TUBING AT SOLDIER HOLLOW

For the last few years we have taken advantage of the family night Tubing at Soldier Hollow. My kids love it. Justin was so excited to go this year that he was dressed and ready to go for a long time before it was time to leave. The weather was not super great that day so I was hoping for the best! It turned out to be a great evening and we had a great time. (As you can see by the smiles on Justin and Garrett's faces)

Cute Things Garrett Comes Up With

A few days ago, I needed to run some errands. I told Garrett he needed to go find his shoes so that we could go run some errands. His reply to me was that he wanted to go to errands house. It was so cute I had to laugh at him. Anytime he talks to someone on the phone his first question to them is "do you want to come to my house?"



He had been really into playing the Wii lately. If thing are not going his way he will look at me and say "this thing really hates me." I have to laugh to him! I never quite know what will come out of his mouth.

SNOW FUN

Justin has been so excited to get some use out of that new sled that Grandma gave him for Christmas on New Years Eve it had finally warmed up enough and his cough was pretty much gone I let the kids go out for a while and play in the snow!  That had so much fun!

They have quite the hill going down our front yard! 

CHRISTMAS

Since we didn't have any family parties this year on Christmas Eve we decided take the boys to their favorite restaurant The Last Samurai or at our house referred to as the Volcano Place. We went early to beat the crowds and they loved this. When we got home the boys and I made Cookies for Santa and then we watched Mickey's Christmas Carol. The boys opened their Christmas PJ's and headed off to have a bath! I think it was only seven thirty or so but they were ready to head off to bed. So we got on the computer to track Santa and then we fixed him a plate of cookies complete with carrots for the reindeer!

This is how Garrett thought we should leave carrots for the Reindeer! Right in the middle of every cookie! Justin was having nothing to do with it. He barley left it there so we could get a picture of it!

Christmas Day was pretty low key for us! Both boys were fighting a nasty cough so neither one of them got up until about 7:30 which was so nice. When they did finally wake up they were super excited to see what Santa had brought them! This year we tried to open gifts a little differently instead of just tearing into them. Garrett went first and opened his Nintendo DS, Justin could hardly believe that Garrett got a DS but then Justin opened his DS and was very happy! Garrett also got a Lightning McQueen race track, some DS games and a shake and Go Drag Race! Justin go a Super Mario Galaxy and Toy Story Mania for the Wii and couple of DS games along with some craft things!

After the boys got through opening their gifts Mike and I both did a great job surprising each other this year! I think this is the first year in the 13 years we have been married that we both have pulled this off! I gave Mike bunk bed cots for camping. He has been wanting them almost for a whole year and I would always tell him that they were dumb and there was no way we were going so spend that much money on them! He loved them and so did the boys! Mike surprised me with the Gypsy for my Cricut! I to was super surprised and could not believe that he was able to pull that off!

My mom and dad stopped by for a little while and we had lunch with them. The rest of Christmas day we spent together enjoying each other and the gifts we received! We are so grateful for the Christmas season and all it represents!

Christams Parties

This year we had some pretty great Christmas Parties with both of our families and the ward party!! Although I have a really hard time remembering to take pictures. Mike and I are in charge of the ward parties, this year we had a evening with Santa Claus. This is the only picture I got of the whole night! (lucky we got this one)! The kids loved the party they got to spend the whole evening with Grandma although neither one of them wanted to sit on Santa's Lap! Justin told me that he knew that Santa was not the real Santa because he had heard his voice somewhere before, I asked him who he thought it was and he just said I don't know I just know I have heard him taking some where before. The next day at church the guy who was Santa walked up to Mike and started to talk to him suddenly Justin turned to me and said "that was Santa" I guess I underestimated him. Garrett still does not love the idea of Santa Claus. I pulled out his Christmas sock that my mom had sewn for him and it his has Santa on it. He informed me that was not his he didn't want one with Santa on it. I am not sure why he dislikes Santa so much hopefully next year he will like him a little more!

On December 12th Mike's brother was in town so we had his family Christmas party then. The boys were so excited they had a blast playing with cousins and opening gifts! Mike's dad and step mom gave Garrett the Mator the Greater toy from the Disney Pixars shorts he loves it. He will make it go down the hill and through the ring of fire and say he did it! Then the next time he will say Wow! He did it again! It is pretty cute to listen to! They gave Justin the Raving Rabids game of the Wii he of course loved it and pretty much cleared it in 2 or so days!!

My mom had our family Christmas Party on December 23 this year. Justin could hardly wait. He knew that his Grandma had picked out a new sled for him last year right after Christmas. I think since the first snow of this year he has wanted Grandma to give him that sled. He knew he had to wait until Christmas. Grandma started handing out gifts when she was all finished Justin looked at me and said "don't I get my sled?" Grandma had forgotten about the sleds. Lucky for her Justin had not. Justin also got the electronic battleships game and Garrett got the bumble bee transformer that he loved.

Before the kids got to open there gifts my mom sat them down and told them a story about the symbols of Christmas! It was so cute watching the kids listen to Grandmas telling the story!

We had a great time at all of our parties. The boys are the perfect age they get so excited about all of the little things! I love them so much!

THE POLAR EXPRESS

Our great friends and neighbors gave us their tickets this year to ride the Polar Express! To say the kids were super excited is an understatement! We decided to take the late train which left at 7:30. With the gentle rocking of the train Garrett was having a hard time staying awake!

The elf's brought around cookies and hot chocolate and they read the Polar Express Story!Finally Santa made his debut...Garrett was so sleepy he didn't know what to think he basically just glared at him! He did finally take the bell that he was giving the kids!

When the train first started out the elf's came around and asked each kid what their name was and what they wanted Santa to bring them for Christmas. Justin told the elf that he wanted a Nintendo DS. So when he seen that Santa didn't have his DS he could not figure out why
I had to explain that Santa was just trying to find out what each little boy wanted for Christmas and that he would probably bring his DS on Christmas if he was good!! He was so excited about the bell! He was sure it had come from Rudolph's harness!

Right after we seen Santa, Garrett was finished! He was asleep before we even had seen Ms. Clause.

HALLOWEEN

This year for Halloween we had the ward party the week before Halloween! It worked out pretty well my kids loved being able to get dressed up in there costumes and they had a blast. We had a trunk or treat and then we did a small carnival for the kids!! Garrett loved the fishing pond! He would have gone back again and again!

Justin was pretty excited about the cake walk. We had made about 200 cupcakes the morning of the party and I would not let him have one so he could hardly wait to win one!!

Garrett loved his Mickey Mouse costume, he could not get over the fact that it made him fat! Justin wanted to be Batman!

This year Mike searched and searched for a cool design to use for carving the pumpkins but he could not find anything that he wanted so we just let the kids design there own!

Garrett wasn't really into carving his pumpkin he really just wanted Mike to do it for him!

On Halloween night we went to trick or treating to all of our families. The kids had a great time and got lots of candy that neither one of them really ate.