Playing Catch Up

 Well, before all of the million of Christmas vacation pictures take over my computer, I thought I'd finish my pre-Christmas blog.  It sure has been a busy few weeks.  With flying out to interviews almost weekly, (sometimes twice a week), callings, school, a surgery, and all of the other things to keep us busy in life, we're just going to have to keep on running to keep up with the pace of it all.  I guess we should enjoy the last couple of days of vacation while we can.
These first pictures are of a little goodbye dinner we had for our good friends the Carrs.  We sure do love them and are so, so sad to say goodbye to them.  Hopefully we can see them soon though.

 The whole gang.  The kids were so sad to say goodbye to their "BFFs"!!

 We always try to take group pictures of the kids and they always turn out about like this....

 We had a decent snowfall the other day in St. Louis, so of course we had to build a snowman.

 How do you like those shoes??  Now, that's stylin!

 This is a pic I snapped right before the kids went to their very first movie at the movie theater with our supermom of a neighbor.  Jenna took four kids with her to the movies by herself.  Now, that's brave.

 Here is Andrew at his first dentist visit.  He screamed bloody murder the whole time.  It was a great experience.

 We had an apartment-hosted Christmas party.  The kids had a great time.  Santa even came to visit.

 Looking out the window as we all wait for Santa to arrive.  My little cutie!

 Anna getting her groove on.  Now, that's style.

 Who looks like they're having fun here?

 Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Thanksgiving

 Happy Turkey Day everyone!!  Oh, wait, that was almost a month ago.  Wow, it has been so hard to keep up on blogging.  I figure that since Christmas is in a couple of days, I better get on it!
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  My parents and brother and sister-in-law all drove up to St. Louis to spend Thanksgiving week with us.  We LOVED having them there.  I've always wanted to host a Thanksgiving at my house and what better way to spend it than with people you love.  It always surprises me how much work it is for one meal but so worth it.  The food was yummy but the memories we made were so much sweeter.  Great, great week.

 I was really excited to decorate for Thanksgiving and make it feel like a special day.  That was probably my favorite part of it all.

 I loved when we all went around and told what we were thankful for.  It was a very touching time for all of us.  Andrew said that he was thankful for his best friend, Grandpa.  It was sweet.

 What do you do when you come to St. Louis?  You visit the arch!!  It was a beautiful day and the kids loved it.

 After Thanksgiving, we decorated for Christmas.  The holidays have felt kind of stressful this year, so it was nice to spend an afternoon just enjoying each other while we decorated the house and listened to Christmas music.

 We've also started the Elf on the Shelf tradition.  We named him Jack.  It's been so fun for the kids.  I will be glad when Christmas ends this tradition.  I often forget until right as I'm falling asleep.  Worth it though because the kids squeal every morning when they find Jack.