It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It's that time of year again where we are so busy with everyday events, but then we add it a whole lot of Christmas fun. Here's a few things we have been up to leading up to Christmas. 

The cool thing about Caden's Rebels team is that he can play with 3 levels of teams, even some 8th and 9th graders. The teams played in a tournament, and one of the teams went all the way to the final game. By the time they reached the final game they had been playing 3 other games before that and all the kids were exhausted. They lost the final game by just a few points. Here's a few pictures from the games. We can't wait to watch Caden play again. 

This particular game Caden got to do the tip off. 

All that hard work deservs dinner at the Pie with Dad. 

Brynnli was just practicing one of her many talents for the Christmas Eve talent show. Luckily this year she only has 8 talents. 

Grandpa Bill and Grandma Bonnie wanted the great grandkids to each choose something to give at the giving machine. these machines are so cool! They are vending machines set up all around the world and are sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. People can chose an item to give to someone in need around the world. Makayla chose diapers and blankets, Caden choose a basketball and jersey, and Brynnli chose food packets. The Jones boys chose goats and chickens. It was a memorable day of giving. 

After that the grand kids went to the Women's basketball game and Tyler and I went to the Jazz game. 

During half time the performer set up a stack of chairs one on top of another and climbed to the top to do a one handed hand stand. It was co crazy cool. 

Guess who's back? Kitty!! We are all so excited and are on our best behavior so that he will give Santa a good report everyday. He must have missed his old friend Barbie because one of his first places we found him was having a romantic dinner with her. 

This day he was a little harder to find. We finally found him hanging with the reindeer on top of our fridge. 

My mom and dad's house is coming along so well. The outside is pretty much done and they are working on the inside. At this point they will hopefully be moved in by February. They wanted pictures in front of their house wearing Santa hats for their Christmas cards. 

Speaking of my parents, they celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary. I got to celebrate with them at lunch. 

One of my new favorite Christmas traditions is to have a family fun day where we give the kids a budget and they get to choose what we do that day. This year we went to meet Santa and get a picture. 

It was perfect timing because we ran into the Jones family while we were there and got a picture of all the cousins. 

Then the kids chose dinner at Pizza pie cafe. We all ate and ate until we were stuffed. 

Then the kids went to pick out their own gingerbread house to decorate. I thought each kids' choice fit them so well. 

Bella was content in daddy's arms and pretty much fell asleep this way. 

Finished product. Look how cute!

Then we watched a family movie with the fireplace blazing. 

Tyler as been working on remodeling the fitness room. Good thing Kitty is around to help him. Kitty has also been taking bites of the kids' gingerbread houses and he even brought us Krispie Kreme donuts. 

Makayla had her winter choir performance. They sang 4 songs and it was so good!

I took the girls and some of their friends to the Utah Gymnastics meet. We went to dinner at Wendy's before, then rode trax to the meet. The girls got face paint, balloon animals, made ornaments, and met Swoop, but their most exciting part of the night was making it on the big screen. 

Where was Caden you might ask? He got to go with dad to a church activity where they made ginger bread houses with this frosting that looked more like poop than frosting. Tyler sent me a video of Caden laughing so hard about it. 

Then he got to meet Santa and tell him what he wanted for Christmas. 

The next morning we went to our ward Christmas breakfast where the kids got to participate in the retelling of the Nativity. Caden was Joseph and Brynnli was one of the angels. 

Then it was off to Kurt Bestor concert. I don't think the kids were too excited about this one, but we promised them we would make it fun. Every year we go I always think of how fun it would be when we could bring our kids to this, and now they're finally old enough to enjoy it. 

Kurt's guest this year was David Archuletta and it was one of my favorite concerts. Makayla even said it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. 

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for the tickets. 

Makayla was looking extra radiant one day.. I wonder why?

