Saturday December 30 (add burn pile pictures)

We decided to get out of the house today.

We all went bowling and had a really fun time :)

We've got some pretty good bowlers!

I love when we get to spend time like this together.

Especially when there isn't much fighting :)

Makes me very excited to get away to Hawaii!

One more week.

It still feels so unreal!

Like is it really gonna happen??????

It makes me all kinds of excited!!!!!!

When we got home, Porter and Dad lit the burn pile on fire.

And the girls stayed inside and played games.

Tonight Sierra and Trent came over for a bit.

And Cassi just left to her first stake dance!

So fun for her :)

It is the New Years dance, so it will be a late night.........

Elsie's name was Buffalo bowler.....check out those socks!

Friday December 29

Dad spent the morning working on our pipes in the basement.

There was a hole that appeared in the drain that the kitchen sink empties.

Not just an easy fix, because this is 50 year old plumbing!

But he did a great job figuring out the problem and finding a solution.

The part just couldn't be replaced, because the rest of the drain was actually almost completely closed off.

So what did he do?

He created a new route for the drain.

I think he is pretty brilliant!

So, the new plumbing will get us by until we can replace the whole thing.

Got some more of the Christmas taken down today.

It is taking longer to take down......just not very excited about it, I guess!

Madi and Cassi both had babysitting jobs this evening.

The little ones, Dad and I watched the Ninjago movie and Elsie helped me put the puzzle together, Port helped with a few pieces too.

It is coming along :)

*****

We found out today that Melodie (my little sister) needed surgery for a mass they found on her brain.

She has had a migraine the last 10 days or so, and her husband took her to the ER late night and that is when they did the imaging and found it.

She went into surgery about 5 o'clock the afternoon.

The cut a 2 inch square out of her skull behind her left ear.

She just got out of surgery and it sounds like everything went well with it.

They will be testing the tumor and she will have 3-4 weeks to recover.

Praying for her and her little family that this surgery takes care of all the issues!!!!

It is crazy to me how in the blink of an eye, your world can just change!

Thursday December 28

Today was much better.

We got a lot done.

The big girls did a fun workout with me and then we got lots of cleaning and laundry put away.

The kids were good and didn't fight much.

I also started putting Christmas stuff away.

After lunch, Elsie and Porter had their friends Lucia and Gus over.

They had a lot of fun for a few hours together.

Lucia even got Elsie to go out and play in the snow for a bit :)

This evening after Elsie took a bath, all the kids were downstairs putting a ridiculously large puzzle together :)

They were singing and happy and it was so nice....

Maybe we can get out and do something fun with Dad when he is back home tomorrow.

I think the kiddos are getting restless with nothing to do around here!

Wednesday December 27

Dad got up early to take the Morgan's to the airport before he headed to work.

Today was kind of a humbug day for me.

I guess I just like having Dad around :)

But also, the kids seemed pretty bored.

And they didn't seem interested in house work, like I would have liked to do!

Madi and I did workout again this morning.

Cass took the day off, but wants to join again tomorrow :)

I did get several loads of laundry done.

Cass did have some friends over again.

Poor Port....all his friends are gone for the break and he is VERY bored!!!!!

He pretty much spent the day causing trouble with his sisters!

Madi worked on homework.

She's emailed all her teachers to let them know she won't be back for the first week back to school.

And she is making sure to get all the work done she can before we leave on our trip.

So I told them all we will have a game plan for tomorrow, and not let the day waste away!!!!

Elsie and Porter have a playdate tomorrow with some friends from school, so they have to get rooms cleaned and laundry put away before that.

So ya, I think tomorrow will be a great day :)

Tuesday December 26

We all had a good sleep-in morning.

Then the big girls joined me for a workout.

I think it was a fun time :)

Dad went to the gym.

The rest of the day, we kind of cleaned up, did laundry.

Madi went bowling with friends.

Cassi had a couple friends over to sled.

I finished all the puzzles from the other years....I kind of cheated because three of the puzzles were not completely taken apart, so I just had big pieces to put together.

Oh well, it is still fun to see them all put together :)

When I put them away, I did take them all apart, so next year, it will be a bigger job!

Later this evening, we went with the Morgan's and the Bingham's to go and see the Star Wars movie!

It was a fun movie.

I got to sit by Elsie....who I wasn't sure would be very excited about watching the movie......

But she is very fun to watch movies with!

She gets SO EXCITED!!!!!

Lots of loud yells and 'YAYS' and 'awwwws'.

