Thomas is 13!

It is official.  We have another teenager in the house!

Thomas had his 13th birthday a couple of weeks ago. 

We are so happy with Thomas and what a good kid he is.  He has made the transition to Jr. High so easily.  He has been able to keep track of all of his classes and continue to be an A student.  He also has been able to make and keep friends that are such good kids, which makes my life much less stressful.

We are so grateful that Thomas became part of our family 13 years ago.  Happy birthday Tom!

Jack is Eleven!

My handsome boy Jack is already eleven!!  He turned 11 just after the new year, so he just missed the deadline to be advanced from Primary and become a Deacon.  I am happy though. I  Love having as many of my boys in Primary with me as I can get!

Jack is such a great kid!  Everyone, and I mean everyone, that knows him, likes him.  He is inventive and good with his hands and is almost always cheerful.  We love having him in our family!  Happy Birthday Jack!

Sledding

People don't usually associate Arizona with snow, but I live in the mountains of Arizona and we get snow every winter.  The last few winters have been pretty dry though, and so we were thrilled to get a nice big storm on New Years Eve, not only for the much needed water, but also because we could go sledding!

I am putting these up in no particular order.

Dallin was having so much fun he would not hold still long enough for me to get a decent picture of him, but I am sharing it to prove he was there and also because you can see our house in it. I circled it in the picture.  There is a big tree covering half of it, but you get the idea anyway.

Jeremy giving Drake a good push.

Thomas, Jack, and Tad getting warm by the fire.

Jack, ready to take off.

Tad climbing back up after a trip down.  I love how he doubled up on hats.  He did not want to be cold.

Thomas and Tad getting ready for a trip down the hill.

Thomas climbing back up carrying his sled and Tad's tube.  What a good big brother.  (You can see Tad following along after him.)

It was a fun day!

Christmas Decor 2018

I know, I know, this is waaaaay past due, and I actually took my Christmas decor down the day after Christmas, but it just made me so happy this year, that I took a few quick shots of some of it before it came down.  So this post is mostly for me.

I only took pictures of some of the decor that was different this year.  For a look at the decor in some other places in my house you can click here.  It looked basically the same this year.

Some fun decor in the new built-ins. It was so fun having this space to decorate this year.

A close up shot of my favorite part of it!

My front entry hook shelf was a little simpler this year and I loved it.  I also love the little stockings hung on Drake's and Tad's hooks.  Every time they would get a gift that came in one of those little stockings (from teachers, friends, etc.) they would hang it on their hook.  They had quite a collection by the time Christmas rolled around.

My china hutch got a little touch of holiday cheer this year. and you can see a glimpse of our favorite pocket advent calendar quilt in this shot too.

Some candy canes in the hutch.  I was surprised that my boys obediently left these alone, but as soon as I started putting everything away, they disappeared in a flash.

And finally, I got out these fun Santa mugs and displayed them.  I got them ridiculously cheap (like 25 cents each) on clearance a few years ago.  They were a fun addition this year.