We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas

It ended up being a white Christmas, the girls were thrilled

Christmas Eve was spent w/ friends

Dinner and caroling at a rest home

Then back to our house for Christmas movies, goodies and opening of name gifts

 

 J was thrilled :)  She was just really ready for bed

 

 M & S devouring their Harry Potter behind the scenes book

 

 Playing the waiting game on the stairs, Christmas morning

 

 S trying out her "new" typewriter

 

 

 

 J practicing w/ her new roller blades

a Sugar cookie

This past year our family has been making great strides to eat better, healthier, cleaner food for our bodies

December rolled around and I found it hard to balance enjoying treats, traditions and our new life

The girls and I had recently made a pledge to not eat artificial coloring

It's amazing how many food items contain coloring

I checked all the cupboards, and pulled a few items that were lurking around

One of them being "food coloring"

The girls all wondered how we would make our sugar Christmas cookies for Santa?

I found a whole wheat cookie recipe online, still had sugar but the amounts were reduced from the goodies we used to enjoy

Then the challenge of "food coloring"  I got creative making a purple frosting w/ blueberries, greenish tint with kale and then sticking with a plain white

The girls were thrilled to get to top the cookies with dried fruit and nuts

The plate was empty Christmas morning, I think Santa liked the cookies too!

 

"Gingerbread" houses

We have built gingerbread houses since our California days

Tradition for my kiddos

This year we gathered with the Hagedorn family and built them with rice krispies

Not sure why the switch, it sure was easier

The family theme was temples, thanks to a righteous missionary serving sister

 

 creation by A

 

 S masterpiece

 

 J used and many accessories as possible

 

M w/ the Angel Moroni and trumpet

a trip to the White House

Our family had the chance to tour the White House this past Christmas

These tours have become few and far between for our fam

I think our last inside tour was 4 years ago

Rob called from work one day and let me know we had gotten a time slot, yippee

The girls skipped school and we made a day out of it

The weather was beautiful and we were able to walk around the National Tree, tour the White House and stop into the US Botanical Gardens

If you ever come to D.C. during the month of December (I know a little crazy), you must stop by

This is one of the coolest things we have seen in town

The main lobby is covered in poinsettias, miniature replicas of all the national monuments made w/ natural materials are everywhere

The best part...the fairy garden

The girls and I were in heaven, every was just so CUTE

 

 

 

(The Smithsonian Castle)

 

(U.S. Capital )

 

 

 

 

 

Plan a Christmas vacation for next year, we offer free room and board and will go together to check out the Gardens

NYC Fun

This happened way back when, just playing catch-up this week :)

The tradition continues, I think my NYC count is now at 11...that makes me happy.  It will be a sad day if at some point when are not able to make the annual pilgrimage to the Big Apple.  This was a short 4 day trip, not even staying through the weekend.  The girls could not believe that we were not staying for church on Sunday.  Church at the temple has been tradition in the past but not this time.  Still made it to all of our favorite stops.  Thanks to a museum card from my parents for Christmas last year we stopped into 4 different museums this trip, all free!  It was great.

 Checking out the T-rex @ ToysRUs

 

 M & her boyfriend at FAO Schwartz

 

 Girls manning the aircraft carrier

 

 

 Future astronauts

 

 Walking with the crowds at Times Square

 

 Fun at Central Park

 

 

 Pit stop at Alice