Salt Lake City Lights!

The day after Christmas we had the opportunity to go to Salt Lake City with Kris' side of the family to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square. Here's the crew-

It was cold and it had been a long day and Colby was not happy about it!

The next day we went to the Church History Museum and right in the front they had a display of nativities from all over the world. This one is from Sweden so we took some pics for my dad, who served a mission there. It was a very large nativity and quite interesting, I thought he might enjoy these...


Funny wisemen

We got to see and do so many interesting things- the kids colored a "paper" stained glass of the First Vision, they each folded and cut a little mini first 16 pages of the Book of Mormon just like they did when it was first printed. We saw the actual printing press that printed the first Book of Mormon and learned how they did it (and how time consuming it was!), saw a letter written by Joseph Smith, saw a page of the actual translation of the Book of Mormon, viewed the death masks of Joseph and Hyrum, and so much more!

Then we made our way to the Children's Room at the museum, the kids had tons of fun in here!

I didn't take any pictures of it but they had this bean bag toss game that had holes labeled Telestial on the bottom, Terrestrial in the middle and Celestial on the top. The kids had fun playing that and I thought it was hilarious! They all got it into the top (by any means necessary;)...

Then we ended the day with a tour of the Beehive House (of course!) since we love that place!

Then it was time to head for home. It was a quick trip but we so enjoyed our little getaway to Salt Lake!

Late Christmas Update

This year we had a great Christmas, we really enjoyed the time together as a family. I just did Rhodes cinnamon rolls for breakfast and it was nice not to have to spend the morning in the kitchen. Grandma and Grandpa Arch came over around noon to watch the kids open their presents from them which they all loved. They got Kris and me a whole bunch of stuff to do canning- a huge pot, a pressure cooker, measuring cups, etc. I'm SO excited because these are things that I have been wanting for a long time and now I will be able to can without relying on someone else (well, except to show me how to use everything!) Then we went to Michelle's in-laws (who also happen to be in our ward) for Christmas dinner. They are so nice and welcoming and we had such a great time, there was lots of delicious food, lots of good company, lots of laughter, and lots of fun. Sometimes it's sad to see Christmas come and go so quickly but I feel like we really savored the day this year.

Christmas Eve jammies- we went cheap-o this year and just did the $3 ones at Walmart on Black Friday. This worked out just fine because the kids are obsessed with Spongebob (much to my dismay, as I can't really stand it!) but they LOVED them. Only I couldn't find SB in Colby's size so he got Cars jammies.

From the back they all thought they looked like a cube of butter (except for Gracie's legs, of course)

I couldn't pass up the adorable little reindeer sockies for Colby!

Christmas morning- We love stockings at our house!

Aww, aren't they cute?

I'm really going out on a limb posting this one, but as far as me on Christmas mornings go I think it could have been a lot worse and I just thought Owen's calendar was too cute (it was one of my favorite gifts) to not post!

After all the presents were gone, I guess Colby had to see what it was like under the tree.

The End!

And the Band Played On!

A few weeks before Christmas Matthew had his first band concert. He plays the clarinet, I'm pretty sure he picked it because that's what I played in 5th grade and he wanted to impress me or be like me or something along those lines. Anyway, I thought it was really sweet and I'm really very flattered. His first concert was great, although the band was HUGE (that's what happens when you have a middle school) and the gym was PACKED, and we got there 15 minutes early. I kid you not we sat on TOP of a lunch table way in the back corner (I was really tempted to stand on it). Apparently you had to camp out the night before to get a good seat. It took us about half of the concert to actually locate Matthew and even then we could only see the top of his head, but that's ok because we could hear him and that's all that really matters at a band concert, right? They played all the classics- Hot Cross Buns, Mary Had a Little Lamb, and Good King Wenceslaus. They topped off the night with a stirring rendition of Jingle Bells. You can't really see him in the video but you can see the top of his head- it's right in the middle of the screen, next to the very blond haired boy and right behind the girl with long brown hair, you kind of have to look closely. He did a great job and I was quite impressed with how well they played and Matthew promised me he was not one of the ones squeaking. He does have very good tone, I can vouch for that. I'm so proud of him and I hope he continues to love it and never wants to quit! (That was for you, Dad :)

Here he is coming in to take his seat. This was the only photo I got of him where you can actually see him (lame, I know) but by the time the concert was over and we made our way to the band room to pick him up he had already put away his clarinet. This picture was taken from very far away (we were in the WAY back, remember) thus the poor quality, but doesn't he look handsome?

