It was a fun, and busy season leading up to Christmas.  We are so grateful for all the amazing opportunities we get to have, and the beautiful memories we create together.  Here are some of our favorites:

Our Tsum Tsum Advent Calendar.  They’d race down each day to open up their cute little figurine.

We made gifts and wrote cards for our favorite school and church teachers.

Erie Country Christmas.  Halle marched in the parade again this year and we loved cheering her on!

This float was supposed to be the Erie Tiger Football Team, but they were off to the STATE CHAMPIONSHIP game (they lost).  It was pretty funny to see the empty float!

On the first day of our Advent Activities the kids ran all over the house searching for clues to their scavenger hunt.  They found some fun presents under the tree at the end!

Bob and Kimberlie organized a really great activity where we all provided warm soup, rolls and candy and then we went and delivered the meals to the homeless in Denver.  It was a great experience for the kids to see that even though these people live different lives than us, they are kind, friendly and grateful–just like us!

Black Rock Gives Back.  Blake was an awesome helper this year! He stayed and helped me weigh food and put it in the back of the truck for the entire 2 hours!  Rusty and the Teachers went to the food bank and unloaded all 5,000+ lbs of the food we collected.

Christmas Bingo at Sunday Night dinner.  The Grand Prize this year was a giant cupcake Squishy.  Claire won.  This is a favorite night!

Christmas Piano Recital.  Both the kids played beautifully!

I’m not exactly sure how Josh can see his music under that hat!

Halle and her group won the 8th grade battle of Cupcake Wars!  She was so excited and I was so proud of her!  The cupcakes were darling.

The pineturtleapple obsession continues.

Blake had his 3rd grade Manners Breakfast.  This is one of my favorite Elementary School activities.  He was so excited to dress up in his suit and use his very best manners at a special, delicious breakfast.

Wolf Den Christmas Party!  We played JOY, Bingo, and read a fun Left/Right Story.  Blake won the present–a giant chocolate santa.

Blake and Dad FINALLY went golfing.  Rusty has been promising forever that they could go and Blake could drive the golf cart.

Hiking to the Flagstaff star.  This time is wasn’t snowy or icy, it was DIRTY!  We came home with 1/2 the mountain on our clothes and in our shoes.

One of my favorite activities this year was when we called our cousins and read them Christmas bedtime stories.  It was so fun and cute!

The Seran Wrap game was a hit, once again.  This year we added mittens to make the game last longer.  The prize in the middle was $5.  Halle was the big winner!

Halle hosted a Christmas Craft Camp.  We had 13 kids!  She said, “It was loud and chaotic, but worth it!”  She is getting so close to raising all the money for her school DC trip.

Fondue under the Christmas Tree.  The kids jumped around and cheered when we pulled this out of the advent calendar.  It was a delicious night!  We finished the evening watching Home Alone.  The kids were belly laughing the entire time.  But later after we put them to bed Blake came in our room and said, “Maybe we should watch shows about robbers in the daytime and not right before bed.”  He stayed and snuggled for a little while.