Girl's Trip to Branson

I just got home last night from an awesome girl's trip to Branson. We gathered to celebrate our friend April's birthday. But really it was just the excuse to get together. We had so much fun. 

We left Tuesday around lunchtime. We actually grabbed lunch on our way out and drove straight to the outlet mall in Branson. I ended up driving and I took April, Erin and Lacey Henderson with me. Then our friend Lacey Quale met us in Branson. Lacey Quale moved to Nixa about 6 months ago and we've missed her so much. We were so excited when she was able to drive over and meet us for our trip. 

So we shopped for a bit and then went to eat dinner at Cheddars. After dinner we drove to Walmart to buy all the junk food and snacks that we wanted for our trip. 

Then we drove to our resort to check in. I had booked the trip using some BlueGreen points. It was a super cheap time to visit Branson and it worked out perfectly. 

We stayed up way too late that night talking. I think we finally called it a night around 4 am. Ridiculous. Needless to say, we all slept in the next morning. Before getting ready the next morning, we did a little workout and then we went to lunch at Billy Gail's. 

Then we spent the rest of the day shopping at the Branson Landing. We had so much fun! 

After shopping we went to get some dinner. We decided to get Panera to go. We took our dinner back to the resort to eat and chill the rest of the night. 

At one point we took a picture of us in our super cozy sweat sets. These sweatsuits were literally the most comfy material ever. 

We also did collagen masks together. We were laughing so hard at how ridiculous we looked but these masks are awesome and our faces were so soft and glowing afterwards. 

That night we stayed up even later. I think I finally went to bed around 6:30 am. I don't know who we thought we were kidding. We are way too old to be staying up that late. I definitely woke up feeling sick the next day. But I rallied and we had a great last day. 

We started our day by first checking out of our resort and then going to get breakfast at "Farmhouse Restaurant" and it was yummy. Then we drove back down to the landing to do the 7D dark ride and the mirror maze. It was so fun. We were laughing and screaming throughout the 7D dark ride and then it took us longer than I would like to admit to navigate the mirror maze. Eventually we made it out. It was so fun. 

From there we went to TJ Maxx and target. We did some more shopping and then ended our trip with dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Branson West. 

We had to separate after dinner to drive home and that was sad. We said goodbye to Lacey Quale and then drove the rest of the way home. 

It was such a great trip. I'll be forever grateful for friends that inspire and uplift me. It makes all the difference in life to have good friends. Until next time ladies!

Tanner's Ordination

 I can hardly believe that my boy is turning 16 this year and in our church that means he gets to advance in the Aaronic priesthood and now he gets to bless the sacrament  and he moves up to the "Priest Quorum" at church. In the church handbook it talks about the responsibilities of a priest and reading over it made me a little emotional. "The honor of administering the sacrament is given to the priests, who offer the sacramental prayers. A priest is asked to  be familiar with the sacramental prayers, dress appropriately, and wash his hands before performing this ordinance. Above all, a priest should be worthy to perform this sacred ordinance as the Savior’s representatives."

I still can't believe my boy is old enough to be blessing the sacrament! I'm so proud of him and grateful that he's working hard to live worthily of his responsibilities. 

As a priest he can also perform baptisms, under the direction of the bishop. This is pretty cool because if Benson wanted, Tanner could baptize him this year. There are a few other responsibilities as well, but the first two are just making Tanner seem so grown up. 

I can't wait to go to the temple with Tanner and watch him perform baptisms for the dead. It's going to be so awesome. 

We were grateful that Tanner was willing to wait until today to be ordained because Nanny and Papa were in Utah until last night and they just got back. Because Tanner wanted his Grandparents to be here for his ordination, we waited. He's a pretty cool kid. 

Tanner helped with the sacrament today but he didn't bless. It was so cute to watch him up there preparing the sacrament with the other priests. I can't wait to hear him bless it though. That's going to be an awesome day. 

We sure love our Tanner boy. He's such a great first child. He's a great example to his younger siblings and he's just a happy kid. I need time to slow down so we can have him home more. 

We are so proud of you Tanner!

Benson's Rise & Shine

 Today I got to go watch Benson perform in his class' "Rise & Shine" assembly. It was actually two 2nd grade classes performing together. It was cute. They talked about their New Year's resolutions. Benson's speaking part was "My new year's resolution is to make a new friend". 

He delivered his line perfectly and their class did great. 

It's always fun to get to be at the kids' school. I love watching my kids interact with their friends and teachers. 

 

 Great job Benson! 

Snow Day Fun

 We just had the most epic snow day we've had in a while. The snow was the most perfect consistency. It was perfect for packing and we had the best time playing in it. 

We made a huge "Redneck snowman" and it was so fun. Note the trucker's cap, bandana and gun. We were cracking up at our creation. 

I think we got around 8 inches and it was just so fun. Bentonville released school early on Thursday and the snow started very lightly that evening. But by the next morning we had a solid 8 inches. It was so fun to wake up to so much snow. Bentonville had proactively canceled school for Friday so we knew we could sleep in and then play all day. It was the best. 

We went sledding down our driveway and played for hours. Eventually we came inside and ate lunch and warmed up. For some reason, snow days always require fresh baked bread in my mind. So I had to make bread. We also had some homemade soup that Dad made for us. 

That's another thing, I love that Bentonville shuts down for snow days. So Chris got to be home with us. He worked from home but he was able to play with us. 

