December

I didn't take as many pictures this month as I have in past years. I decided to do a big post of pictures from December to make it easier. We all had colds and stomach bugs from after Thanksgiving through the beginning of December. It made it hard to enjoy the month and was more like surviving the month.
We went to Cabellas and saw Santa. Comparing the two "Santa experiences," I've noticed that it's all about getting the picture and not so much telling Santa what you want. The kids would each try and tell Santa but because of trying to get a picture it didn't really happen. I told the kids to write him a letter instead. Maybe we will go and see Santa at the Riverwoods next year. It's more about getting time to talk to Santa and that's why we take the time to go see Santa.

The plus to going to Cabella's is that each kid got a reindeer stuffed animal and a wooden puzzle. Lynnlee used her's and Taggart's reindeers to fly her sleigh-box.
Our Christmas tree made it into this picture. This year we used the kids ornaments to decorate the tree and we didn't do a kid tree upstairs. It was more simple and less work. We have accumulated so many ornaments that I don't think they fit on the little tree any more. The pencil tree we have now is also pretty small so the ornaments filled it until it was bursting. 

Every year there is a living nativity in Alpine the first weekend of December. Sometimes it works to go and sometimes it's too cold. We went this year and thankfully it fit in the schedule and wasn't too cold.

 My kids were in awe of baby Jesus. I wish I would have gotten a picture of them looking. It was such a sweet moment.

I took the minis with me to see the choir concert at the school. It was a little rough trying to keep them happy and get a clear picture. Then during the last song I started coughing and couldn't stop so we left early. I'm glad I went though because we ended up having a lot going on the night of the concert. Marshall got to go but I couldn't make it.
James did a great job! He has really enjoyed choir this year. 

Aunt Pat is so great to have mine and Ali's kids over for a Christmas party complete with dinner and gifts. Marshall and James helped by putting the star on her tree.

We celebrated birthdays at my parent's house. After dinner there were pipe cleaners and beads for crafts. Lynnlee made a cute santa hat and Christmas tree.

 Marshall doesn't have a lot of free time these days but he's picked up a new hobby. He painted this without any classes. He's very talented!  Stay tuned for more of his art work.

We usually make a big night out of decorating gingerbread houses but this year we had to squeeze it in one afternoon. Taggart and Sienna had friends over so they got to help too.d

 James and Lynnlee made it a contest of who could stack the candy the highest.

We now have a pet crab thanks to the Lowry Doors Christmas party. It was the most random white elephant gift I have every seen. We were ok with keeping it knowing the kids would think it was super cool.

I think this was my favorite year at the Lowry Family-grandchildren Christmas party. Three of Marshall's siblings (and their spouses) were there which is the most since I've been in the family. It was so fun hanging out with them! Grandma Lowry collects teddy bears. She said she has thousands and is now starting to give them away. We all got one along with our present.  Great picture, right?!

We went to the Faraday Lectures at the University of Utah-huge thanks to my aunt Kathy! The minis aren't quite old enough so be ok with the loud sounds so huge thanks to my aunt Pat for watching them. I wasn't feeling very good but thankfully I could still go. It was so fun to see the kids' excitement with each experiment. We had front row seats again which we were so grateful for and we didn't miss any of the action.

 Kaden's grade had a Christmas concert. He was so excited and smiled and sang with each song.

This was our second year to go to the Christmas sing along at the VSA. We were so excited to have Brooke,  her mom, London and Scarlett go with us. 

 My parents, Betsy, Ali and family and Katie's family were all there as well. We made it on the jumbo-tron twice so that was cool!

Aunt Jill played in the orchestra. You can see her through the harp :)

Lynnlee went to Hannah's for a friend Christmas party. They frosted cookies, played games and other Christmas hoopla.

Katelyn's class had a preschool day. Sienna was so excited to go. She had a fun time and the other students kept telling Katelyn how cute she was. Taggart hung out with me and was a chatter box. He told me a few times, "This is so fun mom! We just get to talk and we have so much to talk about."

One of James's coaches, Payden (far right side of picture) played soccer for BYU. He is now headed to play soccer in Australia. We got a team picture with him at the last game. We are excited for his next adventure but he will be missed.

Wow! That was alot! I guess I should have broken it up into many posts. Oh well, too late now. Enjoy the long, long post!

Kaden's Jr. Jazz

Kaden played his first season of Jr. Jazz. He loved it! In comparing it to soccer it seemed like it kept his attention better. I think because it's more fast paced.
He played well and scored each game. It was really fun watching him do well. Basketball is my favorite sport to play so I'm excited to play more basketball with him.

Marshall's 35th Birthday

Marshall is great at surprises so I wanted to try and make his birthday a fun day with his favorite food and presents that would be a surprise. I stressed over it in the weeks leading up to it.
Trying to come up with surprise presents did not go so well. I ordered something online and then he came home with a similar item from Costco. I didn't realize he liked to paint until after his birthday, otherwise that would have been great. One present I ordered online didn't arrive until after his birthday. The food was a flop as well. The lasagna was dry and the frozen strawberry squares were too creamy. Just goes to show that life isn't perfect as it may appear in pictures. It's all good though. I will try again in another year.

Marshall has started a tradition in the past two years of going to a movie with each kid on their birthday. So it's only appropriate that we go to a movie with him on his birthday. We saw The Grinch. It was very good until we both fell asleep. It's not that we didn't like it but we were both low on sleep. The kids loved it! 

Marshall's parent's came over for dinner. They also brought Christmas presents and did a Christmas lesson. It was a fun night!

Thanksgiving Break

I don't have any pictures from Thanksgiving day which is surprising and sad. I haven't been very good at taking pictures from Thanksgiving through the holidays this year. Oh well...sometimes enjoying the moment means not taking pictures of it.

In past years we focus family night's on writing down things we are thankful for. This year instead we decided to take things to others to show our gratitude. We spent a few Sunday nights taking around chocolate chip muffins to ward members. The kids helped write thank you notes to go with them. It was a lot of fun and meaningful.

We saw Santa at Mountain Point Medical Center Tuesday night before Thanksgiving. It's a little early in the season but fun to get out because it was the night Thanksgiving break started from school. I love school breaks. It's nice to not think about homework for a few days, sleep in, and spend time together.
We took two friends with us. They are siblings that are James's and Lynnlee's ages.

Saturday after Thanksgiving we saw the movie Ralph Breaks the Internet. We feel like we have finally made it for family movie outings. I mean that all of our kids sit through the whole movie and neither of us have to leave the theater for any reason. It's very enjoyable!

Sunday we woke up to snow! The kids played in the snow while I shoveled before church. Then we had a mad dash to get dressed and ready for church. After church we played for a few more hours in the snow. It was awesome! Normally when we get snow it's freezing and windy so it's not very fun playing. This time the temperature was perfect.

Monday the kids had friends over and played in the snow after school until bedtime. Taggart and Kaden really loved it and didn't want to come in even though it was bedtime. We haven't had much snow since this storm so I'm glad we enjoyed it while it lasted.