Holiday Snaps

It's almost time! One more day of frantic cleaning and I should be ready. My family arrives at dinnertime. Yippee! I held off on making fudge until today, which was a good idea because now I won't be completely addicted to it by the end of the Christmas season.

A few Christmas miracles:

It hasn't been raining much this week. The kids have been able to play outside every day. It has been awesome! I even went outside and threw the football around with Hayden while he told me how he is like Jake Heaps (BYU's QB). Then the girls and I did some sidewalk chalk. Good times.

Bean and Pea cleaned the baseboards today and did an awesome job. Usually they do just an okay job. Then I sent them to clean up their rooms. They did a great job and even helped each other. I don't think they fought once today.

I wanted to get down to a certain weight by Christmas time, and I did! Now I officially have 11 pounds to lose. I hope to fit into my favorite jeans by my birthday. That gives me two months. I think they will fit if I lose 7 more pounds.

A "note to self" for next year: hosting lots of family for both major holidays is fun, but exhausting. Let's just hope Kate is sleeping through the night next year!

And a few photos:

Kyle was the assistant coach for Hayden's basketball team. Unfortunately H only played 2 games because the rest were on Sunday.

Kara meets Santa at our ward's Polar Express Christmas party. Very cool.

Kate meets the big guy. She was unimpressed.

Jillian was Mary for the children's nativity. I'm proud of her for doing this because she is often too self-conscious to be in front of a crowd.


We decorated this guy from Trader Joe's one evening. The kids fought over all the candy and he tasted nasty. What a fond memory! Glad we got a photo so we never forget.