December

 We had a great December.  It flew by! We each had to deal with some sickness but luckily it wasn't too bad.  

Mia got a library book from school that had recipes for milk shakes.  She made them for us one night.  We had to improvise on the ingredients so they turned out a little funny but she loved making them. 

She really wanted to capture our enjoyment of them. 

I often fall asleep during movie nights but Mia rarely does.  

Mia drew and colored this Grinch at school.  I was so impressed! 

On day the kids got to leave school for a bit to go to the dentist.  They missed their lunches so their lunch of choice was McDonalds.  We rarely go there so they thought it was amazing. 

More sleeping during the day pictures.  This is proof that we were sick this month.  Mia started it.  She had a fever and was tired for a few days and then she was fine.  Alex only had a fever for about half a day but Brandon and I each had a fever for 2-3 days and then had a cough for a few weeks. Brandon is still getting over it a few weeks later.  

I am so talented, I can sleep sitting up and holding my phone.  

One of my students gave me this for Christmas.  I told him thank you for the flowers.  Later we realized it wasn't flowers but cupcakes.  It was very cool! 

After her last day of school Mia and I went to get Christmas pedicures.  They turned out really cute! 

I laughed at her trying to walk to the car like this. 

Also, this month we went to see Avatar 2.  Mia has been very excited for this because she loves Avatar.  We even saw it in 3D.  It was well over 3 hours and Mia never got bored and never had to go to the bathroom.  It was impressive. 

Mia also got to attend an aerial silks class at her studio this month.  She has been wanting to try this.  She loved it so much and can't wait to do it again! 

Finally, after missing the last two years the Festival of Trees was back this year.  This is one of my favorite Christmas traditions.  I was so excited to go back and it was just as fun and crowded as ever.  

Brandon and I got to go see Moulin Rouge at Eccles theater this month as well.  I hadn't heard much about the show but I love the movie.  We loved the play too!  They have updated all the songs and it was a very high energy fun show.  

Last year we took the kids ice skating down town and they loved it so much so we thought we'd make a weekend of it this year.  We stayed a couple of nights at the Little America Hotel and it was so much fun! The kids were most excited to swim.  They have a cool indoor/outdoor pool.  It was freezing but fun to swim outside during the middle of winter.  

I made them pose next to this creepy Santa. 

My favorite part was eating at the delicious breakfast buffet. 

We went ice skating again as well.  It was fun to be able to just walk or take tracks to everything for the weekend. 

We stopped at Eva's, a French bakery and got some Macarons.  Mia loves Macarons and said they were amazing! 

We had to document this bathroom in our hotel since it is one of the fanciest bathrooms we have ever been in.  

On one of our tracks trips we got on a car that smelled so bad!  It smelled like fecal matter and looked like someone had recently thrown up.  Luckily we were only going one stop because that is all we could have handled anyway.  It was horrible. 

We had fun walking around City Creek and seeing the lights at Temple Square as well.  

We put our name down at Cheesecake Factory in the early afternoon because we knew it would be a long wait to get a table. After waiting almost four hours we finally got a table.  We would have given up long before that but Alex really wanted to eat there.  We had tried to last year and also eventually gave up.  We also had to wait for our food once we ordered for about an hour.  It was good but we will probably find somewhere else to go next year! 

On our way back to our hotel we checked out the windows and the giant gingerbread house at the Grand America Hotel.  Then we went back for some more late night swimming.  We went home the next morning.  It was such a fun weekend, we might have to make it a tradition! 

We had our annual Hettinger Nativity this month.  Mia has been so excited for this and has been talking about for weeks about what her part would be and what her costume would look like.  She was excited to be the Star this year.  

Brandon and Alex were assigned to be Angels this year.  They decided to be angles instead.  

It was pandemonium as usual!

Our favorite neighbors, the Peterson's invited us over to decorate Gingerbread houses again this year.  Our kids took this very seriously and decorated some beautiful houses! 

After Mia I got sick next so I wasn't able to go to our ward party so Brandon had to take them alone.  I was shocked when he texted me these pictures of Mia sitting on Santa's lap.  Usually she has no desire to see Santa but I guess she was really in the mood this night.  I think she really wanted to make sure he knew what to bring her.  

Also, Brandon took this picture.  It sounds like our ward party got a little crazy! 

Right before Christmas we also held our annual girls and moms sock party.  This time is was at the Sanders house.  The girls all exchanged a pair of socks with some small gifts and then the moms all exchange.  Mia looks forward to this all year. It was lots of fun! 

On Christmas Eve we tried a new tradition that I definitely think we should repeat.  Instead of going to a breakfast place we went to the Asian Star with Brandon's family for lunch.  It was so good and we were able to reserve a table instead of waiting for an hour.  It was great! 

Hopefully the rest of the patrons didn't find us too annoying. 

Then we went back to Brandon's parent's house and exchanged presents.  

Devyn was very excited for our gift! 

Mia got some new clothes and was excited to put them on.  She has a whole vibe going on! 

Afterward we came home and decorated gingerbread cookies to take to my sister's house for dessert.  Everyone in my family is artistic but me so you could definitely tell which ones were mine.  

Alex made this one a pirate with a peg leg.  It was pretty great! 

Finally we had our white elephant gift exchange.  It was great! 

Jessica really loved her Jake Gyllenhaal shirt we made her.  I'm sure she will treasure it forever. 

Finally, it was time to go to bed so the big guy could come! 

And he came! 

One of the best parts of Christmas morning is making them wait and take lots of pictures before going down stairs to see what Santa brought! 

Making them take one more picture! 

Alex got The Office Lego set from Santa. 

Mia got a Grumpy Care Bear.  She was very excited! 

After opening presents we ate a delicious breakfast of crepes.  Mia has been requesting these for months so she was very excited. 

Boo looks how we all felt.  

I was annoyed that Christmas was on a Sunday this year but I actually really loved it. Our ward didn't start until 12:00 so it gave us plenty of time to open presents before heading to church.  It was great to get dressed up and go sing Christmas songs and learn about Jesus on Christmas day.  My kids might disagree but I loved it! 

Our neighbor Andrea is always so kind to come take our picture on the Christmas Sunday.  She was even willing to do it on Christmas day this year. 

We worked really hard to get Boo in this picture.  It was totally worth it! 

Next we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Hettinger's for more presents.  

We at more delicious food, played games and got lots of presents.  Mia got this awesome Wubble Ball but Boo was not a fan of it. 

Alex got this phone contraption to allow him to be even more lazy.  Now he doesn't even have to hold his phone like a sucker! 

Between my birthday and Christmas I have gotten a lot of new puzzles lately.  I have been enjoying completing them! 

Apparently this is the only picture I took but we also went to Brandon's extended family party at the end of the month.  His extended family is very big so there were lots of people and lots of good food there.  Mia had fun running around with her cousins.  They had lots of jars of candy set out and you could guess how much were in each of them.  I won three of them and Brandon won two (although they only let us keep one each).  It was awesome! 

Alex opted to go instead to his end of year Deacons party.  They ate pizza and played games. He has loved being in Deacons this year! 

On New Year's Eve we headed up to Logan to spend the night with Trevor's family.  We ate lots of yummy food, played lots of games and partied very late into the night.  The kids slept very late the next day before we headed home in the biggest snow storm of the season.  It was lots of fun! 

We had a very fun, eventful, sometimes stressful year.  We were very blessed and are looking forward to the new year!