Holiday stuff happening' ...

It wouldn't be the holidays without concerts, parties, gingerbread house making, seeing the lights downtown, etc., etc.  We did all of that and then some...

Our annual gingerbread house making party with the Preslars.  Love this little tradition.

I made my own house a few days later.  Not one little child finger helped with this creation.  OCD might be something I'm slightly familiar with.

Christian & Rosie went to the Christmas Dance together.  Needed a little help with the boutonniere. :)




The girls were giddy with excitement, since they all love Rosie and want Chrosie to be their couple name.  :)  Just friends so far.

Paige tried out for the school play of Aladdin, and scored the part of Jasmine!  She couldn't be more excited.  Haley took selfies with her to celebrate.

Had a blast directing the Oak Hills Christmas Choir for the second year.  These kids are so cute and were dedicated little performers.

Christmas Choir selfie. :)

High above the city for the firm's Christmas party.

Watched Haley's ASL class perform a few Christmas carols in sign at the school.  A girl after my own heart.

Went to Paige's first flute recital.  Her amazing teacher, Yvonne, has taken Paige from zero to this in just 1 year.  So proud of her.

Had a couple of Farley family parties during the month.  Heather wins the most creative cheese ball creation award --

Fried up some scones ...

… and Zach provided a root beer keg.  We're so Mormon sometimes.  ;)


The grandkids gave a talent show, too.

Santa Mike visited a couple of families on Christmas Eve.  :)

Christmas morning, we woke up to beautiful snow!  Several inches worth.  The best.

The 3 big kids all got electronics of some kind or other, but Elle scored with a mermaid tail!

We laughed that Haley, Sydney and Elle all had the joy of being the Christmas star for different nativities.  Good sports, those girls.

And then, to round off the season, Maddie Blake came home from her mission to Malaga Spain.  Kate was beyond thrilled to see her big sis again.  We all were. :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2015!!!!

The North Pole

The first time Mike was asked to be Santa was when we were first married.  Someone called and said that they had a Santa suit for him to wear to their family party and he agreed … and totally loved it!  And he's been Santa a few times each holiday ever since.  We bought him his own suit and he's good to go whenever a Santa is needed.  Elle knows all about "helper Santas" and thinks it's great that her dad is one of them. :)

One of his gigs this year was our ward party.  First, the kids sat on Santa's lap ….

… and then there were props for photo booth pictures around the corner.  Loved it!

Pretty sweet deal to have our own personal Santa. Ho ho ho!

Birthday season

Birthdays are a common occurrence at our house between Halloween and Christmas.  Christian starts it off in October, and then Mike ….

We met downtown for a birthday lunch during his work day.  I loved that it felt like we were getting away with something, having a date in the middle of the day.

A few days later was Paige, celebrating her 11th birthday.

She got a bike for her birthday, which she couldn't ride outside since it was about 18 degrees that day.  So, inside bike riding it was.

I took her and a few friends to the Aquarium at her request.  Such fun friends and cute girls. :) Her move back to her old school has been such a good thing for her.

These cute boys even brought her a birthday treat that night.  Props to Ben & Cameron.

This cute bishopric also showed up to sing to her.

About a month after that is Noelle Grace's birthday … our Christmas baby. :)  We had a spa birthday party, complete with mini-facials, nail painting, lotion treatments and cool eye masks.

And my favorite … a 'pin the cucumbers on the spa girl's eyes' game that I made up for the occasion.  haha!

And that makes the end of birthday season …  Happy birthday to all, and to all a good night.