December

 My 29th Birthday
David surprised me with breakfast and a carrot cake cupcake and decorations for when I woke up.  So fun!  I took Kate and Ann to get their haircut that morning, and we made cupcakes that afternoon.  David and I went on a date to the Melting Pot for dinner, and we did presents and cake at home with the kids.  Great day!

Ice Skating in December at Crown Plaza.  BRRRR.

We had our ward's Christmas party on Dec. 11th.  I was mostly in charge, and it totally stressed me out.  David took off the whole day of scheduled work so he could come help me decorate and clean up.  There is NO WAY I could have done it all without him. I had some really great people helping, and they went above and beyond to make the night so fun.  

 Mason's Kindergarten music program and Kate's preschool Christmas party.

 Kate, Ann, and I went out to a nice lunch to celebrate our birthdays.

Kate's 4th Birthday

 

Nail painting, pink and purple cake, face painting, friends, presents, balloons, decorations, pinata... Kate loved it all.  After her birthday party, we went to Jose Peppers for dinner and came back and opened Christmas presents:

And the next day we were off for UT/ID for 10 days!

We had a great time with the snow--David went skiing with his Dad one day.

 

The kids had a lot of fun playing with cousins and playing with Christmas toys and the snow.  They got to go a trampoline place and loved it.  Much screen time and junk food was involved.  The kids did great traveling over all and it was just great to see family.

Happy 8th Anniversary!  We celebrated a few days early and stayed overnight in SLC sans kids.

 

November

THE ROYALS WON THE WORLD SERIES!

Schools were cancelled.  Stores closed.  David was scheduled for work but came home because no patients showed up.  850,000+ people showed up downtown to watch the victory parade and rally and endured no bathrooms, food or water, and cold weather for hours to celebrate.  Dicks looked like Black Friday with all the people eager to buy world series clothes.  With Mason out of school, we invited some friends over for a victory lunch (the kids were excited to make blue cupcakes) and watch the parade on TV.

Sweet Ann turned two!

Kate really wanted to throw Annie a rainbow-themed party, and she was such a good helper for party planning!  Kate helped me make cupcakes, decorate, make dinner, paint Annie's nails, and make the pinata.  She was so eager and excited for Annie's birthday that she had a really hard time letting Ann blow out her own candles, haha.  Kate just wanted to host the whole night!

David had some friends come visit for the BYU-Mizzou game and Bryce brought two of his boys--the kids had a great time with live-in buddies for a few days!

Thanksgiving
With Mason out of school and David a few days off work (and me not wanting to cook a big Thanksgiving dinner), we wanted to go somewhere fun with the kids.  We chose Branson, MO.  We were warned the traffic would be a nightmare so we chose a fun hotel that had a indoor water park, some shows, a buffet, an arcade, miniature golf, and a bunk bed private clubroom to sleep in.  We spent most of our 3 days there at the hotel, and only left to go see two shows: Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede and Jonah (and the Whale)--both were amazing.

 

The hotel's Buffet

Hotel's arcade and miniature golf

The Dixie Stampede!

Jonah

Lights exhibit we drove through on our way out of Branson

I've been going to playdates with the girls on Wednesday mornings and one week we went to the zoo.  I haven't been there forever and we had a good time.