Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

We had our usual, traditional Christmas Eve. We had a big, yummy dinner, read a Christmas story, watched a movie, threw reindeer dust, and hurried off to bed!

We didn't buy a new Christmas book this year. We decided we had so many great ones, we would just let Bailey pick her favorite. She loves The Crippled Lamb.

After we finished watching Home Alone 2, we went out to throw reindeer dust. It wasn't the same without Sawyer. He was the king of great poses and faces during reindeer dust.  We sent him some in his 12 days of Christmas package, and he took pictures in Texas. I can't wait to get them!

Santa came!

Christmas

We had a great Christmas! Little miss crazy woke us up at 3:00 in the morning though! We sent her away and told her we wouldn't get up until 5:00. She was all bent out of shape about it, but left us alone until 5:00 on the dot! We thought being the only kid at home would make it less exciting for her, but apparently not! After we opened presents and had breakfast, we just hung out watching movies and playing with our stuff all day.

Yay! Santa came!

We did her presents in themes this year. Her first theme was running! She got a tiger tail, a Garmin GPS, some sweatshirts, and headbands.

Her next theme was music! This was for her and Mark. They got a much needed performance sound system, and recording equipment. Playing with this occupied a big portion of the day.  

Batman! She takes after her brother. She got all kinds of  fun Batman stuff! 

Her last theme was media. She always gets books, movies, and music. She got all that stuff, but we saved the big surprise for the very end. She got One Direction tickets to the AZ concert! She was pretty dang excited! Not only will she get to see 1D again, but she'll get to see aunts, uncles, and COUSINS!

Sawyer got some stuff too. We have started up a collection of the books and movies that he's missing while he's gone.

Sticky buns and chocolate milk for breakfast!

Learning how to use her recording stuff.

And the BEST part of Christmas! We got to talk to Sawyer for an hour! It was the fastest hour of my life, but so fun! It was so great to hear his voice and see his face! He seemed so happy :)! Only 131 days until we get to talk to him again!

Although we have fun with the food, presents, games, movies, time off work/school, etc., we recognize the true meaning of Christmas. The birth of our Savior is the greatest gift of all, and the reason we have such a happy life. We are truly grateful for the knowledge we have of the reason we celebrate!

Holiday Fun!

Scavenger Hunt

I put together a Christmas Mall Scavenger Hunt for Bailey and some friends. It was hilarious! They had to take a picture or video of the things on the list. When they finished, we came back to our house for hot chocolate and looked at the stuff they filmed and took pictures of. Some of them were SO funny! Here are a few of the things they had to do:

2 members of the group wearing ugly Christmas sweaters

The group singing Jingle Bells in the center of the mall

The group wearing tacky Christmas ties

A member of the group wearing something appropriate for a fancy holiday party

Acting out a scene from Elf

A stranger telling the group 3 things they want for Christmas

Decorate your group with non-clothing Christmas accessories

They had a list of 25 things! Good thing she has friends that don't get too easily embarrassed, and love to ham it up!

Rein Deer

Kassie told us where we could go to meet Santa's rein deer! We skipped the line for Santa, and went straight to the rein deer. They were so cute! I'm pretty sure we need a couple of our own!

White Elephant Party

We went to the Russon's annual white elephant Christmas party. Like always, it was hilarious! I laughed so hard my face hurt! We came home with some great treasures!

Christmas Ornaments

It was strange (and a little sad) decorating for Christmas without Sawyer this year. Bailey pulled out the stockings and I wanted to cry when she asked if she should put his out ;(! The kids get a new ornament to put on the tree each year. We sent one to Sawyer to put on his little missionary tree, but we got a missionary one for our tree too. Bailey got a 1D ornament. She was pretty excited!

Bailey and Elder Varvel with their new ornaments!

The three of us got influenza right before Christmas, so we had to miss out on some holiday fun. Bailey missed the Angle Tour at school, and I missed my annual friend party with the Sandcreek girls. We were so bummed! We still had loads of holiday fun though!

Holiday Performances

Bailey had her winter guitar recital this month. She performed 'Just One Night' by Sawyer Brown. They also had a group performance of 'Silent Night'. It was pretty cute!

Silent Night

Bailey and Mark

After the Festival of Trees performance, a lady asked Mark and Bailey to play at the Museum of Idaho. They did an hour long performance of Christmas songs, and some regular songs thrown in. They did a great job! It was fun to look at all the Santa, nativity, and gingerbread displays.

Bailey and Elder Varvel with Santa.

Performing

I sure love these three!

We snuck Elder Varvel over the ropes to get a picture of him with the big nativity :)! We do some crazy things to ensure we have good pictures to send him each week :)!

Oh Holy Night

Let It Go (from the movie Frozen)

Don't mind the mess up. She turned her page too far :)! 

1D Week

One Direction had a 7 hour live stream, and there were some contests to go along with it. These crazy girls went all out! Aubrianna came up with 1D week. They dressed a certain way each day at school. They also filmed a video- that I have to admit was pretty dang cute :)! Then they decorated and watched the live stream together for 7 hours! Yep, all 7 hours! They even ate all the guys favorite foods! The week ended with getting the Midnight Memories CD when it came out. Makes me laugh at how obsessed they are. I just smile and remember that I was the same way with Duran Duran back in the day :)!

Malik Monday-wear red or blue.

Tomlinson Tuesday-stripes or red skinny jeans.

