Monday November 30

Elvis is BACK!!!!

We had a great little FHE tonight.

I used part of the "A Christ Centered Christmas" by Emily Freeman.

It was the section about Joseph and serving others.

It asked the question, How did you think Joseph felt when he couldn't get a room for Mary to give birth?

And if you were there at that time, what could you do to help him?

Maybe offer him your room, give pillows or blankets.

Maybe a meal for them?

They all had great suggestions :)

And then it talks about there being people like Joseph in our lives today that could use a little boost a selfless service from us.

It was a great lesson about silently serving others.

And at the end, I brought Elvis out.

Elvis is one of my favorite Christmas traditions.

Instead of a naughty elf, our elf does secret service throughout the month.

Someone does something for another, and leaves Elvis there.

Then that person who received the service, and Elvis, then does something for another!

And it keeps going and going.

It has always helped to bring that special spirit of serving others and Christ like love to our home during the holidays :)

Sunday November 29

So kinda funny story......

I do have a bit of a weird obsession of my kids matching.

I know.

I agree, it kind of drives me nuts too.

But that's just me.

Well, today, I just wasn't in the mood to figure the outfits out.

The last few weeks there have been unnecessary fights because they didn't want to wear what I picked out.

I know....it sounds totally absurd!

I know.

It's embarrassing to own up to it....it is.

Just love me anyway......

So today when they asked what they were wearing.

I told them, whatever you want!

They were like, what, we don't understand!!!!

I was like, no really, wear whatever you want to :)

They were stumped.

I felt guilty.

My poor girls don't even know how to pick out their own church clothes!!!!

Ha ha, it was kinda funny.

Elsie had already had a bath and chosen her outfit for the day.

Later I went up to get some clothes for Port, and I noticed both girls were wearing pinkish dresses.

I laughed.

Both of them had looked at Elsie's dress and color coordinated with that!!!!!!

Oh man, am I totally ruining them or what?????

Well, I figured if they were gonna be matching anyway, I mine as well make the boy match :)

Yep, they are ruined.

But don't they just look so gosh darn cute!

Saturday November 28

All of our visitors left today.

We have had so much fun over the last few days!

They all got going a little after lunch time.

And they are all safe at home now :)

It was a fun morning with more playing.

Cassi was a great entertainer with the kiddos!

She had a lot of fun with them and kept the fights pretty minimal :)

They all had hot cocoa before lunch...then lunch.

Of course :)

We had lots of hugs and kisses before they all headed out.

Lahni was so funny hanging out with port all morning.

Port was so cute and sweet with her.

Benji and Porter had a lot of fun together over the last few days.

Poor only boys in their family!

And of course we had such a blast with Emmy.

I know we will be having a hard time with Elsie tomorrow, going through her Emmy withdrawals :(

After they left we decided to have a movie afternoon.

Porter and I finished reading Narnia together, so we decided to watch the movie.

So that was fun.

Then Port got Dad to go with him out in the shop to work on the old lawn mower that he wants to turn into an army jeep.

He has been talking about it non-stop.

But we have been working on the island, so we always told him not yet.

So Dad went with him out there and they took off the mowers from it.

That appeased him for a bit.

Silly impatient boy!!!!!

Friday November 27

Another great day!

These kids have had so much fun with cousins!

I have lots of fun pictures, but it is too late!

I should have blogged earlier!!!!!

We went and saw the Meridian Temple today.

We also passed by all our other Meridian houses that we have had while we have lived here :)

That was fun.

And we went and visited Dad at the fire station, which is always fun!

We had pizza for dinner, thanks to Emmy :)

I guess everyone was sick of turkey and pie!

I got some presents wrapped that I am sending with Emmy to Utah.

While I did that, Cassi played with the kiddos upstairs.

They all had a lot of fun together :)

Makes me happy!

And the grownups, and Madi, watched a movie together while the kiddos played.

We are sure gonna miss our house full of visitors!

It has been such a fun week!

Kind of a bummer we have to go back to reality, and school, on Monday :(

Thursday November 26

Such a great day!

The kids are having so much fun!

Everyone slept in, which is great!

After breakfast, which consisted of pie, they got all bundled up to go play in the snow.

They had fun out there and came in and had hot cocoa and then it was time for lunch.

They all played some ore and we got the kitchen cleaned up.

Then we watched Big Hero Six, cause Emmy had never seen it.

Then it was back to playing.

Lahni has been by Madi's side the whole day and it is adorable!

Madi and she have this thing where Lahni tells her she wants to touch the ceiling and Madi lifts her in the sky.

She giggles the whole time and it is just the cutest thing!

They did chores together, wrote stories together, made big messes together, and got them cleaned up together.

After dinner we played a game and then had more pie.

Lots of pie got eaten today :)

Hope no one has tummy aches tomorrow!!!

It was a great Thanksgiving day!

But I was missing my man.....

Hopefully we can stop by with the gang and visit him at the fire station tomorrow :)

Wednesday November 25

Today we had our Thanksgiving dinner!

Dad has to work on Thanksgiving and we thought that it would work great to do our big meal today.

We woke up and got stuff started.

Kids had so much fun and they have gotten along all day.

It is funny to work the whole day in the kitchen for maybe a 20-30 minute meal....if that!

But it was worth it.

Fun to be in the kitchen with my sisters and big girls and the men too.

We made some super yummy food!

Bust best of all.....9+ pies!!!!!

Sooooo yummy!!!!!

After we ate we watched 'Inside out' together and then we talked and played until bedtime.

We are gonna have some fun times these next few days!

Oh and it snowed lightly all day long, which was a nice little Thanksgiving touch :)

I am loving having so much family around!!!!!

And boy it is nice to have the space for it!