December Little Things

So many fun things from December that we don't want to forget!

A few years ago Olivia was given this darling kit to make a Nutcracker puppet show. It was a little technical for her at the time, so I've saved it. This year we pulled it out and carefully cut and assembled all the pieces and it turned out so beautifully. She was really happy with it.

Olivia also made these cute bracelets.

We attended a performance of the Nutcracker, where one of my Laurels was one of the lead ballerinas. She did a beautiful job!

Owen and Olivia attended a coding class at the Apple Store, while Jonah and Charlotte played on the store iPads. Everyone had fun!

We took all our YW to Temple Square one freezing night in December. Olivia came with me.

We started doing yoga together at night to help the kids relax before heading off to bed.

Olivia and Nate went to see a Christmas Carol at the Hale Theater and to Chick-fil-a for a date night.

These were our Christmas cards this year.

And Olivia helped me get them all ready to put in the mail.

We had the stomach flu wreak havok on us one week. No fun. Everyone but Nate was sick.

I started back to work at a clinic in Nate's office. It was fun to use my PA skills again.

This awesome guy just goes out and shovels people's driveways just to be nice. We sure love and admire him.

Morgan, Karch and Carter stopped by one Sunday night to visit. We sure love them!

This year we had a gift box under our tree and each day we gave a small gift of kindness to Jesus. By the end of the month the box was full of all our good deeds. We loved this new tradition! Here is one of the things Jonah did to help.

Owen and Olivia had a piano concert and they both did a great job! We love our piano teacher. She is just wonderful with the kids.

I found this old Christmas photo of my family growing up. So funny to see!

We had a candle light dinner one night and the kids LOVED it!

We went to visit Barb and share our favorite Christmas books with her.

Owen and his friend Rex have really enjoyed baking lately. Here is one of their creations, pizza for dinner! Love it!

For Christmas we gave Grandpa Johannesen this T-shirt and he sent us this picture. We sure love him and Grandma!

New Year

This year we said goodbye to 2016 with friends. We all gathered at the McDougal's home and do they know how to throw a party! We each made our own individual sized pizzas, it was fun and delicious. Then we played games. They had all sorts of fun games for us to play. They taught us how to play Craps and we visited and had yummy snacks and the kids watched movies all the way up until MIDNIGHT! Our kids stayed up for the first time ever and, of course, they loved it! Just before midnight we turned on the New Year's countdown and they had confetti poppers and noise makers for everyone. We made a huge mess but had a ton of fun!

2016 was a great year! We sat down as a family one Sunday to write down our Blessings of 2016. It's a pretty good list:

Staying up until midnight on New Year's Eve
Carter left on his mission to Argentina
Olivia was baptized
Owen participated in the Science Fair
Going to Pack Meetings for Cub Scouts (they always had treats)
Playing Basketball
Playing Soccer
Playing Tennis with Daddy
Emily, Tyler and Claire moved to Utah
Owen read Eragon and watched the movie too
Meeting the BYU Soccer Team
The Knoblichs Visited for their Spring Break
Going to This is the Place. Many times.
Charlotte's 1st Haircut
Morgan got Married
Doing Refugee Service Projects
The Granite Elementary Dance Festival
Jonah's 6th Birthday
Going to the Pool
Camping
Going to a SL Bee's Baseball Game
Going to a BYU Game
Seeing the Christmas Windows at the Grand America Hotel
Going to Nana's Cabin
Sledding
Grandma and Grandpa's Visit
Mom started to work again
Jonah's Dance at the Christmas Sing Along
Christmas Cookie Party with Friends
Watching Studio C
Going to the the Nutcracker Ballet at Juan Diego HS
Owen's Tribe Report
The Thanksgiving Program
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
Sleepovers with Cousins
Owen went to BizTown
Field Trips with Daddy
Playing in the Barbie Jeep
Hiking in the River at Donut Falls and Provo Falls
Kayaking
Bear Lake with Friends
Having the Hiltons Visit
Granite Elementary Fun Run
Paul and Missy Walker's Pool
Apple Camps
Johannesen Family Reunion
Richards Reunion
Pottery Class at Kimball Art Center
Owen Finished Cub Scouts
Owen went to Cub Camp
Olivia Participated in Activity Days
We went Christmas Caroling to Barb
Reading Christmas books with Barb
Visiting the Fairy Forest
Seeing Miss Beth
Owen and Nate met Brandon Mull
Discovering Kooky Comics
Doing our Gratitude Postcards in November
Cousins Talent Show at Christmas
Piano Lessons and Recitals


So many fun adventures together. I took a screen shot of this compilation of all of our photos from the year. Thanks 2016. You were good to us!

This Month's Art: December

 We had such fun and festive art pieces come home from school this year. We hung them up in the kitchen and it became one of our favorite Christmas decorations.

Owen had these great pieces. He is so talented and such a technical artist. So cool!

These are Olivias. I love her use of color. 

 This is one she made for Charlotte as a Christmas present. So cute!

Jonah had the most art come home from school. That's one of the awesome things about 1st grade. So many fun and festive pieces. We just love them!

Anderson Cousin's Talent Show

Krissie and I wanted to try out a new tradition for Christmas this year. We put together a talent show and gift exchange night for the Anderson grand kids.

 It was so much fun to see each of the kids share a different talent. There was singing, reciting a scripture, playing the recorder, karate, dance, a puppet show, playing the piano and more! We have such a fun, talented group of cousins. It was fun to watch them cheer each other on. Many of them are not that comfortable performing in front of groups, so it was fun to see them break through that nervousness and know that their extended family was cheering them on.

We had a fun dinner of soups and a grilled cheese sandwich bar after the talent show. I had sugar cookies, gingerbread and frosting with sprinkles for dessert.

Then the kids exchanged gifts. We gave them a $5 limit and it was fun to see all the things they picked out for each other. It was a fun night of trying new things!

Christmas Morning 2016

In the wee hours of the morning on Christmas Day, I snapped this picture before we opened a single present or peeked into our stockings. This year Christmas was on a Sunday, so we had the neat opportunity to go to Church and take the sacrament. The kids had GREAT attitudes about this. They woke up, peeked at the living room, and didn't even open a present or complain.

Olivia made us breakfast. She had made this Cinnamon Crescent Roll Wreath at Activity Days for us to enjoy on Christmas morning. We had a quick bite before heading out the door to church.

 They were VERY good to let me snap some pictures in our coordinating Christmas Sunday outfits.
Christmas Day is one of my very favorite days of the year as a mom. I work for months before shopping, decorating, merry-making and infusing our month of December with Christ-like acts and Christmas Advent activities. It's a lot of work, but I feel like I'm happy with our traditions.

 Christmas morning is pay day for me. I get to see all the people I love experience the fun of all my work and planning and prep work and I just love, love, love it! I sit in the middle of piles of crumpled wrapping paper and watch their happy faces, and see them play with their new toys. It's even the one day of the year I take a nap! I just snuggle up on the couch listening to the kids enjoy their gifts. It's my happy place.