Traditions
Friday Pizza & Family Date Nights
We make homemade pizza every Friday night and along with weekly date nights. We take turns doing something as whole family, then just Rick and Mal, then each of the kids gets their own date night with one of us. They get to choose a treat and an activity and we have a blast!
Birthdays
Birthdays are kind of a big deal around here. Each member of our family basically has their own holiday. Mal loves to spend time planning and making the cakes with the kids. Rick loves to take the day off work to celebrate.
Each person gets to pick what we eat for each meal and what we get to do most of the day. Sometimes it's the splash pad or the pool, going to a movie or a children's museum, having friends over, etc.
We also love to have a party with Grandpas and Grandmas, Aunts and Uncles, and Cousins on a weekend close to each birthday.
Valentine's Day
Valentines Day is always a fun day! The kids love to help make decorations and fun meals. We play a game or watch a movie. The kids get treats and new books and Rick always plans a fun date night just for Mom and Dad.
St. Patrick's Day
The kids spend a lot of time getting ready for St. Patrick's Day. They love to leave out coins for the Leprechaun to turn into gold chocolate coins and other candies. They also like to make traps to try to catch the Leprechaun before he turns everything green!
Easter
Easter is such a fun holiday for us. We have an Easter Egg hunt and dinner with extended family on a Saturday close to Easter. On Easter we have an Easter Egg hunt at home in the morning and then attend Sacrament Meeting and Church classes. We celebrate the Resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ and talk about the things that He has done for us as we do fun activities at home and make a really amazing dinner.
May 1st
May 1st is the day that Rick and I had our first date. He asked me out to go hiking to a waterfall and the rest is history! We also got engaged on May 1st. So we celebrate May 1st each year by going out to do something fun like hiking or biking.
Memorial Day
It's all about being together with family! We like to visit the graves of our loved ones, visit with family, have a barbeque, and other fun activities! We also use this time to talk about those who came before us and gave us the life that we have.
The 4th of July
The 4th of July is always so much fun!
We drive up to Rick's family's house to get ready for the big parade with Grandpa and Grandma, Aunts, Uncles and cousins. We all dress up in red, white and blue and everyone gets bags to collect candy that is thrown from the parade floats.
After the parade we go back to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for a barbecue. We spend the afternoon with the grownups talking and the kids playing with each other. Grandma always has fun activities for everyone.
Later we bring out the glowsticks and enjoy the fireworks show.
Halloween
Close to Halloween every year we paint or carve our pumpkins and have a Halloween party with Grandpa and Grandma and cousins. On Halloween night we make homemade pizza and watch a movie. Mal hands out candy to the neighbors who come and warm themselves by the fire while Rick takes the kids trick or treating around the neighborhood.
Thanksgiving
For Thanksgiving we have our own family meal the Sunday before Thanksgiving so no matter what we can always have a celebration together even when extended families have different schedules.
On the actual day of Thanksgiving we take turns with our extended families celebrating and enjoying the day. Mal and the kids have fun making apple pie and Rick loves making his famous sweet potatoes.
We talk about the things that we are grateful for and make a "gratitude tree" - writing the thing that we are grateful for on leaves and display it to remember what we talked about.
Christmas
The kids have named our elves "Peppermint Cookie Blizzard III" or "Peppy" for short and "Holly Eve Noel". They come to visit from Thanksgiving until Christmas and the kids love them.
We love to have Christmas parties with our extended families and exchange gifts with our neighbors.
This year we added the tradition of the "Giving Machines". You can go to a vending machine and instead of buying something for yourself, you purchase something for someone in need!
On Christmas Eve we have a nice dinner and we read the story of the birth of Jesus Christ from both the Bible and in the Book of Mormon. We also love to watch different video versions of the story, reminding us what Christmas is all about. We like to light luminarias and line our sidewalk and driveway to light the way for the Christ child. Mal served as a missionary in New Mexico and learned this beautiful tradition from the people there.
On Christmas Day Rick makes an amazing breakfast after we open gifts. Then we spend the day traveling to visit and spend time with our extended families.
Our elves Peppy and Holly come to visit us all Christmas Season and bring lots of fun with them!
New Years Eve/Day
For New Years Rick makes dumplings and we enjoy chocolate fondue and little smokies. We we make an end of year slide show with all of our favorite memories of the year. We like to have a fire in our driveway.
