mOst WonDerfuL tiMe of the yeAr

I have been really bad at blogging this year..maybe 2016 will be better. With insta gram and Facebook taking over social media I dont even know if anyone reads blogs anymore, but I like blogging as a journal for myself. So you are warned.....this is a long post...mainly just narrated pictures from the past month or two.

The Holidays start with Thanksgiving! We are so blessed and have a lot to be thankful for.

 
We had a nice lunch/dinner at my parents house.
 
I love spending time with family...especially these two little ones.

Juliette

and

Lincoln 

It is always fun to see my grandparents.  

After eating lots of food and playing games we zonked out. 

The next day we saw The Good Dinosaur and it is such a cute movie! 

We had fun with cousins! 

We also played games with these hooligans. 

We love all the snow we've had this winter!  

We got one of our Christmas presents early! I have been wanting our floor redone since before we moved in 3 years ago...here are some pictures of the process and final product. THANK YOU Matt, David and Marcus for your hard work.  I LOVE our new floor! 

YAY! 

I love my Alpha Phi sisters! We saw the final Hunger Games together 

and had our annual Ugly Sweater Christmas party where we also gathered donations for The Sharing Place. We always have a great time together! 

 I'm so thankful for these ladies and that we are still such good friends.

We went to Festival of Trees at the South Towne Expo Center...I love my job and work. Melinda and her kids also came to visit and walk through to see the trees, gingerbread houses and dancers. 

 I think this was my favorite tree. 

I love this Harry Potter Tree too! 

Family with Santa

Juliette's favorite part was getting her face painted...definitely not seeing Santa haha.  

My work is awesome and we have focused on giving back to the community and donating items and time to good causes throughout the year. One of our five projects this year was collecting gifts for the Shriner's Hospital and helping with a carnival (we did a bean bag toss with prizes) for the children there. It was so awesome!

We also welcomed our newest nephew- Keaton Jay Gardner on December 3

Little Keaton

We set up our Christmas Tree and decorations- it was so fun having the kids help this year

Helped mom do a Santa puzzle! 

Watched Matt and Lincoln laugh, play and fall asleep playing video games- Destiny is the game of choice right now 

Elf on the Shelf is always a hit. We love him "watching" our kids and reporting to Santa all month. 

 

Christmas party #1 was the Witt Party

thanks Nana Karen for keeping traditions alive

Juliette loves babies! 

and dolls

Thanks Sab and Tim for our gifts. We got to facetime Jess and her family to see them open their gifts since they live in Oregon. 

Christmas party #2 Boam Party

Janalee was afraid she didnt have any kid toys since her boys are almost grown up but we found some snowballs and had the best snowball fight ever. 

I love doing the nativity every Christmas to remind us the true meaning of Christmas and reflect on Christs birth...even if baby Jesus is 11 year old Ethan hahaha 

 

 Christmas party #3 Christmas Eve at Grammee and Poppi's house

Juliette got the BEST white elephant gift....Balls for her (soap) hahah luckily it smelled good and she went around saying "Smell my Balls" hahaha she liked it way better than the socks (her first gift pick) 

Lincoln LOVED his remote control car 

Eleanor and Juliette loved offering a stick of gum just to ZAP them...those tricksters.

Addison brought another gift in Santas bag 

 Christmas Eve I also went snowboarding with my dad, David and Marcus...all dressed up like Santa to get 1/2 off skiing at Brighton (only the first 100 were free)



We had a blast! (and it was a workout...I'm getting old)


This year was our first Christmas staying home! I love seeing their faces on Christmas morning.

I love this family of mine!


Juliette picked out this gift herself for daddy and wrote him a note.

I got spoiled with an Apple watch, perfume, selfie stick, heart locket necklace and more!  

 The boys got a quad copter!!

The kids got even more spoiled 

This boy loves his cars, trucks and batman!

Dinotrucks!

I love Lincolns face

Juliette loves her gun, necklaces and little playhouse with bunnies and lots of tiny pieces. 

Another Christmas tradition is to go over to the Romero's house for breakfast or brunch and then exchange gifts with brothers and sisters. 

Saturday we used our new sleds that Santa brought us

 

  

Cafe Rio birthday dinner

Sunday I turned 28 and had a good day! We went to church, watched movies and had dinner and played games with both my family and matt's family at his parents house.

 

Marcus and I love having David home from his mission! 

We hung out with some friends from Brazil that Matt met on his mission and it was so great to see Cleo and talk to the kids on the phone! 

 I love Christmas season, my birthday and the new year and New years goals and fresh starts. I'm so thankful for our Savior Jesus Christ. It is amazing that he started His life on earth so humbly just like many of us. I am thankful for His life and that through Him we can repent and live again. I'm thankful for His love to me and my family every single day.  Looking forward to 2016!