December's beginnings.... kicking off the Xmas Season!

We have a tradition in my home that really kicks off the Christmas season for all of us. Thanksgiving weekend our family attends the Boise Festival of Trees! It's really a fun time we all look forward to. This year we decided to make a whole day of it. We had a slow start to our black-Friday morning and then set out to hit the FOT first. We enjoyed several hours of admiring trees, watching performances on stage and doing a scavenger hunt. We all worked up an appetite and decided to grab tacos before surprising our kiddos with taking them to a 7 pm movie in the theater! We saw "The Boxtrolls". It was a cute movie and enjoyed by all. 

We picked up a Christmas tree in town this year. Our 4-wheel drive on our Betty is broken, Anaius is tiny, I'm glued to a pump. I was just too exhausted to commit to hunting for a tree in the mountains this year. I hope to do it again next year! 

Our kids have been enjoying dance classes on Tuesday mornings for the last three months. It's been a fun time for them to do something "just for big kids" because so much of my time is very busy with Anaius. Here's some quick snap shots of their lessons. 

Another fun fact : We have TWO kiddos who can sing "All I want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" this year!

We also ventured out on an awesome "field trip" with a home school group and watched "Nutcracker Jr" ballet. It was an hour long and Daunika is begging to go to the full version next year. She LOVED it. We all had a good time and it was long enough to feel worth it, but not long enough that anyone in our young crew got restless. They also got to check out the costumes before the performance. Perfect :) 

One of the best parts of this December was our family going to the Boise Temple to be sealed for time and all eternity! It was a special day for us. We felt so loved and supported by those of our friends that came to witness our deeply personal ordinance. It was a beautiful day indeed! 

I have no words for how amazing it is to call this family mine.

And it wouldn't be mid-December without Kalani's birthday!!! I cannot believe this little spitfire tot of mine is THREE. She is such a joy. There is always laughter in her eyes as if she's clued into a joke I can't hear.

What a wonderful first half of the month it's been!