Christmas Blessings 2012

We are abundantly blessed.  What a beautiful holiday season this has been.  Many trips to see santa.  Lots of exciting activities.  And overall a fresh reminder of just how much my husband loves me.  He lovingly and willingly joins us for each outing with a smile and joy on his face.  I know this just isn’t his first choice of things to do, but WE are his first choice, and so he joins us happily.  He certainly loves me.  I adore him. 

This Christmas, I think, will be Evie’s first memory of any Christmas at all.  I think 4 is when I started to really learn what Christmas means and how it feels.  I hope she remembers.  We visited the reindeer at Thanksgiving point.  I am certain they are the real ones.  Evie is too.  I think we could have watched them ‘til we froze to death.  They didn’t do anything special; they were just special and magical to watch. 

During the summer, we had visited Thanksgiving point.  Evie loved playing under the huge water tower.  Every time we drive by, she points it out.  She requested this picture of her under the water tower.  Funny child.  But, so adorable. 

Mom and dad needed their photo taken….and who better to take it than the resident pro!  (Evie….btw, we kept scooting lower and lower to make sure she didn’t cut off our heads!)Our local Chick-fil-A's facebook feed announced that Santa Cow would be present at their location for pictures.  We are HUGE chick-fil-a fans…. (check out our fun halloween from last year), and so we just HAD to get our picture taken. 

Last week, we visited the Homestead in Midway where we went on a sleigh ride.  What a magical experience!  Our driver was so fun, and it was chilly, but we stayed warm with a nice lap blanket and bundled in coats and together.  Near the end, the driver announced that we were arriving in the North Pole and that there were elves waiting for us!  Evelyn was so excited!  She asked if they were real elves.  Of course, we replied!  She was fascinated. 

When we stopped at the North Pole, the driver held up each child to the horse to pet it and then lifted them to sit on the horse.  Look at that face!  It just added to the magic of the day! 

These darling elves were so kind and welcoming to us!  Evie even had to run back to them to show them the candy cane she received from Santa.

CHRISTMAS MORNING

Santa Claus was BUSY at our house!  We woke up to a trampoline in our living room!  15 whole feet of trampoline just took over our living space.  AMAZING!  Justin and I kept saying to each other: “We have a trampoline in our living room!”

It’s going down tomorrow (4 days after Christmas), and it’s been so fun.  Once spring arrives it will be a blessed addition to our back yard!

Evie received a “real camera” for Christmas.  It has a couple games on it and can take videos.  She loves it!  Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Christmas ornaments

We made cinnamon ornaments for our tree this year. 

I found the recipe from simply kierste and off we went!  Justin mixed the applesauce & cinnamon and evie cut the shapes with cookie cutters.  They turned out really fun!  Although, they are quite fragile, so don’t let a 4 year old even TOUCH them. at. all.  I thought they were protected, until I actually started putting them on the tree….then, she happened to gather a few and we lost  some points on the stars.  Ugh. 

Anyway, those that remain look darling!

This past Saturday, we went to breakfast with Santa at SLCC. They had Santa & Mrs. Claus there!  Evie loved it!  They took a picture for us, then we went into breakfast.  After breakfast they (the student officers for SLCC) had about 10 stations where Evie made a craft representing every winter holiday for about every religion.  It was wonderful!  They even had cookies to frost, pictures to color, a foam frame to make, a lantern for a Hindu holiday and so on!  It was wonderful.  The picture they took with Santa was ready for us when we went home. 

Here she is showing off her candy from Santa!

working on a craft…

Disneyland and California 2012

It was so fun visiting Disneyland in October!  We had lots of activities for evie to do in the car on the way down.  The exciting start to our first day was that we got to ride the shuttle into the park!  We visited Huntington Beach.  It was 88 degrees and beautiful!  We, of course, buried Justin in the sand and played and played in the sand and water!Evie waited so long to ride the ferris wheel.  We went on the one that would swing as we went around the turn.  It was a little scary for me (and evie), but still exciting!  We saw a Disney Jr. show, lots of characters and went on every ride that Evie could fit on.A highlight of our trip was visiting pixie hollow.  We met Tinkerbell & the new fairy: Periwinkle.  It was so fun to go into their house and visit with them.  They would ask questions and chat and chat with us.  So darling! Worth the hour wait!! At the end of each night, Evie crashed!  She was exhausted!  There were so many new sights and sounds for her!What a fun adventure to the Disney parks with our little family! 

We stopped in Minersville for a couple nights to fish and relax.

I love those two together!

A fun Summer

We have had such a fun summer this year!  My sister and her family came to town, and so we stayed busy playing with cousins and friends.  It has been wonderful!  These are some pictures from the 4th of July week.

We hiked to the camp on Timpanogos Cave with cousins.  We saw the “heart” of the cave, and other amazing and beautiful creations.  Above, Ashley & Natalie & Evie are eating some snacks after the long hike up to the cave.Natalie & I inside the dark cave. 

On July 3rd, we decided to take the kids to the children’s parade in Centerville.  I thought about what kind of things my dad had still on hand that has wheels for the two 3 year olds.  I came up with Roller Racers!!  My dad jimmied up some rope and Megan & I pulled Jacob and Evie along the parade route.  Evelyn held on so good and just loved being pulled around.  It was  a lot of fun.  Centerville had their fireworks display on the 3rd and so the 4th of July, we had a spectacular show in front of my brother’s house.  I love this holiday!We have had some fabulous opportunities to play in water this summer.  Our family got passes to seven peaks and so we have been a few times there, to a couple splash pads with cousins & friends, and also to Tingey’s pool.  One one such occasion, Evie discovered the flippers.  She kept tripping over herself, but had fun discovering how they worked.

Memorial Day Weekend

We spent Memorial Day Weekend with Justin’s family for his grandpa’s 80th birthday party.  All of Justin’s brothers and sisters were there – a huge group!  It was a lot of fun, and Evie had a blast playing with so many cousins. 

On Memorial Day, all the dads took the children fishing. all. day. long. there were 20 children and 5 dad’s and a grandpa.  Wow.  The mom’s crafted and visited all. day. long.  It was the most fabulous day! Thanks to amazing dad’s who are willing to do that!

The weekend expanded into the next week where two of his brother’s made their way north to Justin’s parents house for the week.  We went to Temple Square, a splash pad a baseball game, lots of thrift store stops, and lots of bar-b-que’s and get-together’s.  We even painted two rooms in Kristel’s house!  What a fun week with family. 

Here we are (some of us) walking to the church for the luncheon.  Each of Justin’s aunts/uncles had a different color assigned to them for the big family photo.  Ours was red. 

Temple square with cousins.  Evie, Jackie & Grace looking at the Christus statue on Temple Square.

I Love to see the Temple!

Warm before the storm

Last weekend we went to St. George while Justin has some meetings.  Evie and I had a nice time during a beautiful day!  We went to the St. George Temple grounds and, of course, the pizza factory for dinner.  It was a fun getaway! 

After seeing and playing on the stairs, we have to make stairs on our blocks/Legos temple now.  every time.

The week we came home, it stormed a few times.  We were able to make some snowmen.  (er, women/girl).   One night, this is what Justin and Evie made.  It’s a little Evie snowgirl!