CTR

First Sunday of the New Year! Both girls are CTR's now! And I'm Mya's primary teacher! Yipee! Carley has 2 super sweet teachers (Sis. Lunt & Sis. Potter). She is THRILLED about getting a CTR ring!

New Years Eve

New Years Eve day we went to the Zoo with the Madsen's. They had snow! The girls love to play in the snow when it's 70 degrees outside! There may have been some snowballs thrown - someone may have been hit in the face with one... :) ME!! The Zoo had a little New Years party at noon with music & cider (we missed the cider but it was still fun)! It was a nice day & just felt good to get out of the house for a few hours.

Carley's first time on the polar slide! The girls went twice - always a blast!

After Gordon got home from work that night we went to dinner at Serrano's & played at the park. Came home & lit off fireworks in the backyard. Then at Mya's request we watched "The Croods" & ate popcorn & drank hot chocolate. Our family countdown was at 9 p.m. & then G & I just relaxed & I watched the ball drop as I was getting ready for bed (G was sleeping :) ). A perfect New Years Eve!

New Years day we took down our Christmas decorations & Ben & his kids came over to play & watch football while I ran some errands.

Christmas Day

The make-up lover got a Ariel vanity (the original was broken when we got it out of the box - so after A LOT of running around trying to find another we finally got it several days after Christmas).

We've debated getting a trampoline for years but finally broke down & got one. The girls LOVE it - esp. Carley!

Frozen microphone.

Lethal - it does hurt when you get shot...thanks a lot Santa

Both girls got these cool Zummer dogs (from Nae Nae). You can train them to do tricks - pretty cool.

Mya got a Build-A-Bear gift card. Here she is washing her new polar bear. (the day after Christmas - just a mommy/Mya adventure). Poor dad & Carley were driving all over town trying to find a new vanity but still had a fun daddy/Carley adventure).

Opening the Zummers

We just hung out at home all day. We jumped as a family & played games. G went on a Circle K run but other than that we just enjoyed some family time. Gordon did make a ham dinner that night :)

We had a really nice Christmas season. We had company EVERY weekend in December which was super fun but we did spend A LOT of time cleaning & shopping & getting ready for company. Colton & Ashley came the last weekend & we got to go on a fun double date of glow-in-the-dark goofy golf & dinner at Cheesecake Factory.

This is such a fun time in our lives! Our girls are at the best age. So cute & fun & still little (kinda) - but fairly independent at the same time. We love spending time with them & are so proud of the little women they are becoming.
We saw Frozen again sometime during Christmas Break. We always have fun dropping off friend treats & looking at lights. Carley was obsessed with wanting to look at the "freaky Santa" a mechanical Santa in our neighborhood that the girls are scared of!! LOL!
A new fun family tradition: after Christmas we went to the Loop of Lights (no one is there after Christmas - sweet!) drank hot chocolate (Carley juice) & made caramel apples & just drove around to look at lights SO much fun!

Christmas Eve

We like to sneak around & shop for each other on Christmas Eve - so we did that & went out to lunch. We got KFC for dinner & ran a few treats around. Looked at a few lights & came home for the girls to open their PJ's & gifts from Nana & Coach. Put out cookies for Santa, sprinkled out Reindeer food in the yard & got the girls to bed. It's always an exciting night but for some reason I can't remember much. G put up the trampoline we got all by himself with a little help from me & I wrapped all the gifts myself. It took about 4 hours but we got it done!

Christmas Season 2013

Meg's family came down the 2nd weekend in December & we took the older kids to our ward Christmas party. It was Polar Express themed - so cute. That's Carley riding the little train.

I got to help out in Mya's class on gingerbread house day! It was a lot of fun. Mya was one of the only kids that knew to frost the entire house before putting candy on it (thanks Nana for this Palmer family tradition training).

The 1st graders read the Gingerbread Girl at school & made a gingerbread girl "Gingy". She ran away & the kids were looking for her & posted pictures of her around the school ect. Mya was OBSESSED with this. She made Gingy a little house & left her food & wrote her a note. She STILL talks about it.

The weekend before Christmas we hosted my family. We started off by having dinner at Someburros & then going to the Zoo Lights. It was so beautiful!

