Post Christmas fun

Jacob had the week between Christmas and New Years off, and Todd's family stayed until several days into the new year, so we squeezed in lots of fun and adventures while they were here. We even got to have them stay over at our house for a few nights for more concentrated cousin time, though they spent most of their time at Grandma and Grandpa Knight's house. Weather was beautiful for the most part, so we took advantage.

A couple days after Christmas we left Grandma and Grandpa with all 10 grand-kids and went on a group date to Golf 'N Stuff. 

It was super fun to hang out and talk without children interrupting. And laugh at each other's mini golf skillz (or lack thereof). And shooting each other in laser tag to top things off was pretty fun, too.

We had a fun time at the zoo.

 They brought out an anteater and did a presentation right in front of us. It was pretty cool to see how they train the animals so they can give them the care they need easily.

 Another time when we were at the zoo they were doing a presentation on how they have trained the tiger to come over and put her tail in the right spot so they can draw blood to check levels to deal with some condition she has (diabetes?). Didn't even flinch at the needle. And gets a big hunk of meat as a reward.

We took a bit of a drive up to the Ostrich farm, which is always a hit.

 They replaced the prarie dogs with bunnies that are super soft and super cute.

 Of course the lorikeets are always my favorite part.

 One of the workers caught a baby bunny for the kids to pet.

 And the new attraction this time was petting sting rays. The stingers are clipped off (like cutting fingernails), and the kids loved touching their slimy skin.

 On the way home our car took a detour to see the temple since we rarely get up to that side of town. It's coming along nicely and has glass in the windows now and outside landscaping starting.

New Year's Eve:
We had a very funny kickball game. The kids didn't really get the whole idea and took a while to catch on. They were so clueless it was funny. But eventually they kind of figured things out.

 After the game some tried to roller skate in the rain for a while before heading back to Grandma's house to celebrate with sparklers, poppers, way too loud horns, and Martinelli's.

 Megan was super jealous of Sammy being in Grandma's arms or lap. If I was holding Sam, she didn't care one bit; if Grandma was she would whine a little and walk over to her and do all she could to climb into her lap.

I'm sure it made Grandma feel loved. :) Megan really did like Sammy, though.

For FHE on Monday we went over to Justin and Marie's place and started up a fire in their fire pit and roasted some hot dogs and marshmallows. It was fun and we look forward to doing it again. With real roasting sticks. :)

Again, Sammy was in Grandma's lap, so Megan had to make sure she was still one of Grandma's favorites.

Tuesday was the last day off before the kids headed back to school, then Wednesday was full with an appliance repair appointment, Activity Days, and mutual, and the Knights were leaving for Seattle on Thursday, so we decided to have one last sha-bang at our house Tuesday. We went to the park, then came back home for dinner and a movie night with all the cousins.

It was a lot of fun having so much cousin time. It was a fun-packed Christmas break and we are really glad the Knights came to visit so we could do all those fun things. But it was kind of a relief to get back to our regular routine.

Family pictures

While we were all together we took some family pictures. Except for Todd's family because Savannah and Jared walked home after church and by the time they got there we could only think of food, not pictures. But we did manage a big group photo of everyone a couple of days later.

Christmas Day

Christmas morning was full of fun and excitement and presents. I think it's funny how we have so many pictures of Annie in a victory pose with her presents that she wanted so much, as if she just won the best prize ever. Everyone was very happy with their loot, though Megan would have been just as happy if all she had gotten was her chapstick, gum, purple eyeball ring, barking dog, and M&Ms. Apparently actual presents aren't completely necessary for this 2-year-old; stocking stuffers would have sufficed.

Annie is our rock hound, collecting rocks everywhere she goes. She got some shiny rocks with names.

 A conch shell! Just what she wanted.

 The worst present ever! Ryan cannot put these together on his own. In fact Jacob and I struggled to put them together with the tiny pieces and poor instructions. We completed the tractor and are hoping that he forgets there are more that can be built. (I'll give it another week then toss it. Shhhh!)

