Christmas Eve

We had a great Christmas Eve down in Saratoga Springs at Nathan and Stacy's house. They had gotten a lot of new snow on Monday and it was all still waiting and fresh for the kids (and Dads) to go out and wear themselves out. They had a ton of fun until they were all too tired to walk home from sledding.

We had a great dinner of homemade soup and bread bowls and ate plenty of other treats and snacks on the way. Then the kids decorated sugar cookies to leave out for Santa. Some ate a lot more than others, but they had a great time getting ready.
There was still plenty of time to open Christmas pajamas and then watch the Muppets Christmas Carol. It was a nice and relaxing night.

Merry Christmas from US!

We are so excited for Christmas this year. Gavin has been counting down with a paper chain that he made in preschool and Henry has been testing us by tearing various presents under the tree everyday to see if we will let him open them all the way.

One super fun thing about this year is that we aren't traveling. We are at home and not on the road dealing with weather and crying kids and rushing and all of that fun stuff that we usually do every year. We are sad not to be spending time with all of our extended family, but it just didn't work out for us to make a winter journey to Iowa this year. We are taking advantage of the time at home to make all of the holiday decisions and make things fun.

The boys are super excited and ready for the big day tomorrow.

We hope that you are all having a great day! And enjoy your Christmas.

Just wanted to include this photo of how things went when I tried to take a picture of the boys together for this years Christmas card, I had about 10 that looked something like this... with various amounts of pouting from Gavin, and Henry looking pretty happy and pleasant in all of them. I ended up taking separate pictures of them and using some of my old skills to put them in the right proportion and combine two photos. I thought it would be really obvious to every who got the card, but when I talked to Heidi, she said she had no idea. So now you can all go back and look at it and see if you can see the line where I combined the photos together. I guess my skills are better than I thought since it sounds like most people didn't notice (it is the top picture).

He's makin' a list...

Gav was working pretty hard at the desk today... muttering things like

"I better check this twice..."

"...A lot of people of the world sure are nice..."

"Hmm... some people don't share toys, that sounds naughty."

When I asked what he was doing he just said, "Oh just helping Santa with his list." Good thing Santa has such dilligent help this time of year.

How you know that your hair is too long...

When your awesome shampoo mohawk won't stand up straight anymore... you know it might be time for a hair cut.

Gavin has finally promised me that he will get a haircut for Christmas... he has been begging us to put it off since he doesn't like getting a hair cut with the clippers. Every day, I am looking forward to his hair finally looking nice and less crazy. Henry has just had to endure long hair until it is time for the haircuts, since I don't want to go through it all twice. We are enjoying the chance to have crazy hair dos once in awhile.

Lights at Temple Square

Last night we went to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights with Nathan and Stacy and their girls. We ate some pizza at the Gateway and then rode trax to see the lights. It was really cold, but always super nice to go and see the lights.

Riding Trax was a favorite part of the night for the kids... and at least it was warm on the train. Here is part of our group waiting at the stop.

Some really cute Cardon girls.

Libbie and Gavin near the Assembly Hall... one of my favorite spots since the sidewalk is lined with trees that are wrapped from trunk to limb in lights.

Some of the many Nativities near the Church Office Building.

The kids had tons of fun together. Henry got out and walked for a bit, but he couldn't seem to keep track of which group he was with... so we had to put that to an end and keep him in the stroller for awhile.
Nathan and Stacy... it is almost like they only have 1 kid... almost, but not quite.
Libbie... wants her two front teeth for Christmas.

There was plenty of hand-holding and battling to see who would hold hands with who... it was quite complicated, but the kids didn't seem to want to let go of each other. When they weren't holding hands, they were making a train. I guess we are lucky it wasn't more crowded.

When we got home last night, Gavin said to me (as though it had just occurred to him) "Nathan and Stacy sure have a lot of girls in their family!" Yep, it's true. They do.

Things I never imagined I would say...

Just a few things that I have said in the last week I never imagined myself saying...

"If you two break one more Christmas ornament- We just won't have Christmas at all."

"NO- Angels do Not dive bomb the shepards!"

"I am not always mean, but I am always in charge so you better start listening to what I say."

"Batman and his friends do not live in the Christmas tree. No- It is not their best hiding place. Please keep your toys out of my tree."