Then we finished off our weekend of fun with our Christmas party with the 12. this is always one of our favorite days because the kids have so much fun with each other and we get spoiled with so many presents from Grandma and Grandpa including... season passes to Lagoon again this year!

We are so excited for a gift that lasts all year long. 

What? don't you do leg extensions while eating dinner? Oh, ok. Only Brynnli then?

I am so proud of Brynnli. She woke up early every Wednesday morning to go to choir before school. They practices two songs that they performed at the school Christmas concert. Plus she got to sing 2 songs with the 3rd graders too. 

Caden's grade only did one song because they're more focused on academics than singing. But how cool do they look in their glasses. 

I love mornings with these two. They are so much fun together as they get ready for school. I am going to be so sad when Caden is in middle school next year and he won't be there to tease Brynnli. 

Makayla has the best group of friends at school. They all decided to do a gift exchange, so Makayla invited them to our house for a little get together. They had pizza, decorated cookies, and then they did the gift exchange. 

Early morning game of twister. Looks like Brynnli is having an easier time with this than Tyler. 

Ok, funniest story ever. Some of the kids (not Brynnli) were having a hard time coming up with a talent for the Christmas Eve talent show. I came home one day to Tyler and the kids choreographing an Irish jig dance to Pat-a pan by David Archuletta. It was so stinkin' funny. Then they decided to all wear the matching pajama set Karen gave us a few years back, but we couldn't find Caden's. Tyler's might have been a little small...

There is one hidden video of their performance that I am sworn to never show... but if the price is right...

I'll tell ya, you will laugh your head off. 

As far as the job search goes, after many job interviews, back and forth discussions, lots of prayers, time in the temple, and pros and cons lists, Tyler officially accepted a job with Stantec! We are so excited about this new job and feel so at peace with it. It was funny because the decision just wasn't clear and even though we were praying about it a lot, we weren't getting a clear answer as to what job we should take. All three jobs had so many good things about it. Once we finally said yes to Stantec, the confirmation became clear. This is the best job because it allows Tyler to work from home so he can still be involved and home with the kids when I work, it provides opportunities for growth within the company, and is the same pay as he was making before. It was so hard when he got laid off, and we didn't understand why, but we are seeing that this is really a blessing in disguise. This job will be so much better for Tyler and it was a confirmation of His hand in our life. We are feeling so grateful and blessed, especially this season as we get to remember Christ's birth, life, ministry, and resurrection.

Well after all that fun I think we're ready for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. 

November Highs and Lows

On October 31, we got flipped upside down when we found out Tyler lost his job unexpectedly with DMC. Halloween day started out normal with attending the kids' Halloween parade. Later that day Tyler said he boss had scheduled a meeting with him and he didn't know what it was for. Normally Tyler has a hard time getting a meeting with his boss because his boss is never available, so it was unusual that his boss wanted to meet with him. I left to pick up Makayla from school and by the time I got home Tyler was already done with the phone call and asked me to come to downstairs. He had a wide eyed, shocked look on his face when his shut the door. All he said was, "they let me go." I couldn't even process what his said and I kept waiting for him to say just kidding. When I finally realized he wasn't kidding, I started to cry. Tyler just sat in shock. Tyler said they wanted to go in a different direction and they didn't need his position anymore. No severance and no insurance. The most frustrating part is that Tyler was hired to get work in the U.S. and he put his name on the line to win a huge 40 million dollar job for them. Instead of offering him a bonus (which the big boss promised would happen if they got work in the U.S.) they let him go. We were shocked and felt so thrown off. Financially we were fine. The mining industry is so up and down so we have always been preparing financially for something like this, but we just thought that right before the holidays was a jerk move. 

The rest of the month felt like a blur. Tyler got right to work finding a new job. He has a great network and word spread fast, so within just a few days he had some leads and even a new job offer. Opportunities like this don't come around very often, and Tyler really wanted to make sure his next job was the right one, so we took our time and looked at every option. Tyler applied for numerous jobs (some completely out of his expertise), had numerous interviews, and talked to every possible connection he could. After some negotiation back and forth DMC offered a severance package which helped us to feel like we could take some extra time to really seek out options. Our kids were so great to understand that things were going to look different this month because we would have to cut back on all of our "extras". 

