Tim Hortons

Noé's friend, Jillian, came up from Florida to spend a week with us. 

The first stop they wanted to make was to Tim Hortons, Canada's equivalent of Starbucks (although Starbucks is here too).

We don't drink coffee, but we do enjoy their donuts.  Although, I really miss my favorite donuts- Winchell's!  As well as Dunkin' Donuts and Krispy Kremes.

Jillian really wanted to play in the snow while she was here.  Unfortunately, it all melted before she arrived and didn't return until after she returned to Florida.  We didn't mind her bringing the sunshine with her though!

My Santas

I entered a Santa contest!  I don't think these sketches are anything spectacular, but if they were made into figurines, I would for sure add them to my Santa collection!

This is Cozy Santa with his hot cocoa and bunny slippers.

This is Nature Santa.  He's friends with a polar bear and cardinal and his fur coat is covered with berries, fruits, and nuts.

This is Baker Santa.  He loves decorating Gingerbread houses and eating the cookies that Mrs. Claus bakes.

This is Colorful Santa.  He loves to have fun, just like a court jester.

December 2022

The best month of the year!

Almost the whole world celebrates!

And even though we are silly, we are also grateful for the sacred!

Christmas Cards

I like to write out my Christmas cards in November, so they can get in the mail in early December.  I'm old school using my Hallmark cards, newsletter, family photo, and address book.

Ali created this card to enter a contest for Laura Dudas, our City Councillor.

I think she did a great job!

Paper Elves and Chocolate Gingerbread Men

I had fun adding our photos to these paper elves!

The kids had fun painting these chocolate gingerbread men the Wildes gave us!

Christmas Tree Magic

We love Thanksgiving, but as soon as it is over we put our Christmas tree up.  Once it is up you can feel the Christmas magic in the air!

The kiddos did a great job decorating the tree.

Dad helps supervise the ornament placement, after Mom gets all the ornaments out and organized for the kids to use.

Our ornament of the year in honor of our trip to Walt Disney World this summer.

We got a bonus ornament as our ornament last year was the first in a series.  It had been a while since we did a series, so we decided to do this one and we love this year's stocking with all the baking goodies!

We also got this mini penguin-gumdrop for our little kitchen tree.

We got all the Santas out (this is just some of them).

As well as all of our Nativity sets (this is just one of them).

We also decorated the front porch and hung our garlands, ornaments, and lights outside.

Such a cozy feeling!

As the season progressed, we added some more special ornaments to our tree.

I got this one from a special Relief Society activity.

Noé got this one from her school, BYU-Hawaii.

Ali's school teacher made this one.

Macy's church teacher made this one.

And Macy made this one at school.

All of the ornaments hold a special place in my heart.

We love to read the scriptures!

My heart is full! I love the scriptures and am so grateful to have the word of the Lord in my home and to be able to read them daily with my family. For so many previous generations this was impossible.

Tonight we finished reading our Come, Follow Me study of the Old Testament. We like to finish before December 1st as we have a special Christmas book with scriptures, stories, and carols that we read and sing with each day to finish the year.

The past 4 years we have used the Come, Follow Me study guides to read the New Testament; Book of Mormon; Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price; and now the Old Testament. It has been a daily joy! And as soon as Christmas is over, we'll start back up again with the New Testament.

Again, I'm so thankful to invite the Spirit of the Lord into our home each day through our simple study. God is so good!

*Macy will get her scriptures for her 8th birthday. Right now her favorite part is dancing while we sing a hymn or primary song each day.

The Old Testament Primary Program

I love the primary program at church every fall.  I especially love it when my own kiddos are in it.  Hiram and Ali were both in it this year and did a great job speaking their parts and singing the songs.  This was Hiram's last year!  It was supposed to be Macy's first year, but she's not ready for that yet :).

 

Thanksgiving for 11

We set the table...

and made a turkey with all of the trimmings!

We bought the pumpkin pie from Costco (actually we bought several to freeze and eat throughout the holiday season).

The sister missionaries joined us.

Sister Raymundo was in the MTC with our friend, Elder Alexander Cannon- small world!

So thankful for my husband!

So thankful Noé and Josh could be here.

So thankful for these kiddos still at home (and can't wait for Kaleb to join us in the future!).

Happy Thanksgiving!

The 3 Musketeers

These boys are a lot of fun, and they are the best friends.

I hope they always will be too!

Stickers, Snow Cones, and Fake Nails

Ali created this gorgeous werewolf.

Her cool Uncle Ken turned it into stickers for her!

Ali wanted a snow cone, but she didn't want to use our shave-ice machine.

Instead, she scooped up some snow from the backyard and put some yummy strawberry sauce on it.  Delish!

Noé bought Ali some fake fingernails.

She looked so cute with her little manicure!