Merry Christmas - 2012

We definitely had a good Christmas this year!  After much excitement and waiting for what seemed like forever, the day finally came.  The kids anxiously went to bed the night before just certain they would never be able to go to sleep because they were just so excited!  But to sleep they eventually went and the next morning they were so thrilled with all of their presents!

I have to admit that I took very minimal pictures this year - but it was nice to be involved in actually watching them instead of worried about taking the perfect picture.  Here are some we took right after they opened their stockings.

Zach was thrilled about his new pocket knife and lego set.  Santa decided that maybe he was old enough to be responsible enough for a pocket knife - of course that was proven false a few hours later when he used it to saw into some paper wrapping instead of just peeling it off with his fingers.  The pocket knife is now in the garage awaiting him to get just a little bit older and responsible!  But he was excited none-the-less.

Hailey was excited about all the new earrings she got as well as the glitter headbands.  For some reason, Santa lost count as he was getting earrings and ended up getting her around 30 pairs!  Yes, this was one happy girl.  At least now she can't complain that she doesn't have very many!

Tate was happy about his cars and Sesame Street characters.  Show us what you got Tate!

Now show us again so that we can see your face.  Much better - except what are you eating?  Is that a sucker at 8:00 in the morning?  Guess he was excited about the candy in his stocking too!

After we opened up all of the other presents, we took some pictures of each child with all their loot!  

Zach got a kindle, remote control car/helicoptor, shirts, lego, gift cards, and much more!

Hailey got a kindle, princess skateboard, umbrella and rain boots, doll, shirt, gift cards, and did I mention a few pairs of earrings?

Tate got a basketball hoop, remote control Thomas train, TAG junior reader and books, tractors, and a table and chairs set.  (Notice the wink?  He's just learned to do this and I happened to catch it on camera - so darling!)

Yes, we had a wonderful Christmas!  There is nothing like watching your children get excited and enjoy Christmas morning.  We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and hope it was good for all!

Temple Square

One of my favorite traditions around Christmas is to go to Temple Square and see the lights.  We decided last minute one Saturday to head up that evening to walk around and see everything.  We had dinner in Salt Lake and then rode the Trax train into downtown.  I'm always amazed at how much work goes into the spectacular lights of the trees on Temple Square.  I once heard how many man-hours it takes, and even though I can't remember the exact value, I remember it blew my mind.  Good thing I only have to put them up around my house!  But the effect is completely amazing.

Here's a picture of the kids in front of one of the trees.

At some point Tate wanted out of the stroller to walk.  After about 20 steps and getting surrounded by a crowd full of people, he wanted back in.  But in the middle of that, we did stop for another picture in front of the star he was so anxious to see (it's behind the kids at the top of the pyramid of stars in the shape of a tree).

After only about half hour of walking around, the kids were ready to go.  I think they were more excited to ride the train than seeing the light - figures.  Oh well, at least we can say we went to see the lights, even if it was more of a run-by than anything else!

Christmas Rice Krispie Trains

A few days before Christmas, Nana and Papa came to visit for the afternoon and evening.  Nana brought down a bunch of fun things to make a rice krispie train with!  The kids were so excited and couldn't wait to make their trains.  

Nana spent most of her time helping Tate.  He loved the M&Ms and wanted them all over his train!

Hailey was very methodical and did a bunch of different colors and put a bunch of different candies all over hers train.

Zach used only red and kept calling his train "bloody."  Ah, the mind of a 9 year old, everything revolves around gore and destruction!

Here's Tate with one of his all finished.  He was quite proud of it.

Hailey worked and worked and worked.  I think she was the last one done and far past the other two.  She definitely is a finisher.  All of her train cars were very intricately decorated.

Zach paused for a bit and then came back to work on his again, I had high hopes that he'd choose another color, but alas, he picked up the red and went back to to "bloody" decorating.  

The trains turned out so great!  Thanks Nana and Papa for coming down and helping us do such a fun activity!  We had a fun time decorating and eating them!

