Before Christmas

Here are some memories from my phone that I wanted to make sure and post. 

The boys were excited to wake up one morning and see SNOW!

Picture from Utah when Angela and I celebrated our birthday together!

Instead of taking a nap, Austin decided to make a book train. He'd read a book and then add it to his train. :)

Aaron's work party this year was at the event center at Great Wolf Lodge. The boys were excited to go with us!

Photo booths are my favorite!! And we have the best home teacher and visiting teachers. Our home teacher came over and read the boys this darling book about the animals that were in the stable when Jesus was born.

Eli went to a camp one morning for a few hours that some girls from our ward were putting on. He enjoyed making Christmas crafts and playing with friends while Austin and I made a Sam's trip and had a lunch date together. I cherish one and one time with my little boys.

And we went up to Denver one afternoon to spend the afternoon with Alex's family. 

And my friends are the best. It's the busiest time of the year and they insisted on us going out to dinner to celebrate the arrival of baby girl Volk. I felt so loved and am so grateful for their friendship. :) 

Birthday Week!

On December 11th, I turned 34 right when I was 34 weeks pregnant! 

My friend offered to take the boys for the morning of my birthday so I could do "whatever brings me joy" (that's what her texted said.) As I thought about, being with my boys brings me the most joy so I wanted to spend my birthday with them! We went to the mall to have a pretzel with cheese and ride the train.

We stopped by the pet stop and I considered surprising Aaron with a puppy. I considered it for half a second. haha

My friends were so kind to drop off goodies and cards throughout the day. I felt so loved.

We walked through a light show before meeting Alex and her family for Mexican food.

Our next stop was visiting Santa at Bass Pro. It was a happy birthday and the best part was being surrounded by my family! My gifts included a new backpack diaper bag, a book and a silicone ring.

The rest of the week we focused on finishing our school work and preparing for the holidays.

December is here!

Austin wakes up every morning with all his friends. He loves stuffed animals and finds them throughout the house and adds them to his collection. 

Crazy that 6 years ago Aaron posted this picture on Facebook of the two of us in Chicago!

Last Monday for FHE we went to see Santa at Bass Pro - one of our favorite Christmas traditions. The boys love playing with the toy workshop and seeing Santa.

Austin asked for Legos and Eli asked for a remote control car. 

And then we went to Wal-mart the next day and Eli spotted these magic tracks. We'll see what these little boys have waiting for them on Christmas morning. My mom made our baby girl the cutest blanket!!

Austin's mind blows my mind sometimes. During nap time, I walked into his room and found that before he fell asleep, he had put all the two by two legos together, with the red legos on bottom and the yellow on top.

We left Wednesday afternoon to drive to Utah for Grandpa Tom's funeral. We made one stop in Fruita at the gas station where my parents met us with dinner. Eli ran and gave my mom the biggest hug! We enjoy seeing grandparents whenever possible! The funeral was so lovely. I'm glad we were able to be there.

All the Volk cousins!

Friday morning we had birthday donuts in honor of Angela and I celebrating our birthday together! Friday afternoon we headed back to Fruita. We wanted to break up the trip because driving the whole way on Wednesday was exhausting.

Photo credit: Austin on my phone.

Jenny and the kids came over for dinner!

If the funeral would have been any later this month, I don't know if I would have been able to make the trip. The weather worked in our favor and we were grateful to be able to be with family to celebrate Tom's life. And, it was a Christmas bonus that we could give hugs to Angela's family and my parents.

When we returned home, our neighbors brought over a chicken pot pie. They are so thoughtful.

And Austin got me this flowers as an apology. Aaron's teaching them to be gentlemen and I'm grateful.

Sunday we had church at 1:00 p.m. because another stake had stake conference in our building. Afternoon church was preparation for the new year when our church time changes to 1:00 p.m. I'm not looking forward to it, but Aaron and I both know the investment of attending church each week, no matter what time, is worth it. Always.

After church we went to the Benson's house for our annual gingerbread making party.