Christmas

 

 I love Christmas morning before anyone is awake looking at all the presents under the tree and anxiously awaiting the fun time to come.

 Graham was the first kid up and he was ready to come downstairs with his "binks."

We had to wake Bridger up and when he started coming down the stairs and saw Grandma Donna, Cookie, Steve, Zach, and Madie come in he couldn't contain his excitement! I'll never forget how he threw his hands up in the air and shouted, "Yay!"

Amber wasn't ready to wake up either but we wanted to get started so Jake woke her up and brought her down to enjoy her very first Christmas.

 Where to begin?

 Steve hogged baby Amber all morning and helped her open all her presents. She loved it!

 Barry had my mom and dad on the big screen again this year. It was just like they were here with us! Thank goodness for modern day technology.

 Madie and Grandma

 Amber trying to grab more presents. "Hmm...I wonder what's in this one?"

 Bridger loves dinosaurs so he was excited to open his Dinosuar Encylopedia sticker book.

Graham was content to play with the very first little toy he opened, a nerf gun. I could have saved lots of money and just gotten him that! Here he is shooting Zachy.

Baby Amber got lots of girly toys so she doesn't have to play with dinosaurs and spiderman anymore.

Grandma Cookie was a big helper opening toys and giving the boys their candy whenever they wanted it.

 Graham loves Mickey Mouse right now so I got him these little plastic figurines and after he opened them he gave them all a big hug. So cute!

 Bridger got a big mechanical T-Rex. He told me this was his favorite toy! He's been playing with it non-stop ever since.

 I gave Jake and Nerf gun for Christmas. For some odd reason I thought it was a good idea. After he spent the morning terrorizing his kids I began to question my thinking.

We had so many toys to open that we had a little intermission. We let the boys play with some of their toys and put Amber down for a nap while Cookie and Steve visited Brody and Corine's family. When they came back we finished opening the rest of the gifts. Bridger and Graham got a Batman cave and Cookie and Steve gave them cars and other Batman toys to go with it. Can you say, "Spoiled?"

Brooke and Skyler gave Bridger and Graham a game called Hungry, Hungry Herd. They loved it! They gave us Nerf guns and without knowing that's what they got us we gave them the same thing. Great minds think alike, I guess. Now we can have Nerf gun wars around the house.

 Makenzie and Eliza came over and helped Amber open her clothes. Little Amber looks so excited! I think we have a future fashionista on our hands.

Our brunch with Brody and Corine's family was so much fun! We had blueberry muffins, a yummy salad, hashbrown quiche, sticky buns, bacon, orange juice, pineapple/grapefruit slush and hot chocolate. Delicious!

 BJ got a big T-Rex from Grandma and Grandpa Hart. Here they are playing away.

The rest of the day we spent Skyping with Jake's family who were out of town, had dinner at Grandma Donna's, and visited with my mom's family at Grandma and Grandpa Smith's. When we got home Bridger was so worn out he just laid down on the couch and went to sleep.

Graham stayed up and watched one of his new movies, How to Train Your Dragon, with Daddy.

We had such a fun Christmas and feel so blessed to have all these wonderful gifts! I'm especially grateful for the Savior and the Gospel in my life and to have the family that I do. I have so much to be grateful for. Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Eve

Each year on Christmas Eve we all go to Grandma Donna's house to act out the Nativity, have a talent show, and eat yummy treats. It's one of my favorite traditions!

This year Bridger had the big role of Joseph and his cousin, Ivy, played Mary. Don't they look cute?

Jospeh and the wise men, Logan, and Driggs

Nickson was the newest baby so he played the role of baby Jesus. He was perfect!

For my talent Brody and I played The First Noel on our guitars together.

Bridger sang Jingle Bells with Driggs and Hank for his talent

Buddy the Elf (AKA Turk) made an appearance and was a hit with the kids!

Graham didn't dress up but he came out as a Shepherd or something during the Nativity

Baby Amber enjoyed the play and all the Christmas songs. I think she would agree that her first Christmas Eve was a blast!

December 2012

Here's what's been going on in December:

Grandma Lynnadele came over and brought the kids their Christmas book. She got them "How Dinosaurs Say Merry Christmas" and when Bridger opened it he said, "Oh, I've been waiting for this book!" He loves dinosaurs! It was fun for them to get to read the book with Grandma.

