Christmas Girls

I bought the girls' Sunday Christmas outfits at Once Upon a Child this year. They have so many clothes, that it's really not hard to find the same things in multiple sizes! And I found these skirts that I loved in both their sizes. Score! Then I grabbed them each a red sweater and I think they looked adorable! Merry Christmas from these two cuties! 

Ward Christmas Party

Our ward Christmas party was amazing this year! It was our first in our new ward here in Columbia. And they did not disappoint. This year they did a Christmas breakfast. The idea was to make it feel like Christmas morning. We all came in our pajamas and we had a big pancake breakfast with fruit, sausage and muffins of every kind! There was also milk, chocolate milk and orange juice. Seriously yummy. After breakfast they had someone teaching a fun dance that included even the little kids. Even Elliott was able to join in. Then, there was a musical number by the youth followed by a story from Mrs. Claus. Just as Mrs. Claus was finishing her story, Santa arrived. Elliott was so excited. She has been talking about seeing him for months now.

We jumped in line and were one of the first ones up to see him. She told him she wanted a comfy elephant for Christmas. Yikes. That was definitely not on the list before that moment. Haha. Good thing she's young and wouldn't remember.

One of the best parts of the party was the theme of service behind it all. Prior Sundays we drew names of children who were in need of gifts this Christmas. It had their name and either clothing size or preferred toy. We got a little girl named K'Mya. She wanted anything minnie mouse or a baby doll. So during the week leading up to the party, I took the girls to Target to shop for our little girl. We picked her out a doll and found a minnie mouse dress up dress for her as well. Elliott was so excited about helping this little girl have some gifts under her tree. She was even upset when she found out we wouldn't get to watch her open them. But it was so wonderful getting the opportunity to teach her a little bit about service and helping those in need, or those who have less than us. Even if she is young, she knew that what we did made her feel happy and good inside and that's a great start. I'm proud of her.

All in all, the Christmas party was a blast. We are loving our new ward so much!

Elliott and Santa over the years.

I LOVE this picture!

Family Visit

In December my sister and her family were able to come down to Columbia for a short weekend visit to celebrate Christmas (since we wouldn't be seeing each other during the actual holiday). They came down on a Friday evening. Josh's parents were throwing a ward council Christmas party that night so it was a bit crazy when they got here. But we ate and escaped some of the madness in our room and talked a bit. Then Josh convinced us to take the golf cart out for a drive around the neighborhood. We'd gone about two blocks before we regretted it. It was absolutely freezing that night and we were all frozen! But the Christmas lights were beautiful.

On Saturday we started our morning at the downtown ice skating rink. It was a bit overpriced, if you ask me, but we made the best of it. I think Jamie and I had the most fun of anyone. Elliott couldn't skate on her own and they didn't have any of those push things for kids, so she was pretty frustrated. But we skated for an hour or so and then headed to lunch. We ate at Mellow Mushroom downtown. Yum! The service was pretty bad that day, but the pizza was great. After lunch we headed back to the house for some down time (and a nap for Piper) before heading to the zoo that evening. We had passes from Josh's grandpa for all of us so we went and saw some of the animals for an hour or so before they went to bed and they turned on all the Christmas lights. It was chilly, but we had a blast. That night we came back and caught the BYU bowl game and ate taco soup. Yum.

They had to head out on Sunday morning so they could get home and relax before getting back into life on Monday. We had a great weekend with them though, and we were so glad they made the trip down to see us! We can't wait to see them again!

Fall in South Carolina

Fall in South Carolina has been out of control gorgeous. The weather has rarely been below 65 degrees. We've had a couple spells in the low 60s or high 50s, but otherwise it's been in the high 70s, low 80s. Seriously, gorgeous.

It's been a jam packed fall. We've been trying to take every opportunity to spend time outside in the beautiful weather. We been playing in the leaves, making hopscotch games, playing in the front yard, playing on the back porch, taking walks to the park, you name it. I'm so sad to see fall go! It's by far, the best season.

I passed this tree every day on the way home. Loved it. 

Fun day at Panda!

Veterans Day Parade

Trying to sneak candy while I check out. 

Friend's birthday tea party. So cute. 

Piper eats a lot of dirt...haha

S

Thanksgiving in Simpsonville

This year, Morgan and Jenn hosted Thanksgiving dinner at their new home in Simpsonville. We drove there on Wednesday and spent the evening talking and cooking in preperation for Thursday. On Thanksgiving we woke up and watched the parade (a must) and cooked most of the morning. We ate dinner around 1pm. As always, dinner was delicious! Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, creamed corn, delicious rolls by Jenn, green beans, frog eye salad, pretty much everything. We also had a chocolate cream pie, a pumpkin pie and an apple pie which I made from scratch and was so yummy! My first apple pie. My second pie, ever. Eek. Yep, not a baker.

After dinner we cleaned up and went on a walk. The weather was gorgeous so we did a big lap around the neighborhood. The kids sat in the wagon and it was just beautiful out. We hung out, put the kids to bed, and ate dessert and then headed out early the next morning becaue Josh had to get back to work. We had such a great time! Thanks Morgan and Jenn for being such great hosts!

I'm so thankful for this time of year. I love all the extra opportunities to focus on what we're thankful for and what's most important. We are so blessed.