Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

What a fun and crazy week we have had. It also felt like the longest week ever but it was a lot of fun.

First, we got to attend Evan's Preschool Nativity "Play." It was a silent play that the kids walked in with music playing that told the story of the Nativity. Here's our little shepherd:

For Christmas, my mom, dad and brother came up in the morning for breakfast and opening presents. And yes, we did get our shopping done before Christmas. Kurt had an idea to take each kid out individually to the store and to take pictures of them with stuff they would want. Then we went out later and got presents from their "list." It actually worked out pretty good and made it very fast. Evan got a bike:

Hailey and her goods. She wanted ANOTHER baby doll. We had given all hers to some friends thinking she had out grown them but apparently she hadn't. She is our "little mommy" and this will be her baby to take care of when the real baby comes.

Kayla opening her art supplies. All her other goodies are on the couch behind her.

Then later in the day we went to my parents for an early dinner. After dinner we went to Margo's for another dinner and party. It was a lot of fun - she did a great job! She made from scratch 30-40 big ginger bread man for each of us to have one to decorate.

Here is Kayla's:

Hailey's:

(apparently she was sampling as she decorated)

And Evan's:

(his theory was to put on as much candy as possible. He did a great job!)

We also got to see some great friends that we haven't seen in YEARS! It was so great to see how big all the kids have gotten and to catch up in person!

Then on Sunday we had friends over to play a new game we got for Christmas. Margo got us a game that we have loved playing at her house. It is called Farkle and it is a dice game and it is so fun! We stayed up way late playing and having a good time.

Monday we rented a movie and stayed up late watching it. Why? I have no idea. It sounded good at the time but I think sleep may have been smarter.

Tuesday we actually got to sleep at a somewhat decent hour.

Wednesday night we were at friend's house hanging out, making cookies and having more fun.

Thursday we went bowling with Margo and April and their families. We had a great time and then we went to Margo's for the evening and, of course, stayed late playing.

Friday we went to our wards annual New Years Eve Taco Feed. It is so YUMMY! Then we had friends over to our house to play Farkle. We were all tired and thought it would be an early night but we were having so much fun and all the kids were playing so well that the night slipped away and before we knew it, it was after 11. Then the kids started falling apart so we toasted at 11:17 and everyone left at 11:30. So close! By the time we got our kids to bed, it was 11:45 and 15 minutes later I heard noise outside. I rolled over in bed, looked at the clock - 12:02! I made it til midnight! I am sure I fell asleep very shortly after that.

Saturday, all our friends came back over for breakfast. Kurt makes super yummy french toast, which had been a topic of conversation the night before, and one set of friends had never had it so we made it for them. And, of course, a serious game of Farkle broke out.

Today has been a very relaxing day. For the last 3.5 years I have taught little kids in church and last week I got a new calling and am no longer teaching the little kids. That means that I got to go to all the adult classes today. It was great!

I think I need another week to recover from vacation break. I am not ready to start school tomorrow. One more week would be great!

We hope you all had a very fun Christmas and New Years too!

One of my New Years Resolutions (ok, my only one so far) is to blog more often. It seems like so much time goes by and I have too much to blog about so stuff gets left out so I am committing to blogging more! We'll see how I do!