Christmas Day and Bradley's Baptism

One of my favorite things about the holidays is all of the traditions. We continued another one on Christmas morning when all of the kids went into my sisters room and she read to them Luke 2. This was at 6 am, Melissa and Taylor were such good sports! I used to do this for my brothers and sisters and now I passed the torch to her to read to my kids. Afterwards we all run downstairs to open presents. This Christmas Day was especially meaningful because Bradley chose to be baptized that day. It was such a nice way to spend Christmas and really keep in mind the true meaning of the day.

Because we have so much family in Northern CA we decided to have Bradley's baptism there. He was baptized in the same font that I was. My Dad and Dan's Dad gave the Baptism and Holy Ghost talks. It was very personal and special for Bradley. After the baptism we had a nice dinner of soup, bread and dessert. Thank you to my Mom and Dan's Mom for all the work they did to put that together! I was so grateful for all the family that came and supported Bradley!

Christmas Eve

On the 23rd we drove to Dan's parents and sister to spend the night. We always have such a great time with them. Kylie's cousin Paige is her age and the only girl surrounded by brothers. They are 2 peas in a pod! We could not resist the gorgeous weather so we took the kids to this great park right across the street. I loved watching them play with their cousins!

The Princesses

The 8 year olds

Ben was in his element

Grant loved his first time in a swing!

He was so happy to be out of the car!

My sister-in-laws had this great activity for the kids of decorating rice krispie treat houses. It was fun and way easier than gingerbread!

On Christmas Eve we drove back to my parents house for more fun! Every year Santa visits and the kids love it. My mom also put together a Christmas play complete with costumes. Grant was baby Jesus and he was so cute just cooing in the "manger". Afterwards the grandkids all change into matching pjs and open cousin gifts and then its off to bed. It is a really long day, but its worth it!

All the cousins with Santa
Ben's turn

Bradley as Joseph and Ben was a shepherd

Kylie was one of the "Heavenly Hosts".

(That is actually my baptism dress!)

Ben was a little crabby by this point.

Christmas Break 2009

For Christmas we went to CA to spend it with family. It was such a nice break and as you can tell from the pictures it was fun to spend some of it outside! We spent the first couple of days just hanging out, shopping and getting ready for Christmas. My parents took the kids to the park while Dan and I got some last minute gifts. We also kept up a 20 year long tradition of going to Silveyville Christmas Tree Farm to pick out a tree (or 2) for the kids to decorate. Afterwards we always go out to dinner at Chevy's (yum!).

Grandma and Grandpa let Ben pick out a tree because he was sure he had the "perfect" one!

All the grandkids

Dan in his Giants jacket and my dad with his Dodgers santa hat!

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