December 2020

 This December has been much less busy than most Decembers.  Obviously this year we didn't have nearly as many family gatherings, school programs or other social gatherings.  I must admit the slower pace was kind of nice, though we missed many of our fun holiday traditions.  Luckily we were able to adapt several to fit our "new normal"

We met up with Tiffany and her kids and Grandma Terry to visit a Christmas tree lot and the elves at Gardner village.

Guess what, Sinterklaas totally uses Zoom! Thank goodness!  We were able to gather with our family and celebrate.  It was not our usual gathering with our yummy food, but it was still fun and nice to catch up.

Trying on the wooden shoes...

We made gingerbread houses out of pop tarts.   They turned out cute.  We did find that hot gluing the houses was much easier than frosting.  The kids had some very creative ideas... 

If you know Ava, you know she loves her moose.  She can't go to bed without him and we have had many frantic searches for him at bedtime.  She drew this cute picture of him and I just loved it! 

She also made him a crown....

We had a surprise visit from Santa!  Lyla was not so sure about him and didn't want anything to do with him.  When he left Finn said "That was Uncle David, I could tell by his voice."  Weird.

Our trip downtown at the holiday was different as well.  The lights are up at Temple Square are up, but the gates are closed at 4:30 so you can't really see them.  We had a nice sunny day and we headed downtown anyway and had a fun day.  We checked out the construction on the temple, went to see candy windows and had lunch at City Creek.

After going downtown we headed over to the zoo....

I have never seen the tiger up and moving!  usually they are just sleeping.

The sea lions were so fun!

Apparently these 3 kids weigh as much as an elephant poops in one day!  They thought that was pretty funny!

Our Christmas party this year was a drive through event.  We drove through and read large posters of the Christmas story and then the bishopric delivered dinner to the cars....

Christmas eve was spent at home.  We played this silly reindeer game and watched a movie.

Santa came!!!

Yummy Christmas morning breakfast...

We had a fun morning opening gifts.  All the kids got lots of fun things.  

For weeks before Christmas, the only things Lyla would say she wanted for Christmas was an astronaut!  We have no idea where she got this obsession, but we knew Santa had better deliver.  Luckily he came through and she was a happy girl.

Sadie got a donut pan and cookbook.  She and Victoria tried them out.  I expect there will be lots of yummy donuts in our future.  

She was excited for her new letter board...

We went to Grandpa Terry's to exchange gifts and hopefully we didn't exchange any covid!

astronaut even got to come to church....

Sunday after church, I got a call from Phoenix's mom (Sadie's friend who I babysit during the week)  She informed me that Phoenix had tested positive for Covid!  This was not good news for us since she had been at our house a few days before.  This meant we had to go into quarantine for 10 days and hope no one showed any symptoms.  So we ended our last week of 2020 in quarantine. We did lots of puzzles, lots of games, lots of tv and lots of playing.  

Lyla took a nap in the computer chair...

The kids played this game with playdough where they opened a restaurant.  They used Brian's phone to text me messages as their customer.  It was made me laugh some of the things they sent me.  Then it got a little old getting lots of messages.  I am just happy when they play nicely together.  

Random December....

Lyla Llama....

team huddle....

Ava drew this adorable picture of she and I looking at the stars.

A new Swig opened by our house.  I am so excited!  We got to go to friends and family and get free drinks and cookies!  I think I will be spending too much time there.

After Lyla gets out of the tub, she loves to run and hide!  Where is Lyla??

Sometimes we do chores....

Kelsey and I wore our ugly llama Christmas sweaters on the same day....

Clean little girl right out of the tub....

Lyla helping Ava with her sight words...She picks up the card, shows it to Ava and says "what does this say?"  

Finn and Benny created a robot from items they found in the recycle bin

We rang in the new year at home, in quarantine.  We enjoyed muddy buddies and watched a movie.  I didn't even take any pictures.  What a year this has been!  Looking back, it is crazy to think all that we have lived through.  We are looking forward to 2021 and are hoping it will not be as crazy as 2020 and that  maybe life can begin to return to what we used to know.  Through it all though, I think we have learned a lot.  We have learned what it most important to us.  I have seen my kids be so resilient and they have really learned to go with the flow, and make the best of situations.  We are thankful for our health, our family and our faith.  2021 here we come!