Christmas Eve & Christmas Day! 2017

We were able to start moving into our house on the eve of Christmas Eve, December 23, 2017.  W

e are so thankful to those who helped us move boxes in, including our bishop, Carlson boys, McKnight boys, Michael Griggs, Austin Heath, and some of our ward young men.  What a huge blessing it was for us. There's nothing quite like having a home and being together again once more for Christmass!  

 Merry Christmas Eve! We went to Tammy Heath's home to act out the nativity story with cousins! Katelyn was the angel, Gracie was a wise-girl, Nathan was a shepherd and Joshy was a little sheep!
 

 

After our nativity program, we announced our baby's gender using balloons with confetti inside!! TOo bad the balloons were transparent/see-through...haha....because we didn't even have to pop them to see the right color!!! Yay for balloon popping anyway, and yay for PINK!!! So happy to be welcoming a little girl to our family soon!



Once we were home, we opened up Christmas pajamas and settled in for the night...
 
 Then, a few hours passed and woo hoo...IT WAS CHRISTMAS MORNING!!

Here's the traditional picture on the stairs with the siblings in pajamas! Then it was time for stockings, a yummy Christmas breakfast, and time to open gifts, starting with our Christmas stocking of the gifts we can give to Jesus this year and REMEMBERING HOW HE TRULY IS THE GREATEST GIFT OF ALL.
 ifts we
 
 

Merry Christmas!!  We did sibling gifts, then they each got something to wear (pajamas or a shirt), something they need (socks, toothbrushes, etc), something they want (Katelyn= walkie talkies!, Nathan=THE MOST AWESOME warranty REMOTE CONTROL CARS, Gracie= Shopkin set, Joshy=pull back cars) and something to read (books for everyone! This year Nathan got the Knights for Right book, Katelyn got an Enchanted Tunnel Book, Gracie got a Shopkins book, and Joshy got a picture book about Jesus.  They all got coloring books for church as well and our family gift was a ping pong table! Woo hoo! Lots of fun family memories and smiles together. 

We are so thankful for the LDS Bible Videos so we could watch a video clip about the Savior's life each day during the month of December and are so thankful for the wonderful gift of His life, given for each of us, the healing power and gift of the Atonement so that we may repent and be forgiven of our sins.  We are thankful for his example of goodness, forgiveness, love, steadfast obedience, charity, service and love.  May we all ever keep His light, and exemplary life as the focal points of our lives and homes each and every day!
 
 

 
 

 GIRL CONFETTI!!! HOORAY!!

We went for a Christmas Day walk in the evening by our neighborhood lake.  So happy to have each other, family truly is one of the greatest gifts of all!

 

 

So thankful and happy for our home, a place where we can be together!

Aunt Lanae was visiting from Guam, and wanted to give some free makeovers....so we got some of our own for the girls the day after Christmas.  Super cute!

 

 
We needed to use our remaining gift card from First Texas for buying the home, and SINCE our REFRIGERATOR in Liz and Austin's garage had all of its water lines COMPLETELY SEVERED AND EATEN BY RATS.....we decided to use the gift card on a new fridge!! We spent many days researching and scoping out the best deals, at Sears Scratch and Dent Warehouse, Home Depot, and finally found one we thought was the best deal at Nebraska Furniture Warehouse!! Yay for finally getting a fridge after being in our house 3 weeks without one!

Sleepy boy with all this fridge shopping....=P

We had lots of family game time over Christmas break, playing our new Forbidden Island game from grandpa Terry and grandma Susan too! Love family time and Christmas time together.