A Few of My Favorites

Hi kids,

We always have so much fun decorating our tree each year huh? You guys love watching Dad carefully unwrap each ornament. As Dad hands the ornaments to you to put on the tree, we talk about the history behind our favorite ones. Some of the candy canes were passed down to us from Grammie and were on Dad's tree when he was little! The candy garland was on Dad's tree too. The bow on top was the best we could do the first year we were married since we didn't have a star. We have lots of ornaments from trips we have taken and lots that you cute kiddos have made for me!
Tonight while you were sleeping I went down to take a few pictures of some of my favorite ornaments so I could tell you a little about them on here.
This is your latest school creation Lulu. I love it! You are trying really hard not to blink, since you usually do with a flash! You did it! Your eyes are wide open and I love that big smile:

Here is a lace angel from Brazil. When I was at Utah State my parents lived in Brazil. Grandma was able to buy a bunch of these hand made ornaments, sell them to me, and then I sold them at school to earn money for my upcoming Spring Break. I had planned to go to Mexico with the Spanish Club to build houses but we had to raise our own money. I earned enough money and had angels to spare! I hang one on our tree each year because it's beautiful and to remember my time serving in Mexico.

This was from Aunt Rashelle one year and it is our very favorite ornament huh? A little Christmas tree light fits right in the bottom of Speedy's furnace and lights up the fire.

This is from a trip to Yellowstone not long after Dad and I were married. I saw this ornament in a gift shop and had my eye on it. Dad thought it was a big expense at the time but we decided to buy it for our souvenir. I think black bears are the so cute!

This little Santa used to hang on my tree when I was little! One year my mom entered to win a tree at the Halmark store and she won! It was so awesome. I remember thinking that all of the ornaments were adorable.

One year I made a bunch of stars like this and we handed them out to our neighbors along with Uncle Andrew's Christmas cd. I made one for our tree too.

Aunt Rashelle also gave us this one. It says "First Christmas Together" and has the year Dad and I were married!:

This one is from Grammie. It is a star made out of salt from the Great Salt Lake. I think it's pretty awesome.

Then there is this ornament I made a few years ago. Some of the roses from my wedding bouquet are safely displayed inside. I thought that was such a cute way to keep them safe and admire them.

Our tree is down in the basement so it takes a little effort for me to go down and enjoy it. Sitting around the lit tree in the dark with Christmas music playing really brings the Christmas spirit for me. Just a few nights left to enjoy it! Let's take advantage of every night this week, shall we?
Love you guys,
Mom

Snowy Beauty

Hey guys,
Last Monday we got a ton of snow! We still went through with our plans to go caroling with our friends and it was so much fun caroling through the snow. We got 10 inches in one day! It was so much snow that the next day you got to start school 2 hours late!
We went sledding Tuesday right after school, but the rest of the week we were a little too busy for any more snowy fun, and then the last few days it warmed up considerably and melted a lot of the snow! Dont worry though, there is more snow in the forecast.
One morning when I let Pluto out I noticed that the sunrise had turned the sky a rosy pink, in all directions! It was just so breathtaking that I ran inside and grabbed the camera. See?:

The cold is worth it when the world looks like that!
Here's to more beautiful mornings, as long as I don't have to drive on snowy roads. I will enjoy it, with faith that winter doesn't last forever.
Love you all,
Mom

Dear Hammer,

It has been so fun watching you find Freddie our elf each morning.
You wake up too early some days, I think because you are so excited about Freddie! The very first thing you do is to search for him. You get a kick out of his hiding spots. What I love most though is watching you write notes to Freddie. You absolutely LOVE communicating with him on little scraps of paper almost every night. Nothing gets you more excited, even your chocolate advent calendar! You write him stories and ask him questions about foods he likes and tell him that you love him. You also leave him little pieces of candy canes because you know he loves sugar! The last one that you left had previously been licked before you decided to share, so you left it on a napkin with a note to "wosh it."
Tonight as we were getting ready for bed you told me that you can't wait for tomorrow. I thought maybe it is because you are out of school all week and are excited to stay home! Or maybe to do Christmasy things all day! Or maybe because Lucy was coming home with Grandma from her sleep over. "Why?" I asked you. "Because Freddie is writing me a book tonight!" you said. You left him a note asking him to write you a story and to also help you find a paper that you wrote your piano composition on. You have total confidence that he will fulfill your request. Freddie hasn't let you down yet! I don't know where the music sheet is, but maybe Freddie will find it! Check out your note, and the candy cane piece:

The excitement in your eyes has made me remember what Christmas was like when I was a kid. It is the most wonderful time of the year! Thanks for making our tradition so fun and for bringing the magic into Christmas.
Love you my believer,
Mom

