Christmas Eve--sledding

Boy do I love this tradition of ours!! Makes my heart so happy just thinking about the wonderful day we had together.

 For 5 years now we have headed into the South Hills to go sledding with friends on Christmas Eve afternoon. We all bring a pot of soup and hot chocolate, set up a little room (with tarps and canopies, complete with tables and propane stove and a fire pit in the front of it), and go to town sledding.

 It was an absolutely beautiful day. Can you see the air that girl caught coming down that hill?

 Love this guy of mine!!

 Luke flew off on his first ride down so he decided to take a break for a while. Cute boy!

 This girl went down the hill constantly. She loved the side with all the jumps and was such a little dare devil. 

 Seth went down a few times but he's definitely at that stage where he would rather be talking with his friends, which makes me so grateful that he had good friends. What a blessing that is, especially at this stage of life.

 Luke's boot came off in the snow and he was screaming for me to come help him. By the time I got over there his cute friend Braden has rushed over to help him get it back on. Love that!

 Maddi was Kathryn's partner in sledding. They are super silly girls that have a blast together.

Sarah and Makayla spent the entire afternoon building a snow cave since they were "warrior cats".

 We found them like this several hours later, they were sleeping in their cave. They have quite the imaginations!

Sam wiping out at the bottom of the hill with Luke and Braden.

The little room we set up--this guy loved trying all the different soups. Love him!

 Seth with his good friends Logan and Brittney. They had a great time tormenting the younger children and being teenagers.

 As we were getting ready to pack up and head out I found Luke like this. I think he was ready to go too. 

 What a great afternoon. I love spending time with my family and having a great time together!!

Christmas Lights

We finally made it!!

 Well to the South Hills anyway to see the christmas lights. It's always part of our traditional christmas festivities, but this year it took us quite awhile to get it accomplished.

 We went with our friends, the "Barfi" and had a fabulous time. It was crazy windy and super cold but the lights were beautiful and the camel was still a favorite.

 The kids thought it was super funny to photo bomb Santa's pictures (thanks Studio C!!) but after telling them that was sure to put them on the naughty list the photo bombing stopped by all the younger ones who still believe in Santa. Those crazy 13 year olds just kept doing it. I wonder why!!?? (:

We ended with having some hot chocolate and singing Christmas songs all the way home and had a blast!!

Recitals and Showcases

The past two weeks at this house has been one thing after another. We had something every night of the week for two weeks straight, even Saturday and Sunday. Everything from ward parties to showcases to recitals to RS Christmas dinner to tithing settlement to symposiums. The list seemed endless but we made it through mostly happy. Yeah!!

 Seth and Kathryn had 3 violin recitals and did awesome. Especially Seth. It was the first day he had his brace off and could play. He hadn't played any music for 3 weeks but he did pretty good and she said, "it was a great lesson in sight reading!" Silly kid!

 Kathryn's good friend Maddi also plays. They were hanging out for a little bit and having quite the fun!

Same night at the violin recitals, Luke had a showcase at school. They recited a poem (can't remember it now....)

 And did a little dance. He did a great job!

 Cute boy!!

 Then Kathryn had a Medieval Festival for her showcase. They dressed up, did jousting,

 sang songs, shot bows and arrows, did some spear throwing,

 had a photo shoot,

 and ate a medieval dinner with rolls, chicken, cheese and fruit. 

 See that after face!! She loved it and had a blast!

 At the end they all got knighted by the queen (her teacher).

This month I have had a bad habit of forgetting the camera, so I didn't get any pictures of Sarah and Seth's different showcases and Sarah's Christmas piano recital. They all did very well and we are sure excited to be on Christmas break.

December...

Seriously!!! 4 days till Christmas, can't believe it!  That means I better get caught up so Sam took the kids to the gym to today so I could cross some things off my list (:

We opened our new ornaments at the beginning of December. 

 Luke got a soccer ball since he played soccer for the first time this year.

 Kathryn got a violin (boy is she getting better at playing and so proud of her).

