Christmas!!!

These last few weeks have been super busy but pretty fun and exciting. Christmas is always such a wonderful but busy time, but on top of that, we moved back home to Gilbert! We really have enjoyed living in Thatcher, especially because of being close to my family. However, it is nice coming back to our house and getting back to normal life. Kent's family lives really close by, so we still get to be by family. But here is a quick look at the last few weeks.

We moved back home just a few days before Christmas, so with all the parties and family get-togethers we didn't have time to set up our Christmas decorations or even our tree. I was so sad that we wouldn't at least have a tree. I had gone to an interview for a new job and when I came home, Kent had surprised me with this cute little guy. I was SO happy!! He is so sweet and thoughtful! 

Since we didn't put up lights on our own house, Kent got to help his dad put up their lights!

This is Kent's youngest brother, Preston. He severely sprained his ankle while they were hunting a few weeks back so that explains the boot on his foot, however, I do not have a good explanation for the bright yellow sock! =)

Kent and I made this fire. Growing up, my family had a fireplace and sitting by the fire was one of my very favorite parts of winter. There is nothing like the warmth of a crackling fire on a cold winter day!

Here are a couple pictures from our family Christmas party. There were aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, and friends. There were lots of people and the house was jam packed, but that is one of the greatest things about Christmas!

This is Clint, our adopted brother. Well, he is not legally adopted, but his family lives in California and other parts of the world, so we have taken him in as part of our family. He always comes for Sunday dinner and we were lucky enough to have him at our Christmas party as well. Every Christmas it is tradition for someone to read "T'was the Night Before Christmas", so this year we had Clint read it for us.

Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without going to the Mesa Temple to look at the lights and all the beautiful nativities. We went with our good friends but unfortunately didn't get a picture with them.

Nearly 8 yrs ago, Kent and I went mountain biking on our unofficial first date. We had a lot of fun and that is where we first starting to fall in love, but unfortunately we had never gone again, until this week. We had so much fun and we can't wait to go again!

My sister and her family came and stayed with us for the last few days. Kent had fun wrestling with the boys and I had fun with little Melanie. 

Christmas Day!

Kent got a binocular tripod for Christmas.

 Our niece, Andalyn got Elsa and Anna dresses. She loved them! She even said that I could try on her Anna dress, but I probably wouldn't fit ;)

Kent's oldest sister, Raianne, and her husband Mike, just found out they are going to have a little girl in May! This is their first baby and we can't wait to meet her!

Mack loves dinosaurs so he got a set of Land Before Time movies. He asked me to watch it with him.

So Kent is a hunter, but I am not. However, he keeps telling me I need to get camo so I can go hunting with him. So we went and tried on some gear at Walmart. I Really didn't feel like going all the way to the fitting rooms, so I just put it on really fast over my clothes =) 

Christmas time is here!!

We had a busy and fun filled day yesterday! It started with a Christmas craft, then dinner with my parents, then on to the annual light parade, and then to finish it off with a Beautiful live nativity. With all the fun, I still managed to capture quite a few pictures.

Look at my mom going at it with a nail gun!

My sister Emily is the Master Mind in all this. She is the crafty one. I chose the craft, and she helped us put it all together.

Kent came to help us find and cut our dead tree branches. He is one awesome dude!

We got the tree branches all cut up, and then had to drill holes in the top. 

And this....... is the final product! 

We were So happy with the way it turned out. I saw it at a craft show and really wanted it, but did Not want to pay $40 for it. So.... we made it ourselves for roughly $7.

Light Parade! 

(Unfortunately the pictures aren't the greatest)

 Live Nativity

We didn't get any pictures of the actual live nativity because it was dark and the pics wouldn't turn out. But we got a few of us! It was pretty cold, but my hot chocolate kept me warm!

The kids got to pet the sheep after the performance. Our niece, Ruby, Loved this little guy!

My brother Brian and his wife Allison with us. Their little boy, Blake, didn't want his picture taken.

Finally got to trick Blake into taking a picture with me. I had been spinning him around so he was happy. Brian snagged a quick picture right before I started spinning again.

Gobble, Gobble!!!

We had such a fun Thanksgiving! A number of years ago we started a tradition of going back to the white mountains (Pinetop/Lakeside) for Thanksgiving. My whole family goes and it is always alot of fun. This year we stayed at a new place that we really like. It was a hotel with more of a cabin feel. The owners had a large garage with a pool table, air hockey, and a few tables and chairs. Since there are a lot of us, we spent quite a bit of time in the garage playing pool and games. Here is a recap of our trip!

Car ride to start the weekend! I told Kent to smile and he decided to stick out his tongue instead =)

 The guys were playing pool and the little girls wanted to watch

 My sister Jennifer, me, and our neice, Paige.

Left to right: My dad, my brother Brian, Kent, and our brother-in-law Kevin. Oh, and my nephew, Morgan.

 These cute girls play so well together. All the kids had a really good time.

 I'm pretty sure that there were kids playing air hockey the WHOLE time we were there!

 Selfie!!!

 This is a panoramic view of the whole garage.

Throwing the frisbee. Unfortunately you can't actually see the frisbee, but they are ready for it! Even my mom was getting in to it!

 We are playing this game that I think is called "Heads Up" or something like that. Our nephew Austin has a phone on his head and the app is a game where is shows a word, phrase, movie, etc and we have to give him hints of what it is. He has a minute to guess as many as he can. It was pretty funny. I have No idea what we were trying to act out to him but we were all doing something Completely different!

 The Thanksgiving vacation just wouldn't be the same without some Black Friday shopping! Even Kent joined me this year with all my sisters!