Christmas Party Weekend

Last weekend was pretty great and full of parties!! On Saturday we went to the annual Ivins Christmas Party with Doug's family.  

 The theme this year was Christmas around the world and Doug and his cousin who served in Sweden were assigned to talk about Christmas in Sweden.  His cousin's wife and I put together this little display and brought some swedish foods to sample.

The girls enjoyed being angels in the nativity too. It seems like there are more and more kids in it every year!

The party isn't complete without a visit from the big guy.

 One little boy was too afraid to sit in his lap but apparently that didn't stop him from getting a gift.

 He got a Blaze truck! He was pretty excited.

 This boy cracks me up. He would be out shoveling snow all day if I let him.  He loves it.

 On Sunday we had some of my college roommates and their families over for dinner.  It was so fun!! There are 13 (almost 14) kids between us! This was the kid table where I had set up oranges and cloves for the kids to decorate them with.

 And the adult table.

My friend Erin made the best Bouche do Noel with the cutest meringue mushrooms.  It was seriously the best cake I've ever tasted!

 We had a picture from the same gathering a few years ago when these 3 were just newborns. We tried to recreate the picture but 2 year olds are not as cooperative as newborn babies!

Erin gave me this cute star that is apparently made with glass from the Provo Temple.  Pretty cool!! Lauren gave me the cutest IKEA stuff and a christmas cactus! I love it and hope I can keep it alive!

 The next day it snowed like crazy!! We got almost 16"!

 On Tuesday it was Doug's birthday.  Apparently we went with a Star Wars theme this year.  Sophia made this creation...

 He got some yummy treats, a blu ray player to replace ours that died and Darth Vader slippers. It was a good day until I started feeling really sick.  I hope he had a good day despite that!

 Yesterday Mabel said she wanted to make something with fabric.  Here's what she came up with.  I think it's a Nativity scene and I love it!

Lilly's crazy/fun Birthday/Baptism weekend!

Last weekend we hauled out the Christmas decor and got things set up. This little ninja ("inja") was pretty sure this train is the best thing that's ever happened to him. 

 On Friday this girl turned 8!! She was so excited that the day had finally come!

 In the morning she opened presents and got her own real set of scriptures.

 We had the customary birthday cinnamon roll cake (which barely came out of the oven before they had to leave) for breakfast.

While the kids were at school I cleaned like crazy and got ready for her circus party later that night. The popcorn (marhsmallows with yellow food coloring) were fun to make!

 I picked her up from school and someone had given her a giant sucker!

 Later that night it was finally time for her party!! We had homemade rootbeer

 and plenty of carnival treats.  We were able to borrow a popcorn maker from Grandpa and Grandma Wilkins and it was the perfect addition to the party!

 In all there were 12 little girls that came (not including my own kids) so things were crazy but so fun!

 Sophia did some circus/magic tricks too.

 Time to blow out the candles!

 The next morning we woke up bright and early and headed out with some of Doug's family to cut down our Christmas tree.

 After some hunting

 and playing with sticks

 we finally found one!

 Doug used his manly muscles and cut it down and hauled it away for us.

 After that we came back to our house for lunch before the baptism.  I have an amazing friend who's a pastry chef and she made this cake for Lilly.  She loved it!! She thought the glass slipper on top was amazing!

 Sure love these people!

Then we headed to the church for the baptism.  She was all ready to go! Her awesome primary teacher gave her this towel which was perfect!

 The baptism was wonderful and we sure love our Lilly!! She's sweet, kind, considerate and always puts others first.  She's a wonderful example to me! We were lucky to have such wonderful friends and family join us too!! Someone looks pretty excited about being baptized!

After they all left we set up our Christmas tree.  It definitely looked smaller in the forest!!

 My parents took my kids and some cousins to dinner and a movie so Doug and I decorated the tree.  Unfortunately it fell over right before we went to bed but think it's more stable now! At least we hope!

 My friend told me about these color changing lights and I love them!! They can be colored, white or change back and forth.  I love it!

Anniversagiving

One more random picture from Thanksgiving.  We have been replacing some lights in our house and finally replaced the chandelier in our entryway.  My SIL gave us this when she moved.  It was an old brass chandelier but with a little spray paint it has new life! 

 Our anniversary was the day before thanksgiving this year.  Our kids made us breakfast in bed

 and an awesome candy poster.

 They also included some cute notes.

 They are sure great.

 We dropped our kids off at my brothers and then went to the Salt Lake Temple and Red Iguana for lunch. So good to be in that temple again and lunch was so yummy.  After that we checked into a hotel to have a kid free night!! We stayed in a loft room which was kind of fun.  This was the only picture I took but it was a fun room and the best part was that the hotel gave us a complimentary upgrade for our anniversary. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that it was Thanksgiving and they were just grateful to have guests! We brought our kids back the next night and they loved it too!

 Doug gave me this for our anniversary and it's my favorite.  He's sketched baby pictures of all our kids and this was Lewis'.

 Speaking of that Lewis, it was fun to get lots of snaps of him from my nephew. He was in good hands!

 We went to dinner at the Dodo and came home to this place of delicious strawberries from the hotel. We were so spoiled!

 I sure love this guy and am grateful for 12 years+ with him!

 The next day we went to my brother's to get our kids and had thanksgiving with them.  My nephew did the appetizers and they were amazing. These were only half of them!

 After that we headed to Doug's parents house for Thanksgiving #2.  This little boy apparently had too much turkey.

 After that we came back up to Salt Lake for another night.  The next day we packed up and took the kids to the see "A Good Dinosaur".  I absolutely loved it.  It was sooo good!! Then we went to the Grand America to see their window displays.  They were amazing!! Each one was decorated to match a Christmas song.  They also had a scavenger hunt with the windows and the kids got a cookie at the end.  If you need a free fun thing to do in Salt Lake I recommend this!

 They also had this gingerbread house made of real gingerbread!

 "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth".

 "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town".

 This on was the Grinch.  He would come in and out of the chimney.

"The 12 days of Christmas".  I think there were about 20 windows in all. They were seriously all so ornate and amazing!

 After that we went to the Church History Museum along with the rest of the state to see the new exhibits. Mabel loved the kid part but it was so crazy busy that we'll have to come back and enjoy it another day.

 They had a fun little kid area that Lewis enjoyed riding the camel in.

 After that we went and grabbed some hot chocolate (or hot dog in Sophia's case) to warm up before heading out to see the lights.  Doug was not feeling well and was a good sport to persevere.  Lewis was also a little tired apparently.

 The lights finally came on and we ran through them quick (as quick as we could through a crowd of a billion people) and then came home.

 Finally, I have some really nice friends who spoil me with some really cute things!