Caleb's First Temple Trip

Caleb went to the temple for the first time and did baptisms for the dead. He had a good experience and enjoyed being there with his grandparents.

Caleb Set Apart as a Deacon

On January 13, 2019, Caleb was set apart as a Deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood. He was called as the secretary in the Deacon's Quorum as well.

(Bryson was not thrilled about taking a picture and refused to smile)

Christmas Day

I love Christmas morning!

Opening stockings

I didn't know much about this Harry Potter game other than the fact that it had great reviews. I assumed it was some sort of trivia game from the books. Turns out it is a cooperative, deck-building game. We love it and have spent many hours playing it this vacation!
(Camel Up was a family gift from the Dockstaders. Laser Tag was a family gift from Santa.)

 Carter was so excited about the Escape Room in a Box. He got to stay up till 10:30 one night working on it with his mom and dad.

Austin's big present this year was a gum ball machine. I'm tired of him begging for a quarter or bringing his own quarters to spend on the gum ball machines at the grocery store. Now he can re-use his money on his own gum balls.

Bryson has had a lot of fun with the science experiments in a box, which was a present from Grandma and Grandpa.

Not pictured are some experience gifts that Santa brought of rock climbing and a trampoline park.  I got Matt some really nice white shirts and some cologne. He got me a new pink running jacket, griddle, and rollerblades. Carter and I have enjoyed rollerblading around the neighborhood together. I love having a fun exercise option!

Matt's parents and sister's family came to visit in the afternoon.

Austin opening some Paw Patrol clothes.

Carter and Bryson got a soccer ornament and Caleb got a baseball one.

Playing with cousins and with MeeMaw's puppy.

Austin being silly and wanting his picture taken 

We hosted my family that night for dinner and games where Clayton deep-fried a turkey with his new fryer! It was very moist and yummy. We love that Lindsey and her family were able to join us this year for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's so nice that they live within a shorter driving distance now!

Christmas Eve 2018

As always, Christmas Eve is one of the evenings we look forward to the most. So much fun and family packed into one night! There was some tension over some details with acting out the Nativity, but it all worked out. 

Chimes

Nativity

Baby Luman was a very patient baby Jesus.

Gavin playing "Silent Night" in the background.

Caleb playing "What Child is This?"

Carter playing "We Three Kings"

Rolling the dice game

Kids' white elephant game

Austin ended up with some Hatchimals and skittles, which he was thrilled about.

Grandma and Grandpa opening up blog books of their mission to Denmark. My mom got very emotional! Lindsey and I took turns posting my parents' letters while they were on their mission to a blog for extended family to read about their mission experiences. I found a company that helped to make the process fairly easy to turn the blog posts into a book.

Gingerbread Houses

We were looking for an activity to do one afternoon and decided to "wing it" with materials we had on hand to make some gingerbread houses.

Austin's house

Bryson's house. He asked me to take pictures of it from all angles.

A few weeks later we made this other one at Austin's request, which was a gift from Matt's co-worker.

Pictures with Santa

Our neighborhood provides an opportunity to meet Santa each year. A lot of parents dress their kids up really nice for these pictures. That's not how we roll...

Austin wasn't scared of Santa this year!

I love Bryson's face in these pictures. The person in line before us was a family from church. The mom was holding a baby who kicked Bryson in the eye right as they went up to take pictures. Bryson is red-faced in these pictures from crying, but I love how he tried so hard to smile even though he had just been crying!

My New Nephew

Clayton and Kara had their baby on Thanksgiving day. He was such a big boy at almost 9 lbs! This is me meeting him a few weeks later. Such a precious bundle. There is something so special about holding a new baby that is recently from heaven.

Baby Luman (family name)