Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve!! :)

 This year for Thanksgiving we stayed home again, the weather is just too unpredictable this time of year here in Montana to travel. I don't too much to say, but we started the morning off watching the Macy's Parade, as we always do! Then Jeremy and I prepped the turkey, and since I'd done a lot of the baking the day before, our day was relatively relaxing! We watched a movie together, relaxed for a bit, then ate dinner. Our dinner was delicious. Loved this day. 

I was relaxing/half napping and the kids built a fort around me, haha. 

I headed into the month of December feeling quite stressed. This is considered "busy season" for chaplains, and it truly is. I started Christmas shopping mid-November, then we headed into Thanksgiving and a few potlucks for different squadrons on base, we attended one as a family with Jeremy, the others he attends on his own. 

December started off with our ward Christmas party where the kids sang a Christmas song and we had a catered dinner, the next night I attended our ladies ward "sock party" which was also super fun but it was a really busy weekend, so I ended up quite worn out. After that it's a blur. We had two squadron Christmas parties and one combined security forces party, we went to two of them and ended up skipping the last one because we were just so burnt out! :l The first party was with the 741st and we sat with the Nazarino's, it was fun, it was a masquerade party and the 741st is one of Jeremy's favorite squadrons, they're fun. The second one was the combined security forces and was an 80's party. We sat with the Foster's and a couple other guys, Jeremy and I dressed up big time, haha. It was fun. We had Bridger and Beckham put the little ones to bed for the first time for these two squadron parties and they did awesome!! We didn't have to pay a babysitter!! Haha. 

Roz also had her first dance performances in December! The first weekend we went to an assisted living home to perform for the elderly people there, the second one was their big holiday program! She did amazing at both, we are SO proud of her!! 

Pretty much all of us got sick the last half of December, it was rough! But by Christmas we are all feeling a lot better. On Christmas Eve Jeremy, Bridger, and Beckham went to the Christmas Eve Program that the chapel team puts on every year, Jeremy played some piano and bass. They left after we opened Christmas PJ's from Grandma & Grandpa Brown (the kids love that tradition!), and then I put the little ones to bed and started wrapping presents. When Jeremy got home on Christmas Eve we got Bridger and Beckham to bed, turned on a movie, grabbed some snacks, and wrapped presents until almost 1 AM. I love that tradition, even though we always stay up too late. :)

Christmas morning we got up and we had already talked to the kids about how we were going to go to church and wait for Grandma and Grandpa Brown to get here before we opened presents. So, the kids got up and raced down to see the presents, then we got ready for church! We had Sacrament first, and I can honestly say that I LOVED starting Christmas Day with Sacrament. We didn't have classes, so we came home and changed and we let the kids open their sibling gifts to each other, then later a family gift to keep them busy until Grandma and Grandpa's flight got in. We picked them up and got home around 2 PM, then we finally got to do presents and it was so good. There was no rush, we'd all eaten, the kids were happy and we had a really wonderful time. I'm so glad we waited for Grandma and Grandpa to get here. :) I hope you can feel the literal and real joy we felt as you look at these pictures. Such a blessed day. They all loved their gifts so much, it makes the time it takes to shop so worth it to see their faces. They all have already built their LEGO sets and wear the sweaters and slippers everyday. They love their RC cars Grandma and Grandpa gave them, too. They love it all. I'm grateful for our family. :)

Cailin made this vase for me, so cool.

Benson stuck this sweet gift in my stocking, he's so thoughtful. Love him.

Her first jewelry box, she loves the ballerina and music so much.

Grandma and Grandpa Brown stayed from Christmas Day to January 4th before they flew home, so we got to play lots of games and spend time with them. They were here for Bridger's ordination to Deacon on January 1st, and we are so grateful because that was a special day. They also watched our four younger kids so we could take Bridger on a special overnight trip to Billings to go to the temple for his first time. I'll post more about that on his birthday post, since that's in the new year.

New Year's Eve was low key, we had a delicious ham dinner and then we played games and ate healthy snacks until midnight! Bridger and Beckham stayed up with us, and it was really fun to have them join us for games! We had sparkling cider in our fancy glasses and then did the countdown, it was fun! We all headed to bed straight after because we were so tired, haha. But it was a fun night! :)