December 2016

There was so much fun to be had in December and I just have to throw it all in one post. Get ready for lots of pictures. Sheehan is the Young Men's President and the Young Men's presidency was one of the auxiliary's picked to help with the Ward Christmas Party. So we were BUSY getting everything together and ready for that. It ended up being a really nice night and I got compliments on how good the night was overall. We had a slim budget of $300 so even though we had the dinner slot for the church building we did breakfast for dinner and had everyone come in their PJ's which was not an idea loved by all initially but ended up being appreciated when parents could just put their kids straight to bed after the activity was over. We had the young women make snow flakes that we hung across the cultural hall and we pinned pictures of Christ on the walls. We had the young men build a puppet theater out of pvc and I made the fabric panels. We had the Young Women use the hand puppets as a brother in our ward read an abbreviated version of the nativity in the scriptures. This is the third Christmas Ward activity we've basically been in charge of in the 6ish years we've been married.

Ezra was sneaking food all night. I kept catching him as I was coming and going. He is so cute and funny. Love that big boy!

My Mom bought Lincoln, Vance and Ezra matching Christmas Ninja Turtle Jammies. They looked so cute in them.

Julianne bravely wanted to make sugar cookies with the little cousins. Of course, Ez boy was eating a little dough as he cut out the cookies. He's the best. Lincoln takes cookie-making very seriously and loves to bake anytime he can.

Later that night we had family dinner at Devin and Julianne's house and Lincoln decided to take the camera and snap some pics. We decorated the cookies the kids made earlier that day. Kiley is obsessed with Rae baby so she is constantly wanting to hold her and carry her around. She even happily offers to change her diaper. Rae is starting to get herself around enough that she doesn't want to be held all the time but sometimes she still likes to snuggle next to someone. She does like to sit with me and watch tv and eat snacks.

We had a wonderful visit with Grandma Shanda and Grandpa Don Furniss. We always enjoy their company. Shanda is so sweet to us and to the kids. All of us get her warm smile and compliments and it makes all of us feel really good. We showed her the boys favorite books Pete the cat that has songs to read/sing along with the books that are spunky and fun. We love them and the boys love to dance to them.

Annie Thomson has a wonderful eye for naturescapes and snapped this beautiful pic of some recent snow up in the canyon. I love it! 

We just love our Rae Rae baby. She is such a little light and spark in our family and we all just adore her. She gets better and better as her little personality blooms and shines for us. I thank Heavenly Father every day for sending us her sweet spirit to be a part of our family. 

Lincoln had his school Christmas program. He is extremely shy and has been shutting down in group settings. Sometimes even hiding under the table and refusing to participate. His teachers have been so sweet and gentle with him. They gave him a part in the Christmas program holding up a prop and none of us were sure he would do it but he did! He didn't sing and practically smushed himself as much as he could into his teacher, Mrs. Frost's, side but I'm proud of him for staying up there and we got a couple bell shakes out of him. Sheehan and I both were teary-eyed as we proudly watched.

Lincoln and Vance are little buddies and love to hang out together all day long. Vance gets sooo bored when Lincoln is gone at school. He gets so excited when it's time for Lincoln to come home. 

Rae Rae is 9 months old in her cute little sweatsuit. Buying clothes for her is just a dream. I love it a little too much if you ask Sheehan. 

I love the pictures of Vance holding baby Rae. I took several pictures one after the next and captured these two back to back. One second Rae looks wide-eyed and scared. In the next picture, she is smiling. They both have the sweetest faces. 

We spent a family night with our Perry cousins at the Train Shoppe in SLC. They had the little, indoor train decorated for Christmas. Lincon and Vance both loved every minute. They love anything with their cousins and so a train ride with their cousins is just as good as it gets. 

After going to see a bunch of drive-thru Christmas lights as a fam we decided to surprise Ian at work at In-n-Out. Poor guy was bombarded by our crew but it was fun to embarrass him.

We went bowling as a family traditionally on New Year's Eve. Rae had the cutest outfit in my opinion. Colleen was able to join us for some of the festivities this year and we were happy to have her. 

Christmas morning the kids slept in! It was fabulous. We caught Santa in our living room! Vance received a bunch of tools and a tool bag and a tool bench. Lincoln really wanted Pokemon balls, a Nerf gun, board games, and so many other things. All of his bounty is laid out on the blanket he also received as a gift. Rae Rae got Little People Cinderella characters. She liked eating them. :)

We went to Grandma Bev's for a traditional Christmas dinner and games. We all look forward to our time together at Grandma Bev's and playing our dice Christmas gift game. 

We set some time aside to specifically focus on Sheehan for his birthday! This year was the big 3-0!!! I love him so much. The kids do too. He's definitely a favorite around our house.

LaRae's Christmas outfit may be even better than her Christmas Eve outfit. I bought this Christmas dress soon after finding out we were having a girl.

We've had a sitter come 2 days a week for a couple of months to give me much-needed breaks. Sad for us but happily for her she got married and moved on from our little family. We went to her reception and Rae was our little third wheel. I love the father-daughter picture of the two of them. 

The next party was New Year's Eve! We hosted the family at our house this year. Zach made our very own ball drop hanging above us in the group picture. Since we are at a stage where all of the cousins are little we celebrate New Year's Eve with the east coast at 10pm. Colleen was still visiting so we got the kids to bed then went over to our Neighbor's the Kammeyer's for games and the real countdown to New Year's Eve.