Mixed up dinner... Bruneel/Warner style....

December 15

We had our annual mixed up dinner with the Bruneel family!  This year we did a mexican theme since we served mexican food.  Lisa got mustaches for those serving the food.  It was great.  I have to admit I  am glad I get to serve the food and then eat it the way it was intended to be served after we are done serving the kids!  Everyone loved it and enjoyed the pass around gift exchange, you can never go wrong with candy! :)

Church Christmas Party

December 14th we attended our church Christmas Party.  It was in the morning with a breakfast and activities for the kids.  Of course Elizabeth was super excited to see santa and whisper in his ear what she wanted for Christmas.

 Elizabeth and Santa

 Anna and Santa

 Teenagers... what can I say!

The girls had fun painting ornaments and couldn't wait to get home and put them on the tree!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

We had a fun evening decorating the christmas tree.  We got a taller tree that would fit better in our living room.  Elizabeth loves our talking, recordable ornaments and loves listening to hers from when she was a baby and toddler.

Luke's favorite ornament, given to him by Grandpa Roger and Grandma GG a few years ago!

Luke was supposed to put the star on this year but we didn't have a ladder tall enough for him to put the star on.  Aaron barely got it on.  Next year we will have Luke put it on the tree before we put the top of the tree on.

November 2012

We went to Illinois for Thanksgiving to visit Aaron's sister Emily and her family.  On our way we stopped in Omaha, Nebraska for a tour of Winter Quarters.  We were dressed up in pioneer clothes, the kids got to try and pull a handcart over a small rock, there was lots to see and read and we felt a warm spirit there.  We are so grateful for our pioneer ancestors who sacrificed so much and were a great example for us to follow.  Any time I think we have it hard I think about them and it encourages me to keep going and never give up.  It was a long trip there and back but worth every minute to be visit Winter Quarters and get some precious time in with family who live so far from us.

pioneer cemetery

We spent a few days in Illinois before going up to The Dells, Wisconsin to stay at the Kalahari.  The next couple days were spent playing in the water and having a blast.  The water park was indoor and was huge with plenty to keep kids of all ages entertained for hours.

Yes, he screamed the whole way down!

Waiting for some poor unsuspecting person to walk under the bucket so they could dump water on them.  The actually surprised a few kids and some adults as well.

Back to Illinois to spend a couple more days with the Stahmanns.  We had a fun family game of kick ball before eating Thanksgiving dinner!

Anna and her cousin Hailey in their matching Kalahari sweatshirts

At the end of November the girls and I went to Disney on Ice with Brooke and her girls.  It was a fantastic even and everyone seemed to love it, especially Lizzy.  The performance was shortened stories  of Princess and the Frog, Cinderella, and my favorite Tangled.  At the end they did a musical number and had all the princes and princesses come out with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisey, etc.  This was Lizzy's favorite part of the performance since Ariel was one of them and she is her favorite princess.

Macie and Lizzy

Tessa and Brooke

October 2012

Lizzy enjoying a warm fall day at the park!

We went to Utah conference weekend.  Aaron took Luke to the BYU game Friday evening.  Saturday we had a family photo shoot with Mary and later that even Aaron, Seth, Andrew, and Tyler headed up to Salt Lake City to hopefully get into the priesthood session of conference.  They soon joined a choir outside that was singing to drowned out the protestors and sang for and hour and a half.  Joining this choir got them a seat in the priesthood session.  It was a great experience, one they will never forget.

Here they are outside the conference center!

Our family photo shoot!

just for fun!

beautiful Aubry

handsome Seth and Luke

sweet Anna and Lizzy

Seth wearing Aaron's letterman jacket from high school

Aubry's swim team pictures! (taken by Mary)  

Much better than the one that was taken when they had team pictures.

Our family was thrilled to be able to attend the Boise Temple Open House and went more than once.  Aaron and I were volunteers and served as guides.  It is a beautiful temple and we are so grateful to have it open and have the convenience of have a temple so close.

HALLOWEEN

Luke is a BYU fan, if you couldn't tell!  Anna is and 80's girl, isn't she adorable?

Lizzy is Ariel the mermaid when she got married, I love the red hair, though I was disappointed that it would not curl!

Lizzy with one of her favorite cousins, Macie!