Christmas eve 2012.

we got together with our good friends, Quinn and Natalie on Christmas eve to eat good food (we have a new tradition of doing a "Feliz Navidad" mexican dinner) and read the Night Before Christmas to the kids.  For dessert we have doughnuts with Mexican hot cocoa (delish!!)

this was the best picture we could get of the kids: olivia, allyson, lily, brady, zach and noah

we have a family tradition of giving the kids new Christmas jammies on Christmas eve.

and before we go to bed we must write Santa his letter and leave him and the reindeer special treats!!!

priorities.

just a few thought i had written down in my notebook...

- how do i spend my time?  What can i/we cut out to make the Spirit stronger?

-do not confuse NEEDS and WANTS

-do not become a part of the world around us.

-4 words in the proclamation: preside, provide, protect, nurture

-How are we providing?  Not JUST for temporal needs but spiritual and emotional needs as well?  providing family with security and a sense of well-being, self-worth, education and instruction.  do not shelter your children- teach them truths!

olivia's dollhouse.

i have been wanting to build a dollhouse for olivia since before she was born.  i had a dollhouse when i was a little girl and loved it.  i searched and searched for ideas of what i wanted and had a pretty good plan.  i knew i wanted everything to be wood.  (i just hate plastic...) i wanted it to have a vintage/colorful vibe...so this past fall when i came across this little gem at one of my favorite children's thrift stores i almost died!  i almost walked right by it too!  this was an all-wood open-concept dollhouse just like what i wanted AND it came with all the wood furniture for only $60!!!!

natural wood is just not my taste.  i could envision this exactly how i wanted it when i first laid eyes on it!  my plans began to make an incredible christmas present for my little girl.  this was one of the funnest projects i have ever done!

the sliding doors before (they also double as window frames when the doors are opened)

i had to prime everything at least twice and then do 2-4 coats of paint depending upon the colors i chose.  shawnae helped me into the wee hours of the morning several times painting and priming away!

the finished product!!!

                  

 i had found this little dog house at D.I. months before i found the dollhouse.  originally it was blue.

because the dollhouse didn't come with any dolls, i looked around for quite some time on the internet but didn't find anything i really liked.  i got the idea on pinterest to paint little wooden pegs into dolls of our family!  i think they came out pretty cute!

the bedroom. i love this room.  i added a polka dot "rug," "wood" floors and wallpaper with a bunting on the wall and embelishments.  there is a bunk bed and a single bed as well as a cradle, an armoire, a bookshelf, a nighstand, and a lamp.



             
the livingroom.  i found the cutest scrapbook papers at my favorite craft store, Porters.  i added the "wood floor" and wallpaper, and found cute embelishments for art on the walls and i even added a "rug."

the bathroom.  i had to improvise and make a toilet, which i used part of the broken toilet that came with the set and a wooden block that we had.  

the kitchen.  i had to improvise in here too.  there is no fridge and i used another wood block as a countertop.  i'm going to add a little fabric curtain along the front of it and it will be like a little sink.

don't you love it?!  i do!  olivia doesn't play with it as much as i had hoped, but she didn't play with her baby dolls for a while either and now she plays with them all the time, so i'm hoping maybe she'll be more excited about it in a year or so.

SLC with the sisters & a baby blessing.

we went down to SLC right before Christmas to see Temple Square with the lights and spend some time with Shawnae and Chelsae.  we stayed a few nights at a hotel, ate a delicious dinner at Rodizio's, walked around Temple Square and went to the visitor's centers, shopped at IKEA and had a good old time!

swimming in the hot tub.  i took several pics of chels with the kids in the pool but my lens must have been foggy.

the nativity scene on Temple Square

the Christus inside the visitor's center

Joseph Smith building:

silly aunties and kiddos 

we also were able to take a drive down to Lehi, where my cousin Tara and her family live to be able to meet their two children and see their newest get blessed.  it was so great to see family and spend an afternoon with them and be part of that special day.

Tara and her beautiful family:

with husband Kevin, daughter Kierra and adorable son, Keldon

the priesthood holders:

Tara with her side of the family- The Willnauers

Liz (fiance) to Morgan, Aunt Teresa (holding Chaz and Dessie's baby, Sydnee), Kevin, Keldon, Uncle Paul, Tara, Kierra, Dessie (Chaz' wife), Chaz (holding their oldest daughter, Rylee.  Missing was the youngest daughter to the family, Jessica (who was on her mission at the time)

uncle paul loving cuddle time with his grand-daughter

Aunt Teresa indulged Olivia in pretend play.  Olivia made her lots of "doughnut soup" and other concoctions!

I laugh at this picture because this is before Zach's first haircut and his hair was so crazy!

2nd cousins enjoying "getting to know you" and play time

uncle "Trout" aka paul- looking dapper in his new hat

chris and zach tuckered out for a bit before hitting the road back home!

on the way home we dropped the girls off in pocatello so they could hitch a ride back to burley for Christmas with chelsae's (at the time) boyfriend, Spencer....(he's now her fiance!)  it was a really wonderful weekend and so much fun to have them all to ourselves!