Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year! Scott's parents were able to come up from Utah for the weekend, and the boys loved having Grandma and Grandpa here. We had a semi-white Christmas too. It had snowed here the weekend before Christmas, but it stayed on the ground all the way until Christmas eve. We had lovely snowmen in our front and back yards, and Easton has become a snow building pro!




On Christmas Eve, we read the nativity story out of the scriptures, watched "Joy to the World", and then opened up our new Christmas Eve pj's. All the boys were matching, and then the girls had matching ones too. Christmas morning was festive, and all the adults loved their stocking stuffers from Santa's helper who works at Nordstrom. The boys got lots of good stuff and they were pretty happy with what Santa brought them this year. We didn't get around to Christmas dinner on Christmas night, but we had an awesome feast the day after when we got home from church. It was a very merry Christmas!

Early Christmas Present

Is it a bunkbed set, or a jungle gym? We haven't figured that one out yet.

The Polar Express

On Saturday we made the journey over to Hood River, OR and experienced the Polar Express. Since my parents are vacationing with my sister in Albuquerque this year, they decided to give this to us as an early Christmas present before they leave to NM. The kids wore their brand new pjs, watched the Polar Express in the car on the ride over, and we read the Polar Express on Friday night for their bedtime story.

When we boarded the train, we found cute collector's mugs waiting for us. Our "chef" made sure to point out to us which side of the train the kids should sit on so they could see the North Pole when we approached it. As soon as the train started moving, we listened to the sound track of the Polar Express over the intercom, and then they brought out steaming cups of Hot Chocolate and yummy ginger cookies. The conductor came by and punched their tickets (although not as fancy as on the movie) and we even had a few surprise visits from the Hobo who had boarded the train.

When we got to the North Pole we saw Santa and his Elves, and then we were told the story of the Polar Express. Our chef sat right down with the kids and showed them the pictures while the story was narrated over the intercom. Then we waited patiently for Santa to come. When he came, he greeted each child, took pictures, and then handed them each a bell from his sleigh. All of the pictures, videos, and memories that we got from this event were priceless. It was well worth the drive on a snowy Saturday afternoon.

Easton's Concert

It was so memorable to go to our very first Christmas Concert! Easton did a great job and was doing all of his motions with such exageration and singing his little heart out. I also had a little snicker to myself when I saw them walk in and Easton landed on the front row, second to last. (My old place!) The whole thing was darling and I can't wait for it again next year.

It's a girl!!

It still seems a little surreal, and I'm sure we'll keep the tags on everything just in case, but it definitely showed a girl, and we are REALLY excited!

(It isn't the best picture, but after 3 ultrasounds, and scanning the parts over and over again, it is a girl.)

D-Day!

Tomorrow we find out what we are having! Please make a vote quickly in our boy/girl poll.

Deck the Halls

We put up our small fake tree last week, but it was just too small for us this year. Well, it was at least too small for all the new decor I bought last year at the after christmas sales. We let the boys go all out and decorate the little tree by themselves with all the unbreakables. Then we decided to buy a real tree this year. Our house smells delicious!

While stringing the 13 strands of lights that are on the tree, the tree fell on top of me, and all the water spilled out over my carpet. Boo! But it seems pretty sturdy now, so we finished decorating it last night with all the glittery, pretty ornaments and bulbs. I love the finished product, but I still want to find a few more items to finish it off nicely. Too bad Dec. 26th falls on a Sunday this year. Hopefully there will still be stuff to rummage through on Monday the 27th.