Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014!

 

We feel so blessed to have the family and friends that we have!  What a year it's been and even though we've had our ups and downs, we always make the best of what we've got!  We are so grateful for good health, the gospel of Jesus Christ, God's love, and EACH OTHER.

 

Happy New Year!!

Christmas at home

Of the 6 years that we have lived in Boise, we have only spent one Christmas at home and that wasn't even a whole day.  We only spent the morning at home and then drove to UT to spend Christmas dinner with Eric's family!  I was actually really looking forward to having a quiet Christmas at home with the family.

 

As per usual tradition, we enjoyed a nice lazy morning making Belgium waffles and strawberries for breakfast and THEN opening gifts.  We kept it pretty simple, as usual, but the boys loved what they received from us and from Santa.  Here are the highlights:

 

 

Probably my favorite tradition and gift is our letters to each other.  Each Christmas Eve we write letters to each member of our family and then we read them that night.  It's always fun and sweet to read our notes to each other!

Austin was super stoked about getting the LEGO Star Wars X-Wing Fighter from Santa, can you tell?!

Carson got exactly what he asked Santa for: the LEGO Ninjago "Golden Dragon".

 



We got Austin a microscope.  It was surprisingly one of his favorite gifts!

Nerf guns.  Shoot me now.  Literally.  I can't believe I caved to more Nerf guns in the house (I find bullets EVERYWHERE), but they begged and begged.  Plus, I got 2 for 1. :)

 

Tucker, enjoying his new ball and bone from his stocking.  Yes, Santa loves Tucker too.  And he was a good dog this year. ;)



Merry Christmas!!

 

How grateful I am for these boys of mine who are the sparkle in my eye, for love and friendship in my life, for good health, and for the reason for the season, Jesus Christ!!!

 

 

Merry Christmas all!

Winter Garden Aglow

We went to the Winter Garden Aglow festival at the Idaho Botanical Gardens with our friends, the Sainsburys last week.  It was a bit chilly, but so much fun!
 

 

 

Piano Guys concert

I surprised Eric with an early Christmas present this week--tickets to the Piano Guys!  We both love their music, but especially Eric!  It was an amazing concert with incredible music, both Christmas and non-Christmas!  Such a fun date night...

 





Santa visit

Our yearly trip to see Santa was at our Ward Christmas party this year!  The boys always look forward to seeing Santa and telling him what they want for Christmas.  This year Austin told Santa that he needs to "fire his elf, Buddy because he got here late this year and isn't doing a good job"!  HA HA!

 

 

 

 

Ugly sweater party

We co-hosted an Ugly Sweater Party last weekend--what a hoot!  We hosted the dinner part for about 6 couples at our house and then our other friends, the Lennbergs, hosted a dessert/hot cocoa bar party at their casa after!  Dinner was delish--we had ham and everyone brought a side to share.  We exchanged white elephant gifts (always hilarious), and then headed over to the Lennbergs for dessert and games.  We played several Minute-to-Win-It games, had a fun and "tacky" photo booth, and of course, had an ugly sweater contest.  So many laughs that night!

 

 

Christmas dinner at our house

Way too much fun in the photo booth...(look at that hideous angel sweater ;)

 



Nice look, Eric.

 



No words for these guys.  They had us in stitches though!

 

Best dressed or "ugliest" sweaters of the night hands-down.

 

Y-ball wrap-up

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hockey with Dan the Man

Our good friend, Dan plays hockey and we got to go see one of his games last weekend!  We even got to go out on the ice and hit some hockey pucks around!  And now, of course, the kids want to learn to play hockey!
 

O' Christmas Tree

Every year I always swear that this will be our last  year buying a real tree because I get so sick of watering a tree, and most importantly, putting on lights!  But then I don't, and I'm always happy with the outcome...

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving in UT

We headed to Logan for Thanksgiving and what a fun weekend we had!  It was an extra bonus that the weather was nice too!

 

Preparing the turkey...

 



 

The littlest McEvoy, Scout!  Such a cutie.

 

 

The McEvoy girls, minus a few...

 

Dog pile on Grandpa!

 



Games after Thanksgiving dinner

 

Some of us took a morning yoga class with a few yoga "virgins".  We had some laughs over that one!

 

 

 

We went to Temple Square to see the lights...

 



My favorite tree on Temple Square with my niece, McKenna

 



This one always has a scowl on his mug.  Cracks me up.

 



 

We went to see USU vs. BYU in b-ball at the Energy Solutions Arena.  Unfortunately, the Aggies lost! :(

 

 Aunt Trishy met up with us in SLC and things got goofy! ;)