This morning at 8 am I was talking to my dad on the phone and checked our weather. It was a mighty 12 degree's here in Provo Utah and a whole -15 degree's in Alamosa Colorado. I'm not to very pleased with either one, but my house is warm so that makes up for it all. On my phone's weather tracker, I also noticed that it was 72 degree's in sunny Poipu although it's only 5 am there. Yes, I still check the weather there frequently and kick myself, the weather I miss the rest I was prepared to leave. We're still not used to it though. Abby got up and put on a tank top and shorts, I did put away all the summery clothes in a closet drawer months ago. But, I guess she was tempted to wear some of her clothes that hadn't been out for months. I will add she must have got toasted in Kauai because her tan never faded, she has a perfect tan and looks great in her summer clothes.
There is no snow here though and I did make a similarity to last Christmas, it's a brown Christmas with a tad bit of green. Last year on Christmas Eve we spent the day at Kalapaki beach and well the sand was brown, in the background we had the green mountain's and beach resort, here it's winter, so it's brown, but our grass still has a touch of green in it :) Here is a few pictures of us playing in the sand and boogie boarding as we waited for Santa to come in on a canoe.
Really, I'm not complaining. This Christmas will actually be a lot better Christmas, we are in our own home, we'll be surrounded by family and we are really happy here. Last Christmas we were starting to pack and had boxes all over and I didn't have time for anything. My parents are on their way out here to spend Christmas with our family, Brandon's family will be coming in a few days, Matt and Kamelle are coming over on Christmas Eve, and Leslie's family will come up late on Christmas day to stay for a day or two. I love making Christmas candy, well I guess I should say I love eating it and the humidity was always to high to make any.....so this year I have been working on it all and though it's not perfect, it's still yummy.
Today we'll be visiting the mall so that Hailey and Alyssa can see Santa, I can't believe they haven't seen him yet this year. Last year they visited Santa at the company party, ward party, school program, and at the mini mall, this year they have yet to see him and so we better hurry up. Abby and Macey visited Santa at the mall a few weeks ago and well as you see in the picture above, Macey acted the same way this year with Santa. Definitely not picture worthy! Maybe today we'll be able to get a picture that is worth keeping.
Every night John has been reading a different Christmas story book to our kids. I love this time of year and I really love all these books we have slowly collected. The look in our girls eyes as they listen to the stories, feels my heart so much love. They know why we celebrate Christmas and they know the true meaning of Christmas. I'm really excited to see them tomorrow night as we read Luke 2 and have the girls act out the nativity with their cousins. I remember doing this so many times as a little girl, walking down the stairs at my grandma's, anxiously waiting for our part in the nativity. It's some of the best memories. We've never been able to do this before, but it's a time for new traditions to begin.
Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you can all have a Merry Christmas and remember our Saviour and those around you as we celebrate this wonderful holiday. Love you all!!!
At first I couldn't find 
She did try to look cute and smile at her mommy lots! (I meant to crop out that boy on the top row in this picture)
Alyssa is more excited to start school than she lets on. She has just been having so much fun this last week, since we moved into our new house, having two other new girls just move in the same age as her. Alyssa is very bright and at the top of her class too, but she doesn't want to try. She's the type that likes to direct her attention elsewhere. We'll have her start taking piano in a few weeks and she's in soccer right now. The only thing she really wants to do is gymnastics, but it's too far away right now, maybe I'll let her do that after soccer is over and we have finished moving everything in. To start the school year, Alyssa's class is 39 students, I think it's dropping down to 37... not sure yet. Edgemont has a dual French immersion starting in 1st grade. We moved here halfway through the 1st grade year and so it wasn't an option for us and now 3 more girls moved into the neighborhood this summer and they will all join Alyssa's class. I can't believe we have 12-2nd grade girls in our ward and only 2-2nd grade boys (I'm there primary teacher) 