Of course we had to go down to Temple Square to see the lights as a family. It was beautiful as always! The biggest hit of the night was the dinosaur playground over at City Creek food court. The boys played in their for over an hour after we ate dinner (along with every other family in Salt Lake City).

We made some tasty gingerbread men and decorated them

 Bridger loved putting mini M&Ms all over his

We decorated a couple of them in honor of my mom and dad, Pres. and Sister Hart. My mom loves gingerbread men and I wish she could have been there with us to make them!

 Brooke and I made our snowflakes this year to hang up on the windows. Barry made fun of one I made and so I told him to make one of his own to see if he could do any better. His turned out pretty ugly without any points on it so we called it a doily. He appreciated our hard work after that.

 This was my favorite snowflake I made. I found the pattern online. So cute!

 At our ward party this year they took us back in time to Bethlehem. They even had a live camel there along with a donkey, a calf, chickens, rabbits, etc. It was awesome!

Scoot and Michelle's family came over and we made gingerbread houses. So fun!

Lastly, here's a picture of my favorite little girl in the world and me. Love her! 

Brazil Part III--Thanksgiving

We got home from Sauipe on Wednesday the day before Thanksgiving so my mom and I had to get busy cooking. We had to make all the pies from scratch so they took a while but they were sure tasty! We started making them in the afternoon and it took us all night.

 My mom cooking up a storm. Notice the cooked pumpkin on the stove. My mom has to make her own pumpkin puree for her pumpkin pie.

 Me and my mom slaving away...

 The boys eating some apples watching us cook

Amber got a little fever while we were there and wasn't feeling very good on Thanksgiving. I found the remote to the air conditioner that was missing and my dad said he'd pay $10 to the person that found it. So when I sat down on my mom's bed and felt it tucked into the covers I started screaming that I found it! Well, I scared poor Amber to death and she cried and cried. She's normally not so jumpy but she wasn't feeling like herself.

My mom's French Apple Pie. Yum!

 

The turkey cooking away. Funny story--turkeys in Brazil are a lot more expensive than in the United States. When my mom, dad, Barry, and I went shopping to get the turkey we found some smaller ones at Sam's Club so my mom bought two of them. She said she hoped that she didn't see any bigger ones at the next store or else she'd be mad she got these ones. Sure enough, at our next stop we found great big turkeys for sale. My dad was reluctant to buy another one since we already had two! Well, my mom talked him into and it cost $85 US dollars! So in all we probably spent $175 on turkeys. My dad wasn't too happy about that but when we cooked it up and ate it on Thanksgiving we all agreed that it was the best turkey we had ever had!!

 I made some little cards to label everything we were going to eat

 And I made these little turkey name place settings

 Setting the table

Pres. and Sis. Hart arranging the centerpiece

 The beautiful table

 My mom and dad had the mission office Elders over for dinner with us. There were 5 of them that came. It was so fun to meet these cute missionaries!

 All the food waiting to be eaten. Mmm...it's making me hungry just thinking about it!

 You should have see how high the Elders piled their plates! This picture doesn't do it justice. You'd think they had been starved or something. It was hilarious!

 The Elders took their names on the turkeys and put it over their missionary tags. I thought they should have worn them around like that the rest of the day.

Me and Amber in her Thanksgiving dress. She was adorable!

 

Eating our delicious meal together. All that hard work was worth it!

The two Elders on the right are Brazilian so of course they had never celebrated Thanksgiving before. Most of the food was new to them so it was fun to see if they liked it. When we asked what they thought of it Elder Leite trying to describe what he liked said, "I don't know what I'm eating, but I like it." The other cute Elder had never had cheeesecake before. I made the cheesecake and it was delicious if I do say so myself. I was interested to see what he thought of it. After he ate it he said, "How have I lived 19 years without ever tasting cheesecake?" I guess he liked it!

 My mom and I made 4 pies for dessert--French Apple, Pumpkin, Chocolate Cream, and Strawberry Cheesecake. And yes, I had a slice of each one. They were to die for!

 After the Elders went home we just hung around the mission home playing games and relaxing. It was one of the best Thanksgivings ever and I'm so glad we got to spend it with my parents!