Christmas Decorations

For those of you who don't live near us or who are interested in seeing our Christmas decorations, I thought I'd post them on the blog. The kids had such a fun time helping me decorate this year, I wanted to take some pictures so they could remember. Luckily, we managed to get everything put where they wanted it (with a little guidance from me) without breaking anything. I'm enjoying the fact that as Hailey gets older, I'm able to place more "breakable" things a little lower. Here are some pics of random places in our home with decorations.






And last, but not least, our Christmas tree. We had quite the experience getting this finished (it's a long story), but we're happy to finally have it done.



I think by far, the outside is the favorite, despite all the work we did on the inside. The kids can't wait until it gets dark every night so that we can turn on the outside lights. In fact, we don't make it past about 20 minutes after sunset before the kids are asking if it's time to turn them on. Usually, our blow up Santa gets turned on before the rest, in an effort to keep them happy until it gets dark enough.




This is our new purchase this year. It's a bit hard to see, so if you can't tell, it's Snoopy and his doghouse. We found it on sale and the kids were so excited, we just had to get it for our yard. The kids love it and can't wait to plug it in and get the lights blinking.




And lastly, our blow up Santa who spends more time blown up than not, I think. He's not very big, but the kids love him and are always shaking his hand or giving him hugs when they're outside.



Decorating for Christmas sure has put us in more of a Christmas mood since we don't have any snow down here to help us feel like it's Christmas time. Supposedly, we have a big storm on the way this weekend that should leave us with a bunch of snow on the ground, so that should help too. We are so excited for Christmas and can't believe it's less than 2 weeks away!

Light on Temple Square

Last night we spontaneously decided to take the kids up to Temple Square to see all of the lights. The kids were mesmerized by all of the lights in so many different colors. Hailey was quick to point out all the pink ones and Zach couldn't decide if he liked the blue or the green lights best.

Based on past experiences, we took our wagon as we didn't want to have to carry either of them or have them fight over the stroller, which they are both too big for anyway. It actually worked out great, although it was a bit tricky to maneuver it with all the people there. Both the kids had coats, hats, gloves, and blankets on and I think they were more than comfortable.



We found some really nice sister missionaries that offered to take a picture of all of us. They were both still in the MTC and getting ready to head off to the church history sites in Kirtland, but were using the Temple Square experience as some practice. One was from Southern Utah and the other was from Hong Kong. They were so very nice and we were happy to have met them. We were hoping to get a picture with them, but some people came up and wanted to ask them a question, so we waved and left them to the more important thing they were doing.



Despite all of the beautiful and colorful lights, there was no argument that the temple was the most beautiful thing there. Both of our kids have a hard picking out the temple from the freeway as we're driving by. You can see it, but with all of the other tall buildings, it's hard to make it out unless you know what to look for. Hailey was just loving being able to see it up close and personal. Zach was continually pointing out the Angel Moroni (or Angel Foroni as he says it) every time he saw it.



The reflecting pool on the east side of the temple was completely breathtaking with the little nativity scene of Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus right in the center in white. The kids loved looking at it and didn't want to move on to anything else.



Ironically, we ran into some friends we knew in Connecticut who were having a little get together with others from CT at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. We had been invited, but apparently didn't get the message. So we headed over there and got to catch up with about 5 or 6 families we haven't seen in a few years. All have moved back to Utah now, but most live up near Brigham City, so we don't get to see them often. It was a great reunion and we felt great that we had decided to go on a night when they were all there.



Inside the Joseph Smith Memorial Building is a huge Christmas Tree - the kids were loving looking at how tall it was. We haven't gotten our Christmas Tree for our home yet (that's the plan for Family Home Evening tomorrow night), but Zach wanted to know if we could get one that big! We told him we'd get one as big as we could, little does he know it won't be near as big as that one, but we're counting on him forgetting the actual size of that one and just being glad that we have one in our house.

We had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the evening. It was a bit crowded, but so worth the effort of maneuvering around everyone. There's nothing like seeing the light on Temple Square, it really puts you in the mood for Christmas!