Uncle Dallin. Just prepping him to be a dad to a million kids someday!

 Griffin's birthday started out with sprinkles on his cereal - the kids fav!

 We then hit up Chic Fil A and chuck e cheese - two of his favorites. He loves skee ball even though he just walks up and throws it in the bottom (no points) section.

 Getting treats after trading in the tickets we won.

 Opening gifts - he got some coins to put in his dino piggy bank. If you ever want to make this kid happy, give him a few coins for his bank!

 Opening a bigger cinder dragon. I love how his face shows his excitment!

 Griffin already had little & keychain Cinder, but he got the medium and giant Cinder dragons to complete his collection.

 For weeks Griffin had been requesting pink and green cake for his dessert ... so random but I thought it was so cute that he knew what he wanted.

 Happy 3rd Birthday Griffin! You are the sweetest & happiest boy there ever was. We are so grateful you are in our family and can't imagine life without you. Thanks for being our little ball of sunshine!!

 After cupcakes we decided to hit up some black friday shopping at the outlets. Good finds at Nike and Under Armor!

 Griffin loves to wear these clear work glasses, so I hiked up his pants and took a pic - cutie! November was a great month. We are loving December so far and soaking up every minute of the Christmas spirit!