Christmas!

On Christmas Eve we put out homemade sugar cookies for Santa, a glass of milk, and some carrots for the reindeer. We also watched the new videos the church just made about the story of Christ's birth. So beautiful! Then Alan and I were up until almost 2am wrapping presents. As soon as my head hit the pillow, Emma came in asking if it was time to see if Santa had come yet! She came in many more times and suffice it to say it was a looonnngg night! We finally got up at 6am and had a wonderful Christmas morning! Santa had come and he and the reindeer had eaten all the treats we gave but one little carrot nub. 

The girls got beautiful new dresses to wear to church. I sang in the choir and I think we did a good job. It was a nice meeting. 

Then it was off to Grandma Kari and Grandpa Jeff's house for more gifts and fun with cousins. 

Grandma and Grandpa had a BIG surprise for the kids. . . 

They had them sit in a row and read this neat little sign Carli made!

"Tyler, Emma, Brooke, and Owen. Guess where we're going..... DISNEYLAND!"

Woohoooo!!!!

They leave on Monday and Alan and I will have 4 days alone! :)

Cute Baby Gwen!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Christmas Back in the Day

Folsom Zoo

Last night we took the girls to the Folsom Zoo so we could see the animals and the LIGHTs! Not to mention Santa and Santa Paws-- a Santa Bear!

Christmas GOodies

Right before Christmas break, each child in Emma's second grade class was asked to do a project on how he or she celebrates the Winter holidays. She has children from MANY different cultures and backgrounds in her class such as Jewish, Indian, Phillipino, Christian, and Muslim. She wrote a page that she presented to the class on what we celebrate in our family and she took many photos of the symbols of Christmas such as the star on our tree, our nativity set, angels, etc. Then she explained how each symbol relates to God and Christ such as how the candy cane represents the Shepherd's staff and that God is Shepherd who seeks after us as His sheep. She explained that we give gifts because God gave us the gift of His son Jesus Christ. And how we have lights on the tree because Jesus is the light of the world. There were many examples and all on her own she ended with saying that we need to try to keep His commandments so we can return and live with Him again. She included the photo below 3 times in her report which was all her idea. It truly brought tears my eyes and made my heart so proud. I told her what a missionary she was with that project and how special she was! It wasn't even planned! But hey, some of the best missionary experiences seldom are, right?

We also made lots of sugar cookies for her class. It was super fun!

Another thing Emma did that really impressed me had to do with a certain boy named Kenny. Kenny is tough to get along with sometimes. I know because I'm a yard duty and I see it. He is often involved in conflict at school. Emma becomes frustrated with him and comes to tell me about it at recess. On the evening before the last day of school before break, she was talking about how annoying he was, etc. I encouraged her to treat him as Jesus would and to try to make him feel GOOD about himself because he may be really struggling and that's why he's acting that way. A few minutes later she was making him a card that said, 

"Kenny ROCKS! I'm SERIOUS! Love, Emma." 

Then she wrapped it in wrapping paper. It was so sweet. I told her she did the right thing and that Kenny will feel soooo good!

We also made these cute cupcakes (I found the idea on Pinterest) for Brooke's class. They were a big hit!

Emma's School Musical

 Emma was a beaver in her school musical about the Winter Holidays! It was sooo cute! She had a couple lines, which she remembered perfectly, and sang lots of songs!

She was the most animated of the beavers by far. She made up her own moves and was very enthusiastic. She was GREAT!!!

Thank you Karfords for coming! It means so much to us!

And thank you Daleys!

And thank you Grandma and Grandpa!