Christmas Festivities

WARNING: This is a LONG post with tons of pictures.

We had Christmas at our house this year. This was the first Christmas that we didn't have to travel to get to family, they all came to us. We were happy to have everyone come and we had a very busy week. My mom, Hayden, and Grandpa and Grandma Stellmon all drove down form Cd'A. Tyler, Aimee, and Ace live just a few blocks away, so they came over a lot as well. 

We made sugar cookies, decorated ginger bread houses, played games, made tons of yummy food, and ate WAY too much! (pictures are not in the correct order)

Christmas Eve we had a nice dinner with all the works. 

I cooked my first turkey! (and it actually turned out pretty good)

We left cookies and milk for Santa. 

A few weeks before Christmas Greg and I took the kids down to the Riverwoods outdoor shopping center in Provo. They had it completely covered in lights, it was so pretty.  We saw Santa (Malaya made sure to tell him her list of toys she wanted) and Malaya danced to the live band. 

 Christmas morning: We had to wake Malaya up! We told her Santa had come and she said, "Okay, I'm still tired" and rolled over in her bed haha. Eventually she got up and was so excited to see all the presents. 

 We took a trip on the new Provo Front Runner down to Salt Lake to see all the Temple Lights.

We made sugar cookies, a gingerbread house, and lots of other goodies.  

 It has always been my families tradition to open one present on Christmas Eve, which is always pjs :)

We played tons of games all week, and ate, ate, ate..... 

Grandpa Stellmon read the Christmas story from the Bible, and my Uncle Scott and Aunt Jill were able to come over as well as my Dad and JC. 

And to top off the week... My brother Tyler and his wife Aimee were sealed in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. It was also Aimee's birthday, so lots of celebrating that day :) We had a dinner at our house with the whole fam after the ceremony. It was a FULL house! 

 

And I'm spent! That was a LONG post, and it took forever to get all the pictures loaded... but it's done, so enjoy :)

Christmas Concert

Today we had to opportunity to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert.  We ordered tickets a while back not expecting to get any (they are selected at random online) and we got 4! So we went with my brother Tyler and his wife Aimee. We had to get up super early, get kids to babysitters (thanks Jessie & Adam, and Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell for watching our kiddos!!) and be in our seats before 9 am. It was a wonderful show and we are so glad we were able to go. 

Presenting was Tom Brokaw, who has been in journalism for over 40 years with NBC. I grew up watching him and have always liked him. His wife was also there and was able to join him on stage at the end of the program. They announced they have been married for 50 years and the choir did a special number for her since her birthday is on Christmas. 

 

 The special musical guest was Alfie Boe, who was amazing! He is know for his roll in Les Miserables as Jean Valjean. He has been on broadway and has several CDs out as well. He did a wonderful job and has an amazing opera voice.

What a wonderful way to get in the Christmas Spirit. The songs were fun and uplifting and the story of the "candy bomber" was a perfect reminder of what this season is all about. *Short version- during WWII, an American airplane pilot offered candy to some underprivileged kids in Germany at the airstrip. He was touched by their sweet reaction, which lead to more than 8 tons of candy being donated and thrown out of planes in tiny hanker chief parachutes for all the kids. During the story, snow began to fall and these tiny parachutes fell into the audience. It was magical (not to sound silly, but seriously...it was)

Twinkle Toes

Malaya took a dance class this year through UVU with Mrs. Charlie. She absolutely loved it!

On the last day they had a little recital for the parents. Malaya was super distracted with the costumes that she could hardly focus on her dance.

okay Mom... enough with the pictures already! :) 

It was so fun to watch Malaya with the other girls. She had a great time and was so funny. I tried to help her practice at home once and she said, "No Mom, I already did that at dance class". 

If I could ever figure out how to post videos on here you would get a good laugh :) 

Mug Shot

Malaya started preschool this fall. We kept it pretty simple and joined a co-op with a few ladies from our church. It's only once a week and each mom takes a turn teaching. Malaya has so much fun and is always excited to go (except for when she sees the school bus go by, she is sad she can't ride on it)

 Usually, Malaya will never let me touch her hair. It always has to be down and long (like Rapunzel), but she was so excited and let me do her hair for her first day of school. 

 It's hard to believe that she is 3 1/2! 

Time seems to go by more quickly now than ever, and it makes me sad she is growing up. 

My sweet little Malaya Badaya :) 

Our 1st Garden

We were able to plant our 1st garden this summer. Malaya had a great time planting, watering,weeding, and of course eating from the garden. 

We planted lots of peas....but they didn't last long because Malaya couldn't keep her hands off of them. She LOVES peas from the garden. 

We also planted cucumber, carrots, green onion, basil, and pumpkins. 

We have a HUGE grape vine in our backyard. We made tons of smoothies and ate grapes all Summer, Yum!

We also caught tons of bugs, slugs, and played outside as much as possible. 

We have two apple trees and two cherry trees as well. Malaya loved to help out. And yes, whenever we were outside, she was stripped down to her panties :)  

End of Summer camping

The Plan: Go camping 2-3 times this Summer

Reality: We were only able to go once the last weekend of Summer.

We went to Mirror Lake in the Uinta National Forest with my brother Tyler and his wife Aimee and our kids.

We took a 2 mile hike to get to the lake. 

Malaya loves the outdoors and hiking, but eventually Greg ended up packing both kids. 

Tyler getting ready to do some fishing

Waiting around the fire for some dutch oven dinner

It turned out pretty good and it was super easy. 

Meatballs, potatoes, onion, carrots, and cream of mushroom. 

Dutch oven monkey bread. 

(it was a little burnt on the bottom, but still good)

                                      

We knew it was going to be cold at night so we took Greg's huge hunting tent. We stayed warm all night thanks to the wood stove.

 Collecting the firewood

Tyler, Aimee, and Ace.

We loved being out with all the leaves changing and the beautiful surroundings. It was a lot of fun. (minus Ace crying all night and me having horrible stomach pain) Malaya was so excited to sleep outside. She kept telling us that it was bed time all day just so she could go in the tent. Good times. 

Whistle while you hike

We did a lot of hiking this Summer and saw some cool waterfalls in Provo Canyon and Steward Falls.

Grandma Kae and my brother Tyler- Stewart Falls

Family night hike. Greg said it was going to be an easy walk along the trail... packing Jace in the front pack straight up the mountain wasn't easy! Greg just kept saying, "I don't remember this trail being straight up, I thought it was a quick easy hike". Well, 1 1/2 HOURS later, we finally made it to the falls, had our picnic,  and got back down right before dark. Malaya insisted on wearing here fairy costume from last Halloween. The entire time on this hike she was running up the mountain singing "I'm a fairy, I'm a fairy". I could barley keep up with her (sad, I know). She has soooo much energy and what better way to let it all out :)  She loves going on hikes with us. 

 

Hiking in Pine Canyon with Jenny, Jessie, and Adam.