Christmas Parties

We've started the Christmas Season off to a great start
with some fun family parties. We had our annual "Sisters" party
that we hold every year in honor of Grandma "V" (Vivian)
This year Dena hosted the party and we played Bingo (Grandma's favorite)
ate tons of yummy food and opened presents (bingo prizes)

Sisters...Dena, Georgia, and Pat (my mom)

Maddie came this year because she's almost 18 ;)
Maddie, Brittany, Leslie (our cousin) and me.

I wish I had taken more pictures but I didn't.
We were too busy having fun I guess!


Then last night was the annual Knowles Family Christmas Party
at Grandma Knowles house.

I love family parties and I love how we grow! We are a pretty big crowd these days!

Brigham give Emmie the "tickle torture!"

Devan the Pirate :)
This girl is never seen without a sword, cape, and pirate's hat. I love it!

Sandy, Alisa, and Steven

I'm not sure what this picture is all about???

Pretty girls - our family has a lot of them :)
Lauren (Brig's fiance), Maddie, Abi, and Talbie

We all gathered around the piano to sing Christmas Carols
Here we are, each wearing a pair of Grandma's glasses.
They were a bit strong for my liking :)

Aunt Marianne gave out treats to everyone at the end of a great party!

Santa

I took Bronson and Emmie to do some of their Christmas shopping
on Saturday and while we were out, I wanted to stop by the
"Shops at the Riverwoods" because I had heard they had an awesome
Santa house. I thought we could get some pictures of it.

To my surprise when we got there, the construction had been completed
that they've been working on for months and months. They had fires going
and shops opened outside. They also had this awesome santa house with
SANTA inside ;) We were just about the only people down there too!

Waiting to see Santa!

I highly recommend taking your kids down to see Santa and his house.
There wasn't a professional photographer down there which I liked because
I hate paying a small fortune for a stupid picture when I can just take one myself.

Telling Santa what they wanted ;) Emmie is my only "believer"
and I think this may be her last year :(

The back of the house

Thanksgiving

For as long as I can remember, my family has gone to the
Marriott for Thanksgiving.
I know this may sound strange to many of you but as our family has
grown over the years, it's actually been a very nice tradition.

I think it all started when Maddie was a baby. We used to have Thanksgiving
with my mom's side of the family at Grandma V's house but as she got older, we
all decided to make it easier and go to the Marriott's brunch. Our side of the family has
continued this ever since.

As we were walking in, Boston saw his Dave!

Dave and Boston walking in with Talbie and Emmie.
Logan and Maddie are checking things out in the gift shop behind them.
(Disclaimer...you will notice Logan eating Thanksgiving dinner with us but he
and Maddie are "broken up". They decided to break up because they were spending too
much time together (but we still see him everyday - which we like :)

The kiddos
(I think Talbie is getting taller than Maddie, which is weird that
any of us girls would get over 5'0")

Boston, Dave, Grandma Pat, Dallin, and Emmie

Eating our delicious dinner

I had to pay for this picture, even though Bronson is making a face.
Bronson and Emmie are usually best buds but they fight like cats and dogs lately!

Talbie, Grandpa, and Dustin


After dinner we went to see "Tangled"
This movie is HILARIOUS! I found myself laughing out loud through
the entire thing. I highly recommend it ;)

After the movie we went to Dave's side of the families festivities.
We went to Lynn and Kevin's house and had pie and visited with everyone.
It was such a great day.

Then Black Friday shopping began at midnight!

BYU Museum - Carl Bloch Exhibit

On Wednesday afternoon we went to the BYU Museum
to see the Carl Bloch exhibit that they have on display right now.
It's a masterpiece and I highly recommend that you all go and see it!

You can reserve free tickets here:
http://moa.byu.edu/index.php?id=1809

Some his masterpieces include:

Headshots

Maddie needed some headshots taken this week for
Dance Company. We haven't had her senior pictures taken yet because
we wanted to wait until spring. Our wonderful friend Allie Kirk took these
beautiful pictures at our house on Saturday. Thanks Allie!

This is her "Napoleon Dynamite" pose. She really wants to use
this one as a joke but I'm trying to talk her out of it ;)

"The Pirates of Penzance"

We finished up "Peter Pan" last week and this week Talbie auditioned for the next play...

"The Pirates of Penzance." She's really excited and found out this morning that she will play one of the General's Daughters. She's excited!

I've been a terrible blogger lately but hopefully will have some fun updates soon!

Peter Pan!

Peter Pan opened on Thursday night!
It was so fun to finally go and see the wonderful production
that the kids have been working so hard on!

Here's Talbie backstage in the "leads" dressing room ;)

Waiting for the show to start
(Emmie sharing Logan with Maddie :)

The thing I like about these plays is that there is a professional
photographer that takes over 5,000 pictures and you can buy the CD
after the show ends. That's when I get the good pictures because as you all know -
My camera stinks!

This is the end bows...

The cast with Peter Pan

See Talbie after the show (and Captain Hook!)

Talbie's friends brought her flowers too! So Sweet!!
(Talbie and Kate)

Talbie with the Snarr girls. She babysits for them and they are
one of her biggest fans. We love them!

Great job Talbie! Can't wait to see it again next week!

The Halloween Costumes - a bit late!

Emmie as a Geisha Girl

Bronson could not decide what to be
(or if he even wanted to dress up)
But that morning he changed his mind and I sprayed the black hair color
from Emmie's hair - onto our car tire and drove over the back of a shirt

To invent this...
(I do love making the kid's Halloween costumes!)

Talbie as "Winnie Foster"
Anyone know who that is? I challenge you to find out :)

Maddie in the cave woman costume I made her a couple of years ago
Nice face Maddie!

PS - A little side note... Does anyone watch "The Middle?" Talbie's costume reminded me of Brick from that show. He dressed up like someone from some book no one had ever heard of. That was Talbie this year :) WATCH THIS!