Christmas 2015

Christmas Eve traditions include dinner at our house.

Chimes... we are getting pretty good.

Even harmonized on a few songs. :)

Acting out the Nativity.

The true meaning of Christmas.

We try SUPER hard to teach our girls about Jesus Christ being the true meaning of the season.

We read stories, do service for others throughout December etc etc.

But it's not easy.

So this is a MUST for me!

There's always Cousin Time.

And the annual picture in front of the tree :)

Then baking cookies for Santa.

Putting food (oats + glitter) out for Santa's reindeer.

Christmas Stories.

The opening of our Christmas PJ's

And pictures of course...

Then a sleepover in Tayler's room.

And the tracking of Santa on an app on their phones late into the night.

Christmas morning around 8:30 they called to wake us up.

They run down and check out what Santa brought, we eat breakfast and start into our present opening.

Pretty sure everyone was super happy with their gifts! 

It's fun to see the sisters get excited when they open each others gifts!

Saige decided to make a quilt for Tayler for Christmas.  I tried to talk her out of it reminding her that it was going to take her MUCH longer than she thought and that there really wasn't that much time left to get it done.  But Christmas Eve morning she got the last few snips in!

Tay was surprised and so impressed!

Then off to Grandma & Poppa's house for lunch and more gifts.

Then time for the annual.

"Present wrap up" videoing.

The girls are excited that we all got season passes to Lagoon.

I really don't love Lagoon so.... what was I thinking?   hahahaha

Lydia loved her American girl doll and accessories.

Jadyn's favorite gift was a DVD called Teen Beach 2.

Which is funny because she had never seen it, but she was sure it was going to be her FAVORITE movie.  If we had Disney channel she could have already seen it 50 times... but we don't. hahaha

So she asked Santa for it EVERY time she saw him.

I could tell she was disappointed that morning when she looked in her "sack" and it wasn't there.

She even said to me 1/2 way through opening presents, "I'm trying to not be sad but I really wanted that movie"

Of course I had already bought it for her and it was wrapped under the tree, so I saved it for the VERY last gift.

Her reaction was PRICELESS!!

And yes, it's her favorite movie and she has watched it 50 times!

Kenna loves her new Nike's and workout clothes.

Saige got a plethera of new clothes and some new perfume.

She's my child who asks for necessities like undies & sports bras... totally boring. ;)

Tayler got a new Cannon DSLR camera.

I surprised Shane with a cruise with our friends hahaha

I put down the deposit in August, and was totally going to talk to him about it.

Then 2 days later there were some super unexpected financial/legal issues that happened. GRRRR

So I figured once they were resolved, we would talk about it, but they still aren't resolved and the day to pay the balance came, so I just paid it.

Long story short, I decided to make it a Christmas/Birthday gift for him.

He wasn't happy that I kept telling him to PLEASE not getting me anything for Christmas because I had something big for both of us.

He figured it out I'm pretty sure, but he still acted surprised for me. :)

I look kinda ticked off in this photo.

Not sure why... it was a pretty great day! hahahaha 

Christmas Day is Fantastic.

But I MUCH prefer the whole "Christmas Season" over Christmas Day.

Like everything leading up to Christmas... the fun family traditions and being together.

I loved that Joe and Lisa came over to play games with us on Christmas night this year because some years I think about just going to bed at 6 o'clock on Christmas night hahahahaha

I'm ready for a long winter's nap after all the preparations and traditions!

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2015!

December 2015...

December

The busiest month of the year.

Something EVERY night, lots of family time together and tons of memories made.

BTW this post is long, rambling and in no particular order.

Fair warning in case you want to back out now...

 We visited the live Nativity in Nibley.

 Pretty special to experience this on a chilly December night.

The wise men even brought their camel. ;)

Kenna dressed up as a flapper for 20's day @ School.

(And looked mighty adorable I might add!)

Thanks for the dress mom.

These three got to meet and dance with "Cyrus" @ Logan High.

He's a pretty big deal in the dance world.

And to have him come and teach a class for just a toy donation in Logan Utah!

I couldn't believe there weren't more there.

But Kenna was pretty excited that she got picked to perform the dance at the end!

There was gingerbread house building...

Story reading by Lydia...

And posing by Lydia...

And crazies by Lydia...

There was the 10th annual neighborhood caroling and spoons tournament.

We've had snowy years, freezing cold years, but  this was the 1st year that I remember it raining...

We were all good sports, but SOAKED good sports!

We all had a good time though.

