Christmas

We were on our own for Christmas this year....the first time ever in our married lives.  I was a little apprehensive about it.  Isn't this a time for family and good food too....besides the birth of the Savior and Santa?  So, we filled our time with such a thing.  Saturday night, Christmas Eve, we had some friends over for a big dinner.  None of us had extended family around, so we enjoyed each other instead.  We had the kids to the Nativity with puppets, and then our family went to the Church of the Nazarene across the street and watched an "interesting" rendition of the the Nativity.  It was only like 18 degrees so we only nearly froze to death. Poor baby Jesus was just bawling his little lungs out.  Swaddling clothes just weren't enough for that little guy. 

The boys were so excited for Santa.  They asked if we could put flour at the bottom of the fireplace like we did last year, and then they thought that maybe it would be Dad that put his shoe in it instead of Santa, so to be sure the print was Santa's, Tanner wrote a note that said:  "Name; Age; How are the cookies?"  If he answered that he was Santa then for sure it was not Daddy.  We left Oreos and milk out, and Colt had "magic reindeer food" that he sprinkled in the yard. 

Of course Santa came, "Nicolas Claus age 1714" to be exact, and left his loot all over the family room. It was quite nice that it was just us. We took our time playing with things as we opened them and enjoyed just being with each other. We had crepes for breakfast then got ready for 1 pm sacrament meeting. The rest of the day was enjoyed just laying around in our pjs and playing games and figuring out our new toys. We missed family, but it was ok to just be us.

Braden and his new tool set.  He really wanted a new screw driver.

Beyblade....Colt's request.

Helicopter - the top of Dave's list

I got lots of little cutting boards, hotpads, and mirrors.  Just what I wished for!

Happy Birthday!

Wow! I am an old woman now! THIRTY!?!? And what a wonderful birthday it was....filled with fun, love, and many birthday wishes. I have learned in the last 30 years that people are very busy around my birthday, and so if I want to be "celebrated" the day of the 23rd isn't the easiest for most. So, I decided to have a bit of a "shin-dig" on the 22nd. ( I don't know why, but that one day makes big differece as to who will be around) I love parties, so I had a "murder mystery" party. I found one online that could have up to 20 people, so I bought it. My wonderful friend Mindy helped me organize and host it, since she felt it was wrong for me to have my own birthday party. The hardest part of course is deciding who to invite, because I would like to invite everyone I know, of course. We had the party here, gave out food assignments, and had a wonderful time. It was really quite easy as I didn't have to do much of anything but clean my house. The food and entertainment were provided. (and if anyone wants to borrow the party, it was a download so I can email it to you. I am happy to share!)

They used sparklers as candles!  It takes more than just air to put these babies out!

Our friends the Carlson's came from Yakima area and stayed the night and then hung out with us the whole next day, which was wonderful.  We had waffles and ice cream for breakfast of course, and then went ice skating. That was an adventure.  The boys were great at ice skating while we were on the carpet, but once we got to the ice, it was slipping and sliding all over the place.  Poor Tanner has noodle legs, Braden thinks his legs are helicopter propellers, and Colt is a bit unsteady.  We had a fun time and I laughed my head off at these weird-o boys, but in the end I think everyone kind of had the hang of it.

Then lunch at Red Robin...yum.

After naps and resting we went to the Lindes and had a pizza party.  The kids played and the adults played games.  It was such a wonderful, fun, and special day!  Maybe 30 won't be so bad!

Sitting on Santa

This is such a fun year because everyone is excited about Christmas.  The other day Brady and I went to the thrift store and Santa was outside.  When we pulled up, Braden said, "hey, where are the reindeer?"  I told him he better ask Santa.  So he gets out of the car and walks right up to Santa and says, "Where's yours reindeer?"  Santa told him they were out back eating.  Then he asked Brady what he wanted for Christmas.  "An electric blanket."  Thanks to Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type that seems to be what Tanner and now Braden want.

That night was our ward party.  I prepped the boys to think of something fun to ask Santa for, a car, or truck, or game, etc.  Braden walked up to Santa and said, "I want a ipad and cell phone."  Oh great!

Christmas Card Pics

My friend Karrie got a new fancy camera and was kind enough to use us as her first photoshoot.  It was a bit chilly, but we got some cute faces.

Thanksgiving fun!

We had the funnest Thanksgiving Break!  We left on Monday and stayed the night in Declo with Dave's sister after having a yummy dinner at IHOP with them.  It is always fun to play with cousins.

Then Tuesday we drove to Corinne and had lunch with Grandpa at the cafe and then when grandma got home from work we drove up to the Ranch to look around for a minute and then to the Golden Spike.  

 Since our Grandpa is so cool, he talked to the rangers and had them take us to the Engine house since they don't bring the trains out in the winter very often.  We got the full tour and it was awesome!

 This is the coal that they use in one of the engines.  We took a picture so we could tell Santa what NOT to bring to us!

 Then we went back to the visitor's center and looked around.  Grandpa bought everyone a special souvineer to help us remember our super fun day!

Then we drove to past the Brigham City Temple.  It was sunset and so beautiful!

In Pleasant Grove we enjoyed Thanksgiving with the Petersons and Grammy and Grandad Poteet.  It wasn't a huge group, but we sure ate lots of yummy food, starting with pies for breakfast!

We did lots of fun things in PG.  We went to the movie one afternoon.  We saw the Smurfs, and boy was it Smurftacular!  We even had popcorn!
 

We went swimming one day at the Lehi Pool.  That was fun!

Monday night I went to SLC and spent the evening with some of my favorite gals, Brooksey and Tiffany.  We had dinner at Rodizio Grill, and if we didn't over stuff ourselves at Thanksgiving, we did there!  It was fun to be together and then to catch up while visiting in the Trolley Square Mall.

Dave had a convention in SLC the next few days, so I spent the night with him at the Marriott Hotel and it was nice to sleep without extra little people wanting our attention for one night.
Grandpa took the day off of work on Tuesday and spent the whole day with the boys.  They started off by hiking the G on the mountain.  They saw some deer and had a wonderful time!  The boys were so surprised to see what the G was made out of.  (By the way, the G stands for Grandpa!)

Then they came home and picked up Mads and AV and took them to Arctic Circle for lunch.  All the while the moms were shopping away!

Then the boys came home and dropped off the girls and then went fishing.  They didn't catch anything but sure had a good time.  Brady said that someone stole all the fish so they couldn't catch them.

Wednesday we headed home.  We made it as far as Twin Falls before the boys were BEGGING us to stop at a hotel so they could swim.  We ate at IHOP for dinner again, (it is so inexpensive with "kids eat free" and the boys eat breakfast so well!) and then stayed at the Best Western.  Their pool was very nice but over chloronated and we had stinging eyes and itchy skin all night. 

Thursday we continued our journey and after lunch at McD's, potty breaks, and ice cream at DQ, we made it home by dinner.  And boys is it nice to be home.  There is really no place like your own bed!

Braden was very anxious to see Pepper, his "favorite person."

And one of the best parts of the vacation was that we got to tell everyone that we are going to have a new baby in June!!  Very exciting!