Tyler losing his job unexpectedly was definitely the low of the month, but there were a lot of highs too. Here's a look into our everyday life:

Makayla was helping Caden with his hair one morning. Maybe Makayla has a careen in hairdressing? 

After our trip to Knotts Berry Farm we wanted to start Knotts nights where the kids help us cook dinner and then we play games or watch a movie. This particular night they wanted jambalaya with beignets. 

When I said that Tyler was exploring every possible job option, I meant it. He was practicing painting nails in case he needed to switch careers. Just kidding. 

Caden's Mayhem basketball team fell apart so we were back to square one looking for another team. I swear we have the worst luck staying with a team. Tyler took the lead on finding a new team back in the fall, and after looking at a few options, we decided to go with the Rebels with Coach Darius. He really likes his coach, and is learning a lot. Darius used to coach a team, but took a break and is trying to build up a team again. He is tough on the kids, but knows how to joke with them. Caden loves it when Darius teases him about having a girlfriend. I had to chuckle at this photo because Darius is such a big guy and all the kids look so squished on the remaining bench. 

Tyler is soaking up his free time by taking the kids for some one on one time. Makayla got to go with him to breakfast one Friday morning before school. 

The fall colors have been absolutely stunning. I had to stop to take this picture of my drive home through our neighborhood. It's the middle of November and there are still so many leaves on the trees. 

These two girls sure do fight a lot, but there are rare moments when they have fun together. Brynnli got a fake makeup set for her birthday, so she gave Makayla a make over, then Makayla gave her a make over. 

Go Utes!

Bella has been cold all month. Poor dog does not like the cold weather. 

We have been loving our Jazz tickets. The Jazz were in a tournament and everyone in attendance got a Jazz shirt. 

Creepy. 

Looks like Bella is ready for bed. 

The kids are so creative and built a miniature golf course upstairs. It was so fun to try. 

And who doesn't love a long game of Monopoly. I was out first in this game. 

Thanksgivng day rolled around and we had a fun weekend with family. We had "pies and sides" at Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Bill's house. Brynnli brought her make up kit and gave Grandpa Bill a makeover. 

Makayla and Caden helped with the dishes. 

Then later that night we went to Tammy and Bruce's new house for Thanksgiving dinner. They just moved into a huge house just a few minutes away from us. 

Caden's plate looked a little sparse here. 

The whole gang. 

The next morning Makayla and I went Black Friday shopping at 6 am. We didn't find much, but we had fun together. 

We got our first big snow of the season. Brynnli was so excited to put on her snow clothes and play. 

Makayla preferred to stay warm inside with her Swig. 

Brynnli literally spent all day out side playing. She was trying to build a igloo, but couldn't figure it out. Luckily Daddy came out and used his engineering skills to help her build an amazing igloo. 

Caden wanted in on the fun, so he got all bundled up for some snowy fun. 

Look how cool it turned out!

Sunday we had my family over for Thanksgiving dinner. my parents, Ryan and his boys, and Darren and Candice were able to come. 

By the end of the month, Tyler was closer to deciding on a job. He had it narrowed down to 3 possibilities: Stantec, MES, and Rio Tinto. Hopefully by the end of the year we will have this job thing figured out. Our Thankful Tree was even more important this year. We were really able to see that despite a big change in our family, we have so much to be thankful for. 

Some of my favorites of the thankful tree this year include: 

The smell of mom and dad (Brynn), Sunday Fish sticks (Caden), school... sometimes (Makayla), my human family (Kitty the Elf), family traditions (mom), and Mom's coaching (Tyler).

I'm Starting to Sense a Pattern Here

That's all.