Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Years 2014

Starting in September it seems the end of each year is a whirlwind. I finally emerge sometime in January or February and frantically try to update the blog. Aaaand this year is no different! As a matter of fact, I think it's worse because we also had the end of Adrian's Masters Degree to deal with. At any rate, here is a re-cap of the holidays...

We had a fairly quiet Thanksgiving at Adrian's parents house. They live less than 5 minutes from us so it's nice to not have to factor in a long drive. 

We had a family talent show and Hailey and Colin showed off a big art project they'd created. Grandpa Bill played us all a song on the violin. Isn't it amazing that at 90 years old he just decided to learn to play the violin?!

We took the kids to see Santa. Thomas was way more into it than I thought he'd be. Colin loved him. Hailey tolerated him. Leah wouldn't go near him and Adam acted like he was being tortured. Epic! 

Adrian and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary on the 15th. 

Then he took his last final a few days later. Major rejoicing ensued! 

We decorated the new house for the holidays...

And even put some lights up outside. We had 1 lone red tree. 

We took the kids to watch the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Christmas concert. 

And the kids performed in a nativity at church:

Thomas decided to read the Harry Potter series over the holiday break. This is where you could find him sometimes for hours each day. 

We blocked off the banister the night of Christmas Eve...

And Santa came! We opened presents and had a nice breakfast. 

It also snowed. A lot. By the 28th I think we had just over 15 or 16" on the ground. 

We had dinner at Adrian's parents house with a ton of family. 

Performed in another nativity! 

Then spent the rest of the days off relaxing and playing with new toys! Here's Hailey dancing to Just Dance 2015- with Adam bopping along. 

Then came New Years...

We all got together again, this time with Adrian's cousin and his family who traveled from Washington state! We played games, did crafts and endured Thomas Kicking our trash at Skip-Bo. We rang in the New Year at about 8:30pm-ssshhhh, don't tell the kids! 

 

Here are a few more random pictures from this holiday season...

Thomas and his tortilla chip in the shape of Utah.

Deer in the backyard.

Holiday candy making! 

Snow play.

Adam boycotting peas. 

Gingerbread men. I worked my tail off to make these cookies and sugar cookies, envisioning a magical family decorating moment. After about 2-3 cookies each, the kids bailed, leaving Adrian and I to decorate the remaining 300. It became a cookie decorating date instead. 

In a moment of desperation I let Leah play on my phone. I came back to around 85 pictures of the haircut she gave Santa. 

And here's one final gem of a picture to end this post on!