Merry Christmas

About a week ago we heard about the Tucson light parade in town and decided to go check it out. We packed up some hot chocolate and found a spot.

It was a little cold but the parade was awesome! Easton couldn't get enough of all of the trucks pulling the floats and especially liked the race cars that raced down the street. he got really excited over Mater!

The girls loved all the lights and there were some princess floats that they loved too. It was a lot of fun and it ended with an awesome Firetruck that has a driver in the front and back. Chad has always wanted one of these and I'll admit it was pretty cool.

I have lived here 11 years and had no clue this awesome parade happens every year!

On Christmas Eve we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Miller's house and had our traditional dinner on our fancy china. We played a game and heard "Santa's" bells outside and then looked to find surprises on the front porch.

Chad and I got an awesome large enamel teapot for camping! Santa knows us so well!  Chad put together an awesome nativity video for us to watch. He did a great job.

We let the kids open their jammies from Grandma and Grandpa Clayton.

They were excited to wear them for Christmas morning and quickly went to bed. They were excited to wake up to new sleeping bags and hiking backpacks from Santa!

They loved passing out the presents and digging in.

After we met my family for fishing. The kids had to bring their favorite toys with them.

Lydia and Chad were hanging out with their pole in the water when.....she caught the only fish of the day! A rainbow trout.

Uncle Craig helped her release the fish back into the water.

Brianna brought her kayak and gave the girls rides around the lake. They loved it.

Merry Christmas!

Sleepover and Happy Birthday Lydia Bugs!

Last Friday Chad and I were invited to an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party with some friends in our Ward. It was so much fun! Sarah let me borrow her sweater and we improvised for Chad. He ended up wearing a poncho....Feliz Navidad! Well our tree skirt as a poncho haha.

Sarah was awesome and took our children for the night! They love going to Aunt Sarah's house!

Sunday was Lydia's 4th Birthday! I can hardly believe she is 4 already! She was so excited for her Birthday and was insistent she got to do the same things Sophie did. So on Saturday we went to the mall to play and she shopped at Claires for a new cute headband with her birthday money...Thank you Great Grandpa Miller!

Sunday both Grandma and Grandpa's came over for dinner! Lydia wanted muffins and bananas for dinner....I added a few more items to the menu. Once again she wanted a cake that looked just like Sophie's but purple of course. Oh and chocolate for my little chocolate lover.

She has this Barbie Pearl Princess movie that she is in love with and a few weeks ago she showed me a paper from the DVD that had a Barbie from the movie. She subtlety hinted how much she would LOVE to have that Barbie. Hint taken Lyds.....

And Grandma Clayton made her an adorable overnight bag which she loves! And of course the spinney toothbrush she has been waiting so patiently for.

She is excited to get to go shopping with Grandma Miller too! Happy Birthday Miss Lydia Bugs!!!

A Night in Bethlehem

Chad was in charge of the Ward Christmas Party this year. He wanted to do a Night in Bethlehem and transform the gym and have everyone bring blankets to rest on the floor. It was a lot of work, but it turned out amazing. Chad worked hard building cardboard pillars for our market storefronts.

Thanks to both my Mom and Chad's Mom for letting us use their tablecloths to make the look we wanted!! Chad's parents were a humongous help setting up the gym and preparing the food! Don't know what we would have done with out them!

We had a section with tables for "The Inn" for those who could not sit on the ground. The Terry's in our ward made an awesome "Well" for the water.

We all were dressed in biblical attire. The kid's didn't keep theirs on long. I couldn't even get a picture of Lydia.

We had a play on the nativity story with some adorable pictures of the primary children dressed for each of the scenes. Thanks to our awesome Primary President for taking the pictures and providing the presentation! Chad's Mom, Sister Cluff, and her cute daughter were awesome reading their parts for the play.

We also had a booth for kids to color pictures for those living in assisted living and nursing homes. And a  booth where the kids could write Hebrew. It turned out to be a great evening and was worth all of the stress.

The kids were excited to be able to finally set up Christmas this week. We couldn't do it until after the Ward Party since our house was filled with preparations for that.

Thanksgiving and Family Fun

Sophie's kindergarten class put together a Thanksgiving play. She was excited to be a Native American and insisted I had to make her a costume. But apparently she really didn't need a costume as the teachers had taken care of it...she looked cute anyway. Thanks to Grandma Clayton for the materials and ideas :) She did a great job and the play was totally cute.

She was so excited Grandma Miller, Grandma Clayton, and Aunt Sarah were able to come.

After they served pie and juice.

We got to have 2 Thanksgivings this year. I think Sophie thought we were never going to stop eating turkey haha. The day before Thanksgiving we enjoyed dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Millers. Then the next day Chad Brother came with his family and we had another yummy dinner. The girls were so excited to play with their cousins. We had a lot of fun and played hard.

The kids enjoyed shooting their bows.

We fed the animals at Rooster Cogburn Ranch.

Feeding the Lorikeets was awesome. You just hold the container of nectar and they climb all over you and pull off the lid.

The girls had a sleepover with their cousins and Chad and I had to go clean the church and attend a baptism. Right when we were getting ready to leave and meet the rest of the family Easton decided to run for the door where he proceeded to trip on the rug and slice his lip open on the base of the church door. We spent 2 hours at urgent care.

He was one tough kids though. Only cried for a little bit and then played happily. We headed up the mountain for lunch and hiked around a little.

We also went to he children's museum...

And we were all able to go the the Gilbert Temple together thanks to my awesome cousin Amber for taking the children!