Snow Day

Our California kids were sooo excited to play in the snow!
The cousins, who are used to living in snow half the year...not so much.

They were good sports, however, and all had fun building snow forts, sledding, and having snowball fights.
{My fave is the pic where Xander is pulling apple-eating Courtney around on the sled.  Is she a princess, or what?!?}

 Courtney was such a trooper and pulled her own sled up the hill countless times!

 Josh, Darren's brother, tried snowboarding on two plastic chair pads--he actually did pretty well!

One of the scariest moments of my life.

Cami agreed to go down the hill with me.

It wasn't pretty.

There was lots of screaming involved.

O Christmas Tree

This poor tree has been with us from the beginning, and has followed us literally from coast to coast.
Nostalgia, memories, and endless pine needles to clean up for a month...

Our little Santa Man
We really need to figure out the settings on our camera!

Can you hear the crackling fire & Bing Crosby?

Darren frequently makes fun of me asking the kids to pose for pictures.
Yes.
Yes, I would absolutely ask someone to pose like this for a picture.
Whatever.

Thanksgivin'

My darling sister, Rebecca, was so sweet to come down to visit us for Thanksgiving.

We were excited to meet her "Man Candy" she brought with her.

We'd heard lots about John Wesley Sanders.

{Mostly about his biceps and kindness and kissing abilities}

Still, we were a little nervous.

  We were thrilled to see these two!

 {We put them to work, peeling potatoes for dinner}

Rebecca seems so blissfully happy, Wes is super awesome and treats her so amazingly well.  We can see how in love, FUN, and perfect they are for each other. 

 And the man can peel! 

When company comes, I like to try new recipes out.

Hence the lattice-topped pie.

Darren engineered the criss-cross pattern, and it turned out so pretty!

{I mean, manly.}

Before baking, you pour some yummy carmelized sauce over the top.

 At dinner, we opened our Gratitude box and took turns reading our blessings.

I LOVE spending holidays surrounded by family!

After we eat dinner, our family has a crazy tradition.

I'm a little scared to tell you what it is.

 It's called the Turkey Shoot.

Basically, we sit in chairs in the backyard and chuck mini wiffle balls at our kids while they run across the yard gobbling like turkeys and flapping their elbows.
It's great fun.

Apparently our mini wiffle balls were lost in the move.

So we had light saber fights instead.

Awww.... aren't they so cute together?

Downtown Disney

Sometimes in the evening or for FHE we will go walk around Downtown Disney. It's tradition to get their delish, warm kettle corn for a treat.
Lego Woody {do you see any resemblance?}
LegoDarth has his grip on XanderMan!
C is for Courtney--our new little California girl!
A for Alexander--loving everything here so far!

Eggs to Dye For!

Temple Lights

They still had the lights up at the temple, and we loved going even though it was after Christmas. Breathtaking. I feel such a spirit of peace just being near the house of the Lord.
My boys

Silly Auntie Rebecca can always get my kiddos riled up. She's a hoot and they love her dearly.

Awww...

Not to detract, but just wanted to let you know that isn't a headdress my Mom is wearing-- just some foliage in the background;)

Happy times!

Elements of Christmas...

. . . that I love. . . The name "Natalie" means Christmas child-- it's no wonder why I love this season. My parents gave us this beautiful tree as our wedding present. It's so Victorian & pink! Love baking with the kids
Love our little New England Christmas village-- it reminds me of nostalgic Maine.

When we were kids, my family & I used to gather on cold December evenings and read Christmas stories & scriptures.

I guess we've evolved a bit. We turn out all the lights {except the tree}, make ourselves cozy with blankets & pillows, & watch Christmas videos on the laptop.

We love remembering the life & birth of our Savior.

Christmas Caroling

Tonight for FHE some of the families in our ward went on a Christmas Caroling hayride. The Farabees opened their home & shared their hay-laden trailer & hot chocolate with us. Fun! {I'm hoping to snag some pics from one of the other families that went-- I forgot my camera!} The word "choir potluck" usually strikes fear in the innermost, germ-a-phobic part of my heart. Issues aside, I got this fantastic idea to make red velvet oreos... festive.

We came home covered in hay, hoarse voices-- totally exhausted. {my ankles are sticking together because of some kicked over cups of hot chocolate:} Proof that we all had a wonderful evening!

Gingerbread Cheater-Pants

This year's gingerbread house was quite enjoyable to make. Darren saw a kit for $7 @ the store, candy & icing included! So I lit a yummy quasi-gingerbread candle {for ambiance} and let the kids go to town. Sticky business!
The finished product

Super easy! We totally cheated this year, but it was fun, nonetheless:)

36 to 63

Last year, Alexander had one Christmas wish--to see snow. So on Christmas Eve, we packed up and headed north. This year we decided to keep that tradition and drove 2 hours to spend the day in the mountains east of Payson, Arizona. This is our kind of snow... one magical day that requires no shoveling.The snow was fresh, sparkly and still clinging to the trees. It was breathtaking!
The snow bunnies:) We have no winter attire, so we had to improvise bigtime.

WooHoo! The girls were too chicken to walk down this hill, so Momma became the human sled.

Happy to see the snow-- for about 5 minutes. She told us, "Next time you need to find some warm snow. This kind is too cold!"

The snowball throwing champion. We all got pelted pretty good by this boy. It doesn't help that we watched "Elf" on the way up here.
We always pull off at this beautiful campground, just up in the mountains a bit. Darren brought his camp stove and we devoured chili and hot cocoa. Notice how far my table sank into the snow!
Brrrrr it's cold! Look at those poor little fingers & red nose! 36 degrees...
Aahhhhh... back to reality. 63 degrees and 2 hours later, we're sitting in the backyard {notice that Xander doesn't even have shoes on} around the fire, eating pizza. What a day of extremes.
Happy Christmas Eve!

FHE @ the Temple

Last Monday we tried to go to the temple lights, but the forecast called for rain, so we decided to postpone until this week. Guess what? It rained!

Pictures don't do this temple justice. It is so beautiful.

Palm trees+night+rain

Alexander rode his heelys all around the temple grounds. It is usually packed this time of year, but because of the rain, attendance was sparse. Only the tough Idahoan Maineacs can withstand these harsh Arizona winters:)

Courtney's favorite was the big nativity they have on the grounds. We went to a live nativity on Saturday, and she giggled through the whole program because the goat kept saying, "Maaaaa."
Inside the visitor center they have nativity sets from around the world. Here are some of our favorites. We dried off a bit in the theatre as we watched Luke 2. A soggy but wonderful night:)