The kiddos did most the decorating of the tree this year. They actually did a good job, and just needed help spreading their ornament clusters around:)
We had fun jamming out to some holiday tunes and just letting the kids do their thing.
per usual, Jaden is struttin' his favorite jammies at the time
no matter how "too small", he LOVES those PJs :)
Jaden's preschool did an awesome Christmas Angel program this year. I had Jaden and Brielle pick a child to purchase a gift for that was around their same age. We had Landon do a baby gift too;) They had a lot of fun shopping and wrapping the presents they had picked out. The gifts went to a school just down the road from Jaden's school. They invited all the kid's at Jaden's school and their families to come to their holiday program/party where the gifts would be presented.
They loved playing on the swings! Jaden had just come from a jammie party so he was going with the cozy look:)
Christmas feasting
a little visit from Santa too!
poor Santa... his fake belly was popping out and it totally gave him away! :)
The following week was Jaden's holiday program!
He was so so so cute singing out loud and doing all the actions to the songs.
I got a total kick out of "I want a hippopatomous for Christmas!" It was adorable!
chowing down with his reindeer buddies after the show:)
Cody wanted to make the holidays extra special (even though we agreed not to exchange gifts this year!). He surprised me with a little 12 days of Christmas. It was so thoughtful, and I would look forward to what he might have in store each day. Little things like... breakfast in bed, my favorite candy bar, back/foot massage, flowers, cleaning the house, shopping git cards, spontaneous girls' night out, romantic dinner for two, etc.
My favorite was the night he dressed up like a frenchy and welcomed me to "salon de cody"...
holy smokes he had me laughing. A little mani/pedi ensued.
(and yep, that's my sweater and eye liner on his upper lip:)
the post office is a definitely a hot spot during the month of December
we made a couple stops and waited out the awesome lines to be sure packages were sent off
We invited the entire Cutler crew to Arizona to spend the holidays with us. Our house was full of people, lots of love & laughter, and oodles of food. We're talking 8 adults and 6 little kiddos!! Even though chaos is inevitable with that many under the same roof, it is soo SOOO worth it. I love being surrounded by family and sharing the holidays with them.
We pulled out a few new games Uncle Andrew sent us to keep the kids entertained while we prepped for dinner that first night everyone was arriving... as you can see, it set a nice tone for the week:)
Everyone arrived safe and sound, we enjoyed a yummy dinner and catching up.
The following day was a very special day for the sweet twinsies! Bryson & Quinn (Casey and Kimber's new baby boys) were given a blessing surrounded by family who love them.
cutlers & woodruffs
just the cutlers
It was a busy Sunday! We went to our own ward/Christmas program, then slipped out during 3rd hour to make it to the blessing on time.
The Woodruffs were so gracious and invited our whole crew to their home for lunch and chatter afterwards.
Hard to believe we have 6 little Cutler grandbabies now.
(jaden, brielle, maxson, landon, bryson, quinn)
.proud grandparents.
We spent Monday morning grocery shopping for the week, and Dad/Derek did a quick round of golf that afternoon while Cody/Casey were at the dental office.
Lucky J-man got to join in and ride in the golf cart (his favorite part)
This day will go down in history! Dad C made his second ever HOLE IN ONE!!!
we met up with them when they rounded our backyard at hole 13
the girls waiting on the boys to get home:)
That night we drove into Mesa for Family Home Evening.
The lights at the Mesa Temple were beautiful!
It was wonderful to reflect on the birth of our Savior.
I dropped off a Christmas gift to this sweet Beehive of mine on our way there. We invited her to join us last minute, and it was such a neat experience for all us.
Karlee turned the big 15!!! For her birthday she requested laser tag. They found a place with laser tag and much more. All had a great time.
Karlee is one the sweetest people on the face of the planet! For her birthday, she wanted to do a special service for each of her family members. We all sat and watched a devotional given by Brad Wilcox on Christ's grace. It was powerful and inspiring. While we watched, Karlee took us one by one and washed our feet. She is amazing and it meant a lot to each of us. She is a true example of Christ:)
Christmsa Eve was busy, but so fun. Brielle joined Derek in his morning workout. She seriously loves her uncle, and always wanted to be right by his side:)
Grammy did her traditional Christmas stations... a tradition she is carrying on from Grandma Christensen. The kids loved it!!! She made them each feel so special and loved. She started with a few thoughts and then sent them to each of their stations.
At Derek's station they made fruit loop necklaces.
Brielle loved hers and wore it throughout the day.
The boys ate their necklaces soon after it was put together;)
At Grandpa's station they watched He is the Gift and then decided on a gift they would give to Jesus. They wrote/colored what their gift was and then placed it in a balloon with their name on it. We filled the balloons with helium to release on Christmas morning (unfortunately the helium was worn down by then:)
At Cody's station, the kiddos each decorated a Christmas sugar cookie.
Landon was happy watching all the action while scooting around in his walker:)
The kids loved the one-on-one time at each of the stations and the sweet messages from Grammie in-between each rotation. They ended with a big (blurry) group hug.
