Christmas Traditions 08

I know you are all wondering, "what exactly do the Alva's do to celebrate Christmas?" Well, we are slowly finding that out ourselves each year and want to share a few new traditions with you...

First, I must admit, I have been slacking and have never taken my kids to go and sit on Santa's lap at the mall. OK, so the lines are always long, the mall is always crowded, and you always have to pay an arm and a leg to get one photo that never turns out as you had hoped. Now, that being said, yes they have seen Santa at church parties and we are very lucky to have our own Santa in the family, Matt's step dad, Ron (we love you Ron and will always think you are the best Santa). However, this year our neighbors let us in on a secret and told us to go with them to Bass Pro Shop and see Santa. #1, there is no long line. #2, he looks real and #3 Its free! So off we went. The kids loved it, and so did we!


They even had "real Reindeer" (at least on the outside ;) )
We also got to celebrate by going to Katelynn's preschool party. She sang all the Christmas songs and even made us sing them with her all the way home.
My mom convinced me to make an advent calendar. It has been one of the most favorite things for the kids. Every morning when they wake up, it is the first thing they ask for. Thanks Grandma!
Our ward had such a fun Christmas party this year. We all dressed up like people from Christ's time. Even Katelynn wanted to be the donkey (imagine that). (we only wished we had Dad's purple robe ;) ha, ha)
We also make Christmas cookies and decorated them. Even Brennon got into it!
We put up a fake tree this year, but still had a blast decorating it. Katelynn really got into it and was so proud of her work. It is now in between two couches to be blocked off from Brennon...

Greeting Card

Make a Smilebox greeting

Thanksgiving trip to VA

This Thanksgiving we got to go home to Virginia to see my family. It was so much fun and just great to get away and have a break from school. The kids had a blast and did not want to leave.

Here is Katelynn with her cousins who played together all weekend.
Anyone who knows me well knows I am a big Virginia Tech football fan. We decided to get tickets and go to the game while we were there. I made everyone dress up in VT clothes for the big day...
Even Brennon was a cute little hokie fan!
At the game the stadium was packed even though it was only 30 degrees outside. We won and it was so fun to be part of the crowd. VT stadium is known to be one of the loudest stadiums in the country because of their fans.


Of course the highlight of the trip for the kids was the horses. Even Brennon enjoyed riding and wasn't scared this year.
Katelynn wanted to ride every second of every day. She became confident enough to ride Suzy all by herself and she thought she was so cool.


Thanks to American Airlines we had to lug most of our luggage onto the plane. Note to self, next time fly an airline where you can check your bags! (At least the kids were good).
Grandma and Grandpa were amazing with the kids. They became fast buddies and wanted their attention the whole time. Thanks Mom and Dad for making it a great memory for all of us!

Brennon is 2!

Twilight fans

I went to see twilight with some friends a the day it came out. We had fun and it was so fun to have a girls night out. We are hoping for a series. Wish I could have joined the Chicago group to see it too. Hope you guys had fun. :)