After the excitement we all got ready and went to church. Since our ward had the best time (11am) out of the 3 wards my family were choosing from for the day, everyone came to our ward for Sacrament Meeting, then we went to our house to eat Christmas dinner and open other family gifts and have some fun with cousins.

Pre-Christmas Fun

Since it's half-way through January and I haven't gotten around to posting anything about Christmas, we're doing the abbreviated version, as told mostly by our pictures. It was a super fun Christmas break and we enjoyed hanging out at home doing nothing, spending lots of time with family including Todd's family that came to visit for a few weeks, and going on adventures that we don't always take the time to go do.
Some of the stuff we did leading up to Christmas:

Ryan's preschool class had a short program we went to where they sang and signed Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. 

Annie's class made gingerbread houses and I got to go in to help.

 The kids stayed overnight at Grandma and Grandpa's house so Jacob and I could celebrate our anniversary a few weeks late with an over-nighter at the fancy resort where Jacob's work party was held that same night.
Annie got all blinged out in Grandma Knight's and some of Grandma Jolley's old jewelry.

 The kids decorated ugly Christmas sweater cookies while they were there, too.

 At some point Mom and I got together and made lots of delicious caramels, fudge, candied pecans, and such. So much sugary goodness. :)

 Ryan dressed up for the occasion:

We went to Winterhaven to see all the pretty Christmas lights.

 Justin borrowed grew some hair.

 We rested and enjoyed some down time. :)

 Christmas Eve fun:

 Ryan wanted to take a picture of my ugly Christmas sweater t-shirt. In Arizona you can't actually wear a sweater when it doesn't get cold enough for long sleeves, so we replicate it t-shirt style.

 We had our best Nativity acting out ever.

 Ryan looked super dapper for church:

#LIGHTtheWORLD

We have been loving the Church's Light the World initiative this December. We've been following along trying to do one kind act a day, mostly following the suggested theme for the day, but not always. We've mostly been doing small things, but towards the end of November I sat down and made some plans for a few things that would require planning. I invited some friends and it has been fun.
To kick off the month with the Worldwide Day of Service Rachel and Annie held a sock drive in their classes at school from Dec 1-7th. They were able to collect 163 pair of socks, or 326 socks total. It was pretty cool for them to be involved in that. We delivered the adult sizes to a group that helps homeless people, and the smaller sizes that they wouldn't use we dropped off at AVIVA, a group that helps place and care for foster kids.

We were also able to help sew up a few bags for the kids at AVIVA so they can put whatever clothing/toiletries they get in something more substantial than a garbage bag.


For mutual the Mia Maids that I work with at church brought together donations and made 20 sack lunches for men going through a work program for the homeless. The kids (minus Rachel who was at school) helped me deliver the lunches the next day.

We this again last week with some friends so our kids could help pack the lunches. It's nice to find a some service activities that the kids can participate in at their age.

I had suggested that we go caroling at a nursing home when I emailed my friends with my ideas for the month. One of my friends that is much more of a performer than I took over that task and arranged a whole talent show for the residents at a nursing home. It was pretty awesome. Rachel played What Child Is This? on the piano, Annie told a few jokes, and Ryan and Megan donned doggie ears and barked along to a doggie version of Jingle Bells along with some other little friends. There were other musical numbers, including piano, violin, guitar, singing, and a dancing number, and an awesome hula hoop number. We sang a few Christmas songs altogether, and left feeling great.

That was the kids' highlight of all the #LIGHTtheWORLD activities we've done this month.

Other things we did include inviting a neighbor over for dinner, and taking cookies and thank you notes to the firefighters. I have loved all these ideas and the focus that has been in our house on finding ways to serve and thinking of others this Christmas season. It really has enriched the season and I think the kids have been focused a lot less on presents and themselves, and more on the reason for the Season.

Merry Christmas everyone!!