Daddy/Daughter Prom

So tonight my baby girl and wonderful hubby went to a Daddy/Daughter Prom at the local high school. Tali looked like such a princess! I was so glad her hair turned out because I just about gave up on it. 

She got even more excited when I told her she could wear my favorite lipstick. 

She was so happy to be going out with her daddy. She adores him. I can't say that I blame her. He is pretty awesome!

STEM Camp Nomination

This past weekend we received this piece of mail for Tali. Apparently her teacher had nominated her for this opportunity to go to a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics) camp in either Los Angeles, CA or Denver, CO. It's for five or six days.

As I was reading it to Brian with Tali present, she was getting more excited about the opportunity. I think it would be great for her, but I get nervous being without her for so long. Not to mention it's quite expensive. I am excited for her none the less.

Indoor Soccer!

Our kids decided they would like to try indoor soccer. I'm so glad they finally want to be involved somehow. At first Tali didn't want to do it, but now she loves it! Zach on the other hand seems as though he couldn't care less.

Today, Zachy wasn't able to play due to an accident and he had fallen and hit his head. Poor kid. Thankfully, he is doing just fine now. Tali got in there and did so much better than I had hoped she would. Jairus kept sitting down and kept falling to the ground. I sure do love these kiddos though.

New Year's Eve

We kept things pretty low key for New Year's Eve. I did however buy enough food for a large party, but we barely touched most of it.

We did have fun playing games and then we celebrated New Year's with Big Ben in England (compliments of YouTube) and went to bed early. Brian and I woke up at midnight, kissed each other and went back to bed. We are such party animals! 😄

The boys didn't feel like having their pictures taken.

Christmas Day

Last Christmas was so much fun, we decided to keep with the scavenger hunt and make it a tradition. They had to do something silly before they could move on to the next clue.

The capes and throw blankets and bed sets. I stayed up most of the night making (except for the bed sets) with the help of my amazing hubby!

Opening of the gifts. They all wanted to be "rock stars." I have no idea where they get it. 😄

I loved Jairus's face when he opened the snap circuits. He didn't know what it was. Now he LOVES them! 

At church, I had the opportunity to sing in an double SSA ensemble. We sang "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear." We sounded much better than we did in our practices. I sang a little bit of each part in the song which was fun. We got some nice compliments about our song. I would love to do more things like that if the opportunity arises. It was a lot of fun. The ladies I sang with are so good and so talented. I found myself getting a little self-concious, but they were all so kind.

It was a great day!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve we went to Brian's parent's for brunch. It was nice and relaxed. No Santa, just visiting.

Family Christmas Party!

Here are some of the photos from my (Amy) family's Christmas party. Oh how I despise the whole Santa thing. I like Christmas to be simple. I dream of spending time together visiting and playing games without this commercialized version of Christmas. I like to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. The birth of Christ, our Savior. 

My mom & sister's family

My brother's family. They are actually expecting a little girl in May.

My how our family has grown!

Christmas Time

This collage is from our ward Christmas party. Tali got to be an angel. She was a bit "nervous." The girl standing next to her was so good to "comfort" her. The other photos are some of our Christmas decorations. I love Christmas time!

Santa & His Elf

Obviously I love doing quasi photo shoots with my kids. One day after the older kids went to school, I found these hats and couldn't resist. 💙 these cute boys!

"Oh no! Mom's at it again. Someone please make her stop!"

Candy Tree FHE

This year Christmas seemed to have come a lot quicker. Before I knew it, it was the week before Christmas so I decided we only had time to make these candy Christmas trees. 

Preschool Christmas Party!

Zach had his preschool Christmas party on December 19th. He got to sing...which he didn't really do much of, but was still entertaining. They got to make a cute little Rudolph craft and then they got to see Santa. Zach told Santa he wanted a "Dark Vader." He pretty much loves anything Star Wars. I was actually surprised that my baby did okay with Santa. 

First Tooth!

Our little Jairus lost his first tooth on December 16th! He was so awesome! He wanted me to tie some floss around his tooth, then tie it to a Nerf gun bullet so he could try pulling it that way. After several failed attempts, he decided to just yank on it and pulled it out all by himself! He was so excited to get a visit from his tooth fairy friend, Buddy. 

Brian's Birthday

For Brian's birthday, I had bought him a 7-in-1 pressure cooker. It's pretty awesome, you can make rice, beans, chili, soup, yogurt, steam veggies, use it as a slow cooker (which actually takes less time than a slow cooker), etc. it's pretty awesome! We made this super yummy potato soup that hit the spot. It was so delicious! It's my favorite present to him! 😊

We even made hard boiled eggs that were so easy to peel. I cooked them for about 7minutes, but I think a 5 or 6 minute egg would have been better. I was still pretty impressed.

Christmas Baking

December 1st I really wanted to start on our holiday baking and get it out of the way. Brian said he didn't want to make any fudge this year, but it's tradition. We always make fudge. So I took it upon myself to make fudge. I ended up making Andes mint, rootbeer, orange cream and peppermint candy cane flavors. I think they turned out pretty good. 

My first batch, Andes mint.

Peppermint candy cane.

Orange cream.

Almost Christmas Cards

As I was trying to make up some Christmas cards, I thought these would be great, but my family had decided on some other ones to just have made.

These photos were of Zach and Silas.

This was the one I was going to print for our Christmas card, but was out voted.

Potty Trained!

This sweet little guy FINALLY became potty trained!!! He earned his Star Wars light saber bubbles...which didn't last long because when he opened them, they spilled all over the floor. 3 down, 1 more to go!!! Whoo hoo!

Thanksgiving Day!

Thanksgiving day was pretty chill for the most part. We had made some "funeral" or "cheesy potatoes", stuffed mushrooms, and my grandmother's rolls. We had quite a bit of dough and stuffing for the mushrooms so Brian and I improvised and put the stuffing in the rolls and a small loaf of bread. It ended up being pretty tasty.

My grandmother's famous roll which by the way, tasted, smelled and looked like my grandmother's. A big thanks to my wonderful hubby who made them.

Stuffed mushroom rolls.

The stuffed mushroom bread. It sure smelled good!

Do You Wanna Build A Snowman?

The day before Thanksgiving, a storm was blowing in. It looked pretty cool, if you ask me. 

Jairus was just like any other kid trying to catch snow in his mouth when the storm hit us.

It wasn't much, but it was enough to feel like Christmas time.

Thanksgiving day the kids decided to build a snowman....and snow girl. Since we didn't have anywhere to be until mid afternoon, I let them.

Tali's and Jairus's look like they are ready for the disco.

Tali

Tali had to do a Teach & Share for her class and she chose to teach her class some German that she learned while in the German Immersion. She did a great job. She says that she is shy, but I really don't see it. 

Later, I caught her being so goofy. She put the bag that the little halo oranges com in on her head. 

Yep, this is our "shy" child. Pfft! Yeah, right!

My Favorite Things!

Some of my favorite things happen when you least expect it which is why I constantly have to have some type of camera nearby at all times. Back in November, I caught such a moment with Zach and Silas. I love seeing my kids get along. These pictures really made my heart melt!

Monson Annual Pumpkin Drop!

A couple of years ago, we had done a pumpkin drop after Halloween. The kids loved it so much that we decided to make the pumpkin drop an annual thing. Here's all the fun from this last year (2016). I wasn't able to get a photo of Tali with her pumpkin on Halloween, but I did get one before we smashed them.

Silly Zachy

Our little Zach is quite the little character! He has such a fun-loving personality. We just love this funny little guy! We were at Grandma & Grandpa Monson's house and it looks like he had found grandpa's hat.