Christmas Afternoon

 By afternoon we had everyone all together (minus Kay)  We opened a few more gifts and enjoyed time visting, cooing, and reading with Kai

Early dinner with the crew

and Kai as a centerpiece, eating sweet potoatoes

Remembering what this special day is ALL about!  Jesus Christ truly is the reason for the season. 

 He is the Prince of Peace, Savior of the World and our personal Redeemer.

Merry Christmas 2019

Christmas Morning

Even though our numbers are getting smaller, we are still trying to keeo our traditions alive. 

Cinnamon rolls in the shape of a Wreath part way through present opening

Matching jammies for everyone....even this girl

I love the JOY in seeing the girls give and recieve presents to one another

And the JOY of Jett all dressed up for the occasion

Christmas Eve at the Oval

Fun to see the girls coat choices headed in the Oval.  Em looking stylish in the minky black fur, B with the athletic  look, and Linz going for warmth in the snow coat.

Coats cam off quickly once they started skating.  They get pretty serious when it comes to improving their skating skills.  

B and I focused on going forward, while Em worked on her backwards skating

Can't believe how grown up these girls are

The traditional 'picture by the tree' before heading home to begin our Christmas Eve festivities!

Christmas ALLtogether

Though Kayla's mission doesn't call on holidays, today happened to be her P-day.  Yay! Not only did she call,  but we were able to SEE her, which has only happened a few times during her mission. 

There she is!  Ohhhhhhh, just makes a mom's heart so so happy to see her and to have our whole family linked into the call at the same time.  I can hardly write about it, other than to share one of my favorite Mom scripture:  3 John 1:4   'I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth'

And being able to see all their faces at the same time is pretty awesome as well!

It was Christmas Eve here and Christmas Day there, so she shared a little about how she and her companion had been doing  'Secret Santa' delivereis.    Buying small gifts and leaving them in front of houses of families they felt prompted to provide for.  The tricky thing about doing this in her area, is that people don't have front doors, just openings, so they had done a lot of hiding and running that day and were in heaven doing it.  Though we do like Christmas morning at home, I think it all made us miss the Christmas's we have been out of our normal circumstances doing good for others. 

Luey is ready for Christmas

Aubs and Elans have been pet sitting their friends chamleon over Christmas Break.  Kai isn't that interested in him, but the girls LOVE him. They made sure Luey was ready for Christmas.

Christmas Adam in Color

We found a new tradition for the night of Christmas Adam - Driving through Christmas in Color

It was so fun to take top off Jessie and enjoy the lights under the stars

Jett may have prefered being bundled up in his blanket, but he also liked the lights and looking at all the people.

Tome Together

Best part of the Holidays is being able to be together and just hang out.  We made cinnamon rolls, read books, played Wii

Did some Baby/Jett yoga

Linz was so happy to spend more time with Kai

No Matching Dresses

Fun to have all 3 of these girls at church with us today,  I refelected back on the years of 5 liitle girls with matching Christmas dresses.  Now we've got 3 adult daughters and 2 teenagers who prefer not to match and or wear special Chrsitmas dresses.  Oh hove I love seeing these girls grow up and take such good care of each other.

Kai & Gpa

Kai hanging out with Gpa

Thinkin' about taking a nap, but not quite ready yet

Soul Food USA

Annual Soul Food USA Holiday Feeding the Homeless.  

We love serving with this organization.  This year we were assigned Hershey Kisses 

We were the last shift of the evening, and still had some Kisses left, so we walked arounf Downtown passing them out

Lovin' downtown all lit up!

Kai with Santa

Look at this cute boy hanging out with his friend Santa!

Snowshoeing

Beautiful day for Snowshoeing.  Aubs and Elan took Kai and Lindsay with them

Kai was all smiles!

Linz December Activities

Lindsay's non-school activites in December ususally centered around her friends.

Her lacrosse team had a sleepover together.  She sure loves these girls and we love these girls.  They are strong, bold, and kind in everyway and it has been a pleasure to get to know them.

Lindsay's BYU Besties.  These are the kids she spends most of her study and spare time with.  They are all freshman from different parts of the country but just meshed like they've know each other their whole lives.  We love this group as well.

All the girls on the 2nd  floor of Lindsay's dorm got matching pajamas for Christmas. This is another group that has just been sooooo good to Lindsay and i know Lindsay loves serving and being with them on her floor.  

Linz and Megan,  We love her too!!!  Lots of love going on here.

Final practice of the decade with her favorites

She made several trips downtown in December as so many of her new friends are not from Utah and wanted to enjoy the lights and spirit of Temple Square

As a parent we are just so grateful for ALL of the wonderful people in Lindsay's life,  From coaches to teammates, to bishopric wives, mentors and friends.  I know the best way to have great friends is to be a great friend, and she is a shining example of that.