Livin' it up!

 We put B and Papa on a plane, changed the sheets, ran to the grocery store, and then Ben and Jenn arrived from Chicago to spend New Year's with us. It was perfect as we LOVE packing our holidays with friends and family! We found you can sleep seven kids in the boys room without too much difficulty with the trundle bed and plenty of floor space!

We had a fun cousin gift exchange with the East Coast Iversons, and spent plenty of time playing games and hanging out.

Then we had an epic New Years party that used all the space in my house so well. We did games and puzzles upstairs, video games in the basement, cat and mouse (of course!), and had plenty of delicious food. We had all the teens on their way to the Stake New Years Dance stop by for food and fun before they left, which was great.

In addition, we were so lucky to have the Moores in town for New Years and they came over for the party too. Food, friends and lots of fun makes for a perfect New Years Eve. I felt particularly blessed to be excused from my New Years Eve stake dance hosting duties, where I have been for the last few New Years. I love the New Years Dance and love that all these teens have an awesome place to go, but I do love our parties here at home too.

 We were so lucky to have B and Papa here for Christmas with us this year! The kids enjoyed a Barbarian Dinner (one of their favorite crazy events in the advent calendar!) and then we played games, watched movies, built legos, and loved every minute of having Grandma and Grandpa here for Christmas.

We decorated gingerbread men to leave out for Santa on Christmas Eve, and had Ludlows over for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner. We did the Nativity and sang Christmas carols, drank eggnog, and then went to bed.

Christmas fell on  a Sunday this year (my favorite!) and we had a beautiful Christmas music program. Brooke, Megan, and I sang "O Holy Night" and then we all came home and enjoyed our Christmas presents.

After Christmas, we went to the Smithsonian Art Gallery with the big kids and also out to Founding Farmers for a fun "grown up" dinner with Brooke and Megan and B and Papa. Loved having them in our home to make fun memories with!

 My neighbor, Christy, started a cookie exchange a few years ago, and this year she asked me to host it. We had a great time inviting our friends over to enjoy some snacks and delicious cookies that we then exchanged and took home to share with our families for Christmas. I love the moms and girls in the neighborhood and I'm so grateful for times to gather with them. I also love any excuse to try out fun food, and these Pinterest ideas turned out pretty great1

 December is still my favorite month. So much going on and it's a BUSY time, but I love all the fun traditions, the delicious food, and the beautiful music. The older my kids get, the more Christmas concerts I get to attend, and I love it.

Megan loves to make delicious food for us, including this festive breakfast on a Saturday morning in December. And then we always make caramels - to eat and to give away. Natalie and Lucy are my best caramel wrappers!

I also celebrated my birthday with month with lunch out with Kara, Kerri, and Jenny at Not Your Average Joe's. So grateful to have fun friends to celebrate with!

I'm also the room parents for Natalie's class so I get to help with class holiday parties, which is always full of excitement. I'm so glad the kids all love it when I come to school. (I'm so glad the girls still love it when I come to the high school. Megan recently told me I'm a pretty cool mom so she doesn't mind when I hang out with her and her friends. Score!)




We enjoyed many concerts - some of my favorites were Megan's Women's Chamber choir singing at a local charity event and also performing at Renaissance Feaste at the high school. Brooke always performs at multiple assisted living centers, including a recital with her violin studio. Evan sang with the elementary school chorus too.





And yes, all she wants for Christmas is her two front teeth!

We spent the Thanksgiving weekend decorating our new space for Christmas. Love the IKEA stars that Mike found for me. Who was my most excited helper? Michael, of course. He was so excited to help with lights and did his best to string them up all by himself. I left them for at least a week to enjoy his work. Wishing we could get some beautiful snow to fall out those big beautiful windows!