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

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)