Christmas time and New Years fun!

We had such a wonderful Christmas. It is so fun to see my girls so full of joy and Christmas spirit. I absolutely loved it. I have always had that Christmas spirit, and even now that I am older, it is still there. I hope it never leaves me. I feel so much joy around Christmas time even when in other parts of life there is struggle. That joy grew even more by being able to see the happiness in my girls. Kanzis is old enough now that she understood things a lot better and her excitement was just so fun to watch. The elf on the shelf was a hit in our home and they looked forward to finding her every morning. The first thing they would say in the morning was, "lets go find Belle!" I loved it and I am so excited to continue the tradition next year.

Painting ornaments...

Making cookies...

Cousin time fun...

Since last year, when Josh gave me my new camera for Christmas, I have loved being able to take pictures of my girls. The best part is, they love when I take their pictures so they pose so good and say "cheese" the whole time. It is so fun! I decided to take some pictures of them this year to give to our grandparents. They did so good and we laughed a lot while taking them. 

I sure love these little beauties!

We also decided to save some money this year and take our own family pictures to give to our grandparents as well. This day was not so fun! It was so cold, we had to quick run out and get ready and then when the picture snapped we would run back in the car to get warm, check the picture, see that it wasn't quite the best and then do it all again. I think we did it like 6 times before we just said we will go with the this one. Still not the best, but it was cold!! This sweet husband of mine had to do all of the running, he was colder than all of us! 

Christmas Eve party, my family...

We played a couple games, the 1st game, if you rolled doubles your put the santa hat and oven mitts on and tried to open the gift. It got pretty tough! 

Isn't my mom the cutest! 

The second game was a candy game, when you rolled doubles you got to pick a candy bar and put it in your brown paper bag. Then when all of the candy was gone in the middle, we set the timer for 5 minutes and if you rolled doubles you could steal a candy from somebody else but you had to know what the candy was and who had it.  It was so much fun!

Christmas Eve party,  Josh's family...

Santa is here!!!!

 Fun games and good food! We all had a blast!


Christmas morning...

New Years...

We played candy land and watched Finding Dory while we waited for the New Year. Kanzis didn't make it to midnight this year though...

New Years Party at my grandmas....

We had a beanie/hat exchange. It was so fun! 

Snuggling with Grandpa watching Frozen. 

All of us in our beanies! 

Now we bring on the new year and hope for happiness and health. 2016 wasn't the best year for my little family and I feel just fine letting it go. I want to focus on the positive for 2017. We get to welcome our 4th little miracle this year and that is a positive for sure! 

My goals this year are to attend the temple more frequently, read my scriptures, have Family Home Evening with my family as much as possible, become more patient, and just find joy in everyday. These are definitely attainable and will be my priority. My sweet little children deserve the best version of myself possible and by golly, I am going to give it to them. 

Happy New Year to you all. May you work hard to accomplish your goals, and see the joy in everyday.