december video overload

Yes it's true that I have included about 20 videos in this post but every one of them is worth watching and documenting. Believe it or not, we had more.. :)

The first week of December we went to this fun Christmas event at the University of St. Thomas. It was so fun! And I am already looking forward to it again next year. They had a petting zoo that had ALL of the animals involved in the nativity. goats, deer, sheep, pigs, donkey, rabbit. The kids were in heaven.

They also brought in some SNOW!!! When people bring in snow it's always hard or slushy but it's sure fun.

This was a different event, but Aria loved pretending to be Mary.

I designed Nate's first ever advertisement in the Houston dental magazine. I think he looks really handsome. Especially with his new beard.

I did a ton of homemade Christmas gifts this year. I made these for all of Nate's employees. I think they are beautiful. and a good reminder of all things good.

These are all the people that work with Nate. They have really made his transition into the practice a good one. I am so happy this seems to be working out. They all are really great people.

I also made this wreath. I absolutely adore it. I can't believe how good it turned out.

Jeff got sick on the first Saturday this month. So I took Aria on a little date to home depot and this guy had to stay home. He was really sad but Daddy helped him build this dinosaur and it made his day so much better.

Jeff and Aria did a little musical Christmas performance. I vowed never to ruin aria's beautiful lashes with mascara, ever again. Because, let's be honest those things are as long as spiders and SO beautiful. She looked like a mini Audrey Hepburn. So classy. She is going to be one beautiful woman. That's for sure.

My favorite song was Jeff's loop de loop and man you should totally see his hoola hoop. That boy can rock it.

He also did Frosty the Snowman. So cute!!!

Aria was really just glad that she got to participate this year. She has really blossomed in this class and she is more confident in front of people. I love it so much.

Aria's class did Rockin' around the Christmas tree. She was definitely the best! Although, I may be a little biased.

Before we left for Utah, we just HAD to go see Santa at Bass Pro Shop. It was particularly busy this night but we did some crafts, colored, and played checkers while we were waiting. I think fun was had by all. This was Aria's first year of being really skeptical of santa. She said that she didn't want to tell me what she wanted because if she told me, she wouldn't know if Santa brought it or not. so she tried to keep it a secret. However, she wasn't very good at keeping it a secret, but I think Santa came through. :) When she went and saw Santa here, she asked for a million dollars. But luckily Santa had the mind to tell her that wasn't a possibility... :) So then she asked for a cleaning kit... what? Then she asked him how old he was... and he said I'm over a hundred years old! And then she said, but HOW old? Then he said... Well I'm older than my teeth, but younger than my beard. I thought it was hilarious...

Our 2nd night of traveling we stayed in Monticello. We could see the temple from our hotel room and after breakfast we went outside and played in the snow. It was so magical.

This is our happy dance because after 18 hours of driving we FINALLY made it to UTah!!! So glad we made it as you can see... little did they know we had 6 more hours.

On the way we stopped at Arches. It was so beautiful.

I miss Utah, so bad sometimes it's ridiculous.

 Jeff, just the usual... bummed that he didn't get to go first. Can you say spoiled? Yep.. I created this monster.

 Pretending the balancing rock was about to fall on her...

 God has a gift.

 Making our own arches... :)

 We have never felt so small and insignificant as we do in these pictures. The world is amazing.

 And there's my smile. He really can be so sweet.

 He is my boy of many faces.

 Aria really got into the Junior Ranger thing. Here she is writing about her experience.

Next time maybe we can go and actually camp.Or maybe do an actual hike.

We had the wonderful opportunity of staying with Grandma Barbara this trip, and it was filled with stories and stories galore. I just love the story of Grandma trying to give a book of mormon away at the zoo and it accidentally went down into her pants and she couldn't find a good way to fish it out.. :)

She told the kids bedtime stories every night and we got to partake of some of Rick and Lori's scripture time traditions. They made my kids feel so important and loved.

Grandma had them help set up her villages. I loved watching them do this. Grandma got really sick shortly after this but by the time we had to go she was feeling much better. I'm glad we got to spend some quality time with her. She is an amazing woman.

Then we stayed a few nights at Will and tabi's house. We made graham cracker houses,

Had fun with old friends. Learning Kung fu from Robert.

His finished project... so he could eat it.

We made a movie... well half a movie... Jeff (scrooge) decided he was not going to dance with Maybelle(Penny) and so we had to end the movie right there.  Maybe we'll finish it next year, but it was sure fun.

Nate and Will always have an arm wrestling competition.

This time the kids got in on the action.

We also had the amazing experience of going to temple square with some very dear friends of ours. We miss them so much and I'm so glad they made the trip down to see us.

How it really is...

Robert likes to make fun of my selfies.. :)

The kids... we also got to tour the conference center together.

We went at the perfect time because we got to see the lights from the rooftop of the conference center before they stopped letting people up here. I felt so lucky.

It was definitely cold, but the kids were so happy to be there.

Then we headed down to St. George forsome Christmas Eve fun. Here, Grandpa's reading his traditional story to us. I love this old book my parents have.

Opening Presents! It's Santa time! We got so many fun things this year, we feel so blessed.

Christmas day, My grandpa came down and braved the snowy weather to come play the infamous washer game with us. He is so creative, my favorite throwers were definitely Jeff and Chelsea.

We went on lots of hikes while we were there. My family has finally gotten active and I am so proud of them. We do fun things together now and I am loving it so much!!

The day we took the kids on a hike it was SUPER cold. Poor things...

But we all had fun.

Group  picture... kind of. My kids came home with lots of sand in their pockets!! :)

Jeff got his attitude going on the way back and somehow, he talked Grandpa into bringing him back on his shoulders. again.. like I said. Spoiled rotten. I created this monster.

My grandpa brought down these cool old photographs, my Dad is putting into a digital format. He actually made that frame out of a canning lid and some tin snips. So cool. He was trying to make his own family tree for the wall. I'm beginning to figure out that I'm a lot more like my Grandpa than I realized.

Our second hike was an adults only hike. It was a little longer and quite a few more drop-offs. My Mom was deathly afraid of it when she went last time so she gladly volunteered to watch the kids.

Chelsea acted a lot like my Mom this trip, which I haven't really recognized before....

The boys were really mature about stuff... as you cansee.

I thought I married my husband for his brains.. but sometimes I just don't know... HE's totally a kid at heart.

It was all so beautiful.

We had our annual family 5k. It was fun!!! I think Devin won again this year... but Jared might have been a close tie. It's hard to tell. :) We celebrated by eating cafe rio.

And finally, it snowed!!! In st. George. We made a really tiny tiny snowman.  But it was so fun to see the joy on the kids faces...

 Merry Christmas and Happy December from the Radmall Grandkids!