Olivia's Preschool Christmas Program

Livy had the very best preschool class and teacher this last fall. Even though we moved down to Provo with my parents, we still drove her out to American Fork so that she could go to Ms. Brooke's amazing preschool. She made some great friends, and always came home with the cutest little crafts and projects she created. We were so sad to find out that Ms. Brooke had to move away, so the Christmas Program was their final hurrah. Livy insisted she keep her Minnie Mouse gloves on for the performance. They sang Feliz Navidad and a few other songs and were just the cutest little kids ever. We're sure going to miss Ms. Brooke and her preschool. We're hoping she moves back soon!

Jen and Tim flew in the afternoon, so I'm so glad that they were able to come and enjoy it with us! We are so lucky to have them here for almost 3 weeks! Yay for the Holidays and family visiting. 

Our New Home

Our house is finally complete and we closed and slowly moving in! The closing date got pushed back 3 days and we were so bummed, those were the longest three days ever. But we were able to close and make it officially ours. Our new favorite keys!

We closed on Monday, December 16th and I went there that afternoon with our first load. We borrowed my Uncle Wayne's 30 ft. trailer and were able to fill it up the next evening with the help of a bunch of Ryan's work buddies. It was pretty overwhelming to walk in to a beautiful new, but empty home. So exciting and so exhausting all at the same time. 

They loaded everything in to the garage, except for the large pieces. So it was kind of nice to just bring things in a little bit at a time and not feel like we were living in boxes. Livy and Penny were such awesome troopers. Penny took naps on the floor. And Livy was so good to find ways of entertaining herself, with no internet, no TV, and very few toys. We feel so extremely blessed and fortunate and are so excited to make this home. 

Penny's Baby Blessing

Today was Penny's special day. She was blessed by her daddy, with the help of Grandpa Jackson, Grandpa Farnsworth, and her Uncle David. She was perfect. She looked beautiful in the hand-smocked dress that her Grammy made. The material was shipped from Switzerland, the lace from France, and her little booties were from their recent trip to Italy. She was happy and content through the entire blessing. Ryan gave a beautiful blessing. We are so lucky to live close to our parents and at least one of our siblings! It was a beautiful day, and I'm so grateful for our sweet little Penny. 

Santa

To celebrate the end of a wonderful Thanksgiving week, we went and visited Santa down at Riverwoods. Penny was nice and bundled. 

 We grabbed some dinner at Kneaders with my parents, and then walked around looking at the lights and waited in line for Santa. 

Livy wasn't very excited to see Santa. But after a little convincing, she was ready to tell him what she wanted for Christmas.  She was, however, disappointed after we took some pictures that she realized that she didn't get her present right away. She was pretty upset. But at least she sat on his lap and was happy enough for a picture!

Thanksgiving in Idaho

This year we decided to go see family for Thanksgiving rather than having family come here! Ryan's brother Rob has been in Michigan for the last few years, but has recently just moved up to Eagle, Idaho, so we decided to go visit them. This was Livy after preschool, getting in the Thanksgiving spirit. 

We had a six hour drive, that turned out pretty good. Neither of us had done the drive before, so it was all new territory and unfamiliar. Both of the girls did a fantastic job. I don't know how Livy stayed awake, but she barely drifted off for the last 45 minutes of the drive. Penny was just an angel babe, and only cried for the last few miles, she slept almost the whole way. We stopped twice, but it was a pretty good trip and I'm so glad we went! Our hyper little hooligan:

We pulled up to Rob and Julie's house and they surprised us with a babysitter so that we could go to dinner with just the babies. We went to the yummiest little BBQ joint, Bodacious Barbecue. It was so delicious, and we loved catching up with Rob and Julie. We are so much alike, and really enjoy our conversations and spending time with them. 

The next morning, Grace was singing with her school choir at the Festival of Trees in Boise, so we all went to listen, but Livy was upset because she thought we were going to hear JUST Grace sing. But we enjoyed looking at all of the fun Christmas decorations and trees. Livy even found a Doc McStuffins tree!

Then we went to the Children's Museum downtown. Basically there were a couple of hundred little science projects that were fun and neat for the kids to play with and discover. Livy's favorite thing was a little food market that they had. She loved filling up her cart and checking out, she was so funny to watch. She loved it all especially being able to play with all of her cousins. 

We stopped for lunch at Chik-fil-a and went home for some Thanksgiving prep and let the kids run around all afternoon. It was nice enough outside that they went out and played for hours. Baby Penny on the other hand was just happy to not be in her car seat all day!

 

 The next day was Thanksgiving and Bob and Sue were able to come up as well. We exercised in the morning, had some lunch snacks, helped with Thanksgiving dinner, and then feasted! It was all so delicious, Rob and Julie did such a fantastic job. We were all so exhausted, we watched the movie MegaMind, and played some games once the kids were finally in bed. 

Grammy colored place mats with all of the kids while dinner was being prepared. They also got little buckets of candy which helped keep them happy and entertained. 

While the dishes were being done, the boys went out to play a little soccer, Sammie's choice. Livy played for about one minute, and then discovered the little play house and spent the rest of the hour in there. 

Sweet little Penny and Alice. 

On Friday we did a little bit of Black Friday shopping at the Nike and Gap Outlets. Then we all went to see the new Disney movie 'Frozen'. It was only Livy's second movie, but she loved it! It was a little bit scary at parts, but she was lucky enough to sit by Grammy. Penny slept through the whole thing, which I was extremely grateful for!

We were so grateful to have gone to Idaho, to be with family, and especially let Livy play with her cousins. We are so thankful to be a part of such wonderful families.