It's Beginning To Smell a Lot Like Christmas...

I just finished mopping the kitchen floor. It's heavenly. I've only been avoiding it for like two months or something, but it is my least favorite chore- EVER. Where is Tara when I need her (my sister who mops REALLY well)? Anywho, I just couldn't bear the thought of such a dirty floor for Christmas so tonight after the kids were in bed I did it, moved the chairs and the table and everything. I just hope it lasts through tomorrow. With the kids not in school I'm not holding my breath but I can dream, can't I? At least it won't be as dirty as it was... seriously!

On Sunday Gracie was bored (she asks me daily "what are we going to do today" or "are we going to do anything fun today?") so I told her to make a list of all the fun things she wanted to do this week. She was DELIGHTED with this task and the list is now hanging on the wall above the stairs so as to be sure and be seen by me every morning when I come downstairs so we don't forget to do something fun! On Monday they made ornaments, on Tuesday we went to the Flood Museum and today we made gingerbread cookies. The cookies were originally supposed to be an actual gingerbread house and it was supposed to be done on Monday but due to my lack of being able to get it all together (and my unwillingness to pay 16.99 for the kit) we had to make some minor adjustments and a schedule change. But, alas, we made the cookies today and the kids had a great time decorating them. And the house smelled delicious!

The Crazy Crew! (Aunt Miche came over for the fun)

Rex cracked me up with the cookie balls he was making, I didn't realize he was doing it until I looked over and saw all of these, it was pretty cute!

Frosting fun!

Stop the madness!

The finished product! (Aren't those gingerbread house cookies cute? Gracie and Owen are each holding one.)

Mugging Santa

Nothing is going as planned this Christmas. No Christmas cards sent, no presents wrapped, no presents sent (yet) :( I've been staying up way later than I should be since the kids are out of school, but really I just wish I could stay in bed and watch TV all day (if only the kids wouldn't wreck the house if I really did do that). I do believe I'm suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder (it's a real thing, people!) or in layman's terms the winter blues. Alas, life is calling me and I must push through! Right? Right!?!?! So, I had intended to post a lot more this month, to capture all the wonder and glory of the season, ya know... but well, you read the above explanation, right? Needless to say I just don't have it together this year. Oh well, there's always next year. Anyway, at least we got the decorations put up, that IS something! And I thought I would share my favorite Christmas decorations for your viewing pleasure. It is my collection of Santa mugs. My love of Santa mugs stems from my childhood wherein my Grandma Wright had a set of blue Santa mugs and I just adored them, truly loved them. And so, years later when I saw one in a store that closely resembled my Grandma's mugs (it was not blue) I just had to buy it and so began my collection. I still have yet to find a blue one (I'm sure I could find one online but I haven't looked there yet). I usually just buy them when I see them in a store or Kris gives them to me for Christmas. I hope you enjoy- although they are much better in person!

Blogging is good therapy! I already feel better :)

Ransom

We have found many treasures in our house since we moved in, and one of them was an old typewriter which the kids thought was really cool. It's like an ancient piece of technology to them. And to think I actually used to use one, ooooohhh. So we decided to let them have their fun since we really have no use for it and they were fascinated with it. Well, after a little while we started to find these little notes. We were actually quite impressed with their abilities. I guess a typewriter's not so hard to figure out when you've grown up on computers.

Brotherly Love

I caught these two cuddled up watching Santa Buddies (of Air Bud fame for any of you who don't have kids this age, his progeny just keep on going and going...) and it warmed my heart. 'Tis the season. So why don't you all go cuddle up with someone you love and watch Santa Buddies (haha, just kidding but I'm sure you could find some Christmas movie that you love to watch this time of year. My pick- While You Were Sleeping, now if I could just get Kris to cuddle up with me and watch it...)