We had a really great
Christmas. Caleb and Brynli were so much fun to watch. On Christmas Eve we set up Caleb and Brynli's Little People Nativity and told the story of Jesus' birth using the Little People. It seemed very effective. They loved it.
A Christmas brunch at our friend's house
. It was such a blast playing ping pong with them. I've decided it'd be awesome to have a ping pong table one of these days.
Our work Christmas party.
It was so beautiful at the hotel and fun because Mark gets to work with some of his college friends. They had a great
magician come for entertainment. He was amazing. A few years back we went to a party that had a magician come. He was doing all this stuff to weird music - the whole thing was very mediocre. Of course I was comparing it to my brother who is an
excellent magician. Every time he does a magic show at our family reunions I'm falling off my chair in laughter and amazed and bewildered at the same time. It is so fun to watch. So, I was kind of expecting more like that other mediocre jobby, but I was surprised. This guy was really good. He probably wasn't nearly as funny as my brother, but he was doing some really cool magic tricks. A lady would climb inside of a small box on a cart, the magician would turn the cart all the way around, then he'd push the middle of the box one way and another part of the box another way. You could see all the way around the box and under the box. Then he'd open it back up and the lady would climb out wearing a different dress! Or in another box he'd shove these rectangular pieces that you could see all the way through into the middles of the box and once again the lady pops out of it. He did a lot of cool magic tricks with ropes and big metal rings that he made link and unlink while he was spinning them all around, amazing card tricks, and more. At the end he stacked up three 3 ft square boxes and suddenly there's a door and the CEO steps out. It was really amazing. If anyone knows how he does these tricks don't let me know. I think it's fun to be totally amazed!
We went to
Temple square a couple nights before Christmas. It was so beautiful. Brynli loves Christmas lights. She would get so excited every time we pulled out of our garage or she'd go over to our windows and squeal with delight when she'd see everyone's lights. It was really cute. Caleb and Brynli had fun seeing the lights, but I think what they enjoyed the most were the toys in the family history section of the Joseph Smith Memorial building. They loved playing with those.
There were so many people at Temple square that night. I think everyone else must have thought it was a good night to go as well. Aren't these beautiful?!
We had so much fun at our
family Christmas party. We mostly played a bunch of games and just had fun together. I think Brynli's thinking "I can't wait until I can play with them too!"
Below is a picture of our service project this year. We made some quilts for the "forgotten children". They went to a place that cares for children who's parent/s have a mental illness.
We went up to visit Mark's family for New Year's. Mark's dad took us
snowboarding! It was so fun! I haven't been in a long time. It was really great to get up there again and it wasn't even cold, which makes it so much nicer.
Us playing a really fun dice game.
I love my kids and my husband. They really lift me up with their smiles, laughter, and hugs. There's nothing like a sensitive hug to just release my emotions. The other night as I was going to bed Mark wrapped his arms around me and unexpectedly for me I felt a surge of emotion come up and I just started crying. He just let me cry and listened to me as I told him some of the things I was feeling. He told me that earlier that night as we were having dinner together he just enjoyed it so much and thought there was no where else he'd rather be. Then a little later that night he was making popcorn and I was playing duck duck goose with Caleb and Brynli for family home evening. I chose Caleb so he was chasing me and Brynli of course didn't want to miss out on the fun so she jumped up and started running around with us. We were all running around and around (I went a little more than once) and then crashed and started laughting. It was so fun. Mark said he was watching that and felt happy and knew this is what it's about. I'm so thankful he told me that and encouraged me with praise and love, because I need it. A lot.
Caleb and Brynli checking out the first snowfall. It didn't stick, but they had fun watching it.
Caleb and Brynli love playing outside, even in the snow.
Caleb & Brynli were fighting over the tricycle, so Mark came up with this great idea! He tied the wagon onto the tricycle and Caleb gave Brynli a ride. They had a blast. Thanks Daddy!
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