Highlights of 2015

There is an app that put together the 9 most liked pictures on my instagram feed in the year of 2015. The most liked ones, were definitely some of our highlights from the year.  Finding out we would be adding to our family, Lauren coming home, and the Aggie's beating Boise State in football and our kids being absolutely adorable. Even though I was sick for half of it, it was a great year. I am looking forward to 2016 though and especially can't wait to meet baby Wood number 3!!

The Last Month of the Year

Well I know the month of December has begun because I have my Christmas decorations put up and anytime James comes to our house, he always finds something from another place in our house to add to my nativity. It is quite humorous, and I have to be honest, I kinda look forward to it. Sometimes I won't even notice it though until a couple of days later. He is so sneaky about it, and it makes me giggle every time!

December was a fun month and not too busy. I got Christmas shopping done as soon as I could so that we could enjoy the month of December.  It was my Grandma's 80 birthday on the 5th and we had a family dinner at Holly and Dan's house. Dan made an awesome video of pictures of her throughout her life played to music. It was so sweet and so fun to look at the cute pictures of her growing up. I sat and cried through the whole thing. Then we gave her a picture of her house that my friend Emily had water colored for her. It turned out perfect and she loved it. I love that house so much because of the great memories that have been created there and because of the two great people that live there. I will always cherish this picture!

Stella is my little pal while Drake is at school.  Some days we stay home all day, other days we go out to lunch (she loves edamame) and run errands, and some days we get pedicures. She isn't quite sure about letting anyone paint her toenails, but she likes to come with me and sit in the massage chairs. I love the time I get to spend with just her. 

Drake has a wonderful Kindergarten teacher. Her name is Ms. Labrum and Drake loves her. She is a great teacher, but she also cares about the kids, and keeps me in the loop with how he is doing in his class. She sent this picture to me and a sweet message about what a great kid Drake is and a picture he had colored. I have to admit, I was so proud of Drake for this, and he makes me so proud and happy that he is such a good kid, a good student, but most importantly he is a kind, sweet boy!

My kids love looking for our elf Tangle every morning. That elf is always in a different spot:) Drake also has to facetime Grandma Lisa every morning to see where her elf Glitz is hiding.

One Saturday Lauren and I went and did some Christmas shopping and some wedding planning. It was so much fun. We went to breakfast at Herm's and then stopped at about every store in Logan. It was so fun to spend time with just her and have that one on one time.

Drake and Stella played at the Neil's house, and when it was time to come home, Drake said that he would walk and hold Stella's hand so that I didn't have to leave the house to come and get them. I watched from my back window, and sure enough he held her hand the whole way!

They had face painting at our ward party. Drake will not come near that stuff, and Stella was all about it and wanted it all over her face!

I am in love with this picture that Drake drew at school and brought home!

Stella had a Christmas dance party at school and the parents were allowed to come and watch their dances and some of the moves they have learned this year so far. It was pretty funny watching these little girls shake and groove.

Haaaaa! This girl is a crack up and a pretty good shopping buddy. My mom got Stella those boots at the beginning of the fall and she has worn them everyday. They keep her feet warm and dry while looking adorable all at the same time!

My parents Stake had a cool thing at their church where they put on a live nativity, and then had a ton of nativity's set up inside the church. There were a ton of them and they were really cool to see. It was freezing cold outside and the wind was blowing, but it was worth seeing because we could feel the spirit and what Christmas is all about.

We are a Van Fam

See that picture above? Yeah, that is us in a van! We sold our jeep for a mini van.  Wow, now we really are a true family of soon to be 5.  I never thought I would say this, but seriously I have never been so excited as to get a van! I have absolutely loved our jeep and especially love the look of our jeep, but a van is so convenient. With little kids it is the only way to go.  I don't even care what it looks like, because it makes my life so much easier!  We got a charcoal grey Town and Country.  It has leather seats, a button to open the doors and a dvd player which were the only things I really cared about having. Every time I have driven it since we got it, I am reminded of how happy I am that we have it:)  Now we just need baby number 3 to come so we can fill another seat. 

I don't know what I was more sad to see go, the jeep or the Deathly Hallows sticker?!

Christmas Break

We had a wonderful Christmas break. Drake was out of school as well as every other kid and we were lucky to have so many family members in town to hang out with. We took advantage of it and played games almost every single night. My kids were in heaven playing with their cousins and Stella thought the older girls were so cool and followed them around for a week straight.

