CHRISTMAS

matching elf pajamas!

we saw the new star wars movie on it opening weekend. it was so fun (with our matching sequin darth vader sweatshirts & fire alarm!). we love to be in the hub-bub!

i had a doctors appointment or something so cheri offered to take tess for the afternoon. they went downtown for lunch and tess loved being a lady who lunches.

we celebrated the smith family christmas at norm and rebeccas and the boys had a great time playing with the other boy cousins. "mom, they can punch as hard as they want. i have a helmet on". (keep in mind the other boys are like 10)

jocelyn had her baby! george weighed a little over ten pounds and had a TON of hair! i loved racing down to portland to meet this little nugget only about 15 minutes after he was born.

the following day i met up with a few friends from high school for lunch. we hadnt seen each other since graduation! it was a blast catching up. 

that night megan hosted her annual gingerbread house decorating party. fun as always.

christmas eve at matts! tagg loves spending time with tucker when hes home from college. 

the lights at redmond town center are so pretty. 

cookies are made & milk is set out, christmas jammies are on.. they are ready for santa!

speaking of santa. he stayed up late (with the help of a few elves) putting together a trampoline.

tess LOVED sully's motorcycle. her little 'vroom vroom' noises are the best.

surprising the boys with their trampoline!

this is going to be fun (and safe, i hope).

that afternoon we spent time with my family at my parents' house. when i looked over and saw tess handing sam this little cheetah my heart melted. so dang sweet.

this picture doesnt do my mom's beautiful (and delicious) yule log justice.

tess loves bouncing on the trampoline.

and the boys love their new "gaming chairs".

such a wonderful christmas. i love all of our traditions so much. cant wait to groundhog day it all over again next year.

second week of december

my parents, craig and i went to deck the hall ball. its a concert with various artists. we went for the last part of it (saw about four different bands) and had a blast.

it was SOOOOOOOO loud. honestly, our ears were still recovering several days later. 

the following night we took the boys ice skating. it was a smaller rink thats actually made out of heavy duty plastic. i had low expectations but it was actually super fun and the boys loved it.

on wednesday night amy hosted our annual ornament and cookie exchange at her gorgeous new house. i love all of our traditions.

rough life tess. doing some christmas shopping.

cute sully at his christmas singing program. his last year at miss judys. we will miss her but are excited for kindergarten! 

that afternoon sully requested gingerbread man cookies. i had never made them before but they were easy and fun to decorate. score.

TAGG'S FIRST YEAR AT CHRISTMAS CAROL. it was quite a special night. i loved sharing one of our favorite traditions with him. and downtown at christmastime is always fantastic.

getting ready for the show to start. he loved it. marley scared him a bit and he asked when kermit and rizzo the rat were going to show up......

after the play we walked over to the sheraton to see the gingerbread houses. the theme this year was star wars (obviously) and they were AMAZING. probably our favorite ones yet. tagg loved the r2-d2.

a very memorable night. 

first week of december

this month has been very busy and very fun (so far). the first weekend we got bundled up and cut down our christmas tree.

sully found his own mini tree and hauled it to the car himself. he was quite proud.

the boys' mini tree smells SO good.

on tuesday we took tagg, sully and tess to meet santa. tess didnt cry but she also wasnt super thrilled. 

and she got a lick of her brothers' lollipops afterwards so it was worth it.

after santa we went outside to see snowflake lane. its the best!

my parents are having so much fun with tessy.

the smiths and the creepy penguin. :)

so snowflake lane was fun. but what wasnt fun was saying goodbye to my best friend, megan. she moved to utah and i am pretty depressed about it.

but this little snow nugget can cheer me up anytime.

also the holiday nordstrom party can put a smile on my face. for some reason, last year was the first time my mom and i had ever heard of the holiday nordstrom party. so we made sure that we were able to go this year. it didnt disappoint. festive music, delicious treats and a handsome santa. what a night!

the following night we drove over to woodinville for our tradition of ezells fried chicken and molbaks nursery. we always love this night so much and look forward to it all year. 

smile tess!

on saturday we surprised the kids with a ride on the santa train. it wasnt great weather but they still managed to have fun.

my cute sully boy.

cold and wanting some warm cookies and hot chocolate!

yeah. tess didnt love santa this time around.

happy to be heading home. 

we finished out the week at the nativity festival at the stake center behind the temple. they always do such a fabulous job. the reason for the season!

thanksgiving 2015 and my first pie

we had another delicious thanksgiving this year. we have perfected our menu (we added roasted brussel sprouts!) and played what-im-thankful-for charades again. so yeah. it was a good thanksgiving. and i decided this was year that i learned how to make a legit pie crust. 

so i enlisted my favorite chef to teach me.

serious business.

right in the middle of our pie-making class tucker surprised my mom by coming home for the holiday weekend. surprises are the best when they actually work!

cutest thanksgiving turkeys. tess wasnt feeling the photo shoot.

getting the table ready.

happy faces, full tummies!

but never too full for some redi-whip.

my finished product. next year i am going to buy leaf-shape cookie cutters. doing all those mini leaves by hand took a looooong time. 

family. it was such a magical weekend.

another great thanksgiving!

portland for jocelyn's birthday & baby shower

i went down to portland for a couple days to celebrate jocelyn's birthday and to attend her baby shower. i LOVE that we live so close now.

for her birthday, we shopped around the pearl district and downtown portland then met up with brady for dinner.

our waiter was pretty confused with our party of three. SISTER WIVES. #letmeaskyouaquestion

the tourist money shot.

the following day we had lunch at the elephants delicatessen and sampled crazy thanksgiving flavored ice cream at salt & straw (this was the turkey skin flavor!).

that night was jocelyn's super cute baby shower. she received so many amazing childrens books! a perfect couple of days with my poopsie.