The Boyer Family Blog...: December -the most exciting month of the year!

At the Boyer household, December is a time of great anticipation and giddiness. And not just from Mom! ;) The month seemed to fly by (especially with Thanksgiving being so late this year) and before we knew it, Christmas was upon us. It truly is the "Most Wonderful Time of the Year!"

The season started with a bang as the Lizzie and Emma performed beautifully at their piano recital

We decorated the house for Christmas and the Elders stopped by and stayed to help. Elder Richardson is from Draper, UT and Elder Johnson is from Minnesota. We also took the "first discussion" from these missionaries. They are so sweet and we were sad to see Elder Johnson sent to Payette last week!

We did manage to get everything decorated, complete with a gate around the tree to protect it from China our puppy and Zachy our toddler ;)

We all gathered as a family to listen to the Christmas Devotional. I love my four boys more than I can say!

Zachy was enthralled with President Monson. So sweet :)

My baby Bekah lost her first tooth! She subsequently lost her second tooth shortly thereafter. She is so stinkin' cute without her teeth. I cant' wait for her top teeth to fall out. Adorable, I tell you, adorable.

Lucky Emily was selected to receive tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert and kindly invited me and Nana and Grandpa along. We had a very quick, 24 hour, visit to SLC. We were able to visit both sets of grandparents.

Grandpa and Grandma Gibbons had arranged to have doughnuts and chocolate milk for us to eat. I felt dainty as I ate my doughnut with a fork, knife and napkin. :) Love them so much!

Grandma was very quiet and didn't say much but her smile was as beautiful as ever!

We also stopped in to visit Grandma and Grandpa Burton. They have recently moved to a rest home after living for nearly 70 years in their home.

We had a really nice visit and both of them seemed to be very alert. With both sets of grandparents almost in their mid-90s, I am very grateful to still have them around!

How fun to be able to sit and talk with them.

We quickly jetted over to temple square where we were able to get a glimpse of the Christmas lights as we made our way to the concert. Em and Nana are looking very beautiful in this pic. One of my favorites of them both!

Waiting for the concert. I love Nana and Grandpa's white hair! I hope mine is pretty like that when it loses it's color!

The concert was glorious and totally worth the drive! I hope we can get tickets next year.

Once home, we quickly gathered the kiddos up and headed to the ward Christmas party.

Isn't my Hannah gorgeous? I wish my phone had a better camera, because half my photos are blurry. Despite the poor photography, Hannah's inner beauty really shines through! Before all of us even had our food, Emma promptly had a panic attack and we ended up leaving early and going home. She has been struggling with her anxiety and panic ever since. :(

Throughout the month, Zach just managed to get cuter by the day! We all love and dote on this "unwanted" surprise baby and thank Heavenly Father every day that he was sent to us!

Here he is helping Papa and I shop for presents for his big brothers and sisters. He sure loves them!

Somewhere in there, I was taken on a super-fun date by the Three Amigos! I believe I offered to take the whole bunch, but only these guys wanted to go. We had a wonderful time. I love these little guys. Be still my heart...

We also shopped for Christmas dresses.

We always take pictures of all the options on my phone and then the girls looks back through them so they can remember what they looked like in each one. Of the dresses in these last two pictures, only Bekah is actually wearing one that was chosen!

I didn't need to buy Christmas clothes for these three handsome devils! They look good in anything!

We hosted Christmas Eve at our house. I had been really sick for the week leading up to Christmas (worst timing for a mom to be sick...we had to cancel multiple planned parties/activities), and was still feeling a little weak on Christmas Eve. These wonderful ladies (and my mom!) really did the majority of the work on the goodies.

Nana working at the table

The kids got in the action as well. Here is my Jakey boy helping with the peanut clusters.

Ammon looks delighted to be decorating cookies. Haha

Hard at work

The family gathered around for Christmas Eve dinner

Ammon and James complained about having to eat with the littlest kids. LOL..seriously, they make me smile

We all joined in reading the Christmas story (and acting it out) and singing Christmas songs. We then had an epic time doing our Christmas gift exchange.