Going to see Santa

Last year we realized we didn't make it to see Santa until right before Christmas and we ended up near the mall on weekday morning right as it opened, so we stopped by to see how long the line was and if we could get in to see Santa really quick.  Well, it turned out that there was no line at all and we were in and out in very little time.  Since that visit went so well and quick, we decided to try that plan again this year.  So on Dec. 20th (the first day of Christmas vacation), we headed down to the University Mall at 9:30 to be there by 10:00 when Santa arrived.  As with last year, we only had to wait for one family until it was our turn.  In fact, it was so quick that the worst part about the whole visit is we parked on the wrong end of the mall and ended up having to walk all the way to the other end to find Santa.  We were even so quick, that we had time to take some pictures with some of the displays around the mall.  We would have preferred to take some pictures with Santa himself, but his greedy little elves would not let us get pictures unless we purchased their ridiculously, overpriced picture packages.  So we opted for some elsewhere instead.  Right near Santa was this nice little fireplace that was so warm and decorated so beautifully, so we stopped for a few pictures there.

Don't these three look darling?!?

Further down the mall there was a little Christmas Village type thing set up and since the crowds hadn't descended yet, we were able to get quite a few pictures without any disruptions.

Tate was really worried about the stuff behind him and kept turning around to see them (they were each spinning), so this was the best close-up with him actually facing forward!

This was Hailey's favorite, so we got a picture of just her in front of it.

Zach decided he liked this one best.

And Tate's favorite was the Christmas Tree.

One the other side was this reindeer flanked by 2 cars - don't ask me how the cars go with the whole "Christmas Theme" but the kids wanted a picture in front of this one too.  Ironically, it was probably one of the best pictures of the 3 of them together.

We sure had a fun time and we were able to see Santa without the long wait as well as get some fun pictures.  I think we'll plan on seeing Santa early one weekday morning close to Christmas every year - it seems to be the best time!

School Christmas Sing

The kids have a new principal at school and she has done a lot of things different since she's been there.  Most of the things have been inconsequential to us, but one of the most important things is her attempt to involve the parents a whole lot more.  The old principal was great and we had the chance to interact with him numerous times, but this new principal seems keyed in on getting the parents as involved as possible.  This new characteristic allowed her to decide to have a "Christmas Sing" for the parents and immediate family to attend this year.  Each grade usually does a little singing thing, but in the past, they have only presented it to the other members of the school.  So you can imagine how excited Tate and I were to go this year when they invited the immediate families to come and see.  We were sad not to be able to invite Nana and Papa, but the principal promised that next year they would open it up to friends and grandparents as well.  Tate and I had a blast watching all of the fun songs that they performed - each grade sang 2 songs and it was quite the production getting each grade on and off the stage in an organized manner!  Of course, 4th grade (Zach's grade) and 1st grade (Hailey's) were the two right before the kindergarten kids - which were the end.  But it was still fun and Tate loved it.  When first grade came out, they were all decorated in elf hats and polka dot hats - it was so cute.  You can see Hailey here in her little red elf hat.

They sang "Icabod Elf" and "When Santa Got Stuck Up In The Chimney."  It was so cute and we loved every minute of it!

Next it was fourth grade's turn - you can see Zach on the top row - in the center of the picture.  

They sang "Nice Nice Christmas" and "Donde Este Santa Claus."  

Tate and I had a blast watching the program and we even recorded the songs so Dad could see them too.  We sure can't wait for the Christmas Sing next year, way to go Zach and Hailey, we sure are proud of you!

Cheerleading Pep Rally

Hailey decided that this fall she wanted to do cheerleading again.  It had been a year or so and she was so excited to do it again.  After months of practice, they had their final end of the class pep rally.  It was so much fun!  They all got fun shirts and had a great time getting ready.

Here's our little cheerleader sitting and waiting to start.

We got there early to get a front row seat and she ended being right in front of us - is that lucky or what?

She was so cute doing all of the cheers, it was so fun to watch!

My favorite part was where she did a cartwheel - she has been practicing and practicing to get it right.  She did a great job!

And we had to get a picture of all 3 groups of cheerleaders as a final momento.

And here they are with their coaches.

At the end of the pep rally, they had a little ceremony where they gave each girl a certificate of achievement and a fun cup filled with candy.  

She was definitely the cutest cheerleader there and we had a blast watching her perform!  Way to Sis - we are so proud of you!

Puttin' Up The Christmas Tree

Usually we don't get around to putting up the Christmas Tree until a few weeks before Christmas, but this year we decided to do it early this year.  The kids were begging to have it up, so we took a few days and put up all the decorations as well as the tree for Family Home Evening.  The kids had a blast and loved being  apart of the whole thing.  Tate was darling this year, he had so much fun putting the ornaments on the tree wherever he wanted!  Needless to say, there was a bit of rearranging to even everything out once we were done, but it looked great!  Here are my cuties sitting in front of the completed tree.

Aren't they darling?

What a fun family night we had!  Love you all!