The big news this week is Taylor got braces! He was nervous and scared but survived. He will have them on for about 18 months.
He'll have them off before high school. So he's excited about that! I am freaking out that he will be in high school in only a year and a half! 

We had the big extended Shields Family Christmas party extravaganza at our ward on Monday night! It was a fun, wild crazy party.
We had a yummy dinner, played BINGO, did a piñata, had dessert, listened to a  program etc... Its always a fun night full of family and fun. 

Taylor loves hanging out with the little kids, Henry is the cutest little guy! 

Emily won this creepy doll at the Bingo game. It's a puppet, doll and it's scary. 

We had a fun day at Jump Around Utah with friends. We stayed all afternoon, and played hard. It's a great place to go get their energy out. 

Emily and her cute friends. She had a blast with them all! 

This week of Christmas was fun, busy, and wonderful!
The snow kept falling so we took advantage and played outside several days. I took the kids and a few friends to Sugarhouse Park to go sledding one day. There was lots of  snow and we had a blast!

They liked making a big train with the sleds and going down all together. 

Christmas Eve, Eve was the Shields party, surprise dinner and gift exchange. We had our dinner, opened gifts from each other, sang songs etc.. It was a fun night and the excitement level was high! 

We had a big variety of food for dinner, sushi, salad, egg rolls, chips, fruit etc..  it was yummy! 

Christmas Eve Day we went skiing at Alta. The weather was cold and sunny, but it was a beautiful day! It's always fun to ski with cousins, and Megan, Colton etc... The snow was awesome!

After skiing all day we were tired, We headed home and went to dinner at "Hon Hong"  our favorite Chinese restaurant. We had a delicious meal and then went and drove around Christmas street and Bible street. IT was a fun dinner and no one had to cook or clean up! After we got home we opened new pjs, did a program, talked about the true meaning of Christmas etc... Then the kids were tired and ready for bed. They went to bed around 9 or 10 all ready to see what Santa would bring.

Christmas morning was perfect! It was snowing, the kids slept in until 8:00 and then we opened presents. Everyone was happy with what Santa brought and they all had fun seeing each others gifts etc.. 

We had a nice, relaxing day together just playing with new toys, games, eating treats etc...
Christmas comes and goes too fast! 

Taylor & emily had a sleepover at G& G's house with their big cousins Christmas night. Taylor chose this huge bowl for some cereal.

The day after Christmas we went sledding at "Little Mountain"
It's our favorite sledding spot, and is awesome because you drive up the mountain and then sled all the way down. The kids loved it! Even Lizzie, Henry and Milly, had fun and didn't get too scared. 

It was a successful Christmas week! Now we get to get ready to celebrate new years! 

We had a big snow storm at the beginning of the week. It snowed all day and all night and we ended up with 18 minutes of  snow! It was so awesome! All this snow really makes it feel like Christmas!

Here are the kids getting ready to leave for  school. We gave them a ride in all this snow. 

Lizzie and I spent part of the day playing in the snow, she loved it!

Once the kids came home from school they made snow forts, we went sledding and we played outside until after dark. 

We decided to do a little construction on our bathroom upstairs. We are replacing the tile etc... 

Isaac helped me clear off the tramp, so the snow wouldn't damage the trampoline mat. It was SO much snow, and it was really heavy too. 

Joey does well in the snow, he blend right in, and you can only see his eyes. 

The kids and their friends having a blast sledding. 

Lizzie made me this ornament at preschool. I loved it! She was so proud of it. I love all of her crafts! 

Cute Emily and her friends played in the snow all afternoon and they loved playing with Joey. 

All the three oldest kids started Basketball in December. Here is a picture of Emily's team. She's learning a lot and doing really well. 

Thursday night Isaac left to go to Las Vegas with grandpa Shields. He and Spencer got really hot in the car so they took their shirts off. All the boys headed to Vegas to watch the BYU vs. U of U football game in the Las Vegas bowl. They had such a fun weekend doing all boy stuff!

While the boys were away we were lucky enough to hang out with Jennifer, Chandler, Chloe and Eden! We had a blast watching Eden for a couple of hours. We played in the snow and she loved it! 

later we went and saw Santa at Jolley's she asked for animals, and wasn't scared at all. Emily and her had so much fun together. 

The boys lived it up in Vegas, rollercoasters, pep rally, eating out, late nights, and they saw the new Star Wars. 

Goofy Grandma and Grandpa came up on Saturday to see Eden etc.. They all snug gled up on grandpas lap. 

Jack and Megan were here too, but  Jack hated Santa! 

Taylor met the Imagine Dragons singer, Dan Reynolds at the game.  He was so happy about this! He loves their music. 

The kids did a fun Nativity in Sharing time on Sunday. I love serving in Primary and getting to teach the kids the gospel.

Emily played the flour game at Mono's house. She didn't find the money because Lizzie had taken it out! But she did get a lot of flour all over her face!
Only 4 more days until Christmas!