Jake looking sharp for church.
Cousin cookie decorating at the Seaman's
Brooke was thrilled to have matching Christmas pajamas!
All the girls
Happy Mother's Day to me... not sure why this is out of order.
Jake is getting to be a good little pianist.
Fun with family
Brookie and Treston are best buddies (and Brody, too, of course!).
Morning snuggles during scripture study.
Thrilled to have our first big snow storm!
December family tradition: The Minivan Express! I got the idea off the internet. We act like we're putting the kids to bed, and leave a ticket on their pillows. We have candy canes, hot chocolate, and go drive through and look at the luminaries over by Sechrist.
Alisa was the fox in The Gingerbread Man. She did a great job singing, "Come a little closer, I really can not hear you!" When I tried to sing it, she corrected me and ever since it's been kind of the family joke.
Ashlyn was the woman who baked the gingerbread man.
Emily watching her sister and cousin :)
Another family tradition. On both sides of the family, we have tried to go sing at The Peaks community every Christmas. We've caroled door to door and sung in the lobby. We love singing together! This year we went to the PICU unit of the hospital where Tarah works. It was sweet to be able to bring a little Christmas cheer to the sick kids there.
The kids waiting for Christmas Eve Yakisoba. So delicious! Tarah (the fun aunt) got them all these placemats to color while waiting.
I love sitting around and chatting with my family. We are so blessed to be a family and have each other.
Notice the photo bomb. Nice, Ashley!
I love my gorgeous sisters! Michelle, Lisa, Me, and Jacqui.
All dressed for dinner
Christmas day with cousins...
We always eat a candle light dinner with Yakisoba, sliced oranges, and sparkling cider. Our tradition has changed. Growing up, we had clam chowder, then we had to add bean with bacon soup since a lot of kids didn't like clam chowder. Now we love Yakisoba.
Ready for our Nativity Play. We act out the story from Luke 2, then sing Christmas carols together. After that we open new Christmas jammies, clean up a bit, drink egg nog and read The Night Before Christmas.
Back at our house. We are both so glad we decided to start doing Christmas morning at our house. It's great making memories with our little family. These kids are excited for Santa to come!
We leave a note and cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer, then read a couple of stories before putting the kids to bed all together.
Brookie was the last one awake Christmas morning. :)
This year we did a little devotional about the true meaning of Christmas, then the kids unwrapped gifts from each other from "mom's store." This was something my mom did for us growing up. She bought some things and let us shop in her store in her bedroom for our siblings.
Back at the Crane's for our cousin/family exchange.
All 14 Grandkids!
Josh and Tarah (she IS the fun aunt!) brought over an indoor snowball fight! It was hilarious and so fun.
Later on Christmas day, we went to the Seaman's. All the kids were THRILLED with their Lego sets!
Little bunny robe from Bethi and Derek
Matching Christmas outfits from Grandma
More Crane time!
On December 28th we got to attend Jenni and Caleb's sealing.
Beautiful Christmas dresses from Grandma Seaman
Wii party for New Year's with the Seaman's!
Sarah Jarvis took Jake and Noah up Snowboarding on one of their Friday afternoon specials. He is getting really good!
