I have been posting on my blog but I think I've decided to post at least some of those posts here too, that way those who don't regularly frequent blogs other than this will still get our updates. :) So, here are a BUNCH of photos I just posted on my blog from the last couple of weeks...
I LOVE this time of year! We have so many fun traditions and activities! One of our favorite, newer traditions is attending the annual Festival of the Nativities that our stake hosts each year. I think this is their 6th year and every year it seems to get bigger and bigger, better and better. Here are some pictures from our experience this year (pictures taken two weeks ago):
First of all, we went on Sunday so we were still in our church clothes, we don't usually "dress up" to go to the nativities, it just worked out that way this time.
This room is the "Home Sweet Home" room, they make it look like you're in someone's home. It's cozy and warm and they have the cutest nativities in it!
The cultural hall has hundreds of different nativities set up. There are so many different kinds! Elegant, unique, international... It takes awhile to look at them all!
After we look at all of the displayed nativities (over 600 in all!), we go to the Children's rooms. It's the girls' reward for being patient and well-behaved in the other rooms. In the children's room, there are hand-on, kid-friendly nativities. Finally nativities we can touch and play with! Rori just loved running around (surprise, surprise!), Cadi liked dressing up and getting pictures at the stable.
And finally, before we left, we visited Joseph's Workshop where Cadi made a little decoration (Jesus in a manger) and colored a picture.
Last weekend, we visited our good friends in Idaho. This is another tradition. When we lived in Idaho, we became such close friends and since most of us didn't have family close by, we started celebrating holidays together. Now that we've all spread out a little bit and don't get to see each other as much, we make an effort to visit at least every Christmas season and have our annual Christmas Party. It's ALWAYS a blast! We keep adding more and more kids, so it's getting bigger and bigger every year - but that just means more fun, right? Here are some pics:
We started this gift exchange when there was only one kid in the group. Now we have a kids' gift exchange and an adult exchange. The stories are usually pretty fun - about Riley Right. Left, right, right, left, and... LOTS OF LAUGHTER!
The next day, on our way to church, we stopped by the Twin Falls, ID temple. It is almost finished and should be operating sometime in the next year!
Later that night, we read the scriptures about Christ's birth and let the children act it out. This is always pretty entertaining. No one dressed up to play their part this year... except for Sleeping Beauty. ;)
And that brings us to THIS past weekend! Friday night we went to our ward Christmas party. The children did a great job on the Nativity...
And finally, here are some random pics from the last few weeks...
Rori LOVES playing with the Fisher Price Nativity set...
And now that we have our front room finished, I actually get to put up a tree in our front window! We have a tree in our family room that is fun and has all our ornaments that contain lots of special memories but the front room tree is my "pretty tree". I like how it turned out...
Was that enough photos? We hope you are enjoying your holiday season as much as we are! :)
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