the tadje family: December 2024

Aiden went to Footlocker Regions in California. While he was there, his team went to Disneyland and had a blast!

While in California, Aiden's entire XC team shaved their head in honor of their teammate Austin who was going through cancer treatments at the time. It was such a sweet gesture of all of them. Aiden has amazing hair so it was sad to see it go...but at least it was for a good cause.

My birthday was wonderful this year! I felt so loved and it meant a lot that so many people remembered my birthday. I went to lunch with friends and then we went out to Seven Brothers that night. I did some shopping and felt very spoiled! Getting older isn't too bad when people make your birthday so special.

Aiden quit Cold Stone and started working at Kneaders. We went to visit him one night at work. We love when he gets to bring home extra bread and treats.

We had a fun Christmas party with the Tadje family. We did the white elephant gift game, the saran wrap game, and we had a fun time with family. Sadly this is the only picture I took all night.

My parents give us money every Christmas to do some service with. We always add some of our own money and try to make the money stretch far. This year we decided to make a gift basket for a family in our ward that needed some extra love. We bought some games and activities and treats for their family. It was a sweet experience to go shopping all together and then wrap the presents and secretly deliver them. I love this tradition and I hope to always keep it up.

I had a fun girls night where we did a cookie exchange and a little painting project. I love my neighborhood friends!

Nate was in Denver for work. He had great timing because he was there when our nephew Matthew came home from his mission. Nate went with the Johnstons to the airport and lunch afterwards. Nate loved spending time with his family.

We had our annual Santa Claus lunch at Brick Oven. We love this tradition! Yummy food, family, and a visit from Santa - doesn't get better than that ;)

Afterwards our family went to the mall to choose ways to serve from the Giving Machines. I love that our church does this initiative and gives back to so many!

That same night we had another party! We went up to Salt Lake for our extended family Curtis party. We did a fiesta theme this year which was fun - complete with a pinata. My dad's family is so kind and friendsly and we just don't see them often enough. It was fun to catch up with them.

My Uncle David and Aunt Deanne always give all of the children a gift which is so generous of them!

The kids performed a Christmas program for my grandma Blackham's memory care center the Sunday before Christmas. My mom puts together awesome programs and I love that my kids can serve this way. I love seeing my grandma and spending some time with her when we can.

On Christmas Eve, we went to my Aunt Julie's house for Chinese food like we normally do. My mom led us in some bells afterwards which was really fun :) She was made to be a music teacher!

We watched Home Alone when we got back. This movie never gets old.

We had a special Christmas Eve dinner with Diane and Gary. We ate ham, yummies, Christmas jello, and wassail. Afterwards we opened our warm and fuzzies. This year we all got Minky Couture blankets. They are the comfiest blankets and with as much as the kids love a good blanket, I knew they'd be a hit!

We of course did our puppet show. We've done this for years and years...and now that our kids are getting older we've probably grown out of it but I think it's tradition no matter what so we'll keep doing it :)

Christmas was incredible this year! The kids are at such fun ages! The kids were definitely spoiled and we had a wonderful day all together!

Nate's been asking me to buy new silverware for years. And I kept saying I would, but never bit the bullet and did it. So I surprised him with some for Christmas ;)

Nate surprised me with a puzzle board! I love doing puzzles in the winter time and I had no idea he had this planned. Long story short - he went to Dowdle puzzles to find a puzzle board and they were out so Eric Dowdle (the artist and owner) gave Nate his old puzzle board for me!