Horan Hump Day- Green. 

Tattoo Thursday-for Liam and Harry they wore scarves and tattoos.

Flipout Friday-this one was hilarious! I still can't believe they went around school like that all day. They even had 1D nails on! 

Yay! Midnight Memories-which I've heard about a thousand time so far!

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend! We kicked it off with a fun visit from Dani! She came over and took a picture with Reeses to send to Sawyer on his 6th month mark. She was so brave :)! Bailey went to I-Jump with a group of friends and then back here for a movie. Then we mostly spent the weekend eating, watching movies, and shopping. On Wednesday night I went out for a Girl's Night with Jenni and Kassie. We went to a movie and then to dessert. We saw Austenland. It was so stinkin' funny! 

Elder Varvel, Dani, and Reeses

Bailey made a pumpkin pie all by herself! 

Jessica and Tyler came to our house for Thanksgiving. It was fun having someone here besides just the three of us.

We missed Sawyer, but we got some good pictures to send him :)!

Elder Varvel enjoying some dinner :)!

Olives!

 We started our traditional puzzle on Thanksgiving. This year we are doing the New York one we got on our vacation this past summer. It's a hard one!

New York puzzle

We did some Black Friday shopping. We got Bailey lots of cute church clothes for really cheap. I love a good sale!

We also went and saw Frozen. It's SO cute! Bailey had the song from it totally figured out on the guitar the next day.

Bailey and Alicia also went to Despicable Me.

Silly girls!

We really do have a lot to be thankful for. This year, I'm mostly thankful for our missionary. Elder Varvel is missing out on moments like these with his family, so that he can share the Gospel with other people. He knows how important it is for other people to have the opportunity to have their families for eternity. I miss him, love him, and am super proud of him! Now the countdown is on till Christmas break! 

Festival of Trees

Bailey and Mark performed at the Festival of Trees again this year. They had a good mix of fun, and beautiful Christmas songs. They did Christmas All Year Long, Oh Holy Night, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, What Child Is This, Joy to the World, Wildflower, Just One Night, and Shake Up Christmas. They had such an awesome group of family and friends come to watch them! Grammy and Papa stayed in Idaho an extra week just so they could come. I got a little choked up when I saw all of our friends come in. We love all the support they had! They actually performed twice, because someone was sick, so they helped fill that time slot. A lady was listening to them, and she asked them if they would perform at the Museum of Idaho for an hour in December. That will be the longest they've ever performed at one time.

Bailey and Mark

Rudolph

We love Seth and Ralph! They are our favorite guitar guys! 

Miss Johnson is Bailey's all time favorite teacher! 

Love these girls! Aubriana, Bailey, Neesha, Annie, Marlee, and Emily

Their fun fans! We love all of them! Tammi was also there, but left before pictures. The Whiteheads were there too! Thanks everyone!

The Temples!

Thanks for staying Grammy and Papa!

We missed Sawyer this year, but 'Elder Varvel' was along as a good substitute!

Rudolph

What Child Is This

Wildflower 

Fight For Ike

We ran the Fight for Ike Fun Run on Saturday. It was a 5K run at Rigby Lake to help cover travel and medical expenses for a little boy with a medical condition. It was our last run with Sam, because he is leaving next week to serve his mission in Alaska. I'm gonna miss him like crazy!

Sam, Elder Varvel, and Bailey

Happy 14th Birthday Bailey!

Happy 14th birthday to this crazy girl! Her day started out with a fun surprise! Alicia, Maylie, and Brayden got up around 4:30 in the morning to make her a big, yummy breakfast at Alicia's house. They got to our house to surprise her with it a little after 6:00.  It sure made for a fun morning of eating and goofing off before school. She has the BEST friends! Her second surprise was getting an I-phone! She was so excited! I think she was most excited about rubbing it in Sawyer's face that she got one before him :)! 

Bailey, Alicia, Maylie, & Brayden. Our fun little breakfast crew!

An I-phone!

This is the picture we took to send Sawyer. She misses him like crazy, but how can she pass up the opportunity to rub this in his face :)!

On Friday night she went to see Thor 2 with some friends! The timing couldn't have been any better. The movie opened that day, and there is nothing she would have rather done for her birthday! She was so excited! They saw it in 3D, and LOVED it!

Thor 2! Emily, Aubrianna, Neesha, Bailey, Elder Varvel, Alicia, Madi, and Maylie.

Trying to look mean. They don't pull it off very well!

They saw the movie in 3D! I'm pretty sure they loved the glasses more than anything else. They 'forgot' to turn them in, and then wore them for the rest of the night.

I laughed so hard at this picture! It looks like Maylie's head is on backwards! Crazy girls!

 She couldn't bring everyone to the movie, so she had a s'mores/night-games party later that night. I can't believe our Idaho weather held out for so long. An outside party in November is unheard of. It ended up being perfect! The kids weren't even cold.

Kaden, Caden, Chase, Alicia, Madi, Emily, Tanner, Bailey, Aubrianna, Neesha, Maylie, Olivia. Emma and Marlee weren't there quite yet. They had so much fun!

Playing 'Chubby Bunny' on the tramp. So funny!

Playing the skittles game around the fire.

 After sitting around the fire making s'mores, they played night-games until 10:00. She had a great time, with great friends! I count my blessings everyday that my kids have such awesome friends! It really makes all the difference in their lives!

Happy Birthday Bailey Rae! We love you tons!