"All the crying and whining in the world will not keep the snow from melting."

"There is no way that I can call Jesus to ask him to come to his birthday party at our house... He is very busy and we just can't be sure that he will be able to have cake at our house... and we might not even have cake that day." (this one tends to be the ongoing conversation... Gav is pretty concerned about Christmas and what it all means, and now he is always looking for a new angle on the argument. I am running out of ideas for my side of the discussion.)

Just 'cause it's cute

No matter how cold... we can always find our way to the playground.

Silly Guys

Lately, when we put the boys to bed... Henry gets out of bed and wanders around the room until he lays down somewhere, usually on the floor next to the door, and goes to sleep. The other night this is where we found him when we went in to check on the boys. It was the cutest thing ever.

Henry has also figured out how much fun it is to push a kitchen chair all around the house to use it to get everything that he wants, that is above his head.

The other day he brought down the popcorn from the shelf and this is how Caleb found them.

"Come What May, and Love It"

Just happened to be working with Anne and Joe today when they turned on the 12:00 news, and we immediately heard that Elder Wirthlin, (a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) passed away last night in his sleep. He was 91, and died in his sleep. I can't help, but think what a full life he had and how many amazing messages he shared with us. I know that I will remember him for what he told us last October...

"Come What May, and Love It."

What inspired counsel that will get us all through the hard times now and those that are sure to come. I am grateful for his example and service, and for teaching us how to have the prospective that we need.

And now for a little song...

Haul out the Holly!

Put up a tree before...

My spirit falls again.

Fill up the stockings.

We may be rushing things, but Deck the Halls again NOW!

For we need a little Christmas,
Right this very minute.

Candles in the windows

Carols at the spinet.
Oh Yes, we need a little Christmas

Right this very minute.

We need a little Christmas NOW!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a few of the things that I am grateful for everyday.

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving Day!

One Man Stands Alone

This week Gavin attended a Princess Party... that's right... His friend Marlie was having a birthday and decided that she wanted to have Gavin attend. The only problem- everyone was asked to dress as their favorite princess. Luckily, Halloween got him on board with the whole dress up thing and he was more than excited to accept his slightly modified invitation and dress as a Prince Knight. He had a great time, though he did come home and tell me that did not want them to put anything in his hair or any make-up on his face... That's my boy. :-) Someday he will be grateful for the odds, and for being the only boy his age in this crowd.

"Look Mom, It's Fall!"

That is what Gavin says to me every time we go outside and walk through leaves or see them falling on the ground. While he likes jumping in leaves, he really just likes the fact that winter comes after fall and snow seems to be his favorite thing ever.

At the last outside playgroup for the year, I took the camera to try and take some fun pictures of the boys in the leaves. It worked out ok...

Gavin, of course, thought this was super fun and loved the chance to be the center of all attention and get to be messy at the same time.

Henry could tell that there was something that I wanted him to do, and therefore, refused to look at me. Most of the shots with him and Gavin are only the top of Henry's head... not matter how hard I tried. Oh well... He was at least happy when he got to get his photo taken on the playground.

I sure love these cuties.

Ready to Ride

Gavin recently inherited a bike from his cousin Joshua while we were in Arizona. Luckily, we didn't have too much luggage and were able to fit it in the trunk. Friday, I finally got around to putting the training wheels on and getting him out on a ride. I had hoped to find him a new helmet before he went riding (since it is obvious that his old one no longer fits), but when we got to the store we ended up having a huge argument, that ended with me not buying a helmet. And also ended with me promising to check other stores and the computer for a spider man helmet in Gavin's size. It is not a small known fact that Gavin's head size matches his tall and brawny physique, none of which corresponds to his age. So I can't really blame him for not grasping the concept that they don't made the 8 year old size helmet with the 3 year old's favorite characters.

Anyway, despite being slightly reckless, he figured out how to peddle and steer his bike at the same time, within about 2 blocks of riding. What you don't see in this picture is the fact that I was pulling Henry in the wagon while pushing Gavin by the bike seat to keep him from hit his brakes every 10 feet as he tried to figure out the right way to keep the peddles moving forward. It was really fun to see him so excited, and kind of sad to see him looking so old.