New house pics

On Friday we had some friends over for a Christmas cookie exchange. I decided to take pictures of the house after I cleaned for the party so that I could post them. Just to give you an idea of the layout of our house: Upstairs are the 5 bedrooms, laundry room and kids bathroom. Downstairs - living room, kitchen/family room great room, 1/2 bath.

The Christmas tree in the living room
The family room
(Normally all of the kitchen chairs are not there, it was set up for the party)

Kitchen

(The refreshments were set out)

Master bedroom

Guest/toy room

The boys room

(This room is HUGE! It has a great bay window and window seat as well!)

Lots of windows and space

Grants room

Kylie's room

The mural in Kylie's room

(These are just stickers!)

The lights at "Square Temple"

We started a tradition last year of going to see the lights at Temple Square with our friends, The Boxxes. The kids were really excited because we decided to take Trax (lightrail train) into Salt Lake. Ben was especially excited to see the "Square Temple". It was pretty cold, so after a quick look around the grounds we went to the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to the Garden Restaurant for some hot chocolate and dessert. Unfortunately we decided to leave right as the Jazz game ended and it took awhile to get back on the train. It was still an adventure and a great night!

Waiting for the train

(Logan, Ben, Kylie, Bradley, Peyton and Will)
Grant was all bundled up

The lights were gorgeous!

The view from the top

Kylie by the fountain outside the restaurant

November Card

Last month's card theme was "thank you". I thought it would be fun to do a Christmas card so I made this little guy and stamped thank you inside. I am so grateful for this group especially now that we've moved. I love keeping in touch with all of these girls at least once a month!

Thanksgiving Week

We had a fun week visiting with my parents who came out for Thanksgiving. We ate, shopped and relaxed while they were here. We even braved the Black Friday crowds and found some great deals. Earlier in the week we started Grant on rice cereal and he did ok with it. I think he wants to bypass that and go for the real food. A few days before my parents came I went to get my hair done so Dan made the kids popcorn and hot chocolate. They had a great night! I'm so grateful for Dan and the fun dad that he is! On Thanksgiving we gave Grant the Martinelli's bottle and he grabbed it and kept trying to drink from it. It was hilarious! We sat him up to the table in his bumbo and he looked so cute. We didn't take very many pictures, but we enjoyed the whole week...now to get ready for Christmas!

mmmm
Fun treats with Dad

Hittin' the bottle early ;)

Grandma and Grant

Happy 1st Thanksgiving!

Dinner with the fam

Sunday Best

Today was our first day going to our new ward as a family (I stayed home with a sick Grant last week). Dan took a picture of the kids in their new church clothes. New ward means new clothes, right?! We had a great time in our ward and found out that we were just 1 of about 20 new families so we fit right in. Everyone was so gracious and welcoming! It was also nice to go to Sunday School with Dan since I've been in Primary for so long. After church, Bradley lost another tooth (he lost one on Friday) so we got a picture of the gaping hole. I asked him if all he wanted for Christmas was his two front teeth and he very seriously told me that he didn't want to waste his presents on that! He was pretty sure they would just grow in by themselves! The last shot is of Grant taking his bath. He loves bathtime, but who doesn't?

Ben's not looking and Grant was crying...yep just about right!
The big kid

aaaaaaahhhhh

Halloween Weekend

Even though this week has been really crazy, we took some time out from packing to go trick or treating. The kids had a blast dressing up...Bradley was Storm Shadow (from G.I. Joe), Kylie was a cheerleader (from High School Musical), Ben was Harry Potter and Grant was a monkey. We went to our ward's Trunk or Treat at 4:00, came home and ate dinner and then went trick or treating with our friends in our new neighborhood. The kids got so much candy and had fun running from house to house. Grant did pretty well, he just fell asleep in the stroller.
Earlier in the week, the 3 older kids had Halloween parties at school. I included pictures from that as well.

Ben's Preschool class

I love the look on his face

Checking out his loot

Bradley in his school parade

(Kindergarten had the day off so Kylie wasn't in it)

I know, I know!

This is probably getting old, but I'm just so excited! The house is almost done, just a few finishing touches on the outside and carpet/appliances on the inside. We close on the townhouse tomorrow. I can't believe how fast everything is going.

Disneyland - Day 2

Since the kids didn't have school on Thursday or Friday we decided to go to Disneyland on Monday and Tuesday to try to beat the Utah crowds. I think a lot of people from around here had the same idea though because we saw so many UT license plates. On Day 2 we decided to start the day with a character breakfast in the park. It was so much fun and the food was so good! The characters took a lot of time with the kids posing and taking pictures which was nice. After breakfast we headed over to CA adventure to ride the rides and see the sights. Bradley loved California Screamin', Kylie loved the Tower of Terror and Ben loved the Pixar Parade. Grant loved it all! As soon as CA Adventure closed we headed straight back to Disneyland to finish out the night. 2 days, a few blisters and countless rides...it was a fun trip to the "happiest place on earth". Wednesday afternoon we drove back to my Grandma Phillippi's house and spent one more night with her before heading home on Thursday. The kids are already planning next years trip, I hope they're paying!

Kylie and Ben with Eeyore
Captain Hook

Kylie got a hug from Tigger

Minnie with the fam

Grant getting his own time with Minnie

Kylie and Jessie

Heimlich would pop up and say "Candy Corn is my favorite vegetable." The kids thought that was hilarious!

Candy Corn was used as decoration all over the park

3 cute kids!

Instead of toys, Bradley wanted to collect pins from his favorite rides. He even traded them with Disney employees around the park. Definitely taking after his grandpa!

The ladybug ride

In line for the Nemo Submarine

Mickey and Minnie in their Halloween costumes

This is the front gates, everything was just beautiful

L.A. Temple and Disneyland Day 1

Last Saturday we drove to L.A. to celebrate my 30th birthday at Disneyland. We were able to stay with my Grandma that night who lives in the San Fernando Valley. On Sunday we took the kids to see the L.A. Temple since neither of us had been there before. It is really beautiful and such a peaceful sanctuary in the middle of a busy city.
Sunday night we drove to Anaheim and stayed at a hotel where my parents drove down from Northern CA to meet us. We had connecting rooms and the kids loved being able to run back and forth into Grandma and Grandpas room. On Monday (my birthday) we were up bright and early and spent the entire day until 10 pm in Disneyland. The kids did so well and no one had a meltdown or needed to go back to the hotel for a nap. Since I got in free I wore a button that said it was my birthday and all the "cast members" kept wishing me a happy birthday. It was such a fun day! I was just as excited as the kids. Here are a few pictures from the day:

The park was decorated so cute for Halloween

Waiting in line of our first ride...Snow White

This was pretty much Grants demeanor for most of the day. He did really well!

Everybody got Mickey ears with their names on the back.

(Ben's pose cracks me up!)

This is on the ship that sails around a little island

(Again, Ben's face!)

It was so fun having my parents there and they were so nice to watch the little boys so we could go on the "scary" rides.

Thunder Mountain

Bradley and Kylie went on all the big kid rides and loved it

We had lunch at my favorite Mexican Restaurant

Ben loved all the characters and even made Pooh hold his "grabber"

He loved Tigger

There was a great fireworks show at the end of the night. I love this picture of Dan, Grant and Kylie watching the show.

There were pictures projected onto Small World while the fireworks and music was going on.

This was the huge Pumpkin Mickey at the beginning of Main Street