Sledding over Christmas Break 2014

It may have actually been in 2015 (can't remember which day of the week it was!)  But we were able to go sledding with the little snow we had left after a big wind storm.  We went to our favorite park for sledding (that we have found).  Its not very big but entertains us all enough.  This was Mason's first time this year- and the first time he really knew what was happening.  He LOVED it ofcourse (he's just like his siblings).  It was a fun quick outing and we just loved moments like these!

cool dude!

snow bunny!

going fast!

the 'long' trek back up the hill

all ready to go!

lets race!

Christmas 2015!

Christmas was wonderful as usual, though it was a little bit of a hectic day.
   As always, the night before we delivered plates of goodies to people.  Amanda and the kids baked and made goodies ALL DAY long and it was a little rushed getting things ready to deliver, but we managed.  Most of the people we had thought to deliver things to were not home, so Brian just ended taking it to other people in the ward.  He said it felt good to do something nice for people- even if it was a little hectic.  Meanwhile,. Amanda managed to get dinner all ready and the kitchen cleaned up (it was a disaster before with all the baking).  We had yummy chicken cord on bleu, along with yummy red velvet cake (a tradition).  We also had some delicious rolls- Amanda's Grandma Owen's famous recipe (there is alot of butter and flakes).  It was nice to have them to remember Grandma Owen as she passed away in November.

After dinner we got together to read a book about the Nativity and to talk about the real reason we celebrate Christmas.  We had the kids act out the Nativity using the felt Nativity set Amanda made the year before.  Then we got the traditional jammies to open.  Lily loved her princess jammies and Avery & Lily got superhero ones.  Amanda and Brian even got some pajamas too. 

Then it was off to bed!  The kids were excited to put cookies out for Santa since they had made them that day.  Avery also put a big jar of money out with a note for Santa that he was willing to pay some money if Santa could bring him a gas dirtbike.  

When we woke up the next morning it was so exciting!  We had family prayer and then did the family run to the Christmas room, with youngest to oldest.  The video is too large to upload.

Well did Avery's hard work and the money he had save for months pay off?  Yes!  Santa brought him this:

He was so excited!  He didn't even care that he didn't get a lot of presents (though he was happy with the few other things he did get).  He has been dreaming about this forever!  He worked hard and saved money to help Santa pay for it (he even wanted just money for his birthday instead of toys).

Santa had left the kids a note about their Christmas presents:  He talked about what the true meaning of Christmas was- the birth of Jesus Christ.  He also talk to Avery and told him he wasn't going to take the money, but that he needed to save that money for his mission some day.  

He also wrote to Lily who got alot of princess dresses and told her she was a princess- a daughter of the highest king- our Heavenly Father.

Here is what everyone got for Christmas!  We all took turns opening up things that they got.  

Mason loved his kid scooter (you can take the seat off and its a regular scooter) as well as his ball popper (looks strangely familiar and similar to Avery's when he was a baby :-))

Lily got a bunch of princess dresses, a dress-up box, a bunch of movies, including Sleeping Beauty and Frozen, and play make-up.

Santa was nice enough to bring Avery a couple of small presents in his stocking- some Lego Mixels (he wanted some so much!)

After unwrapping what we gor from Santa, we exchanged the gifts we go for each other!  We drew names out of a hat and each person got to pick a 10$ item for them.  Avery thought really hard what he wanted to get Lily (even though he wanted to pick Mason).  When he went shopping with Brian, he told him that she wanted a unicorn (which she had suddenly asked for a few days before Christmas) and some chocolate (because she wanted candy).  Avery knew that Lily liked "the chocolate you make s'mores with."  Brian said it was great to see him really think about the person he was getting the gift for.

with her chocolate and unicorn

Lily got Mason a popper toy (like a vacuum).  Which he loved ofcourse!

And Mason got Avery a couple of Mixels that just so happened to be in the same set as the Mixel Santa had brought him.

Brian got Amanda a pretty necklace:

And Amanda got Brian a watch and a safety vest:

After everything was unwrapped we went outside to try out Avery's new dirtbike!  Overnight it had snowed a whole bunch!  So it was a white Christmas!

Here is Avery on his dirtbike.  It was a way to make it so it doesn't go too fast and Avery did such a great job at riding it around!

We had a quick breakfast of cereal and hot cocoa (from Santa in our stockings, a Christmas Tradition from Brian's family) we had to quickly pack and be out the door to get to Amanda's family Christmas party in Logan.

When we arrived at the party our tire decided to be flat!  Well we spent a good time figuring out where to get it fixed, but no one was open.  So we had to just use the donut until we got to Downey (where Amanda's parents live) later that night.  And then we ended up having to drive it even further to Pocatello on the Donut since no one could fix it there!

What a fun magical Christmas!

Turpin Family Band Moment!

I, Amanda, signed Brian up for a music contest along with his brother Michael.  There was a music competition at Downata Hot Springs where Amanda's parents work.  Well, I got dragged into the band too!  In the end we had Brian (bass), Michael (guitar), Amanda (piano), Alycen (voice) and Candace (drum) all in our family band moment.  We performed a "Head and the Heart Song" called "Rivers and Roads."  It was a really fun song to do even though our kids were a 

little sick of hearing it by the time we were all through.  However, we find that Lily is singing it alot still.

We didn't end up winning the competition, but it was still fun to do!  The kid that won played a cool song on the guitar by doing weird plucking and tapping on the guitar (not strumming).  It was talent!

Decorating the Christmas Tree 2014

Here is our tradition of decorating the Christmas Tree as a family.  We always have to do it the second week in December because it seems that Brian is always gone with a work trip during that week.  We like to go up in the mountains to Amanda's parents and get the tree first.  Those pictures are probably on Brian's phone...

Well we put the family decorated tree downstairs and get to decorate it any way we want!  The kids love putting the ornaments on and even Mason tried to do it.  The one thing about real trees from a real forest is that the branches aren't the greatest at holding up heavy ornaments, so mom and dad had to reposition some of them.  Mason also came to LOVE the glass ornaments...maybe that's why Amanda found bunch of used ones at a thrift store...Mason thought it was fun to pull them off and throw them across the room.  Needless to say there were a few broken ornaments and most of the ones not broken ended up really high on the Christmas tree.  Oh well, that's how a Christmas tree looks with a toddler in the house!

dong a great job!

so magical!

getting into mischief

Every year we have bubbly (sparkling apple cider) in fancy glasses as Brian gives a toast as he put the star on top of the tree.  Well this year we discovered that the star, which normally lights up, wasn't working...So we fiddled with it for a while- a LONG while and Lily ended up falling asleep (why does it take us like 2 hours to decorate a little tree?)  Oh well, we still had fun.  The star never worked, so we just did one that didn't light up.

Here we all our with our Christmas tree!  (Lily is quite asleep on Amanda's shoulder).  We are all ready for Christmas!