Aquarium

Dear Mr T,

I have been wanting to take you to the aquarium for a long time, but it costs so much money that we hadn't done it yet. Then Grandma noticed that the aquarium was having a day where it was free to get in! I thought it would probably be a mad house but decided to venture down anyway and check it out with you and Baby. We met Grandma there after lunch, and while it was crowded it wasn't THAT bad! We had a fun time seeing all of the exhibits.
Mr T, you really loved leaning over and touching the starfish. It was fun to watch you because you were a little scared, especially the first time you touched it and didn't know what to expect! You touched them a few times though!
We loved the otters and the penguins since they are really playful:

We took pictures here so you and Baby could measure up to a full grown penguin.  It was hard to get Baby to stand still long enough for a picture, but I did it!:

Mr T, you keep making the strangest faces when I take your picture lately! You are the same size as an adult penguin!:

We loved going with Grandma:

My favorite was the tank with the giant river fish:

You were just as fascinated with the teeny tiny fish too:

You are a smart buddy. You have aced a Leapster game about animals called Super Animal Genius, so you recognized two animals and knew their names: the piranha and the anaconda! They were actually in the same cage, so I took your picture by it:

You look a little worried!
Look at Baby's face when he saw the big snake. You can see his expression in his reflection. I think he was saying Eeew:

Since you liked touching the star fish we made our way over to the touch tank with the rays. You put your hand in and patiently waited with everyone else and when the ray finally started making it's way over you quickly pulled your hand out of the water. You had no desire to touch the ray. Good boy, me neither. I think they are so creepy. You thought we were going to touch more star fish!
But right over there in that same area we loved finding Nemo:

and Dory:

We loved walking through the shark tunnel, but I didn't get any pictures of that part. Bummer.
Here you are, in one last picture, riding a giant sea turtle:

It was fun to finally visit this place, and I love watching you enjoy yourself Mr T!
Love you my little animal genius,
Mom

November Edition

Life Lately...

We did some temple work for your Grandpa at the Brigham City temple and then had a family dinner at Grammie's after!:

 Family night:

 Park City getaway date:

Another family night where we each chose one thing we were grateful for and then I had you think of an action to show you were grateful. Hammer, you said you were grateful for your house, so we decided one way you can show your gratitude was to help keep the house clean. You vacuumed before bed!:

Dad and Mr T brought home their Oreo Blizzard from their date:

I got to go to classes with Grammie and Aunt K one Saturday while Dad babysat. I had a great time:

Baby and Mr T and I met Grandma at the aquarium on the last day of the month. It was free day! We had a fun time and these are the photos Grandma got from her phone:

 Dad (and his boss) had a mustache all of November. Dad couldn't wait until December to shave it off:

Not a lot of phone pictures but some super fun times!
Love you,
Mom

November and Thanksgiving

Hi guys,

I have been a total slacker on the blog. I just never feel like going through the pictures on the sd card and editing them! However, it has now been about a month so it's time to get serious, with our without edited pictures.
So we left off with Halloween. What else happened in November?
Halloween was super warm and then the cold cold air moved in.
This was our first snow of the season. It was pretty exciting:

Baby, you wanted to get up on my bed and play cars one day while Mr T was at school. I think you are pretty adorable:

Mr T, you want to play Kindle or Nintendo all day, and you would if I let you! Sometimes I have to remind you that you love other things still, like books and Sleeping Queens and puzzles and coloring. Luckily it doesn't take much convincing:

We visited Great Grandma one morning and she made you two little guys yummy sandwiches while I worked on a secret little project:

Lulu, you made a list of things you are grateful for at Activity Day. I got a chuckle out of your spelling, especially the part that said boody instead of body:

Lulu, you and I made a fun centerpiece the day before Thanksgiving! We had to all brave the cold and lightly falling snow and Mr T's belly ache to run out and buy more pompoms, but it turned out cute huh?

Here's how it looked in the center of our table!:

Fancy china plates for the big lunch:

Dad and I made a list of exactly what time to start each dish:

Grammie brought a relish plate and yams and dessert and John brought rolls. Dad deep fried the turkey! Here is everything finally ready to go:

After dinner Uncle John played with you Baby, swinging you between his legs:

Ha ha, look how skinny you are! This is mid swing:

And we had to take a picture with Grammie before she left:

That night we opened presents from Grandma, and you got new Christmas jammies!:

We turned on the fire the next morning. Brrr, it's cold around here!:

We didn't go out shopping on Black Friday this year. Instead we did it all online, mostly before Thanksgiving, and then got all of our Christmas decorations out!:

One of my favorite things about left over turkey: left overs! Here are Great Grandma's Turkey Pillows. Lulu, you love them:

So, that's about it, along with the ordinary spelling lists and piano lessons and dance lessons and primary and the flu and Dad's crazy November mustache.
Love you all,
Mom