Minute to Win It

On Saturday we had a Minute to Win It game night with some of our friends. We've seen a lot of people do these game nights and never been invited to one :( So we threw our own and it was a good time! After reading this I know you'll be planning your next game night ASAP. Here is the website for all the games.
This was such a fun night. We have some great friends who are always up for a good time!

A Bit Dicey
Challenge: Balance 5 dice on a popsicle stick that is held in your mouth.

Junk in the Trunk
Challenge: Get 6 ping pongs out of a box that is attached to your waist with a belt

Balloon Toss
Challenge: Keep 3 balloons in the air by tapping them only with your hands.
This was the hardest challenge by far! And has the best faces!

Hut, Hut, Hike
Challenge: Get 10 rolls of toilet paper into a hoop/frame that is 10' away.

Bubble Blow
Challenge: Blow a bubble into a hoop/frame that is 15' away.

Puddle Jumper
Challenge: Get 3 ping pong balls from 3 cups filled with water into 3 other cups.

Face the Cookie

Challenge: Get a cookie from your forehead to your mouth only using your face muscles.

HILARIOUS!

The videos take so long to upload...I don't have the patience to load the boys round. Sorry!!!

Young Women Retreat

I work with the youth 12-18 in my church. It's called Young Women. A few weeks ago we went on a winter retreat in Donnelly, ID. We stayed in a cabin (not tents) and had devotionals on the Young Women Values: Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Choice and Accountablity, Good Works, Integrity, Virtue.

We also went on a GPS Scavenger hunt on the frozen Casade Lake. It was one of the coolest things to be out on the lake in the dark with all the stars out. We related it to the Liahona in the Book of Mormon and the other guides we have in our lives.

Bedtime story with cookies and milk

 Followed by a Listerine gargling contest!

 The next day we slept in, had breakfast and some more devotionals, and went sledding! It was a good time :)

These young women are amazing. Being with them makes me want to try a little harder and be a better person. I am grateful I can share my testimony of the Savior with them.

Snow Fun!!

It finally snowed in Boise! It snowed all morning and then rained all night and the next couple of days as well. So our snow was gone very fast. In fact, our snowman was gone the next morning :( But kids love it no matter what. We had a ball!

Our Little Wiggle

This girl is a wiggle worm!! :)
In fact, she never stops. That could be part of the reason that she's only 19 pounds at 18 months. The other reason is obvious...look at her parents!

She also LOVES to dress up. Tutu's, hats, pirate sashes, you name it, she wants it on. What a crack up!!

Here are some funny pictures of our wiggle worm!

 (Whoops...headless Allie!)

Eating spaghetti. Those are always great pictures! She has her bottom tooth!! And 4 more are coming in :) Such a huge relief!

Out with my boyfriend :)

For Christmas this year I planned a date for every month of the year for Doug. We went on our first one last night with thanks to his sister Mattie who so willingly watched our girls. :) 

Challenge: Find sets of books and then come back and share with each other. This was so fun! Once you start looking at books it's hard to stop. The categories are below. Of course we ended the night with a pastry to share! 

Yee-Haw

Doug's mom grew up around horses and has such a love for them. Recently she started riding again at a ranch near Hailey, ID. We went up to Hailey for New Year's and she took us out to the ranch. It was beautiful out there and such a nice place. Allie got to ride on Button. She's an old horse but a good one :) Allie was in heaven saying "Yeehaw." And when it was over she was ready to go again. Our hope is that Luanne gets her own horse and then those kiddos can come ride with her all the time! Thanks for such a fun experience!

So This Is Christmas

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas filled with the love of our Savior and birth of our Redeemer. This year felt really magical to me. The kids are at such fun ages, especially Allie. She really understands the story of Jesus and on the flip side was totally into Santa and the presents 

We had a very low-key Christmas Eve. We cleaned the house in the morning, took it easy during nap time, then watched Miracle on 34th Street half-way through. After dinner we watched the Nativity video from Luke 2 and dressed up. Allie was Mary with her baby Jesus, Katelyn was a (pirate) shepard carrying around her lambs all night, Doug was Joseph, and I was an angel. Then we made a plate and both girls wrote a note for Santa. 

 I remember my parents had a cool plate just for Santa. Ours was nothing special. But kids don't care about presentation, right?

 Katelyn was really into her note. She wrote for 15+ minutes 

Gearing up for Santa. Allie put cardboard pieces down as a placemat for him. So thoughtful.

Christmas morning we WOKE the girls up at 7:30, opened stockings and presents from Santa and then went to church at 8:30. The choir sang three songs and the talks were so good. It was awesome to go to church in the morning and have that spirit with us all day.

When we got home we opened the rest of the presents. Allie had so much fun. Katelyn was so overwhelmed and really only wanted one present and some tissue paper. So we pretty much opened them for her!

We had Christmas dinner at our house with Doug's sister Mattie and her family, her hubby's brother and his wife, and Doug's parents. I love eating and we had some great food. Some of the fun foods were: I made a fun Christmas tree veggie plate, Mattie made the most amazing pomegranate cheesecake, and Luanne made an awesome Broccoli Salad. ALL the kids kept asking for broccoli and vegetables. It was amazing!

We hung out the rest of the night and just enjoyed talking and being together. It was such a great holiday!

 Oh how they love their Pa!

 Girl cousins wrapped in blankets from Nan and Pa

 Doug trying to stick his belly out. Some of us lucky ones don't have to try!

Joshy's chair creation

 Enoch (Ben's Bro) and Ben

Ben and Katelyn, with Alaine in the background!

Now for the New Year! May it be pure awesomeness!