The Days Before Christmas

I had better get a post in before Christmas comes. I know we'll have a lot to post from Christmas day and the week after. We have had a wonderful December. We have definitely been busy, but I was bound and determined to not be stressed by it all, and wow, this Christmas season has really been fun!

Being a piano player this is definitely one of the busiest times of year. I am so thankful for the Lehi Children's Choir! I am thankful that it is something I can be busy in but have my kids with me. This year was Emily's first year! All three girls LOVE the choir and did so well! We had a couple of fun concerts! I have a short video below from our main concert in the American Fork Tabernacle. Our first concert was on Temple Square in Salt Lake City on the balcony of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. The pictures here never seem to show up very well, so instead we took pictures from the top floor of the building, overlooking the Salt Lake Temple. It is such a beautiful view....even on an overcast day. Grandma H. came for this day and then a week later we came back to Temple Square at night with our Heber cousins to look at the lights. I was playing the piano with a couple other choirs that night so we all went. I had a great time, but I wasn't the one having to take care of the kids the whole time. Matt is awesome and i think they had fun! :)







I realized I blogged about Kierra and Emily for their birthday, but I never put pictures up of their actual parties. Below are two pictures I'm very proud of. Last January I went out and learned from some book club friends how to shop the Christmas clearance deals. They were telling me how much they bought in January for birthdays and gifts for the rest of the year. I was nervous about spending too much so I just got a couple of things which have sat in my basement until Kierra and Emily's birthdays. It was so fun to not have to go to the store and just bring the gifts upstairs. Then it was even more fun to realize what a deal I really did get! I can't wait to go shopping again in January! This time I think I'll get so much more!



The girls had fun birthdays!




The cool gifts are never from Mom and Dad. Grandma H. gave Emily this cool nightlight globe and Grandma G. made her this beautiful sweater. Aunt Danette mailed every niece and nephew cookies this year. The girls LOVED the cookies, but as you can tell from the video below we all loved the bubble wrap too!






After birthdays we finally started getting ready for Christmas!! The girls have fun helping with the Christmas tree and they love doing Gingerbread houses. Grandma H. was here for the girls Salt Lake concert so she helped with the houses and also came with us to see the Thanksgiving Point Christmas lights.







Then of course there were Christmas sings and parties in the classrooms!




And finally we are all home! It was so fun to have the girls home yesterday! I don't think anyone was more excited than Emily!! They had fun playing with play dough (can you tell that that is the polar express?) singing, dancing and playing games. Kaylee was so excited to make her own presents for her sisters. She worked so hard on them. The girls have all gotten along so great and have had a blast together! I wish I had taken more pictures! But the video below (which was actually from Sunday) shows what our vacation has been like so far. Plus the sleeping pictures. Notice the thumbsucker. I am a HUGE binkie fan--mostly 'cause I can take it away before they are 18 months. I have tried hard to make this boy a binkie boy, but it's not working!!







So there is our December! It has been fun to see the girls get ready for Christmas. They had fun shopping for their cousins, shopping for their sisters and shopping for our ward's giving tree. They helped me make neighbor treats and had fun taking them around. They especially loved doing our ward's pixie activity! Instead of the 12 days of Christmas it was the 6 days of CHRISTmas. Each gift starting with the letters C-H-R-I-S-T. We had fun thinking of things to get and then secretly taking the gifts to our friends. Then the pixie activity ended at the church for our ward party! The ward party was a blast! It seemed like just about everyone was there. It was great to relax and be with so many wonderful friends! Now it is Christmas Eve. We are excited to be with our Heber cousins today and then be home (in new jammies) and read about our Savior in the scriptures and also take on our Bishop's challenge to read The Living Christ. I am excited to see my kids open presents tomorrow and have so much fun, but I am more excited that they have felt the Spirit of giving and have remembered Christ and the true meaning of Christmas!

I am pretty sure I won't be able to post again until next year...so...

Have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Snows Of Christmas

This video was from our Stake Christmas Fireside last Sunday night. The fireside was so wonderful! Everyone involved in this did an amazing job! (especially Sharon and Sanae!!) Thanks for giving our family a new Christmas keepsake! We hope you all enjoy! I still get goosebumps every time I see it! This was such a special day with some wonderful friends! Thomas was so smiley and giggly. It really was his first time "talking" and playing with us! We all couldn't stop smiling with him!

