Christmas Day

We had a great Christmas-the kids are getting old enough to really enjoy Christmas morning. It is so fun to see the excitement on their faces. We are all so spoiled! Merry Christmas!

Santa at Jones Manor

I guess you are never too old to sit on Santa's lap? Each year Santa visits all the grand kids at Grandma Sandy's house during our family Christmas party. It is the highlight of the night! Each person gets to sit on Santa's lap as he hands them their gift from Grandma & Grandpa Jones. Reese wanted her doll, but didn't want anything to do with that bearded stranger! :0) Grandma Sandy gave all her kids their own genealogy binder that she compiled-that's a lot of work! What a great gift!

Nutcracker Dance Recital

Averee's school dance class performed The Nutcracker. They did a great job & it was fun to watch. Averee was one of the sugar plum fairies. She was so excited for us to FINALLY see her perform after all the weeks of practice! Way to go Ave!!

Ginger Bread Houses

What would the Holiday Season be without decorating some yummy gingerbread houses? We got together with Danny's brother Ryan, his wife Shannon & their family to make a mess-I mean decorate gingerbread houses. :0) We have gotten kinda lazy- I mean smart & started to pre-make the houses using a hot glue gun & graham crackers. So much easier!! Every house starts out looking the same, but it is fun to see how different they are by the end.

Christmas PJ's

During the first Family Home Evening in December the kids get to open their new Christmas Pajamas. This way they get to wear them all month & of course on Christmas Eve. I love finding matching pj's, which gets harder every year with all the variety of sizes we need now. But this is a tradition the kids love & a great way to start the best month of the year!

Family Pictures

I decided it was high time we got some professional family pictures taken. My friend Errin Andrus did a great job, I love how they turned out. We had a fun afternoon getting some great shots. Here are a few of the favs:

Disneyland Again?!

Yup, it's true: we are headed to Disneyland again! Twice in one year, boy are we lucky! We figured that with baby #5 on the way we better sneak in another trip since we probably wouldn't go again for awhile. Plus, I have always wanted to see Disneyland decked out for the holidays & I wasn't disappointed! Everywhere you look is decorated for Christmas-it was gorgeous! Right after Thanksgiving was a great time to go-there were almost no lines! Except to see Rapunzel-the newest princess. We waited in line for an hour to see her & Flynn Rider. The things we endure for our children! Yes, we are crazy! Grandma V & Papa came with us again-they are always so fun to travel with & the kids love having them along. Plus, it is really nice to have a few extra adults around! The boys made some new friends at Knotts Berry Farm...Gorgeous! We had a great time & can't wait to go back!

Cousin Love

Our cousin Syrenidie was in town & we got to spend some fun cousin time with her & our other cousin Ava. Syrenidie lives in Texas with her mom so we only get to see her maybe twice a year, which means we gotta take advantage of these photo opportunities!

What a cute bunch of kids!!

Dance Dance Dance

Averee had a class dance recital. She takes dance at school & her class performed a recital for all the parents. They did a great job & it was quite entertaining. Averee has taken dance since she was 2 and you could tell she had more experience than most of the other kids in her class. She is a beautiful and graceful dancer...love you Ave!

BOO to you!

One of the best things about this time of year is all the fun activites & festivites that go on...

The costumes: This year Averee was a Devil, Adelyn was an Angel (although usually those roles are reversed!), Owen was Mario, and Reese was a LadyBug. So cute!

Our costumes were pretty fun this year too...what do you think? It was hilarious to see everyone's different reactions to our 'announcement'

The Parties: I love parties! I love planning them, going to them, thinking about them-all of it! We have a couples costume party every year & I look forward to it SO much! Plus, there are always a few family parties and such to attend... Todd and Michelle threw a great family party this year complete with apple bobbing & Mummy Wrap-up!The Halls...what a cute senior missionary couple huh? Good thing they came cuz there were some shady characters at the couples party that needed a good missionary discussion or two!We all had a blast at the couples party this year...we played 'Minute to Win it' style games & it was pretty hilarious!

And of course, no Halloween would be com,plete until we decorate our annual 'Haunted Houses' and carve pumpkins... Until next year...BOO!!!