Tate Humor.....

I told Tate that we need to come up with an idea for a Valentine's Day Box for school. He told me he would go think about what he could make and went to "search the house." He soon returned wearing this clown nose and with a small garbage can from his room. He said the clown nose helps him think and he had a great idea to decorate the garbage can as Big Hero 6 or R2D2. How can you take this kid seriously? He makes our home a place filled with Tate humor. He was a little sad when we found out he wouldn't need a Valentine's Box for school because they were decorating paper bags instead. I was relieved and told him to make one for home. 

The DARE graduation...

     Dylan graduated from the DARE program at school. His entry essay also won and he was going to read it at the graduation, but ended up having a horrible cold.  His essay was chosen as the one of the top 4 out of around 60 essays and he did it all on his own. We told him with how much he reads he should become an author or publisher. He just wrote a report on Ronald Reagan that was also very good. He is very good at writing.                                         

                                                     
 Dylan and his friend Landon.

If you look closely in the middle you can see Mr. D smiling at us. He has to be a character! We are loving his age. He is growing and becoming such a little man wrapped up in a kids body. Love you Mr. D!

Happy New Year 2016

 We brought in the New Year celebrating with our close friends. We were going to stay the night in Lava Hot Springs, but it was so cold we changed our minds. We met Rex, Tiff, and the kids in Bountiful and had dinner at Texas Road House and then headed to the Orchard Lanes Bowling Alley. We had a blast bowling and the kids were so excited to play in the arcade and win a million tickets.

 We spent New Years having fun as a family and playing a ton of games with our boys. We also assembled a puzzle over the weekend. It was a relaxing and fun New Year's.

Lights at Temple Square....

 It has been a tradition to go to Temple Square with the Rowley Family, but with Grandma Rowley being ill we had to change the tradition and the boys asked if we could go with friends. We took Colin and Thomas and had a great time, but did miss being with family as well.  

 The kids loved the display of Twas the Night Before Christmas at City Creek.

 The Windows at Macey's were pretty cool as well. They were in the Peanut Show design and it was pretty remarkable that they were made out of candy.

 Dylan actually took this picture of Mike and I and I think he did a great job.

Love this picture of Mary and Joseph. Temple Square was beautiful as always.

Before we went to Temple Square, we went to Hire's and enjoyed dinner. The kids thought the cheese fries were the best.

Sledding.....

The Boys went sledding a few times during Christmas break with their friends. They have a blast playing in the snow and love the sleigh hill. 

 Dylan and his friend Thomas.

Tate's friend Colin.

The Annual Green Family Christmas Party......

 One of our favorite Christmas traditions is going to the annual Green Family Party  at Uncle John's and Aunt Lizzy's. We enjoy spending time with all of our cousins and appreciate the Green Family for holding this tradition every year. We love traditions and think they are so important because this creates memories that last a lifetime.

Christmas Day....

 The boys slept in until 7:30 and then they were all excited and couldn't wait to go downstairs.

 They loved every minute of unwrapping and Mike and I loved watching them. We both took photos of the boys and I just realized we don't have any pictures of us opening our gifts.

Even Meeka got in on the action of unwrapping.

 Tate's face explains all the excitement and joy.

 Someone spent a large amout of time at his art stand.

 And then we all spend a great deal of time shooting hoops. The boys (including Mike) loved this.

And then we all spent a great deal of time playing the new X-Box.

It was a great Christmas and we were so thankful for all that we were blessed with, but most importantly for the memories we made and the time we were able to spend together and with family. I didn't take a ton of pictures because I was too busy enjoying every moment and playing with my boys.

Twas the Night Before Christmas......

Our family has such great traditions on Christmas Eve. We spent the day together preparing for Santa to visit and we went tubing on the neighborhood sleigh hill. Grandpa and Grandma came and we had a nice family dinner. The boys read their sweet letter from the tradition of La Befana and Mike had written a beautiful letter to his parents. After dinner we went to our favorite little place to focus on the true meaning of Christmas. We watched the the animals in the stable and talked about the life of Christ. Dylan read the story from the Bible about Christ's birth. When we came home, we checked the Nordic Santa Tracker and the kids quickly went to bed ready for Santa to come.