Girls Lunch...

I love these girls. These girls were in my previous ward, a ward I still miss a lot. We have remained friends since moving and we still do a lot of fun things together. We love getting the kids together for play dates, going to library story time, hosting lunches, having random girl nights when hubbies are out of town or working, celebrating birthdays, playing Bunco, crafting, and so much more. This particular picture is at my house earlier today. I invited the girls and their kids over for lunch. We had a great time chit chatting, and the kids had a fun time playing. Fun fun afternoon.

I Am a Child of God

I Am a Child of God is definitely a favorite song in the Ellsworth home. A friend of mine showed me this sweet video yesterday, and my kids LOVED it. They have watched it at least 37 times since yesterday. Miles now walks around the house singing most all the words to the first verse, super cute.

Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam...

Kyra is officially in Primary, crazy! She LOVES her new Sunbeam teacher to pieces, Sister Wall. Sister Wall is her preschool teacher during the week, otherwise known as Mrs. Wall. Needless to say the transition from Nursery to Primary was perfect.

Sledding in Idaho City!

New Year's Day we went sledding in Idaho City at Steamboat Gulch. We went with Trevor's family too. The kids were so excited to play in the snow, go sledding, and be with their cousins. The main hill was huge. Bryce would take the kids up about half way, hop on the sled, and zoom down super fast. Kyra and Miles both LOVED sledding and did not want to stop. I was the photographer on this fun excursion. Once the kids were too cold to play we went to the car to warm up. Bryce built a fire and we all roasted hot dogs and drank lots of hot cocoa. We all had a blast. I'm thinking we should do this every year. Happy New Year!

Christmas 2012

We had a great Christmas this year with my side of the family. The party started Christmas Eve at my parent's house for the famous breakfast dinner, it was super tasty. Later we tried something new with the kiddos, we reenacted the The Christmas story. I was in charge of organizing it. I assigned each kiddo their own special part, Kyra was an angel and Miles was a Shepard. Everyone looked so cute dressed up. It went great and we got some pretty cute pictures too.

After the kids opened their Christmas Eve present, pajamas. We then exchanged gifts between the sibling families. We draw names each year, and this year we had Bethany and Bethany had us. We got Bethany a gift certificate to Pier One Imports to go toward a cushion seat for her papasan chair. Bethany had our family and she got us two gift cards, one to Tucano's for a date night, and another to Red Robin for a family outing. The family gift exchange is always fun. All the kids gave their gifts to mom and dad. We got my dad a book about the history of the Book of Mormon, and we got my mom her favorite dried mangoes and a gift certificate to Yen Ching. I LOVE being with family for the holidays, and this year was no different.

Later that night we put the kids to bed, and Bryce and I had lots of fun bringing Christmas alive in our very own living room for the first time since being married. I stayed up a little later preparing a yummy breakfast, overnight baked french toast [recipe: Our Best Bites] for Christmas morning.

Christmas morning the kids were so surprised by Santa's visit. Kyra was sick, therefore she hardly showed any excitement, but Miles on the other hand was ecstatic. First everyone looked for surprises in their stockings, then opened gifts. Kyra's favorites were her princess dolls, and the movie Brave. Miles' favorites were his airplanes, and a carpet boat. We then had breakfast together, the new recipe was success. Soon after eating Pennie and Grandpa Dec came over to visit. Shortly after they left my mom and dad came over to visit. We cleaned up and relaxed for awhile while the kids played with their new toys. Normally we go to the movies Christmas Day with my family, but having kids now makes it hard for everyone to go together at the same time. This year while the kids were napping Bryce went to The Hobbit with my dad, Brent, and Brady. When he returned home it was dinnertime, but before digging in we watched The Nativity to set the right Christmas mood. We decided to eat dinner with candles as our only light. We had ham, potatoes, salad, applesauce, and bread. Everything was yummy.

A few weeks prior to Christmas Kyra had all sorts of questions about the holiday and what it consisted of. We explained to her Christmas is celebrating Jesus' birthday. She asked if we could make Jesus a birthday cake, and we all agreed it was a great idea. I know family traditions are a big part of the holiday season, so we decided this would be a perfect tradition to start doing each year. So later after dinner we decorated a cake with lots of sprinkles, sang happy birthday to Jesus, and ate some yummy birthday cake.

Overall Christmas was great. I love my family and am so thankful for the quality time we were able to spend with one another. Merry Christmas!