We played in the backyard for hours too working on an igloo. The little boys really wanted to build a huge snow fort. We used our sand buckets to build with and it worked perfectly. 

When the kids came home on Thursday I had set up a snuggle area- basically I inflated a mattress and laid it right next to the couch and then covered both with tons of blankets and pillows. I had also order lots of snacks and treats on Thursday so we were all set for the snow day. 

We eventually came in and made pizza and finally watched "Wicked" with the kids. They have been dying to watch it since Thanksgiving, but we were busy and then it came out on streaming platforms so we had to rent it. 

It was so fun to watch it together. The kids loved it and they now want to learn the words to every song. 

Then on Saturday  it warmed up a bit more and the roads had cleared so we were able to leave the house to run a few errands. Tucker and Benson stayed home and worked on their fort some more. 

Dad helped them finish their fort but the ended up using a tarp for the ceiling. It was too hard to get the roof to stay up with snow. The boys were determined to sleep outside last night. So they gathered all their stuff and dressed in layers. Then they went outside to setup their beds. It was actually pretty cute. It was supposed to be warmer than the previous nights so I was okay with them trying. I was mostly impressed they would want to sleep outside. They were just so excited to sleep in their snow fort. 

They made it outside until about 2 am. At that point Benson had rolled off his bed mat and his body heat had melted the snow he was sleepiong on and he got wet. So Tucker brought him inside and they slept the rest of the night in the living room. 

It was pretty impressive they lasted that long. That is it for our snow day fun. We had a great time. Now it's back to school tmrw. Wish us luck!

New Year's Eve 2025

 We just had the chillest New Year's Eve ever. Nanny and Papa were still visiting and even though they are total party animals, we decided to keep it simple. 

We made a bunch of simple foods- mostly snacks the kids really like. 

After eating, we played a bunch of games. The kids got a ton of new board games for Christmas  and we had yet to play them so this was the perfect time. We also had a big "Mario Kart" tournament. This was highly entertaining and I think the kids were surprised at how not terrible their parents were at Mario Kart. It was fun. 

After our game marathon we decided to watch a movie. We have been in a war movie kick lately, so we watched "Behind Enemy Lines". 

At midnight we went outside and watched all the fireworks around the neighborhood. I think for the first time ever, all my kids stayed up 'til midnight. It was kind of crazy. They are getting so old. 

We finished the movie shortly after midnight and then we all went to bed. 

I think this Christmas break has been our most relaxed break ever. We've all been staying up way too late, sleeping in way to late and just doing absolutely nothing all the time. 

So it was no surprise that everyone slept in late the next day. But apparently, it wasn't enough sleep for Nanny and Papa. They were totally exhausted and snuck in a nap before their flight to Utah today. 

We loved having Nanny and Papa visit and all the chill time we had together. It was so fun and I think we are going to enjoy having both of them retired. It's pretty great.

Happy New Years everyone. May your new year be full of fun, awesome memories and quality time. 

Merry Christmas

I can hardly believe that Christmas has come and gone. 
We had a wonderful Christmas and it was so nice and chill. 
We actually got to host Christmas at our house this year and Nanny, Papa & Aunt Laura came to us. 

While I wasn't feeling 100%, we were still able to do most of our Christmas eve traditions. 

We actually did something a little different this year and we had our big Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. 
We also invited the sister missionaries over for dinner and we had our friend Wyatt over as well. 

Dinner was delicious and everyone seemed to enjoy it. 

After Wyatt and the sister missionaries left, the kids smashed their gingerbread houses and ate the pieces. 

The "pajama elves" came and dropped off the kids' pajamas. 

Then we read the "Pajama Elves" book together. 

We left out some Christmas cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer and the kids made reindeer food to sprinkle on the front yard. 

We also said goodbye to our elves. Well the younger two said goodbye. The older two didn't seem to care that much.  

Then we decided to make some hot chocolate and watch a Christmas movie together. 

The kids eventually went to bed and the countdown to Christmas morning began. 

Christmas began with the kids sleeping in pretty late for Christmas, and we opened stockings while we waited for Nanny, Papa & Aunt Laura to wake up. 

Then Bailey found our pickle so she got to open the first present. 

The kids had agreed this year that we would have a smaller Christmas in exchange for saving some money for our big trip to the Northeast states next summer. 

Regardless, they all seemed quite thrilled with the gifts they did get and it was a great morning. 

 

One of my favorite parts was when we had Nanny and Papa open their gifts and we zoomed all my siblings. I called Sarah and since Joseph was visiting her with his family, we got a two for one. Then Laura called David and so we all talked over facetime together. 

But this picture of the kids with their silly socks is probably my favorite thing from Christmas. 
I don't know why, but it makes me so happy. 

After opening presents we had Christmas morning cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate. 

Then we played and hung out together. 
I made a Christmas charcuterie board at one point and we snacked on that until it was dinner time. 

The reason we decided to have a big Christmas Eve dinner was so we could all relax on Christmas.

This turned out wonderfully and we ate yummy leftovers for dinner on Christmas and no one had to do much cooking.

It was seriously the most chill and relaxing Christmas I've ever had. 
10/10 - highly recommend. 

Christmas is over now and as I'm reflecting over the season, I know I have so much to be grateful for. 
My family and my Savior are the biggest blessings in my life and I thank my Heavenly Father every day for them. 

Merry Christmas everyone!