After Christmas picture...

Okay, so I didn't take a single picture on Christmas.  Mikayla came down with croup on Christmas day and had that really sad "I'm sick so hold me" face.  But the day after Christmas, she was so much better already and Juliet wanted to show off her footie pajamas with her.

Juliet requested footie pajamas for her Christmas jammies, in part I think, because she's feeling out of place with Mikayla.  Juliet had been the baby for a long time and as much as she loves Mikayla, I think she misses being the baby.

Christmas was awesome for us.  I got a bungee jumping trip to Boise, ID!  I've wanted to bungee jump forever and Merril scheduled it for us!  There aren't any places that do bungee jumping anymore and so he found a company that schedules bungee jumping off bridges at several bridges around the west during the year.  He also scheduled Boise because the kids have been wanting to take a vacation on an airplane.  Tickets to Boise for the whole family, roundtrip was $450.  That's the total for all of us!  I'm so excited!

A white Christmas for us!

Before I talk about the snow, Mikayla has awesome hair and loves to pull up on things.  Yeah!

Normally our part of the country rarely sees snow, maybe once or twice in February or March.  But last night we were fortunate enough to get some snow in time for Christmas!  We hadn't noticed the snow until after the kids were asleep.

I can't even remember a time that we got snow before Christmas!  So this morning the kids got up and wanted to play in it soooo bad!  I thought they might even cancel school but it didn't happen.  So I agreed to let them play and just be a little late for school.   There were snowballs!

There were snow angels!

Lots of fun was had on the trampoline!

Juliet made a "snowman"...or just a pile of snow with some sticks in it.

Mikayla and I watched from the window.

 The kids had fun waving to her.

I really thought they'd last for about 10 minutes but played around outside for an hour.  Brrrr....it's still so cold out there!  Here's to Christmas!

Mikayla's first picture with Santa...

Our ward Christmas party was on Saturday and the Young Women were in charge.  It was a lot of work but turned out so great!  I cut about 100 snowflakes for the decorations and the room looked amazing.  I wish I'd take a picture of the room.  Woops!

My Dad played Santa and so I snapped a few pics.

I love this one of Mikayla!  All my other kids screamed on Santa's lap at this age.  She looks like she couldn't be more excited to be there!

On a side note, our neighbors, Dana and Carson, went through the temple and were sealed with their family earlier in the day.  It was a great experience to see them sealed with their kids!

Holy pastrami Batman!

December is the slow season for our business and so Merril took me to lunch yesterday to a yummy deli.  He ordered a pastrami on rye and I ordered turkey, swiss and bacon on marble rye.  Look at my sandwich fantasticness!

That thing's as big as Mikayla's head!!!  It was kind of pricey for a sandwich but that's only half of it.  There was another half, just as big, and a pickle, and chips.  I ate the whole thing, except for the bites Mikayla took.  :)

Juliet's Peanutcracker Recital...

Juliet was in ballet this Fall and had a blast.  She loved the shoes and the leotards, which she initially called "onesies", and all the girly things that go with it.  Her recital was Friday and Saturday and she did great.

She has some natural grace that goes a long way.

This is Juliet's friend, Naomi, who was in her ballet class too.

She says she might want to try gymnastics in the Spring.  She practices handstands a lot in the afternoons so it doesn't really surprise me.

Ohhhhh we ran out of gas...

I drove into town today and went past the Maverick.  As I passed, I thought to myself, "I should probably stop and get gas."  I ignored it and continued on my errand.  Two miles later, the Tahoe sputtered.  We coasted down big hill towards another gas station and I thought we might make it.  We didn't.  We were very close though!  I pulled out Juliet and Mikayla to walk to the gas station and noticed Mikayla was poopy.  Digging through the bag, I also noticed I was out of diapers.  Luckily, I coasted into the Walgreens parking lot.  Diapers were purchased in minutes, Mikayla was changed and we were on our way across the street to the gas station for a gas can, gas, and Nacho Cheese Doritos.

Mikayla was good and luckily is too young to be bothered by running all over in her pajamas.

And luckily the gas station sold gas cans.  The whole thing set me back about 30 minutes.  But at least everything worked out in the end!

I feel fortunate that even though I was a bonehead, I was still okay.

Temple Nativity...

Yeah!  We went to see the temple lights!  It wasn't even that cold but I bundled up Mikayla anyway.  Merril said she's looking at me like that because she's annoyed by the hat I put on her.

Apparently Julie was annoyed with me too.

Merril still likes me!

Mikayla cheered up in time for hot chocolate.  She really liked playing with the empty hot chocolate container.

Honestly, we had a great time.  I love family home evening at the Temple at Christmas!