Christmas Eve

The morning of Christmas Eve began with one of favorite traditions. Bowling with the family! Todd and Mick and my parents were still in town so we were all able to go bowling together. However, we missed having Jim and Kris and the kids there. Of course there was a little competition going on for the best score as a couple and Todd and Mick ended up as the winners. Apparently Todd had a lot of practice bowling during his college days at SUU :) At least that is what we will blame it on. It couldn't be because of all the gutter balls I had.

Madi lining up her ball.

Parker after his first strike!!!

Parker lending a hand.

All of the bowling cousins... Madi, Isabelle, Pace, Briggs, Lillian, Parker, Myles and Jaygen

The rest of the day was very nice and relaxing. Lynn and I both did some separate shopping trips for some last minute things and the kids just played. Then we baked and frosted cookies for Santa. A few ended up with a pile of beautiful candy decorations and the kids were positive those would be Santa's favorites!

The cookies and chocolate milk for Santa. We also left some reindeer food and carrots on the front porch for Rudolph and clan.

After the kids opened one present from us and were all ready for bed, we did one of my favorite traditions of all...Lynn read the story of Christ's birth from the Bible. Each year when we do this tradition, I always think of my Grandpa Mullen and the times they would spend Christmas Eve at our house. I remember Grandpa reading the story of Christ's birth from the Bible as well, and then we would look out the window to try and find the brightest star in the sky. Oh, the memories....

I love the spirit of Christmas and the joy it brings each year. It is always such a stressful time with all the preparation, parties, shopping and such, however I love the feeling of peace I get each time we are reminded of the true meaning of Christmas and the greatest gift we ever received. I love my savior and am so grateful for the spirit He brings into my life. I hope my children will always know of my love for Jesus and strive to have a relationship with Him as well.

Mullen Christmas Party

The annual Mullen Christmas party was held at Kevin and Candace's house this year and as always, we had a great time. They did a great job hosting and even sponsored the 2nd annual Amazing Race event. It was a lot of fun, they spent a ton of time setting up all the clues and activities and all of them had something to do with our childhood. For example, we went to Sky View for a few of the clues which is where my dad taught for 30 years, then we headed out to Newton and did some sleigh riding on the hill by our old house, clay pigeon shooting at Newton Dam and even went to the first house my parents lived in when they were married. It was a lot of fun to see all the old places and think of all the memories. Jim's family ended up being the winners of the race, I still can't believe he could remember the words to Sky View's school song. After the race, we ate a delicious dinner of my Dad's Chile Verde, opened presents and had a great hot chocolate bar and cinnamon rolls for dessert. Thanks Kevin and Candace for all the work you did in hosting the party. We had a great time! The kids spent most of the night sliding down the stairs. It was noisy, but they had fun and surprisingly, there weren't many bonked heads. Myles managed to sleep through most of it. Getting ready for the main event - PRESENTS! Myles and his new duck from Grandma and Grandpa.

Audrey, Lillian and Isabelle patiently waiting for their gift. Yeah!!! More Lego's!!

Myles checking out another one of his gifts from Grandma and Grandpa.

All the shopping accessories. I can't wait to go shopping!

Parker and his new hat from Claire

Grandma and Grandpa with Lillian.

Thanks to Jim for the gift Lynn has always wanted. It's a blanket with Sleeves!!! What will they think of next? And the gift that Jim has always dreamed of... a new welding helmet from Lynn! Awesome!!

Helicopter Ride!!!

A friend of ours is training to be a helicopter pilot and today was our lucky day! He invited us to go on a ride in the helicopter with him. He was with an instructor and had to fly by only looking at the control panel (he was wearing a special blindfold and couldn't look out the windows the whole trip). Anyway, we got to enjoy the ride in the backseat and spent about 2 hours in the air. It was a first for both of us and we had a great time. It was fun to see the valley from a bird's eye view. We were both surprised at how much water winds its way through this valley. It was beautiful even covered in snow. An aerial view of the great town of Newton (my home town)!

The city pool near our house. I was a little too slow to get one over our house.

Logan Temple

Christmas Pics

As usual, this Christmas season has been a very busy one. Thinking I would save myself a trip to a photographer, I decided to test my own photography skills and take some pictures of the kids in their new Christmas clothes. This is probably my first real attempt at taking professional-like quality photos on my own at home. It was quite an adventure, especially getting 3 kids to all look at the camera at the same time. I ended up taking about 350 pictures in all and these are a few of my favorites. There aren't many different poses, but I love the different facial expressions each of the kids have. They were all such troopers and had a lot of patience with me. I am such a lucky mom to have such wonderful kids!

First Snow!

Today we got our first decent snowfall of the season. The kids were so excited and immediately got their snow clothes on so they could play. It was almost dark, but we still had to get a few pictures especially since this was Myles' first snow ever!