These boys are dang cute and are always good to play together.  Boston is 10, Kyler is 8 and Drake is 6.  Drake idolizes these boys and looks up to them so much.  They are really good to Drake and set good examples. All three of these boys have the same middle name of Joseph after my Great Grandpa Joseph.

Stella cracks us up because she is like a cat. She perches up on top of things and fits into the smallest places. She is also really quiet when she walks and sneaks up on you with out even knowing she is there. She doesn't meant to do this, she just does it. Josh and I just laugh cause she really is like a little cat. Oh, and we spent a lot of the Christmas break in our comfy clothes.

I took the kids to the fun park one day to burn off some energy in the soft play and play some games. They had a blast and I enjoyed the time to sit in peace and quiet for a minute.

We also went with my WHOLE family to chuck a rama to eat. The kids love that place cause they can get whatever they want to eat, and the love the ice cream they can get afterwards.

Josh and Ted took the kids sledding the day after Christmas.

Drake was so excited to try out his new tube.... and he went down the first time and hit a sharp piece of ice and the tube popped. He was sad for a few seconds and then was a good sport about it and had fun using his cousins sleds. 

Josh's family all went to Lava Hot Springs to sit in the hot pools. I didn't go because I can't sit in them.  They went and got some dinner after and everyone had a lot of fun!

Christmas Day 2015

Christmas Day was such a great day! Our kids woke up soooo excited to see what Santa had brought them. They anxiously waited for Josh and I to get up and get out of bed.  This year they asked for a wooden castle and some castle toys to play with it. Well, that is what they got. Santa brought the cutest wooden castle I have ever seen. The kids are able to build it and set it up and way they want.  Drake got some knights, pirates, horses and a dragon and Stella got some princesses and fairies. They were really excited about it. After they played with the toys from Santa and looked through their stockings, they opened the presents that Josh and I had for them. 

Stella got a new Dolly and boy oh boy is she cute. I was so excited to give this to her, I almost couldn't handle the excitement. I also made her a baby doll carrier that she could put her doll in that she just loved. The doll is a bitty baby and she has named it Honey.

We didn't get a picture of Drake opening an presents but I snapped this cute picture of him just taking it all in and resting under the tree. He got a new sledding tube and the game mine craft for the Play Station. He was so stoked about it!

After we opened up presents, my family came out for Breakfast. I made a breakfast casserole, monkey bread and fruit. It was so yummy and really fun to have it at our house! That way our kids could play with their toys and we didn't have to leave our house that morning.

Check out those darling slippers. After we ate breakfast and spent some time at our house we went to my parents house to exchange gifts and open up presents from my mom and dad. This year they asked us for a list of things that we would want in these 4 categories: Something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read.  So with the ideas we gave them, the picked out 4 presents for each of us. It was really fun, and exciting to open them up and see what they were. We all got some awesome things and had a wonderful Christmas because of it! Now that I am a mom and know how much work Christmas is, I was so appreciative of all my mom did for us in buying all of the stuff and wrapping it. It is exhausting and she put a lot of time and thought into it and made it a lot of fun. And a big thanks to my Daddy for paying for it all :)  

After we spent some time at my parents we went home and all of us took a nap. It was so nice to just relax and get some rest. When we woke up and got ready we went back to my parents for Curry. I didn't get many pictures because I didn't have my phone with me most of the time due to being with family and playing lots and lots of games!

Christmas Eve 2015

Christmas Eve is one of the best days of the whole year! I even enjoy it more than Christmas day because of all the excitement and anticipation that you have leading up to Christmas day. We just enjoyed the day at home and the kids played while I cooked and baked for the night's dinner.  That evening we went to my grandparents house for dinner and we decorated gingerbread boys for Santa Clause. We usually decorate them a few days before Christmas, but we did it Christmas Eve this year and it was so fun and a tradition we will continue to do. 

Later in the evening Drake made sure we read and acted out the Nativity. He has been looking forward to this for weeks.

Drake and Stella loved this part of the night and took their parts as Mary and Joseph very seriously. It was so sweet. Stella took good care of baby Jesus :)

Then the kids put on a show with different songs they either wanted to sing or play on the piano. We all sang a long and had a great time. We kept an eye on the Santa tracker on our phone and went home when we saw he was getting closer to us.

My very favorite Christmas tradition is Christmas Eve Pj's.  I have carried that tradition on with our kids and they look forward to it and love it to. My parents, James and Lexi and Lauren came out to our house to open our Pj's and for our kids to open theirs.

Then we read some Christmas stories and listened carefully for Santa's bells. We heard them close to our house. The kids were so excited and sure fell asleep quickly. It was a magical night and so fun with our two kids. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!