December

 December was a crazy fun whirlwind! I can't believe how fast it went.  We had a great month!

The very first day of the month we let the kids each invite a friend and head to Airborne.  We had never been before.  It was a ton of fun!

Mia and her friend Penny took my phone one day to make videos. I have a lot of awesome videos and pictures on my phone now.  

One Sunday in December we had our own fancy Christmas dinner.  We made steak and crab (and by we I mean mostly Brandon.) It was so good! 

Mia has the best Activity Days leaders and she loves going so much.  She is going with the older girls because it works better with her dance schedule and they have been so kind to include her.  They had a very fun end of year Christmas party and gave the girls lots of cute gifts.  

Mia wanted to take most of Christmas break off of dance but one class she really wanted to go to was silks.  She had so much fun! 

We performed our usual Christmas nativity one year at Grandma's house.  This year Mia was assigned to be a Wiseman and Alex was Mary (he was not thrilled but is always a good sport). Mia takes this play very seriously and plans her costume and make up in advance.  

A beautiful Mary....

Mary riding in on her donkey. 

Brandon really shined as the "star." 

This year we were called to be on the committee for our Ward's Christmas party.  I turned out really nice and I was glad not to be in charge and just a helper.  

Before sending it off to the North Pole I had to document Mia's letter to Santa Claus this year.  She bedazzled the envelope and it turned out so cute.  

One Sunday morning Alex and I got up nice and early to head to the conference center with the youth in our ward for Music and the Spoken word.  It was the Sunday after the Christmas concert so we got to hear a mini version of the concert.  I thought it was so cool! 

I always get to attend a few different "sock" parties in December.  The first one is for the moms of the neighborhood.  We exchange cute socks and eat snacks.  It is always a lot of fun. 

The next one is with some of our friends and our daughters.  Mia loves it and looks forward to it all year.  Andrea makes sure we take lots of pictures.  Mia really loved her Elf socks she got. 

Brandon would not let us end the holiday season without making some gingerbread cookies.  They turned out delicious!

Brandon also painted some Christmas nails for Mia as well.  

These were her designs for her nails and then she narrowed it down for her actual nails.  They turned out so cute.  

Gingerbread houses are another essential tradition! 

Christmas Eve Sunday! 

After church we headed over to Grandma Clements house.  She made an amazing meal.  We exchanged presents as well.

One of Mia's favorite gifts was this avocado poncho.  

Devyn was not into a cousins picture. 

She was into watching a show with Brandon. 

Next we went to Sarah, Jen, and Bayley's house for our annual white elephant gift exchange.  The kids love this tradition. 

Finally we made it back home to get to bed so Santa could come! 

Christmas morning! Buddy left but he left us a note to say goodbye. 

Making them wait just a few seconds longer.  They love when we do this. 

Luckily Santa came! 

Alex was super excited! 

The day is already catching up with Mia. 

Boo was very excited Santa remembered her as well.  

Mia made this beautiful candle for me at school. 

After presents it was time for delicious breakfast number one.  We made crepes. 

Next, we headed to grandma Clements house for delicious breakfast number two and to open a few more presents. 

Finally, we made it to Grandma Hettinger's for even more presents and delicious breakfast number three.  

After we got home Alex spent a lot of time outside shooting his new gun.  He even let Mia try it as well.  

Mia played with her toys as well but didn't last long.  She fell sound asleep on the floor surrounded by all her new presents.  It was a very successful Christmas! 

Both Mia and Alex got roller blades for Christmas and were very excited to try them out.  One day during Christmas break we spent the day at Classic Roller Skating.  I even skated.  They had so much fun.  After three and a half hours I had to drag them out.  

Also during the break Alex's friend Jhett invited him to go rock climbing with his family.  Alex loved it! He loved it so much that they went two more times during the break.  He even took a class to learn how to belay so he could rock climb with just his friends. 

At the end of the month we ventured down town to see the windows that the Grand American hotel and see the lights.  

Finally we celebrated New Year's Eve with the Clements family.  They came down to spend the night.  We played lots of games and ate lots of yummy food.  Mia and Kenzie even took time for some facials.  

We kind of missed midnight but we were pretty close.  I bought these horns thinking they wouldn't be very loud. They were very loud though and we had to take them away after awhile.  

It was a great way to end the year! We had so much fun.  We can't wait for 2024!