 Sarah got a piano (man has that girl taken off with her new teacher, her gift is amazing!!).

 Seth got a robot since he is now part of a robotics team (anything to keep that brain busy!).

 And no Sam is not drugged here he just likes trying to mess up my pictures!! Haha...this an ornament we got in DC so we could remember our trip.

 At the beginning of the month we got our first snowfall and the kids were so excited. They all volunteered to "help" Sam clear off driveways.

 Helping the neighbors across the street.

 We also got all our neighbor treats passed out. Last year we got cards sent out and no neighbor treats, this year it was neighbor treats and no cards, so hopefully next year it will be both!! Haha...we sure had fun though putting it all together (:

 We also started our 12 days of Christmas from Grandpa and Grandma McIntyre. It has been so fun and we have loved opening each one every night.

Promise Luke's not mad, he just "trying" to do a silly face. Love it!

Thanksgiving at the Beuses

 The kids were so excited to head up to Grandpa and Grandma Beus's house and see all their cousins. We don't have school the week of Thanksgiving so each day we did a house project (I can't seem to find time to do all of it anymore). They were troopers and we cleaned like crazy people, getting done all those deep cleaning things that should be done at least once a year. 

For their reward we went to the library on our way out of town and ate lunch at Artic Circle and they were happy, happy campers. 

 We showed up for dinner on Wednesday night and the kids were immediately in the dress up box. Grandma has quite the conglomeration of outfits and they love it. For instance, Luke is a "half white wolf, half human". Can't you tell that!?

 I started on the pies as soon as dinner was over--that's usually my job when I get into town. We made 2 apples, 2 cherries (one of my least favorite pies ever!!), 1 blackberry, and 6 pumpkin. Whew--that was a late night. But man did they sure taste delicious!

 One of my goals this trip was to actually take pictures. I usually forget my camera or just don't remember but this time was going to be different. Sam with 2 of his brothers and his dad. They love to sit and visit and laugh their heads off. They get a long amazingly and have such a great time together.

 A puzzle is always out and it's one of Sam's moms favorite things to do in the whole world. This one this year was super. super hard!

 Luke played with his cousin Sam the whole entire time. They were inseparable, well except for the time Luke accidentally hit Sam in the eye and gave him a black eye. Here they are building a fort.

 Here are some of the "steal sticks" players. This game was played from morning until midnight--totally not joking on that. The kids played CONSTANTLY and were very happy until Seth earned the worst injury of the week. He tripped over Brian and fractured a small bone in his wrist and got some terrible concrete burns on his arm, shoulder, hip, and knee. He tried so hard not to cry but man was it super hard to not do it!

 Then I got to be the "photographer" for these girl's wrestling match. These are Sam's two oldest sisters and his youngest. Their before shot...

 Middle...

 Middle...

 Oh no the grandkids wants to join in...

 and even more come...

 watch out...

 and missed the end since Jessica ended up with a broken nose. Yikes!! Guess that was the end of that!

 We sure had a great time though. The older grandkids loved playing games and we all surprised Sam's parents with an early Christmas present (should of gotten a picture of that!). We all went in on a flat screen TV. We bought it, set it all up, rearranged their house in the process, and surprised them in the morning (that was another very late night). They sure loved it. Yeah!!!

 Saturday after packing up I had the opportunity to take Seth and Sarah to Catching Fire at the theater. We had a fabulous time together and we all loved it!

 (creeper Seth)

Afterwards we loaded up, and headed to see the lights at Temple Square while we waited for Emily and Jessica (my sisters) to call us. We were going to meet them for dinner to meet Jessica's fiance who we've never met. Man was Temple Square packed. So crazy!!

After super craziness for them, a late plane, their car breaking down we drove down the freeway a ways and finally had to stop to feed the kids dinner (7:45 and they thought they were going to die from hunger). We stopped and ate at Red Robin, and were finally able to meet Ken and see my sisters. So excited for Jessica!! It was so good to see them and besides getting home at 1am we loved our long, fun weekend!!