New Years!

I promise this is the last blog about the holidays. then we will finally be caught up.  We had a fun New Years at First Night in Kennewick.

Because we were some of the first people there, the kids all got 2017 glasses - complete with little flashing lights.

We played some little carnival games and the kids got little candies.

More carnival games.  We decided to skip the really long line for laser tag.

Here we meet Elsa.  Cinderella also made an appearance in the night.  But Elsa is Rachel's favorite.

Riding on the merry-go-round was a hit.  Whitney was the only one brave enough to go on a horse that goes up and down.

I wanted to see the juggler so we stopped and watched his show.  I thought it was cool.

Stopping and taking a little coloring break.  They were suppose to decorate a pizza to try to win a free pizza.  But we didn't win.  I guess we will just have to buy our pizza.

And we were at the bounce houses for a long time.  So it was a fun night.  Thankfully my parents watched Adam for us so we wouldn't have to hold him the whole time.  There were thousands of people there, but it was good.  And no one got lost.

Christmas and More

So this is the last Christmas post.  We had a great Christmas day.  I love having Christmas on Sunday so we can also go to church and enjoy the beautiful Christmas music.

We let the kids open their stockings before church.

Megan was super impressed with the new addition in the stocking - Fun Dip.  It has been greatly appreciated since then too.

We told the girls if they hurried to eat and get dressed for church there might be time for them to open one present.  Worked like a charm.  They were so excited to each pick one gift to open.

After church we started the crazy present opening jamboree.  Here we opened our new family trampoline.  Good for getting some bouncing done while it is still so cold outside.

Adam liked opening presents too.  He got some clothes and toys and diapers - the essentials.

Cousin Tessa decorates her face after opening her gift.  And look, she doesn't even need a mirror.  It was really cute how excited she was.

Later we got to talk to my sister Kaitlin.  She has about six months left on her mission to Mississippi.  It was great hearing some of her stories, and hearing her "ya'll".

Besides Christmas we had a couple of other fun events while in Pasco.  This was a double baby shower for Kylee and Allison.  We ended up having a good turnout and had fun playing games and eating chicken salad.

We all 'oohed' and 'aahed' over the cute outfits and blankets.

Another event was Conner getting his Eagle Scout award.  That was really neat.  I wouldn't know but it sounds like a lot of work and dedication.

This picture turned out a little blurry but Conner was able to give a little pin to my parents.

And then it was time for root beer floats.  Adam loved, loved the ice cream.  He got mad when it was all gone.

Anyway, we crammed a lot of fun things into our time in Pasco.  And it was great seeing everyone.

Christmas Traditions

I love Christmas time.  And I especially love spending Christmas with my family.  Here is our family doing some of our Christmas traditions.

Our WalMart gift exchange.  I think we had like $3.37 this year to try to buy a simple gift for someone else.

Adam checks out his new rattle toy.  Thanks Zach!

Of course, there was the famous Griggs "All Night" sale.  We always stop and play cards while we wait for the next auction.  I think it's fun.  And I was able to get a porch glider (now I just need a porch).

We got to play a lot of games together.  If you haven't played Telestrations before you really should.  It is hilarious.

Michael worked really hard at telling Adam to not knock over the stack of Jenga blocks.  He actually did surprisingly well.

Another tradition is to act out the Nativity story.  The brothers were the wise men (naturally).

Whitney decided to be the angel.  Rachel was a shepherd and Megan felt sick and didn't participate.  I think our acting gets better and better as we add more characters.  This time we had a Elizabeth, that was cool.

And playing the candy bar game.  If you roll a 7, 11, or doubles you get to pick a candy bar or steal one from someone.  The girls were very lucky and got lots of candy this year.

We also started a new tradition this year.  Kylee and Chas decided to teach us how to cook some Chinese food.  They were in China for many months and were taught by some locals.  This Christmas Eve dinner was delicious.  Thanks guys!

And my favorite tradition.  You cannot really tell from this picture but we were working on our presents to Jesus.  Christmas is so commercialized; it is nice to be able to try to give something back.  This is one tradition that I will definitely be keeping forever.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun.  Stay tuned for more Christmas pictures coming soon.

Time to Decorate

It was great to have almost all my siblings together at my parents house (my sister Kaitlin is on her mission and was the only one absent).  My mom was able to squeeze a lot of fun Christmas traditions into those few days.

One tradition that has been recently added was to decorate gingerbread men.  Just ignore the fact that the knife that was going to be dipped into the frosting was already in Megan's mouth.

Everyone got into the action and helped decorate some cookies.  Rachel was my decorating queen.  I think she proudly decorated about 10 of them (and didn't want anyone else to eat them).

Adam gets a little help from Uncle Chas.

Then it was time to decorate the Christmas tree.  Will turned on some Christmas music and we all got down to business.  There are a lot of old handmade kid ornaments.

My brothers Michael and Zach worked together to try to get the little angel to the top of the tree.  I think a hanger was involved.  I thought about buying a bigger tree topper this year but the two inch angel is a tradition.

We put paint into some empty glass ornaments and made them all pretty inside.

Megan picked her favorite colors - pink and purple.  She is my all girl.

It was fun decorating the house and getting everything ready for Christmas.

Pre-Christmas Activities

Happy New Year!  I know I am behind, but I thought I would post a few pictures of some of our pre-Christmas activities.  We had a fun and busy December.

Hermiston has a tree-lighting ceremony at the beginning of December.  It was a fun activity; here Whitney and Megan sit in Santa's sleigh.  This was before the big guy showed up and you were lucky to get near him.

We got to decorate cookies at the event.  Thankfully, there were lots of portable heaters and a roaring fire because it was really cold.  The tree was big and beautiful - quite the impressive sight.

The next night was our ward Christmas party.  We were a little early so it looks empty but there were about 250 people.  I liked the little papers that were on the tables for those of us waiting.  A neat idea was to make a Christmas wish list for Santa and then the kids could drop it in Mrs. Claus' basket as they went up to see Santa.

Adam had no problem with Santa.  He was just happy to get a bag of candy.

This was an incredible church event done by another church in Hermiston.  It was a re-enactment of the Nativity story and it was incredible.  There were people in costume and animals and it felt very real.  Here we are at the Bethlehem market where lots of people were shouting to sell their wares.

This was the part of the angel that came to the shepherds.  It was just amazing.  I hope my kids got to enjoy the experience and feel a little more like what Mary and Joseph would have felt.  Afterwards, there was hot chocolate and cookies.  We will definitely be going back.

The girls decided to make their own Family Home Evening Christmas treats.  They did not want any of my help.  So without any assistance they decided how much flour and cocoa powder and little bits of candy to put in.  I did have to make one suggestion at the end because the girls didn't have any oil or eggs so I recommended those.

Then they added frosting and sprinkles.  These were quite interesting. I think Will and I should get bonus parent points for eating our whole cupcake after FHE that night.

And before Christmas we got some snow - way too much snow in my opinion.  We ended up with like six inches on the ground.  So we went out and played.  Poor Adam had to stay inside.  He stayed right by the sliding glass door and laughed whenever anyone threw a snowball at him.

It isn't Christmas without some crafts.  So the girls made some colorful snowflakes and decorated our house with them.

And here is one of our elves on the shelf.  They come out every December and get into all kinds of mischief.  My favorite was probably when one elf wrapped the other one up in paper towels, but I forgot to get a picture.  Oh well.  They are gone now but I'm sure will be back next year.

Anyway, now you know some of our activities leading up to Christmas.  Stay tuned for our Pasco activities.  We did a lot of fun things with my family.