HoustonThanksgiving!

We had such a great Thanksgiving vacation! We were "30 minutes ahead of schedule" the entire time. ;) Well, at least that's what Matt would say anytime the kids asked "When are we gonna be there?"

We left Star Valley Friday and drove about 8 of the 24 hours on the first day (that is just driving time). This drive seemed to be the longest one. Kierra was pretty car sick coming out of the valley and so we ended up having to stop every hour and a half or so across Wyoming. Our normal, familiar I-80 took so much longer than it ever has before. Once we got out of Wyoming and into new territory it seemed to go much faster. The girls watched Hanna Montana over and over and over. Thomas was great just chillin' in his seat! We took this video as we were pulling into Denver.



We stayed that first night in Denver. The girls were pretty disappointed that we couldn't fly, but they had a blast staying in the hotels, swimming and eating in the hotel restaurants! It really was pretty fun! Hurray for Embassy's 2 room suites!!





Oh--and to again help them feel happier about driving instead of flying we bribed them with kids meals and play places!



We drove all day Saturday and stayed our second night in Dallas. We then drove the rest of the way to Houston, actually Katy, Texas, on Sunday afternoon. We were so excited to see Matt's brother and family! We have missed them so much since they left North Salt Lake! We played games--lots of games, swam, had "tub talk time", and us adults even got to get out for a couple of dates!! Their kids are growing up so fast! It was fun to see how much our kids LOVED to be with their cousins.

Monday the cousins still had school so Uncle Chad was so awesome to take us to the Children's museum! This was a cool museum with a little town for the kids to have jobs and earn and spend money. They really had a blast with it!



Uncle Chad was such a good sport! The girls were so excited to run around and see everything. I think we were all just so glad to be out of the car. Hopefully we didn't wear him out! ;)



I think Grandma Hoopes would be so proud of her girls here! They loved being on the Weather Channel!!











Monday for Family Home Evening we hung out in the coolest backyard ever!



Tuesday was SEA WORLD in San Antonio!!

Again, the kids just loved being able to hang out with cousins! I think this is where Jer and Kierra started becoming good buddies! Actually, everyone had a buddy this day. Of course Taylor, Samantha and Emily were pretty much inseparable the entire trip, but Jessica and Emily became good buddies here at Sea World. Then there was Caleb and Kaylee! They went everywhere together and were always about 10 steps behind the rest of us, just chillin' out and taking pictures! They were too fun to watch!








We had a blast on the rides! Kaylee surprised me big time! She sat in front of Matt and I on the Steel Eel and I thought for sure that she would be crying by the end of it. (I know I was about to--either that or puke!) Instead she and her cousin Caleb popped right out and were ready to go again. I think they went on it 4 times! Kaylee says when you go down the first hill you can't breathe!



We loved the shows too! I wish I had taken more pictures at the shows, but I was too busy staring in amazement! How do they train those huge animals to do all that they do?! It was unreal! (Sorry Carolyn--had to put the saxophone player on here!) ;)










That was quite the day! We ate at CiCi's pizza that night and drove back to Katy. (Taylor wanted me to mention getting balloons at CiCi's!) The next day we took off again, this time going to Brazos Bend State Park...an alligator park. It was pretty cool! We were able to see some alligators, snakes, turtles and other things. It was also nice to do a little hike and have a picnic!








THANKSGIVING DAY!!

Now....THAT is how you cook a turkey!



The kids had a great time setting the tables, with center pieces and all! They also put on a play and Caleb sang a song. It was another full day and tons of fun! We were so thankful to be with family!










This Kierra girl had a ton of fun! I think that she and Thomas were pretty well taken care of on this trip. They had older cousins that were so good to them. Here is a must see video of Kierra hanging out with Jer! (Kierra is a burping pro now!) :)



So, all in all it was one awesome vacation!! We even decided to stay an extra day to just hang out. This meant that we had to do the trip back in 2 days instead of 3 so that we could be back in time for school and work on Monday. Each girl cuddled up with her shamu and sea world blanket and a couple of times during the trip everyone slept at the same time (well except for Matt)! This was one of those moments! It was wonderful! Thank you Chad and Carolyn and gang!! Our first family prayer after coming home Emily got a little sad and said, "This used to be a bigger circle." :(

We love you and miss you!! :)