Enjoying the company, the food, the intense spoons game that resulted in minimal injury.

A total success.

Lydia had her darling Kindergarten program.

Gosh I love Kindergarten!

I can't believe it's already half way through the year. :(

Her with her sweet teacher.

and her best friend + cousin, Trey.

She was pretty excited about her alphabet train she made at school with her Daddy.

Saige was not quite as excited about her first experience cheering at a wrestling match.

She loves the cheering part.

Not so much watching the wrestling part. hahahaha

Jadyn had her class readers' theater + pajama day.

I think 4th grade is pretty great too. ;)

LOTS of Sky View Basketball games...

A "night in Jerusalem" for Young Women's

LOTS of Santa sightings...

Like @ Costa Vida

Lowe's

Chick fil a

The Falslev Family Party

I heard about this deal @ "wiggleworms" where the kids could play and they were doing pictures with Santa so I made the whole family go.

They turned out pretty great!

Although, Tayler and Saige were dying when the photographer made them sit on a tiny sleigh together.

 hahahaha we were all laughing pretty hard.

Sad we can't even see that tiny sleigh!

This one is my favorite.

And this is Tayler's, "my mom still makes me sit on Santa's lap face". :)

We even found Santa in our own house...

Santa was EVERYWHERE!

I'm sure that Jadyn and Lydia's favorite part of December was finding our elf Simon every morning.

I'll spare you every picture... but Jadyn made sure to take a picture of him every.single.day!

We had our best night of December doing our "Random Acts of Kindness Night" with the Astle's.

A visit to Eva Fay, handing out treats @ the Dollar Tree and Walmart.  Paying for cars behind us @ McDonald's, leaving popcorn on the Redbox's etc.

We ended the night with dinner at Chick fil a...

SUCH a special night.

A couple cool experiences happened in that restaurant.

We had some small gift cards that Saige would run out to people pulling through the drive-thru.  The next day at school one of her classmates/employee @ chick fil a, asked her about what we had been doing.  Then told her that it was the best day at work she had ever had.  She said that everyone who came through the drive-thru was so happy, and offering to use their gift card for the car behind, and the car behind that etc. That was cool to hear.

But the very last act of the night was the most special. We had 1 gift card left, Saige handed it to a lady who walked in, telling her Merry Christmas.

She was SO surprised, so curious why we had given it to her, she wondered who we were, why we were doing that and if we knew her.  She was just SO appreciative.  She went straight into the bathroom, Kenna went in a few minutes later and heard her crying.  Quite a long time later she came out, thanked us again, and told us we would never know how much that meant to her and how badly she had needed that this particular day.

We talked with the girls about how most likely it wasn't the food that she needed,

but that she needed to know that she was loved and thought of.

A perfect experience to teach them that sometimes when we serve, even in super small ways, we can be an answer to another person's prayers.

A beautiful ending to a perfect night.

Our very favorite Christmas tradition.

Throughout the month there were also Aggie games.

A "Tueller" mom breakfast ;)

A party with the Olson's (we forgot a picture :( )

A party with the Carlsen's

A fun family night in Salt Lake, exploring the Grand America's Christmas windows.

and seeing the lights @ Temple Square

Then down to Provo to visit the "North Pole" @ Seven Peaks.

This was adorable!

The kids loved it!

"Sledding" down the waterslides.

 Bumper boats on the lazy river

A "train ride"

A super fun night together!

During Christmas break Josh & Kayla took our girls ice skating.

They loved it!

 Train building @ Lowe's one morning.

There were Christmas cards from family + friends

and one from the SV Cheer squad that made me laugh.

Jadyn's 1st orchestra concert.

She did awesome!

Sledding (behind the 4-wheeler)

The girls had a hot chocolate stand one day.

the table cloth was a gift from Grandma and Poppa.

They picked a FREEZING cold day and learned that hot cocoa sales aren't nearly as lucrative as lemonade sales!  hahahaha

I kept checking on them and after 1/2 hour... still no sales but they had made the sister missionary's day by giving them some @ no charge as they walked by. ;)

A quick instagram  post showing these cute girls made sales pick up dramatically. haha

There was Christmas of course + Lydia's Birthday.

But I'll save that for another post.;)

Then just like that 2015 came to an end...

we rang in the new year with some of our favorite friends!

And the girls did too!

Saige with Tara and the younger girls @ home.

and Tayler in SLC with friends.

2015 was a pretty amazing year, now on to more adventures in 2016!