Merry Christmas!!

What a wonderful Christmas Day we had! We never left home! We had people coming and going throughout the day--and it was perfect for us! Santa came through with a pogo-stick for Avery!- ...along with a baby doll and a barbie. We watched A Christmas Story, played games and ATE yummy food all day long!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Christmas Eve...

It was so nice not to travel this year and spend the holidays at HOME!! We had a nice quiet Christmas Eve with my parents and Cait and Jared. Avery was so excited for Santa...

early Christmas!

Our good friends, Craig and Andrea, sent us a BIG box of Christmas presents!! So, a couple days before Christmas (with them nagging us to JUST OPEN THEM!) we had a little early Christmas! Thank you Craig and Andrea for all the wonderful goodies! We love you guys!!!

Gingerbread Houses

My wonderfully talented and energetic neighbor made home-made gingerbread and put together gingerbread houses for our two families to decorate! We hadn't done this before--but it sure was fun and tasty :)

Teddy Bears and more teddy bears!

We took Avery and her cousin Keeton to a special event at the Grand America Hotel to give teddy bears to sick children--specifically Juvenile Diabetes patients. There was a display of hundreds of teddy bears and candy set up in the Presidential Suite. The kids each brought a teddy bear to donate-and got to pick a spot in the room to put it, and in return got a ticket to "buy" a special prize at the Grand America Children's Gift Shop. They also got to hear Christmas stories and eat candy--what could be better? We also saw all the amazing gingerbread houses, made by local bakers, that they have on display throughout the halls of the hotel. Then we spent a little bit of time in their courtyard admiring the massive Christmas tree! We will definitely go again next year.

daddy's little helper

We painted Avery's room this week, and she just had to help--so cute!

Park City on a beautiful snowy day

Oh how we LOVE Park City, it is gorgeous all year long--don't know that I could pick a favorite season up there--but snow-capped mountains sure are a treat! We had our friends Eric and Heather visiting from Arizona--yes, they FROZE the whole time!! But we had a great day anyway--Main St. in Park City was beautiful, we were about the only people there--NICE!

Santa!

Santa came to Pepsi and Avery was able to go see and visit with him. She told him she wanted a pogo stick...that is the one thing she has been relentlessly asking for this Christmas...really?, can a 29 lb. little girl bounce on a pogo stick??...the answer is no, we tried it...but she still wants one. Her cousin Keeton came and saw Santa too, they had so much fun running around the Pepsi building--eating candy and drinkin' soda!

Lights On!

We attended Centerville City's "Lights On" ceremony at Founder's Park on Monday night. Again--it was frigid outside, but we put on 7 layers and braved it. We went with our neighbors and watched the kids run all over the grounds of the park looking at all the lights. It was a fun night--complete w/ the city Mayor counting down to have the Christmas lights at the park turn on, hot cocoa and cookies, Santa showing up in a police car with the sirens ringing as we were singing Christmas songs. Small town America--gotta love it!

Journey to Bethlehem

Our neighbors invited us to a neat Christmas event at a local Baptist church. It was bitter cold outside--but we bundled up and went. We "travelled" from Nazareth to Bethlehem through "robbers, paying taxes to Caesar, running into and talking with 3 wise men, having nowhere to sleep because the Inn was full", to ending up finding the stable where Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus were. It was really nicely done and obviously took a lot of work to put on. What an amazing experience to remind us of Christ's birth and the true events that inspired Christmas.

Turkey Shoot

The Bountiful Lions Club has been holding their annual Turkey Shoot for about 60 years. We ventured up there this year...and almost came home with a turkey. No, they don't shoot at turkeys (that's what I thought), they shoot at some things that randomly fly up in the air (I really don't know what it's called). Anyway, Johnny missed one out of six...so, no turkey! ( you get a turkey if you shoot six out of six). But, it was fun to watch!

Thanksgiving

The night before Thanksgiving we got together with my Uncle Don, Aunt Lynne and their family. Avery especially had fun playing with 3 girl cousins and Keeton. Thanksgiving Day we spent at my Mom and Dad's. We had a nice, relaxing day eating and playing games. It was so nice not to be travelling!

Disneyland w/ the fam

Try going with a group of 18 to Disneyland...wow! It's tough to all stay togehter--but we attempted, a few times. The weather was PERFECT, and we never really waited in any lines--take it from me, trial and error, FALL IS THE TIME TO GO TO DISNEYLAND!! What can I say, we love it :)

Fun with cousins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Avery loves spending time with her cousins and had a full week of fun with them in Newport Beach. We played at the pool, fed the Koi fish,went to Disneyland,went to Legoland, and just hung out and had a fabulous time.

Trick-or-Treat

We spent a week in So. Cal. and got to trick-or-treat in Newport Beach...can you say "fullsize and kingsize candybars"??!! ...not to mention Willy Wonka himself handing out full size WONKA bars! Avery's bag actually broke because it got overloaded :) Dylan, Sydnee and Avery loaded up--it was so much fun!