A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder

I got a text from my friend, Amy, while I was getting dinner ready letting me know that she had free tickets to a Broadway show at the Smith Center and would I like to go?  Luckily, Rich was in town that night (he's been traveling like crazy!)  so I was able to!  We stopped for a quick dinner and then off we went.  None of us had ever heard anything about A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder so we just hoped it was good--and it was!

It was fun to do something fun and spontaneous!

Christmas Activities

Christmas is such a busy season--so many things to do and see and enjoy!  Once again the boys had a fun time coming up with gifts to make for their brothers.  William decided to make peg people (football players for James, Minecraft characters for Alex, ninjas for Henry and princesses for Lydia)

James made leather keychains for everyone.

Alex painted a small canvas for each family member.

And Henry helped sew some small pencil cases for everyone.  (no pictures!  oops!)

The boys also made these kitchen towels for their grandparents.

The boys enjoyed decorating the tree this year.  I sat back and gave minimal direction.  It was perfect.

Henry was my little baker.  He helped me to make all sorts of Christmas goodies.

Most of the boys were also involved in some performances.  Henry was the Christmas star in the primary nativity.  And William was invited to play in the chime choir with the older primary children.

Alex's first grade class and another class did a Holiday performance.  It was very cute.

Henry and I enjoyed some goodies with his class afterward.

I love that our ward does a Christmas breakfast each year!  Evenings always seem to be booked with other Christmas activities--but mornings are always available!  I love that James's buddies chose to eat with us.

One night we let the boys sleep under the Christmas tree.  Poor Alex was sick that night and decided he'd rather sleep in his own bed.

Lydia loved to play with our little people nativity.

And of course we had to get a picture of everyone in their Christmas best.

Little Dancer

I just LOVE watching babies dance.  Lydia just can't help but dance every time she hears music.

Christmas Celebrations

Since we were leaving for Oklahoma on Christmas morning we did everything a day early.    It's amazing how Santa knows things like this.    Our Christmas Eve dinner was delicious as always.

I love how the room looks all lit up by the tree!

The boys were excited Christmas (Eve) morning.

Everyone was pretty pleased with what Santa brought.

After breakfast we dug into the remaining gifts!

William and James had fun trying out William's new BB gun.

We loved watching Uncle Jacob do Topo Sticky for us too.

It was a pretty low-key easy Christmas.  Just the way I like it.

Hike to Mary Jane Falls

For President's Day we decided to try hiking Mary Jane Falls up Mt Charleston.  We parked at the trailhead and we couldn't believe how much snow there was!  The boys all had a great time trying to hit each other with snowballs.

Lydia was a great little hiker and even fell asleep for a little while!

We could not have picked a more gorgeous day.

I love taking the boys on hikes.  It is so fun to be out with them in nature.

Unfortunately, we never made it to the falls.  The snow got too deep near the end... we will have to try again this spring to see if we can make it all the way!

Field Trip

I had the opportunity to go on a field trip with James.  We headed on a bus to the Smith Center to see a production of The BFG.

Our school had front and center seats!  It was amazing.  The adults were all in awe... and I don't think the kids quite realized how incredible the seats were.

James took a few pictures while we were there.  He really loved all the details... like the ceiling.

And the set.

The play was really fun... but I was just really glad that I could spend the day with James.