December 2019: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!

Christmas starts with Christmas church! We all had some type of musical talent to offer! 

Yes, we match and YES! I love it! 

Tyler would like you to know that this is what it takes to get a picture like one above... 

On Christmas Eve, we head to Kenney and Teresa's. We eat dinner, make gingerbread Nativities and act out the Nativity story. This year all three kids and I worked together to make a nativity! 

There are officially enough children that I no longer have to dress up and role play! It's about time! Grayson was THE angel, Nolan was THE Joseph and Lyla was a wise"woman". 

 

Grayson cracks me up, he was the best angel ever! He'd get his hands out and flap those wrists like the dignified angel he is! Nolan was very excited that he and Amelia got to be Mary and Joseph.

 

Cue the angel wing flapping...

 

Wise"women" incoming!

"For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him" Matt. 2:2

 

At the end of the night we open traditional pjs!

At home, Santa came for a visit! You can tell which child isn't a morning person, which child can't focus from the presents he can't see and which child is smiling to get this over with as fast as possible! Santa also found some Blue puppy look alikes so they can remember her often.

 
We had a great Christmas! So many laughs and fun memories! Some really great presents and some really great family time! And SO MUCH JUNK FOOD! They boys got hoverboards (How do they make it look so easy! Believe me, it is NOT!). Lyla got a balance bike. Lyla is not speedy, the BIKE is speedy; or so she says. We got an echo dot. This means everyone is yelling Alexa and baby shark is on endless repeat.

These blow up helmets and glove proved that everyone loves a little fight club! Rule #1 of fight club? We don't talk about fight club.

 



Because we are adults, we get excited about presents like sheds(Thanks, Mitch and Emily!) and better toy storage! Tyler got crafty and made shelves within shelves... it's so satisfying!

 

 Merry Christmas to you and yours! We are incredibly blessed! We listened to a lot of Christmas music this year and found a favorite new (to us) song called, "Mary's boy child". It says, 

"Men will live forever more, because of Christmas day!" 

We hope you find the way to be happy and live forever more in the love of our Savior, Jesus Christ!

Merry Christmas from the Swallows!

See you in the New Year!

Until next time... 

December 2019: Tyler's month of birth and getting ready for Christmas

Our tree is up and READY FOR CHRISTMAS!

Grayson's art work was chosen for the district art fair so we went to support him! He is soo happy and loved. He is having a great year at school. They had an ugly sweater day and I had just the ugly sweater. Tyler hates this sweater but I refuse to get rid of it; it's so comfy! I got my hair done and had a beautiful view of the Ogden Temple while I waited!

 

One day Nolan goes, "Say cheese! Take a picture like you're in love!"... he took a wonderful picture that I'm grateful to have!

For Tyler's birthday we saw Star Wars IX and has HuHot for lunch! We even sat in the luxury lounger! Yessssssss! Despite some hate the movie has received, we did enjoy it! We recently watched them all again and were pleased with our efforts! Shout out to my mom and sisters for being willing to hang with the kids during her visit with us!  Tyler loves these Whoopie Pies with cream cheese frosting so that's what he got! I hope he had a nice day, because he deserves it! He is the favorite person of all the people at home (me and the kids). We would be lost and unhappy without him in our lives!

 

He had worked so hard this year to be better for himself and for us! We are blessed to call him our own! 

He used some health money from work to buy a gym membership for December and January because... Winter. I don't wanna be the one to tell him about second winter... any takers? He is putting the TV to good use, but finding that Halo is only fun with Tommy... only 9 months to go and he will be home! He also used the snack wrappers a church one Sunday to makes some pretty cool sculptures. 

 

Our furnace... broke.... well, kind of. APPARENTLY, you are supposed to change the filter... more often than we did. This can make the furnace angry! However, because we are clever and capable adults, some youtube research led us to some things to try. We tried them and voila! Fixed furnace!

Here's a cute picture of the children that didn't freeze due to our ingenuity! 

Last year created our family tradition of making cookies and treats for those we love! This year did NOT disappoint! We had Lynn for a couple of days while he family looks for a new house and we were glad for the help!

 

 

 

 

 

Santa came to visit us again! My children are skeptical (Santa sure looks and sounds an awful lot like dad), but I reminded them to just enjoy the magic! JUST. ENJOY. THE. MAGIC!

 

 

We took most of the people to ride the train and see the lights a Temple square. The train is usually the kids' favorite part. Temple square will be very different before we are able to go again! It wasn't too crowded because we decided to go on a Thursday. My recommendation? Go. On. A Thursday.

 

 

Lyla sure loves all these new babies in our Swamily. If you ask her... she does NOT want a baby.... SHE'S the baby. Good thing too, she will not be getting one.

 

Look at these people! We are so blessed! 

Now, on to Christmas! 

Until next time...