Visiting Santa:
We heard that the Bass Pro Shop was the place to go to visit Santa. Having never been to a Bass Pro Shop before, I found that slightly odd. Once we arrived, I knew the wait would be worth it! Cassidy and Ariel waited in line, while Sarah and I took the kids around to look at everything. I commented upon leaving that the wait really hadn't been that bad, to which Cassidy just stared at me. Ha, apparently, it felt slightly longer to him! We enjoyed looking at the fish and wildlife and playing video games, as well as writing and mailing letters to Santa, and making an ornament.
This Santa was amazing! He definitely looked the part, but he was also just very personable with the kids. We had my nieces Flat Stanley with us, and he even took a picture with Flat Stanley and started telling us stories about Flat Stanley.
We had a Grinch themed FHE. We talked about giving service, and we set a goal as a family to find small ways to serve each other (and others) each day. I made a poster board and drew a picture of the Grinch on it, and every time a member of our family did an act of service either at home or otherwise, we put a heart on our Grinch. I wish I had taken a picture of it. It turned out pretty cute. We ended the night with Grinch floats (lime sherbet and sprite), and watching the movie.
Lights at the Speedway:
Our FHE right before Christmas, we took my parents out to the Speedway to the lights. I wish I had better pictures. There were so many lights! It was awesome!
Elf on The Shelf:
Lincoln did NOT dye the milk this year, because that was a big bust last year. He went fishing in the bathroom sink using goldfish, ate some of our manger, made a snow angel out of sugar, went for a flight on the ceiling fan, toilet papered our Christmas tree, and had a marshmallow fight with the skylanders just to name a few.
Cassidy and I were invited to an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party at the Macaroni Grill. There were 10 couples, 20 people in all. It was so much fun! It was a white elephant gift exchange. We were definitely in the midst of some White Elephant gift pros. Cassidy got a (unused) pregnancy test with a sample of "urine" (apple juice). I got an old piano lap and a knit beanie. Some of the gifts included a car case full of old burned CDs, lots of mustache items, and a hamster (yes, an actually real live hamster)!
We've tried to be better at each parent having a date with each child once a month(although we haven't really started with Gavin yet). I love seeing how special they feel being out on a date with just Mommy or just Daddy. Our outings are normally nothing big, but just getting that time in is key. This particular date, I took Parker out christmas shopping for his teacher and for Riley, and then we stopped at U-Swirl for some frozen yogurt.
Sunset Wonderland:
Ward Christmas Dinner & Program:
Our ward went above and beyond for the Christmas dinner and program! The food was delicious, and the decorations/scenery and program were amazing! I was in the program, so I didn't get to watch it, but I enjoyed listening from the foyer. :) Cassidy accompanied a couple of numbers, and I sang "Mary, Did you know?" Cassidy was planning on using the iPad to accompany me, but when we got up to sing, he tried to signal to me that it wasn't working; the iPad had froze. We were definitely not prepared for that! We had to pull up some of the scenery in the "stable" to get the microphone out so I could go behind and stand at the piano so that we could share music. I knew most of the song by heart, by everything that I thought I had memorized was gone as soon as I got up in front of everyone, and the words were a little too small for me to read. Needless to say, it didn't turn out quite how we had planned, and I may or may not have cried over it, but regardless, I still feel like it went well.
Nativity:
We had a wonderful Christmas season!!!
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