Penning Our Story: Christmas 2013

We sure had a lot of fun this December! The girls and I did an advent calendar. Each day we unrolled a piece of paper with a fun holiday activity on it. We made cookies, sang songs, read stories, and did coloring and crafts. Lia really looked forward to "pulling a paper" each day. The activities were really simple, but we had fun.

Our advent calendar, all finished!

The weekend before Christmas, Dustin's sister Teaira and Josh, Appols, and Carson came up to visit for a couple of days. It is always fun when they visit. Dustin only has one brother and one sister, so the three of them are really close. When they get together, hilarity always ensues! They are a lot of fun. Because Dustin and Josh are SO similar in so many ways, Appols and I always finding ourselves giving each other a "knowing" look when they start up with their crazy antics. We are pretty close, because we both know what it is like to be married to a Penman boy! We love hanging out with the "other" Penmans!

While they were up here, we went shopping together and went to Temple Square to see the temple and the lights. I think next year, we will remember to visit Temple Square BEFORE the last weekend before Christmas! It was packed and driving downtown was insane. We still enjoyed it though.

Our family at Temple Square

Josh and Appols

The kids in the strollers. My kids were crazy! Carson was just chill the whole time though haha.

Josh, Dustin, Teaira, Mike (my father-in-law), Appols, and Carson in the stroller.

My girls just wanted to play in the snow.

The Saturday before Christmas Dustin and I also went on a little date to see my cousin Kim in a play, White Christmas. The cast did a great job, and it was nice to get away with just my hubs for a while.

Our ward did a special Christmas program for Sacrament Meeting, and I really loved it. There were lots and lots of Christmas songs and hymns, and the spirit there was awesome. Christmas songs and hymns are my favorite part of the season, so I really loved the meeting.

Christmas Eve, after some last-minute shopping and tidying up the house, we went to my Mom and Dad's house in Kaysville to celebrate Lia's and my mom's birthday, and then get ready for Christmas Day! Lia has been looking forward to her party for weeks, and she was not disappointed! My amazingly talented sister Miranda made an awesome cake, and Lia got to open lots of presents from us, grandparents, aunts and uncles. She is definitely spoiled! She had tons of fun.

Princess Bubblegum cake! How talented is my sister?!

Birthday Girls

Blow out the candles

Even Enna got a present, little stinker

Excited!

Birthday Party

The girls stayed up way too late on Christmas Eve, of course, but they loved playing with their cousins Zach and William and their beloved aunts and grandma and grandpa. We sang songs, read Christmas stories, ate lots and lots of treats, and played games. It was a really wonderful night! When the girls finally got to bed, Dustin and I played Santa and filled up the stockings.

Lia and Eleanor woke up around 8 and woke up their aunts and uncle by jumping on their beds! Lia loved emptying her stocking and opening her presents. Eleanor had fun for about ten minutes, until Lia got a doll with lots of accessories which Eleanor immediately wanted. Apparently we should have gotten Eleanor a doll as well haha. You never know, right? After that, Eleanor got pretty cranky from the lack of sleep, but she still had a lot of fun opening and playing with her presents.

After opening presents we went to Penmans for their traditional big Christmas brunch. The food was made by Dustin's uncle Lynn and was amazing! We opened more presents from Penmans after brunch, and the girls were spoiled again! Dustin and I definitely have generous family. Their favorite present for now is a Minnie Mouse tea set and little Minnie Mouse table and chairs from Penmans. They have been playing with it non-stop! They also really liked the art easel from my parents, but we had to leave it there because it didn't fit in our car! My family will be delivering it sometime this week, and I can't wait to set it up in the toy area because my girls LOVE coloring. My girls really got a lot of wonderful things this year. They have been having a really fun morning today playing with all the new toys and eating treats.