Well December was a whirlwind of activities! Is it just me, or was the Christmas season uber-short? It was--but we managed to cram it full of Christmasy fun. I guess I will just go in order...
First, with the kids out of school, I was bit tired of being stuck in the house with them so we went to Wendy's for lunch and Joey's toy in his meal was a little mini train. Ever the non-conformist, this is how Joey decided to play with it...
He wore it around the house for hours.
Every year we try to go up to Salt Lake City and spend the night. Last year we went up on a Friday night---"I've made a huge mistake." It was so crowded you couldn't even walk through temple square to see the lights, restaurants were maxed out and the mall was too busy to walk around in. Needless to say it wasn't very much fun--more stress. So this year we decided to take the kids out of school for a day and go up on a Tuesday night. What a difference! Not only were the kids completely stoked about missing school, there was hardly anybody there. We walked around the mall at City Creek and loved watching the fish...
Walk all around Temple Square. Joey was hilarious--yelling out the colors of all the lights in a most excited voice... "Look! Is orange!!!! Orange ones!!!! Orange!!! ORANGE!!! AAHHHHHH!!!" (His favorite color is orange.) The only drawback was that we happened to go up during that crazy cold spell--0 degrees as we are walking around. BBRRRR!! But we had booked our hotel a month in advance so couldn't change it. But we bundled up and luckily there are lots of places to go inside. So we'd walk a bit then go in the tabernacle, walk a bit then go in the visitor's center, walk a bit and go in the mall, etc.
Just to prove my existence I put in this "selfie" I took of Maggie and me in the visitors center. It isn't flattering--taking a picture of yourself with 20 layers on is harder than it looks--but since I am rarely in pics I thought I might as well add it. This is in the theater watching the video of the nativity.
Salt Lake was fun, and a few days after we got home we had our 2nd annual Ugly Sweater Party. It was a blast. Everyone looked TERRIBLE and we had good food, played games and contests, Here's Eric and I getting photo-bombed.
Then it was Christmas eve before we knew it! The kids donned their pj's from Grandma Swenson...giddy with excitement!
Sleeping was hard that night for the kids--which made it hard for mom and dad too! But they rose bright and early Christmas morning and all piled on our bed anxiously waiting while dad went downstairs to see if Santa really came....
Once we heard the go ahead from Eric we ran downstairs---Joey (who really didn't know what he was supposed to be excited about) realized the thrill of Christmas and Santa as he came down and saw all the wonderful gifts!
Tyler made a picture for Joey...
Maggie got a bike and a dollhouse.
Jacob got a remote control helicopter and science kit.
Tyler got a remote control plane (that we ended up returning because it didn't work---it's a good thing Santa shops on Amazon too) and a gift card.
Joey got a Batman set and Spiderman toys.
Santa gave all the kids goggles in their stockings....
And Bubble Tape (can you guess how long it took Joey to eat his whole container? about 5 minutes).
And here I am Christmas morning (picture taken by Joey), slaving over cinnamon rolls--it took forever to open the bag and heat them in the microwave...(They were from Shirley's Bakery--I can't compete).
The kids loved their gifts, and we spent time with family. Then yesterday we went sledding with friends. Ty and Jake had a snowball fight waiting for the 4-wheelers to come pick them up to take them up the hill.
Ready to go!
I managed to get a shot of everyone coming down--front to back: Jake, Tyler, Joey, Maggie and Eric.
Whoo hoo!
Maggie and Joey pooped out long before the boys so they stayed warm by the itty-bitty fire.
Joey eating snow....
Maggie riding up the hill on the back of the 4-wheeler. Uncle Dan telling her, "Hold on tight!"
And Dan even gave Tyler his first skiing lesson! He was so patient and good with him. Thank you Dan!
SO now we are ready to swing in the new year! Here's to good times, good food, good friends and family!
