Christmas morning

Tanner & Greg hooking up the new TV
Brandon & Breeann looking in stockings

What? Does Santa think I stink? I got body wash!

Charlie even got a new sweater and treats!!

Wow! Santa brought us a new TV!

Christmas Eve

Greg reading the Christmas story at the second part

of our evening.
New PJs

from the first part of our evening, Joanna &

Nathan making a gingerbread house

Rob, Nathan & Conner

Yummy dinner!

Christmas Eve

The first part of our Christmas Eve was at our friend's

house, Rob & Joanna Mantz. The kids played Christmas

Carols on the bells.

Bryce & Conner trying to make beautiful music on the

bells.

Garrett & Tanner reading their part in a Reader's
Theatre of the Real meaning of Christmas.

Christa & dad making a gingerbread house

The finished product

Its cold but beautiful!

We finally got a snow storm this last week! It has

been sooooo cold lately (getting below zero at times).

I was kind of hoping the snow would wait until right before

Christmas, but then decided it would have to warm up a

little for it to snow so that would be a good thing. This is a

view of our front yard.

This is our side yard. It just looks so fresh and

pretty!

This is our view to the East of the mountains. The
ski resort is opening this week so that makes the boys
very happy!

Frugal Challenge

I was worried about the month of November because we have two birthdays and Thanksgiving. I have so much food storage that I already had a lot of what I needed for our Thanksgiving meal. I also already had a

turkey in the freezer, but Walmart had them for so cheap that I was able to get a 22 lb turkey for $8, so I let

Tanner donate the other one to a fundraiser at school (for extra credit points!) So....I spent....drum roll

please.....a total of $290! YEA! I'm already worried about December, and have decided if I spent more it

will be ok. But, I will still try!

FINALLY!!

We have needed a new stove for about two years and I finally got it!

Our old one had problems with the burners. Greg replaced them

several times, but they kept going out. I have been cooking on a

stove that only had two SMALL burners for a long time. This one

is a flat top, so easier to keep looking clean and it is a regular and

convection oven. Plus, a feature I really thought would be nice

is the bottom element is hidden so it will be easier to clean. Also,

besides the self-cleaning feature it has a "steam clean" feature. The

bottom has a dip in it so you add a cup of water and turn on the

steam then wipe out. I can't wait to try it!