Our Christmas Day

This is our fun Christmas day! My entire family slept over and we had a presents palooza in the morning! It took us 4 hours to open everything! We had a super yummy breakfast and then a day of toys and fun. We gathered again for dinner and games! It was, as always, a very fun memorable day! I am so glad to live near my family. I love them all very much and I am so grateful for the relationships that Matt and I have with each of them! Hope your Christmases were just as fun!

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Our Fun Family Christmas Eve!!

This is Christmas Eve at our house. We did a spiritual video and story, read from the Bible and then played a white elephant game. Although we live close, I don't see my cousins often enough so this night is always super fun! We had lots of laugh, and lots of fun and presents! These are just a few of my favorite pics!

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Farewell Hollie!

I am not sure how many of you have elves that come and watch the kids before Christmas but this was our first year with Hollie Berry the elf. She did a great job keeping the kids nice and sweet to each other throughout all of December. But at night while we were sleeping...well see for yourself!

This night she took plates out of my plate rack and decided to play like she was in jail. The kids thought she was hilarious!

She was found downstairs in our playhouse pretending to cook a full breakfast. She got into various foods throughout her stay so we decided that elves must be VERY hungry little people!

This was one of the kids favorite mornings! She snuck into their rooms, gathered all their stuffed animals and set up a school in the living room. She had a big stack of books on her lap and was reading the animals Christmas stories. The kids were exstatic when they saw her that morning!

When we awoke Christmas Eve morning, Hollie was ready with her passport, report for Santa and all her other accessories and sitting in Santa's sack (which was left by Santa last year somehow). We decided she must be missing her friends, family and Santa and getting excited to know Santa would be there that night to get her!

Hollie was a super fun part of our holidays. The kids would get up each day and race to find her and see what silly thing she had done while they slept. I am so glad Santa brought her to us because it made the holiday season even more fun than usual! Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

If you have fun traditions that your family does I would love to hear about them! We are always looking for new and fun ways to make ANY holiday more fun and special! Please pass on those great ideas!

Merry Christmas Eve!

I just wanted to take a minute and squeeze in a post about how much I love my kids and their excitement of Christmas. This morning we decorated cookies for Santa and had lots of fun. In between all the cooking and preparations for the party at our home tonight, we have tried to have lots of family fun. We did cookies, delivered a few gifts and even squeezed in a game of Candy Land. I love my children so much and love to have the time to enjoy these sweet moments.

I am so grateful for all the blessings our Heavenly Father has given me. I have such a strong testimony of the Savior and this wonderful time of year. I love the opportunities that we have frequently at dinner time to discuss that although we are excited about the giving and getting part of the season, that the true meaning is the birth of Jesus Christ. We read a story last night called God Bless Your Way about a man who was walking to Bethlehem behind Mary and Joseph. It is a very humbling thought to imagine being in labor on a donkey, riding for days only to find that the place you will be delivering your new baby is in a stable. I have always been in awe of Mary as I have thought of her and the situation she went through. Even more humbling was knowing that she was somewhere between 12 and 14 years old. WOW!! I am so grateful for the knowledge of the gospel and the opportunity I have here on earth to enjoy its great blessings. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas full of all the joys Christmas can bring!

Our Annual Christmas Party!

Every Christmas for the last 7 years Matt and I have hosted a Christmas party for a bunch of my high school friends. It is so fun to get together atleast once a year and catch up with everyone! We had our biggest crowd this year and had lots of fun. We started with a yummy soup and salad buffet and then played our white elephant game. We had tons of fun! I love white elephant games because I absolutely LOVE gag gifts. I try and get several every year for Christmas. I think it adds to the enjoyment of the holidays...well atleast mine! Haha

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An Email from Santa

Madysen and Cooper were super lucky today! They sent letters to Santa few days ago and today they each got an email of their own from SANTA!!! They were so excited! Each of them were glowing when they watched their email sent just for them! I had to let you see their sweet faces and reactions...so here are the videos!

I wish I could have shown the video and his face but you should check out the video on portablenorthpoletv.com. It is super cute!

You just have to love the magic of Christmas!

Thank you Santa for taking time out of your busy schedule to check in with the Tullis Family!

A Few of My Favorite Things

I have to say that when it comes to a few of my favorite things, one of them has to be the funny things my kids say to me!

Juddie: "Mom this toy is so Er-dik-a-liss" (ridiculous)
"Can we go to out to lunch place?" (Wendy's)
And a few weeks ago ... "Happy Thanks-for-giving!!"
I think he makes me laugh everyday with something new! I love this age where they are really learning to talk.

Coop does so many funny things I dunno where to start. He has been really in the Christmas spirit lately and making up his own songs. The favorite of the week is "Frosting the Red Nosed Snowman". Every day a new verse is added. He doesn't just sing it either, he belts it out for the neighbors to hear. Gotta love a boy with Christmas spirit!

Madysen has had so much fun this season with her performances! She has become such a wonderful performer and has no stage fright whatsoever! She is such a good child and always helpful and considerate. She comes home from school and checks the presents nearly every day to see how many she can find with her name on them.
We are having a very magical season and trying to squeeze every moment of fun in that we can! Hope you all are as well! Merry Christmas!

Not a baby anymore :(

So this week our little bug has moved from his crib to a big boy bed. He was so very excited that he can get in and out all by himself. He has been super good at staying in once he is tucked in which makes me so very happy.

You gotta love it when they ASK to go to bed! Haha

We love you Judd bugs! You are such a wonderful, hilarious boy! You really have to stop growing up so fast!

Some Christmas Memories

We have had a very busy week full of cousins and fun. Two days ago Santa and two of his reindeer were at Weber State for a few hours and we were able to visit them. We played reindeer games and ate candy canes! The kids had a blast!

This is Blitzen. The kids voted him as their favorite!

For the first year all three kids were excited to see Santa! They were each given candy canes and lots of pictures with Santa!

That was our Wednesday! Thursday we continued the fun with more cousins, decorating sugar cookies and making ornaments and candy reindeer!

Judd was so covered in it he had to have a bath...haha!

After dinner we bundled up and went to walk through Layton City lights. My kids were freezing but loved finding all the different animals! Then after we put the kids to bed JT, Melissa and I finished frosting the cookies. Clearly JT won with his lovely red eyed angel!

We have had a very full house but lots of fun. I am so grateful to have family close around us all the time, but especially this time of year! I love Christmastime and all the fun traditions that we have every year! I am so grateful for my sweet family and the joy they bring into my life. I am also grateful that the cookies are all eaten and gone...hehe!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Our Special Visitor

Christmas is easily my favorite time of year. This Christmas we have had a very special visitor from the North Pole. Her name is Hollie Berry and she is an elf sent to our house by Santa to watch and see if we are all being good and on the nice list. She arrived on December 1st in a special box from Santa. She came with a letter explaining that she would be here until Christmas Eve and if her report was good then Santa would leave presents. It also warned that she has been known to get into mischeif from time to time so beware! She came with a "Santa's Eyes Only" folder to write her report, a passport and special paper for us to report her mischeif back to Santa. Every morning the kids rush down the stairs to see what Hollie has been up to during the night. So far, she has been caught watching movies, eating out of the pantry, toilet papering our bathroom, trying on jewelry and taking all the cushions of our couch making a fort. We have had lots of fun with Hollie and she has brought a whole new excitement and magic to our house.

Yup...I finally arrived!

So I am taking the plunge and starting my very own blog...I know just a few years behind the rest of the world. I am making a New Years resolution early to be a more fun mom and take more pictures and I figured the pressure of a blog just might help hehe. So here we are...I hope you all enjoy!