So many Christmas activities, so little time........

December is always a busy month for our family, just as I am sure it is busy for everyone else. We normally head to Arizona the day or two after Christmas to spend a week with family, however we decided this year for various reasons, that we were going to stay home. It was a lot less stressful than normal, since I wasn't trying to get three kids and myself ready for a twelve hour drive in the snow.

We did lots of fun things before Christmas. Our ward has a playgroup on Wednesday mornings at the church. A week or so before Christmas we had our last playgroup of the year, where we got together and did Christmas crafts with our kids. We then celebrated with a pizza party and each of the children exchanged homemade gifts or gifts they bought under a dollar. I forgot to take pictures of our party but I think everyone had a great time. My friend Mariana and I had gotten together a few days before the party and sewed cute little snowman pockets out of felt that we filled with treats. The snowmen is the present both our daughters gave to the kids at the gift exchange. I wish I would have taken a picture of them too. They were really cute.

We also began the first annual gingerbread house making party at our home. When I was growing up my best friend Anna lived across the street from me. Every year since I was three, they invited me over to build and decorate a gingerbread house. It was such a fun tradition that I had looked forward to every year. I wanted to keep this tradition going with my girls, so this year we hosted the party at our house. We had lots of Ashley's friends come over and their moms helped them decorate their houses. I was finally able to get Ashley to pose for a picture with her house, even though it had begun to fall apart.




Every Christmas it is a tradition for Nana Brown to send our girls their yearly Christmas dress to wear to church the Sunday before Christmas. This year, with my early morning meeting at 7 a.m., I didn't have much time to get home, get them in their dresses and then get their picture taken before we rushed out the door for church. Nap time for Madison is right as church is ending, so every time we walk back in the door after three hours of meetings, Madison is usually half asleep or super cranky. This Sunday was no different. She fell asleep on the short ride home and stayed asleep even as Chris was trying to get her to stand up for her picture in her dress. She then did wake up, but wanted nothing to do with sitting with her sister for the picture. I always love to see what Nana has picked out for them each year because the dresses are always so pretty.






Rylee had also fallen asleep by the time we got home so this is the best shot I could get of her in her dress.



The Monday before Christmas, a bunch of moms and their children from my church got together to go to Discovery Gateway, which is a huge indoor learning and activity center for kids. I believe there were thirty-four of us total that went that day. Ashley had a lot of fun and I know she was glad to have a bunch of her friends there with her.

Ashley at the water activity station.


My friends chatting while the kids play.


Madison playing in the area designated for the younger toddlers.


Madison, Kelly, and Ahna





Ashley and Madison enjoying the ball area.





Simon and Jill


Kyla with her niece and nephew, Vangie and Dylan. She is holding and playing with Madison which she does a lot for me. She is a HUGE help when it comes to caring for my kids. I can never take all three of them to a place like this without the help.





Rylee wishing she was old enough to play with her sisters!


My friend Amy entertaining her son Russell and Ashley with Mr. Potato heads.


After a long day at the Discovery Gateway, my friend Mariana had invited me that evening to the Nutcracker. She had received four tickets and her husband wasn't interested in going, so luckily I was next in line!!! She thought of the wonderful idea of taking our two daughters with us who are just a few months apart in age. We decided to make a girls night of it! We started the evening with dinner in downtown Salt Lake at Olive Garden, which is right across the street from the Capitol Theater. The girls loved dinner and decided to show everyone sitting around us at Olive Garden how they could twirl their dresses, just like they did in the video below. They told both Mariana and I that it was our turn to twirl even though both of us didn't have dresses on, but we humored our daughters anyway and twirled directly outside our booth.

After dinner we walked across the street to the Capitol Theater. We arrived plenty early and thought we would need to walk around for awhile to try to get the wiggles out. The girls had no interest in being distracted, they wanted to sit in their chair until it started. I think they were afraid they were going to miss it. They did absolutely wonderful during the entire performance. I only had to take Ashley out once towards the end of the two hour performance because she was thirsty. At intermission she got a bit frustrated that we hadn't stayed in our seats because she thought we were missing part of the ballet. It was such a wonderful evening.....one I won't ever forget.

Meeting at Mariana's house. Ashley didn't want to smile for any pictures until Mariana's husband, Brian, bribed Ashley with a penny. It totally worked!



Capitol Theater offers the children seat cushions to sit on so they can see better over the adults heads.


Ashley and Jillian


The four of us before it started.


Ashley loved the nutcracker and wanted a picture with him.


Took this picture of Mariana, Jill and Ashley sitting in our seats. We had great seats that were 15 or 16 rows from the front directly in the middle. As soon as I took this picture, a gentleman that worked for Capitol Theater approached me and told me I could not take any more pictures......so this was the last one!