*12-24-2014* Twas the Night Before Christmas.....

So, we switched things up a little bit this year for the Eves. 

Usually, we go out to dinner with whoever is around, but this year, we opted to just get take out from wherever and meet at Mana's.  

Turned out perfectly. 

After eating, we played a few games and just hung out for a bit. 

Spot It- new family favorite.

 Playing animals...

 Littles in the toy room getting along for a moment :)

 Puzzles for this one.

 Hang out for all

 Then we decided to go caroling. We had wanted to go before this night, and Mana just so happened to have cookies to take to the neighbors! So, we all went- well, all of us but Pat, Xander and Melody.

It was so fun. The kids LOVED it, and Jaina was hilarious. She introduced herself and was sooo cute.

Back to Mana's, it was cookie making time.

Which always turns into sugar lips time.

Then, twas time for Christmas Eve presents.

Always jammies.

Always from Karri.

The kids are FULL of anticipation.

And Brent sits twisting his nasty stache.

All were twinning this year. I love their faces as they see what the boxes behold.

After jammies were on, it was time for the Stockings to the Chimney

Fin....

Soy...

Conners:

Silly Max wearing his instead. 

.

My Guy.

Cute girls

The hole shebang!

Then some more hanging out

Family Eve

My cutie bugs

After Tolman's left we hung out for a while. 

The kids had to do a waltz to Jingle Bells by Bare Naked Ladies: 

starts out slow...

Then they fell to the ground and were up like crazy jumping beans when the fast part erupted. 

Back at home, Sawyer and Fin were sure to scatter the reindeer food on the lawn...

And Fin made sure to write Santa a sweet "wetter"

We got home around 8:30 and the kids were sooo riled up. It was so cute to watch them all excited in the basement. We watched One Magic Christmas and it was a HIT. Conli and Sawyer ended up in tears- another Christmas movie success!! I love that they're getting older and can sit thru more than cartoons! I love that they get the deeper meanings, and love the meanings and feel the spirit of the season. It is so special.

Max knew more about Christmas this year and while I hate to see him growing up, it was fun to have his help with a couple things.  

I love Christmas.  It is the sweetest time of year!

*12-21* Holiday Lights, *12-23-2014* Shining so bright!

The girls in their adorable Christmas dresses. 

They all looked soooo beautiful this day. 

I did almost throw them into the garbage while we were getting ready though....

just sayin.

That night, the whole fam headed down to Spanish Fork for dinner and lights at Bre and Pat's. 

It's a little drive thru light show, with random lights all over. 

It was funny.

 Cody and Ivy came to town for some family fun and decided that they'd stay a whole extra day to hang with us. Love my friends, that's what that is. How we love and miss them! 'Course we always get our selfie on.

 Cody had brought Brent a wrapped Christmas present that he was super anxious for him to open. When the time finally came, it was a wonderful surprise. A new wallet!!!!!!! Oh we died! All Brent uses for a "wallet" are these thick rubberbands that come on broccoli- and Cody had gotten one, and wrapped it up. So. Hilarious! Best idea ever! Seriously! Brent tries to convert everyone in the land to do the same because he feels that wallets are just a bunch of waste. 

 He was so excited because his was this limp noodle type of thing:

 oh I love it! 

Meanwhile, these ladies + two boys were holding down the fort at home. They are a handful. But we love them. 

 Fin and I had lunch with Dad, and Jess at JCW one day after the gym. Tis always a fun outing. 

 And, under the direction of Sawyer, she played "Mary" for quite a while one afternoon.

 So, it's tradition that we go to Temple Square for Christmas lights. The thing is, so does the rest of Utah, and it is always covered by people and it kinda takes away from the whole thing.  So, this night, we decided to check out these 2 places we'd heard about from friends. The first was these 2 houses in Sandy that do an AMAZING light show. They have 3 songs on a loop and it was SPECTACULAR! To make it even better, the family was having a party and they were all dressed up like little elves- the cutest thing! They had a Santa up in the top window- a lifesize video thing that looked totally real- that would wave and walk by looking around sipping on his cocoa, pull out gifts and check them out...it was soooo fun. We probablyt sat there for 1/2 hour and just loved it! Best idea ever! 

 After that, we headed over to the "Tree of Life" that is in a park in Draper. The city has illuminated this tree to look just like the Tree of Life. Brent took pics, but I don't know where they went! :( It is gorgeous, but it was absolutely frigid. We ran over to where it was, looked around, then Finley and I ran right back to the car and waited for everyone else to play tag. 

Post lights, we took the kids to Leatherby's. Oh the ice cream dream. 

 This banana split was magnificence in the mouth.  Caramel, Hot Fudge, Marshmallow topping. Burnt Almond, Cake Batter and Raspberry Cheesecake ice cream. I licked that platter clean and didn't even feel bad about it! Ok, maybe a little bad, but mostly it was delicious, so I didn't care. 

What a fun night with our little family. I am so glad that we went and decided to do what we did. I love nights that go perfectly!