new years eve 2017!

on new years eve we partied hard!!!
as hard as you can party with 4 little ones and with colds all around, anyways.

for example, owen and daddy wore matching socks to church... and throughout our celebrations.
see what i mean?
partying so hard.

right after church owen helped me make some super yummy cinnamon rolls.

i am cutting out sweets for a while and knew that i would miss baking. baking is kinda like therapy for me. i love the process and i love the results. its calming for me to be able to start something and actually end up with a finished product. so making the cinnamon rolls was kinda like my last baking hurrah of 2017. and they were probably the best I've ever made.

we played some games and then had a fantastic dinner of appetizers! 

i made my first ever cheeseball. cheeseballs are kinda one of those things that i would never try at a party cause you never know what someone put in it and you certainly never know if they formed the ball with clean hands. you assume they did! but you never know! but i love cheese and chris said he likes cheeseballs, so i made one (with gloves on) and it was super good.

enough about cheeseballs!

we had fruit with dip, jalapeño poppers, the cheeseball, chris made wings, and sausages. then, of course, cinnamon rolls later in the evening for dessert.

after dinner we sat down and each person told their favorite story from the book of mormon. we finished it again as a family and i had intended to make that the focus of our dinner conversation, but forgot. so after scripture study and prayers we took some time to share with each other. 

afterwards we watched some rhett and link and waited for the new years countdown! at 9! with kids, thats about as late as we willingly let them stay up haha. so we counted down to 9, blew our party horns, had a toast with some sparkling cider, brushed teeth, and tucked kids in bed. and maybe chris and i stayed up till midnight for a new years kiss or two ;)

MVI_0767 from Lisa Brower on Vimeo.

ellie is a total party girl and its super fun... 

for now...

for a little boy that doesn't like juice or soda, owen sure enjoyed his sparkling cider!

cheers!

monday we took down our christmas tree,  packed away the lights, and did several loads of laundry. 

it felt good! 

we're ready for you, 2018!!!