Christmas Break

Road trip to Boise

Crafting w/ cousins & grandma

Let it snow...

The Aquarium

Stella cheCking out the piranhas these guys were in a tank w/ an Anaconda in the South America wing of the aquarium. It was hot, humid and I loved every minute of that wing. Lots of great memories of Ecuador.

The otters play zone to the right. They were super quick and constantly moving. An employee told us that the staff are more afraid of the otters than the piranhas & anaconda. 

This is some type of a Cobra snake. stella walked right up and tugged on the ladies arm so she would bend down so she could pet the snake. 

The shark encounter was really cool. 

Gingerbread House

Fun night feeling Christmasy

Christmas Party Part 2

Our ward actually had a Christmas breakfast this year. It was so nice!! I was sceptical because usually we have a Christmas dinner but I really liked getting together early. The kids were fresh nobody had to worry about bedtimes and breakfast food is delish and easy to prepare. It was a win win for our ward.

Ward Christmas Party

The littlest angle

Up on stage, she performed so well, she seemed calm and comfortable.

Singing jingle bells to bring in Santa

Her 1st visit ever w/ the big guy (not super comfortable w/ him but didn't panic either 

Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concerts

My sister and I attended the concert this year and the special guests were the muppets and Santino Fontana (Hans of the southern isles- Frozen). We had so much fun!!

Sister Love

My sister came to town last night and it's so fun to have her here. She is an angel. Today she took stella to the laundromat and did all my laundry so that I could work on my talk and GD lesson for church this Sunday. It was so wonderful to have a few uninterrupted hours to work. 

Friends

Gorgeous Day

The beauty of living in the projects is that everybody leaves their stuff out and you can "borrow" other people's toys 

It was so nice outside today, we spent half the day outdoors soaking up badly needed Vitamin D ;)

Rain or shine rain boots go w/ everything 

Christmas cheer

Tonight we went out to look at the Christmas Lights at a cute outdoor mall. They had musicians playing, Santa Claus, and fire pits for warmth. 

When you want to roar take a deep breath and count to 4

This is what happened when I was showering... Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew this day would come. 

She & I cleaned it all off the walls and piano bench but I couldn't get it out of her pillowcase and blanket :(

You've got to read this book!!

I just finished reading this book tonight and it was incredible. Truthfully when they announced that this was the book we were going to read in December for book club I was dissapointed I wanted a feel good Christmas story. One of the girls in the club gave a brief introduction of the book and said that she felt closer to Christ after reading it and I thought well Christ is Christmas so this could be my Christmas book after all. I can't say enough about how wonderful this story is and how faithful this woman and her family were. It's a life changer!

Thanksgiving

Craft time after the meal, which turned into a play reenacting the first Thanksgiving. It was priceless!

Our heart are full, our gratitude tree at the end of our month of gratitude. We are so blessed, it's always fascinating to me how many things we have to be grateful for each day.

Brad made this piece of pie for Grant as a joke,  but BreElle's not joking around ;)