Christmas up North

Every year the Adams family does a white elephant gift exchange, and I don't mean cheesy weird gifts, I mean every gift is awesome. This year the big gifts were definitely the gift cards to Barnes and Noble, Applebees, Outback Steakhouse, Target, Home Depot, Bed Bath & Beyond, and 2 books on the life of the Prophet Thomas S Monson. This is definitely my favorite game we play as a family. We had so much fun this year.



Another tradition that Grandpa & Grandma Adams do every Christmas is get every grandchild a pair of pajamas and a really cool book. This is Bailey's favorite tradition. Can't you tell? She looks like the happiest girl ever. Grandpa & Grandma Adams have 19 grand children and two more on the way!

Bailey & Hayden with Grandpa & Grandma Adams. They had so much fun!


Avery, Austin, Jake, Hayden, and Bailey with Uncle Byron and Grandma Adams. The grand kids have on their new PJs and are reading their new books on Christmas Eve.

Avery & Bailey are such cute girls:)

Hayden ready to open gifts with her mouth.
Bailey was such a happy girl when she saw her scooter. She kept posing for us.


Uncle Brian was having fun being home this year. We missed him for the past two years while he was on his mission.
Uncle Andy gave this cute toy to Hayden for Christmas. Hayden loved it:)

After we opened presents Christmas day Brennon & Brian took Bailey to the gym to ride her scooter. Look at her mad skills:)

Red Lobster

Brennon right after work. Tired and ready for a big meal:)

Uncle Ben showing off his new snow boots. He is such a funny kid.

Great Grandma Brewer giving Hayden lots of love.

Daddy & Bailey


Grandma Crandell, Bailey, cousin Kate, Cousin Callie, and Aunt Becky. Someone the other day asked if Becky and me are twins.

Hayden eating the Red Lobster biscuits! She was in Heaven. Best dinner ever.

Great Grandpa Brewer, Hayden, Me, & Brennon after eating our delicious meals.

Cousin Kate & Bailey are such good buddies.

One tradition that the Crandell family has been doing the past few years is getting together at Red Lobster for a big family dinner. I love Red Lobster and look forward to going there all year long! We had a blast together! Each year we do a gift exchange with the married couples, luckily Sam & Lacie had us this year. I say luckily because they gave Brennon & I an awesome date night package: free babysitting, subway, and tickets to Jesters. What mother of two could ask for anything more?!?! I am so excited!

This year, my mom changed it up a bit and had the great idea of doing a service gift exchange. She had each of us write down a service that we would be willing to perform for someone between this Christmas and the next. Then, each of us listened to her repeat the poem "Twas' the Night Before Christmas." Scattered throughout the poem were prompts to pass our service to the left or right. When the poem was finished, whatever service we had in our hands was to be done for us in the next year. Again, we were very lucky as Brennon and I ended up with Carianne and Rusty's service's. I am definitely looking forward to my dinner with Rusty and Brennon can't wait for his yummy peanut butter cookies! In close third to the services we received was Ben's service. He vowed to "help" clean someone's whole house. To Ben's luck, Adam ended up with his service (Adam is single and lives with four other guys). You can imagine Ben's horror when Adam opened his service. :)

I love being with the family. Thank you Carianne for taking the pictures. Your the best! More to come on Christmas Eve & Day. So much to blog about. Merry Christmas everyone. :)

Temple Lights

Visiting the temple lights is my favorite Christmas tradition. This year Brian came along with us. What a special time of year to celebrate the birth of Christ. Bailey was so excited to see the manger and the baby Jesus. She kept saying, "Baby Jesus, I like baby Jesus." She is so sweet and precious. I am so excited for Christmas this year.
Other things I have enjoyed have been playing Christmas music with Bailey on the piano, reading Christmas books, talking to the girls about the Christ child and the nativity, eating soups and rolls, eating yummy oranges, driving around nice neighborhoods and looking at all the big houses and their Christmas lights, watching my favorite Christmas movies, being nice to everyone just because, making Christmas goodies, buying Christmas gifts for the girls, and of course talking to Bailey about Santa. Bailey tells me every day that she wants Santa to come over tomorrow to see her.

Christmas Dresses

Picture with Santa

We took the girls to see Santa today at Bass Pro Shop. This was the only time Brennon would be able to come with us before school and finals. Bailey asked this morning if we could go to the mall and see a Christmas Tree and Santa (last week we went to the mall and Bailey and her cousin Paige saw Santa and were blowing him kisses). So cute! Bailey was really excited and couldn't stop smiling and Hayden didn't really know what was going on. Aren't they so cute!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. We started Thursday with a Turkey Run. I don't know what I was thinking, but I seriously thought I was going to pass out. It was freezing cold, but still a lot of fun! The winner received a silver dollar and sadly I did not win the silver dollar, but at least I beat my dad. :)

Later that day, we had a wonderful dinner and all the girl cousins had a blast! As you can tell from the pictures, we had a ton of food and it was all so good.

Last, we went to see Tangled. I think this was my favorite part of the day. It was such a cute movie and I would highly recommend it to anyone that has not been able to see it.

What a great weekend. I am so thankful for a wonderful family and the time we were able to share together this Thanksgiving. I am thankful for my husband and working hard for our family. I am grateful for my Savior and for the Holy Ghost. I am grateful for my two beautiful girls. I am thankful for my friends, my ward family, and in-laws. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Hayden's Smile

Fun at Freestone Park

Saturday I took Bailey and Hayden to Freestone Park to meet up with our friends Scott, Tasha, and Brookelle.

The Girls loved the train ride.

Scott was very nice and helped take care of the girls.

Brookelle and Bailey loved the Ferris Wheel




Brennon was able to come a little later for lunch. We had a great day! Bailey loves her friend Brookelle. That's all she has been talking about the past two days. Thanks Tasha for taking pictures :)

Shun the Sun

On Saturday Carrie and I ran the 10K. It was so much fun! We have been running together for the past 9 weeks at 5 am, and I could have never have motivated myself to go running if it wasn't for Carrie and Jen running with me in the mornings. Thank you girls!


We ran for team Zerorez.



Me, Pam, Corrie, and Carrie. Pam and Corrie ran the half marathon. Next time I will be running that too :)

Thanks Carrie for taking pictures! It was such a great race!