Let the Christmas Posts begin!

The Weekend after Thanksgiving we began the task of decorating for Christmas, as well as opening the advent calendar and a million other Christmas things. But, Seth cannot begin decorating without his favorite Christmas treat, the Christmas tree cakes. He loves them! So do the Kids. So everyone received an ample amount of sugar to begin this crazy month!

 We also had a few presents that were to be opened before Christmas from Aunt Codee and family, the kids got a little taste of what was to come. They all got super cute ornaments with their names on them as well as book for our family. A compilation of scripture stories that lead up to Christ's Birth, for each day leading up til Christmas  which we used most nights for our family scripture study time.

 We got a new Christmas tree this year! The circumference is a lot smaller than our old one which took up massive amounts of space. We went with a thinner tree and I really liked how it turned out. It was a really nice one too.

The stockings were hung...

 The kids loved breaking I mean putting on all the ornaments. They also really loved pulling out all the old ones they made and recalling whose they were.

There was a fight this year on who got to put the star on. Oh kids. But luckily for me...I have a blog! I looked back  the last two years and this year it was Abigail's turn. She was excited..

 

This is the last time she got to so it in 2011

Look how big she is now Seth can barely hold her she is so long.

The mostly finished tree!

Love them so

 

 One of the many activities in the Advent calendar was to color the manger scene as a family. Something so simple and so easy but seriously the kids loved it. Its fun to just sit and do simple things. We also talked about the meaning of Christmas and what they were coloring.

Emily so serious

Complete!

Thanksgiving Getaway-The End

The last day of our trip to San Antonio we visited the Alamo and Mission Concepcion. The last time we visited San Antonio we didn't have the chance to come and we made it a point this time as Abigail really wanted to see it. There was already a lot o people there when we arrived in the morning but it wasn't too bad. As you can see Emily wasn't in many pictures, she was quite the stinker this day. But it was still fun. I really enjoyed visiting and I think I actually preferred Mission Concepcion.

Abby, Briggs and the Alamo

Abby being cute

 Our little Davey Crocketts

The Alamo Model

 Hanging out by the cannon

Six Flags

 This little cute patootie. She has my heart.

 Somehow by some miracle we managed to get a picture of the family without anyone in the background. Talk about perfect timing.
We then headed to Mission Concepcion which is only a few miles away. It was really beautiful and a lot less crowded. It still holds regular church service there as well. Its amazing that these buildings are still intact with only minimal repair and maintenance.

My adorable family

Briggs in the prayer room. he wanted to say a prayer like in the picture

The last picture of the day and our adventure. We then headed home with 5 Exhausted people!

Thanksginving Getaway Part 3

Tatum, Bridger, Brigham and Abigail

After the caves we headed back to the hotel to rest and regroup. We then headed back to SeaWorld to catch all the night shows. We played with the Webbs for a bit then said our goodbyes. We rode a few rides and then saw the dolphin and Whale shows. They were all Christmas themed and it was pretty cool.

Tatum and Abby

Time for another ride on the Carousel

Ready to see the dolphins

Abby and some Toy Soldiers

Abby and I

 

We decided to kill sometime while waiting by taking some slefies.

Briggs and I

We wanted to take a silly one

Yes, I convinced seth to join in too. A thanksgiving Miracle :)

For the whale show we had seats that were really really close. It was so neat. Being just that much closer makes it so amazing. However as you can see by the second video we got a little surprise. We got drenched. I didn't think they would do it since it was winter. But I was wrong. I got pretty soaked! Abby jumped into the row behind us and was basically in a strangers lap. It was pretty funny!