Frost Family Faces

One of our holiday traditions is to make sugar cookies. I finally found a recipe that I liked, and we went to it this year. They actually turned out pretty good...except the ones with the candy cane centers. The candy canes themselves weren't very good.

Enjoy the pictures!


Opening the candy canes getting ready to crush them...

Ethan crushing candy canes!


and of course Ella had to have a turn.

Putting the crushed candy canes in the center.


Now we need to frost the cookies! The kids LOVE doing this, but they (especially Ella) really just likes to eat the frosting.

My brother is SANTA!?!

We went to Snow Canyon High where my brother played Santa at the school Make a Wish assembly. They finally found a suit to fit him! It was a lot of fun to see my kid's reactions, but even more funny to see his kid's reaction to him!

Enjoy the pictures...

Here we are waiting for the assembly to start.



Ella and Mya!


Mya is checking out Santa. Usually, she LOVES Santa...until he's right in front of her.



Some of the students wished to have their friends get a pie in the face...Dustin...er...Santa got to throw the pie!

After the assembly, I asked Ella if she wanted to go see Santa, she jumped off my lap and ran up the stairs and right onto his lap.


Big Hugs for Santa!

Mr. and Mrs. Clause...

I saw mommy Kissing Santa!!

This is Emma when Dustin pulled off his beard. She just smiled at him, but still wouldn't go to him.


Even with the beard and hat completely off, Mya still screamed at the sight of Dustin!



It took Mya a while, but she finally came to Dustin, but after he had the entire suit off, and it was even a while after that before she came to him...SO FUNNY!

Ethan wanted nothing to do with Santa, but he did want to sit in his chair.

Dustin and Emma

I'm ready to open presents!!

It was a lot of fun to see Dustin play Santa, he did a really good job!

It's official, Chad's a Missionary! The last Gough is on his mission! We are going to miss him...a lot, but not nearly as much as the grandkids. They LOVE Uncle Chad!

We wanted one last activity with Uncle Chad before we left so the whole family met at the temple on Monday to look at the lights. It was cold, but fun!

Look at these cute little bundled kids!


Ella ran to Chad yelling "CHAD!" when he walked up and immediately started pointing the lights out to him...


Ella watching the nativity...

Ethan watching the Nativity...


and some of the other grandkids watching the Nativity...


Of course they have to go up and down the stairs when they go to the temple. The kids love it!

Ella...

and Ethan walking up and down the stairs...


Ella is trying to entertain baby Derek...and showing off her mittens!


Of course there were tons of leaves on the ground, and the kids couldn't resist running and jumping in them and throwing them at each other.

Chad! CHEESE!


We stopped at the visitor's center to get warm and I took the opportunity to get one last picture with Uncle Chad!

And here's Mya...

and Emma...(she didn't want to sit still for a picture.

Tuesday night, we all gathered at the Stake Pres. house to see him set apart as a missionary. It was a wonderful experience! His blessing was wonderful!


It's official! I'm a missionary! YIKES!

And then we went back to my mom's house for some pie (there's still a ton left from Thanksgiving) and said one last good-bye...





HUGS!!


Chad will be a wonderful missionary! We will miss him. It's going to be strange going over to my mom's house and knowing he won't be there for a couple of years, but we all know he's doing the right thing!
My mom and dad took him to the MTC the next morning on Wednesday the 1st.
We love you Chad. Good luck!

We had lots of food, family and fun over the Thanksgiving weekend. Because it was also Chad's farewell on Sunday the 28th, there were a lot of extra family that came to celebrate Thanksgiving with us! We are very blessed to have such wonderful family!

Enjoy the pictures of the fun weekend we had. We spent most of the time at my mom's house because that seemed to be the central meeting place everyone met at.


On Thanksgiving morning, the temperatures dropped to freezing and the leaves fell! Northern Utah got snow, we got leaves! So, instead of the kids playing in snow, here are some pictures of them playing in leaves!


Ethan loved picking up handfuls and throwing them in the air..

Ella is attempting a 'leaf angel'...


Ella's practicing her throwing skills...

and here are her throwing skills polished up...she nailed Ethan right in the chest with a bunch of leaves! Go Ella!



Now it's time for TURKEY!!


Gotta love the food!

Jaci and Trevor love it too!

The FEAST!!

After Dinner, Jan and Dan brought out their pumpkin bowling game. It was a huge success...until one of the pumpkins broke!

The other adults in the house were playing games. We played games most of the day.

The other kids waiting in line for their turn.

Charles volunteered to lay down with Ella. I couldn't figure out who was sleeping the hardest.

Mormon Bridge...the main game of my family. This is probably the biggest game every played. 15 people and 3 decks of cards!



Thinking what to bid...

And the bid...I don't remember who won, but it was a huge game.



Ella enjoying some leftovers for dinner the next night!





I love this video! Chad is always scaring Charity. I couldn't resist getting it on video...one last time scaring Charity for two years!