There was one part the she yelled Very loud YAY....and the people on the row next to us looked over, and smiled really big.

It was funny.

It was an appropriate time to say YAY, but I think most people were thinking it....not yelling it :)

If you ever get a chance to watch a movie with Elsie Bug, you should!!!!!

There was a great quote from the movie that I just loved.

'You don't win the fight by killing the bad, you win it by saving the good!'

Or something like that......

Then we went to Freddy's and had a yummy burger before heading home.

I think it was a fun day for all.

Monday December 25

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

It sure has been a fun day!

We pulled a pretty big surprise on the kids today!

For Christmas we will be taking them to HAWAII!!!!!

We will leave January 6.

We have thought and planned for this for many months.

If you've noticed that Brent has worked an unusual amount of overtime shifts lately.....

He wanted to do this trip without dipping into our savings.

He always makes sure to take care of his family!

Most of their gifts have something to do with the trip.

New luggage (which was badly needed for our trips to Wyoming/Utah anyway....)

New swimming suits.

Airplane neck pillows.

Little ones got Kindle's from Santa (airplane entertainment).

And the big girls got a GoPro type camera......not an actual GoPro, but has very high reviews, without the ridiculous price!

So, yes, it is kind of a splurge.

BUT....like I said, we thought long and hard about this.

It will not be very long until we are no longer here under the same roof.

Making memories are becoming more and more important to us.

So, this is what we are doing.

We are all very excited, like beyond excited!!!!

We made a giant sign and unrolled it while they were looking in their stockings.

They had a hard time figuring it out at first....Madi thought it said Harvard, Cassi thought it said Hong Kong.

Guess I need to work on my giant hand lettering!

Then the little ones were so focused on what the big girls were doing.

They finally figured it out, then they thought we were joking, pulling a prank :)

The rest of the day was filled with playing, puzzles, Nerf gun wars and going to the movies where we watched Jumungi.

Then back home for a yummy Ham dinner with sweet potatoes and homemade coleslaw :)

Ended the night with watching Frozen....and also putting together last years puzzle.

Tomorrow I plan to do the other puzzles.

I love looking through the year in review of pictures on each puzzle!

I am so grateful to be able to celebrate this day with my little family.

There was still fighting......will there always be fighting?????

But, I'm grateful for the chance that we had to focus this season on being more Christlike, with the #lighttheworld challenge.

I am so grateful that our Savior was born so that he could be an example to us of how we should be.

Grateful that he lived.

Grateful that he died for me.

He died so that we could return back to our Heavenly Father, together forever as a family.

I am grateful for that.

My goal is to show my gratitude by acting more Christlike.

It definitely starts here in my own home!

I am excited for a new year with a real focus!!!!!

Sunday December 24

We had a nice meeting at church today.

It was just sacrament meeting, and it was filled with singing.

The girls did a beautiful job up there with the choir.

And the primary kids went up...Port and Elsie did great there.

Elsie sings with all her might!

Porter started singing, but towards the end, he kind of zoned out.... :)

Dad also had fun playing with sweet Everly.

I've said it before, but he is gonna be the best grandpa!!!!!

After church, Bubble and Eldon stopped by and brought gifts over to us.

And lots of treats!

Including a gingerbread family :)

We watched some Christmas movies then had a yummy fondue dinner.

And of course we had our Christmas Eve jammies to open up.

Then Dad read the Christmas story to us.

After that, Elsie and Porter both read us books that were given to us by Grandma Ene ❤

It was a lovely evening.

Now we are passing time with another movie until the kiddos go to bed.

They will all be sleeping in Porter's room this year.

They are very excited.

We went back and forth, but we have decided that 6:30 is the acceptable wake up time :)

We are all very excited!!!!!!!!

Dad teaching Porter how to shine his shoes up :)

The boys, getting chores done before dinner

Saturday December 23

It was a beautiful winter day today!

The little ones had a lot of fun playing out in the snow.

I was perfect packing snow and sledding snow.

I did some more packing (and more watching Hallmark Christmas movies :)

After lunch, the kids and I went to Walmart for the kids to pick gifts for each other.

Man, Walmart was PACKED!

When we got home, the kids tidied up what they cleaned yesterday.

Dad worked today.

It is a good time of year for overtime!!!!!

But he will be home tomorrow and we are so excited to be all together as a family!

This evening we let the kids open their Christmas outfits, so they can wear them tomorrow :)

I can't believe it is almost CHRISTMAS!!!!!