Chase

Chase has wanted suspenders for a while and when we got a great price on these he was so happy. Isn't he just so handsome. 

A few things about Chase:

He is a very sweet kid.

He has become the "big brother" to so many younger boys. He isn't bothered by them wanting to play with him even though they are years younger. He talks to them like they are so special. 

Honestly he is going to make a great dad one day.

He played a season of soccer in the fall and a complete parent fail we didn't take any pictures. He did great considering it was a small school team. It was his first season ever to play soccer. I'm not sure if he will play soccer again. While he did enjoy it but he prefers football. 

Triplets

We were shopping for some pants for Chase and I saw this shirt was across the store. I immediately went over there and looked at it. Then Maeley and Zoe saw and wanted it too. How could I not buy it when my girls actually wanted to match me? Seriously the cutest! Now I'm ready for another Disneyland trip! 

Room Swap

Take note of the brick wall in the back ground of this picture. This brick walls first purpose was a backdrop for selfies at Maeley's birthday party. Then is served as a backdrop for Christmas decor which anyone who came into the house commented on it. It really made the space feel extra warm and cozy during the holidays.

Our loft hasn't been fully utilized for quite some time and Maeley and Zoe have been wanting their own rooms for years. In fact Zoe has put on her Christmas list for I think 3 years now "her own room". We didn't want to do anything permanent so we decided to re-purpose the brick wall as a faux wall to make Maeley her own room in what was the loft. 

The entire project cost us nothing because we had everything on hand. Maeley loves her space and asks often when we will permanently make it a room. Zoe couldn't be happier with her own room. Honestly there has been a reduction in fights because of this. 

We had a sofa and tv entertainment unit in the loft prior. We sold the entertainment unit months earlier as we noticed we rarely used the space for tv watching. We love the sofa so we decided to rearrange our bedroom and add it in there. 

The bed used to sit between these 2 small windows. Moving the bed to the other wall made the room feel much longer and know we have a great place to sit and read or relax. If we do end up making the loft permanently into a bedoom we will probably add a tv in here (above the cedar chest). Then when friends are over they can be watching tv downstairs and we have something to do upstairs. 

Another Wave Cave Hike

Off on a cold morning hike with Aydia going us.

We attempted to spell Jones. Zoe's S is my favorite!

Gotta surf the wave! 

Zoe was sad about the snack situation and Chase tried to help her. I love how thoughtful he is.

I say it every time but hiking and spending time with my family is the best! 

Christmas Day 2017

The excitement on Christmas morning is the best! They totally slept in longer than we expected. I got up early to get a run in before and surprisingly they were still asleep when I got back so I had time to shower! But of course I got right back into pjs. 

This is the kids tree upstairs. 

I seriously love his excitement for his backpack. He's wanted it for months. it has Mickey and Donald climbing a mountain. 

He still doesn't want to put it down because he's so happy! The magic of Christmas morning is my favorite! 

Lego's and sleeping bags

The kids were happy with all their presents. 

Growing up my grandparents had the best Christmas treat spread when we came over Christmas morning. I've always done something similar but with not as much. These are all treats that even I can eat and they are delicious and Derek and the kids love them too.

What's not pictured was when my parents came over for breakfast. Christmas morning breakfast is always delicious when Derek is cooking. Then later Derek's parents and Grandma came over too.

Zoe made herself her own little room in her tent with all her Christmas presents. 

Maeley looked like a news reporter walking around outside. 

Christmas is my favorite holiday. Its so fun as a parent to watch the kids excitement and their joy in giving and receiving gifts. I sure love my little family! 

Christmas Eve

We somehow missed getting our traditional family picture on the Sunday before Christmas. At least we got the kids. I enjoyed having church on Christmas Eve. Great way to kick off our celebrations. For us Christmas Eve is our busy day with extended family rather than Christmas Day. 

After church the kids got to exchange their presents to eachother. 

 

Chase picked out an outfit for Maeley

Maeley got Zoe a Minnie stuffed animal

Zoe got Chase a Mickey stuffed animal. Zoe didn't know that Maeley had already picked out her gift so it was funny when she picked out the Mickey for Chase. 

It's more fun to have the pair anyways. 

Maeley loves to send friends Instagram messages with the fun filters. 

We had dinner at Derek's parents that evening, then had a nice Christmas program. Maeley and Zoe both played a Christmas song on the piano. I recited the Living Christ as I memorized it the month before. Zoe and Lydia were having a great time. After the program we went to look at Christmas lights. The kids got to ride in the back of Papa's truck with Tama and Aunt Kari.

Christmas lights and other stuff

December 19th we finally made it out to see Christmas lights. This Christmas season was more busy than an other. As the kids are getting old and more involved the less time we have for fun activities like looking at Christmas lights. 

Made it to the Mesa Tempe lights too with our friend Aydia.

Derek found us like this one afternoon. Not surprised, we were none stop in December.

We got a fun puzzle from my sister. The kids didn't help much this year and because Derek had a little cold he finished most of it. It was finished in just under 24 hours. 

This may not seem like much but its a big deal. After going gluten, dairy, soy, and peanut free (basically I eat mostly paleo) I've been on the hunt for the perfect chocolate chip cookie. Cookies are my treat of choice. I love to bake. While I have made many that were good they still lacked something. For my birthday my mother in law got me a paleo dessert cook book. This recipe was in it. Chase calls them the Rockstar cookies because they taste the closest to my old cookie recipe.