Carley & Reaghan BFF's

We had hot chocolate & rode the carousal.

Zoo photographers were taking pictures of the kids & said the winner would have their picture posted at the mall. P & M are hoping to win :)

Grandma Nae Nae got the kids marshmallow guns & they had a battle in the backyard. Mikey was thrilled - I've never seen a dog eat so many marshmallows... 

Earlier that day the guys went golfing & us girls took the kids to Jump Street & out to lunch. The marshmallow guns & the Elf on the Shelf were fun surprises from Nae Nae!

That night my dad & Cathy, the Rae's, Bryce, GG & Earl, Chimpie & Ashley all came over for dinner & a white elephant gift exchange. It was our kids first one & they were super excited!

All the Hutchinson side grands.

Our Elf's (Magical a girl - named by Carley) first surprise location with the Gardea's Elf.

Christmas Sunday before church.

Dad's b-day dinner at Joe's BBQ. The first weekend in December. The Gardeas went Christmas shopping after & G & I went to our annual friend Christmas party. Fun times!

Nae Nae & Elvis with all the grands at the Zoo lights.

Cute advent calendars I found! The girls loved getting their chocolate first thing each morning. My mom always did this for us growing up & I loved it!

Just something I want to remember: Mya's primary teachers have this huge stuffed animal dog that they let the kids take home for a week if they're reverent. Mya loves dogs & LOVES stuffed animals. After a few months they stopped doing it because the kids weren't returning him. So one week in December her teachers asked if they could come by our house. They did & told us that Mya is such a wonderful girl and the best kid they have ever had in their class in all the years the taught. They told us how reverent she always is & presented her with Milo the dog. It was such a special experience for all of us. So touching to have your child recognized for doing well. Thank you to Bro. & Sis. Mikkelson for being such wonderful & thoughtful teachers & going above & beyond!

I also got assigned to be the Gilbert Temple Celebration Chair for our ward. It's been pretty crazy trying to get things to come together (to put it nicely) but such an incredible experience for the youth in our ward & this entire area! My friend Cathy is my partner is crime & I'm so glad because it makes it that much more fun. The temple will be opening in March 2014.

Thanksgiving 2013

Mya running the turkey trot at her school. She was really determined to win this year. I think she got 4th -she ran 13 laps (I think - it's been a few months). She said she ran until her legs hurt & she couldn't run anymore.

On our way to Taylor for a Palmer Family Thanksgiving.

We drove to Taylor on Thanksgiving Day & had lunch with Gordon's parents, grandparents, Meg's family, & Kaylene. That night we stayed at a hotel in Show Low (the girls having been begging to stay at a hotel so we gave in). I got to go to the movies with the adult girls & G hung out with his dad for a while & then took the girls swimming at the hotel. Once I got back we watched Kung Fu Panda & went to bed. The next day I got a facial & G took the girls swimming again. We went to lunch at this pizza restaurant & then met the Neff's to watch "Frozen" before heading home. The girls LOVED Frozen so much. Mya talked about it & asked questions about it for an hour after it was over. We had a really nice time!

Thanksgiving was at the end of the month this year so once we were back home we busted out the Christmas decorations.

This is the first year we put up outside lights so that was exciting. We got a cute little Rudolph yard decoration & someone stole it out of our yard... we ended up getting another one & G chained it to a bush.

Spirit Week 2013

 The 3rd week in November was spirit week at Mya's school.

Crazy Hair Day

 Favorite sports team

 80's - this was so funny because I told her this is how I dressed when I was a kid. She thought it was so funny & we laughed a lot about it! Anytime she thinks something looks weird she'll say "that's like from the 80's". Funny girl!

 This same week Carley had a field trip at school & got to bring her lunch. She was SUPER excited about it. She even mentioned it in her prayers several times.

Super Hero Day

This was the day before the dance showcase. Carley & I went to lunch just the two of us. I love this picture because she has on a TON of red lipstick & lip gloss. She helped me pick out the red lipstick for the recital & became obsessed with it. I finally had to hide it because she would ask to wear it or sneak & put it on everyday!