I understand that long posts are just that...long! However, this is not for the purpose of anyone but myself and my piece of mind. If you want to know what our December consisted of, continue at your own risk, but don't say you weren't warned and don't stop being my friend!
Big Kid Parties:
This is the only picture that I ended up with from the Adult Christmas party at my parents' house. It's my dad modeling the new jacket that he got from the white elephant gift exchange that we did. He decided that it looked WAY better as pants!
I have to admit, I love this picture because it is so typical of the man he is. When he's really enjoying himself and his company, there's no way to hide it. His expressions say it all!
Brown Paper Packages:
These were taken just after we received a package in the mail from Grandma and Papa in Idaho. The kids had so much fun playing in the packing peanuts and making a HUGE mess...those things are not easy to clean! Unfortunately, my vacuum had died the day before and it had to all be done by hand! It was totally worth it and the gifts were even better (if you can imagine more joy than this)! Thanks, Grandma and Papa!
Granny and Opa's Party:
This is from the Christmas party that my parents do each year for the grand kids.
One of the games they played consisted of smearing Vaseline on one of your team members faces, and then throwing cotton balls at them to see how many stick .
Blake was chosen for his team and he was a great sport!
I can't imagine how that must have felt!
Here are the three "Santas"...Blake, Luke and Zach.
Gingerbread Houses:
What's Christmas without the mess of frosting and candy and gingerbread houses? The kids were really able to get into it and decorate their own houses this year.
We had a great time watching them get creative!
BALLET:
Reagan had a ballet recital this month and it was her very first. She was so excited and had practiced REALLY hard. When it was time for her class to take the stage, she burst out into tears. I knelt on the side of the stage and held her hand while she stood in her spot and cried. The song was only about a minute long and she cried even harder when she realized that she had missed the whole thing! Luckily, Dad and Blake had gotten her flowers and that made it all go away! We were so proud of her anyway!
Raegan before her recital....
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after...
and Blake helping her feel better
Ward Party...
This is at our ward Christmas party. I know it's kinda' hard to see, but when we arrived, there was an announcement made about the kids being in the program. Well, I hadn't heard anything about it, but apparently, I was the only one because everyone else had their children in white shirts....Blake is the little red angel. (hey, it's good for finding him in the picture, right?)
This weekend we headed up to my parents' cabin in Pinetop to enjoy the cooler weather and the long weekend with each other. I was anticipating it being cold, but we hadn't heard any reports of snow in a couple weeks so we just planned on a 'colder than the valley' kind of weekend. However, before we went, I made a stop at Target and found hats, scarves, mittens and jackets all priced at $2 a piece...who can resist that price for a jacket?? So, I stocked up for the whole family just in case. When we got there, we were surprised and excited to find lots and lots of snow, for Arizona anyway. 
The forest behind the cabin was literally ice! There had been a really warm day where everything started to melt and then it all froze over that night. I had never seen so much ice before in my life! As far as we could walk (or slide) it was ice.
Even all the way to the meadow behind the Double B! We all had a great time slip sliding away with only one casualty-a bonk on Blake's forehead. Blake loved sledding, Raegan did not. Raegan loved her snow clothes, Sarah did not. Sarah loved being held by mom, but what's new?
Raegan loved making snow angels even when the snow was way too hard to even make a mark. Mom and Blake loved going head first on the sled, Dad did not like us to Dad liked having a snowball fight with the kids. The kids did not!
All in all, we had a really fun weekend and we were so glad that Granny (my mom) decided to come along. I definitely have a new respect for those that live in the snowy climates of the world. What do you do all day to occupy the kids?
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