We told the kids they could get up at 6:30, so at 6:29 Zach woke up all the other kids (poor Meg wasn't sure that was a good thing) and came to get us as well.   Santa had left some fun treasures, and with gifts from generous grandparents and mom and dad everyone had…

Sing at my Grandma's corner (everyone enjoys this much more than they appear to in this picture!)   Even Carter did some singing this year now that he is learning to read!   The kids loved the hot chocolate as much as I remember loving it when I was a kid. 🙂 I love my…

 We spent the last few days before Christmas: Having a lovely Christmas dinner at my parents', complete with birthday cake – it was the fun to see it click with some of the younger kids that Christmas is really celebrating the birth of the Savior – even though we didn't sing Happy Birthday.  :)  (They…

My dad said all he wanted for Christmas was for the grandkids to learn silent night in the mission languages of the dads in the family – Japanese, German, and Portuguese.  Well, somehow we actually pulled it off… and got together to have the kids film it this afternoon.  I have to say that mid-way…

Carter and Meg and I spent the morning playing in the snow.  I have taken a lot of sledding pictures in my day but this is by far my favorite, because they were having so much fun that after pushing them I ran like crazy down the hill in front of them trying to catch…

A Christmas art project that would even make the Grinch crack a smile.  Love, love, love.

We had such a great time at temple square last year that we thought we'd make it a tradition… except this time, on a Wednesday night instead of a Saturday.   We didn't have to wait at all for our carriage ride behind the white horse, which was good because it was cold.  (although not…

Spent a morning making gingerbread cookies that were more fun than they were delicious.  A nice break from running errands and cleaning the house with some littles that were much more self-sufficient at this process than I thought they would be!  Meg kept telling me, "I can make the stars by myself!" And she could!…

We spent the morning making snowflakes (Carter) and coloring in princess dresses (Meg with a little neighborhood friend we were watching)…    until Meg reached for a crayon just out of reach and fell off the barstool, hitting the other barstool with her face on the way down.  She knocked one of her front teeth…