Snow and New Years Eve

 Two days after Christmas we had a huge storm!  Feet of snow! Here's the kids enjoying "colorful snow" by dumping juice on the snow and then eating it.

Whit playing in the snow fort she/Owen/Eric made of all the snow from our driveway!  And more snow eating.

Making smaller forts for the little girls.

Owen and Whitney in their snow cave- that did not completely melt until mid-March!

digging and packing the snow cave.

Owen getting a "drink break" from digging, and Maris and Emma with their fort.

Initial digging and packing.

I went on a gorgeous run that morning before the snow fort-making, while it was still snowing.

See the ice on the river? It was like a slushy! And I got to break a path on the un-plowed river trail in my snow spikes! Also all the trees were hanging low and made it an obstacle course!

My eyelashes got white, and then here's when I came upon a paved section. Look how deep!!

New years Eve!  We had a quiet game night at home.  Owen is not pictured, he was on the floor.  It was Maris' first year staying up to midnight!!  

Also not pictured, Eric and I had a fun anniversary date to Ruth's Chris and a movie. Happy 18 years!

Peace out 2021, it was a great year!!!

Beautiful Christmas Day

Christmas morning!  The kids woke us up at 7:15 I think??  They appreciated some gems in their stockings- tiny vaseline and headscratchers:

m'n'm tubes and Owen's first electric train finally!!

Owen got a IKEA Lego box he didn't have yet. and here's Emma opening a new headband.

Maris got a new beanie!  Which she loves very much.

Katelyn got a book, yay!

Whitney gave Maris her Polaroid camera! and she got a garmin jr!

Eric opening a present and Whitney sitting on her pouf. And Owen with the rubber chicken Whitney gave him hahaha! He loved it.

Eric opening socks haha, and Owen with his new pillowcase from Grammy.

Whitney looking cute with her new pillowcase too.

The messy aftermath!!

Lego building time!!

And a couple of flashbacks from Eric's phone: decorating the tree before Thanksgiving:

Emma visiting Santa at the ward party:

And classic awesome Christmas Eve pics:

And Christmas morning hallway pics!  Whitney partly covers Katelyn's face now!!

And a couple more pics Eric caught-- Kate with a new set of books, Emma excited about her new soccer ball and Whitney seeing her stuff for the first time in the background.

Whitney loving her crocs! and Emma cutely opening a present.

me lookin' great on Christmas morning, and Maris cutely hugging a present.

Christmas morning this year was full of excitement over the gifts everyone was giving!  They had earned the money themselves for the sibling gifts this year and I loved how they felt about their gifts. Lots of smiles and hugs. And Emma was literally jumping up and down with excitement whenever someone opened a present from her! Very sweet.
 

Christmas Traditions

Gingerbread houses with Uncle Jonathan!  

Emma was super independent and hers turned out so cute!  And Whitney's masterpiece:

Owen and Jonathan with their creations:

Maris in her beanie-24-7 phase with her cute house, and Katelyn's skyscraper- look a the tiny doors at the bottom for scale:

Maris had a lot of fun crafting with this plastic and yarn over Christmas break, she made a bunch of cute stuff like this star.

Sugar cookie and gingerbread cookie-making extravaganza!

We had a super fun Christmas Eve- early dinner with the Murrays, where we had to split up so the 4 older kids sat with Kurtis and Lauren!  Eric and Emma and I sat with his parents, and it was hilarious to listen to the conversations going on at the other table haha. And then Jenae and Connor came over for a couple of hours!  They were spending Christmas with his parents in Eagle Mountain. We packed in a couple major traditions with them-- wrapping paper roll fight!

Eric is wearing the baby yoda Christmas sweater Jonathan got him :)

And acting out the Nativity!  Here's Angel Emma appearing to Joseph and then Mary.

Mary and Joseph on their journey- and Joseph got to ride the donkey??

Baby Jesus was born!

The shepherds Whitney and Maris with their sheep, and being surprised by the angel:

Choirs of angels singing!

The shepherds visit the manger.

Maris shepherd leans down to kiss the Christ Child.

The 3 wise men on their long journey, (Owen, Jenae and Connor) singing and dancing as they went. Connor's headwrap was truly spectacular and took quite a bit of effort to make haha

presenting their gifts- I can't even remember what they were laughing about!

Cast photo:

And lastly, the tree with shiny gifts underneath.  It always looks magical to me on Christmas Eve!