Grammie and Cody finished frosting the rest (with the intent of delivering/caroling to the neighbors).
Time did not permit, but they were sure yummy;)
'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' was just too distracting for us adults during lunch;)
That night, for our Christmas Eve supper, we did a Bethlehem themed dinner. We wanted to keep the focus on Christ, and it was really neat to just simplify and imagine what life might have been like during the time of Christ's birth.
Following dinner, we did our Christmas nativity/program. Notice our little Mary who insisted on dressing fancy. We just went with it and had a little princess Mary:) She requested Derek be her donkey and her stuffed doggie be Jesus. Silly girl! How we love our Bri :)
and Max was our Joseph
angel choir
singing hymns
Dad C was our narrator and read the nativity story from Luke 2.
3 wisemen... this turned into more of a pirate jig... ha!
shepherd song: Star of Bethlehem sung by Cody (Jaden was also a shepherd boy)
and this little guy was Jaden's designated sheep:) I thought Santa suited him better... :)
the kids each opened new Christmas PJs on Christmas Eve
and once they were in bed, we went straight to work!
Cody and the other men put the trampoline together in the backyard, while the ladies did meal prep and stocking hunts:) Good thing we had wrapped the presents beforehand! It was a late night.
Brielle's stash
Jaden's gift pile
and Landon's :)
Christmas morning was SOOO fun! Seeing the joy and excitement from the kiddos just makes it so magical and worth all the craziness leading up to the big day.
(Cody somehow was coaxed into sporting Brielle's princess crown around)
Look at this cute Cutler crew. Can't believe they are a family of 5! FIVE!!! They were total rockstars flying their whole bunch out here. We adore them and their cute kiddlets.
more opening of presents!
as soon as she opened her Frozen nightgown, she insisted on wearing it immediately:)
Max was stoked about his new tent! (and so were the other kids too!)
Landon's 1st Christmas
can never get enough helpers around here ;)
Definitely the highlight of the day was talking to Sister Tayliann Cutler!!! We miss her so much, and family gatherings just aren't quite the same without her! She is serving her mission in Montana and is such a fabulous missionary. My heart just smiles thinking of all the good she is doing in MT.
while Grammie and Gramps chatted with Sis. C, the kiddos stayed busy with all their new toys
and picking up wrapping paper trash :)
each family had a chance to talk to her one on one, and then we all gathered to say a tearful goodbye:)
This for me is by far my favorite Christmas treat... Swedish Butter Rings! Here they are rolled out and rising while the Christmas festivities continued.
While we did the last finishing touches on breakfast, the family went on their stocking hunts! A long time family tradition that has passed through the generations dating back to WWII.
Jaden and Brielle's stocking hunts ended on the new tramp out in the backyard. They were so excited, but totally distracted by all the goodies in their stockings:)
How adorable are these two nuggets on their 1st Christmas?!? Love them so much! They really are the sweetest things.
Christmas Day Dinner
pulled out the china (dad's side of the fam) and crystal (mom's side of the fam)
Grammie is a champ when it comes to stepping in and helping out with the kids, cleaning, cooking, anything! She is amazing!!
Later Christmas Day we did a white elephant gift exchange.
Earlier in the week, we each had a $5 limit to pick out a gift at the local Dollar store.
A lot of us were on the same page... we ended up with like 8 cans of silly string!!
and here's how that turned out... ha, so fun!!
(this is a family tradition of Kimber's that started years ago when she and her brothers found silly string in their stockings and decided to use it on their neighbors!)
we spotted Jaden and Brielle hiding with their silly string cans before the battle ensued... so funny
the remainder of the week consisted of lots of tramp jumping
more and more golfing
playing and baby entertaining
juicing
gaming...
in all it's varieties
movie watching
crafting
cousin/sibling bath times
oh these two!
2014 cutler babies
a side by side (5 month age difference)
and a traditional side by side of these two (7 month age difference)
24 months . 31 months
3 months . 10 months
7 1/2 months . 2 weeks
cousins!
and my rocking' SIL who I love and adore:)
We welcomed in the New Year with our Stake at the local Schnepf Farms. They rented out the entire place and we had a night full of free food, rides, carnival games, entertainment, etc. It was a lot of fun and a lot of COLD! Once it started raining, the kids didn't last long. They bumped up the fireworks to 8:30 and we called it a night:)
New Year's Day we went on a group date to TopGolf with Casey/Kimber and Logan/Blair. Such a fun group to hang with, and TopGolf is such a blast. Golfing range, food service, fun night-life atmosphere... you can't go wrong!
The following day we did a session at the Mesa Temple with the same bunch plus Kimber's folks, Sam and Cherri. A gal in their ward was going through the temple for the first time, so we went to support. The Mesa Temple is beautiful and rich in history. Wonderful evening with wonderful people.
We ended the holiday season with a visit to the Phoenix Zoo Lights!
The animals were out and the lights were most impressive.
Sad to see the holidays go, but it's always such a fun time of year full of family, traditions, memories, laughs, and more. On to 2015!