Visiting Family during the Holidays

The day after Christmas Annie and I got up early to have a day together. We spent the early part of the day doing some shopping and going to lunch. That evening we meet up with our Aunt Cindy and cousin Liz. We went to dinner at The Garden Room which over looks the Temple Lights. The view was amazing even though the air has been horrible. We got the chance to watch the lights come on. After the dinner we decided to walk back to the car thru the lights. We got the chance to take more time and see a little of the lights downtown then we did from Tuesday evening since that night it was a blizzard. After walking thur the lights we went over to our Aunt Carol's home to visit with her and our cousin Danielle. It was great to spend this night with them.

Sunday evening we went out to dinner with our sister Kimm and her family. Her kids have grown so much from the last time seeing them in April. Her daughter was acting so shy, but by the end of the night she warmed up to me enough to give me a hug. Her son was more talkative then I thought he would be and was cute as ever. The baby oh he is such a flirt and has a wonderful laugh. I loved the time that we got to spend together and I hope to do it more often.

Christmas Day

This is for Christmas I was lucky to have my sister Annie and my dad came to spend Christmas with us. I am very grateful to have them visit for the holidays since my family doesn't live closely to me and I miss them very much. Heather and Tim stayed the night over on Christmas Eve. Steve and Becky made sure to be at our house by 7:00am to see the boys come downstairs and see what they got from Santa. Austin received a green ipod which was what he had asked Santa for. Jaron and Landon both got a dirt bike from Santa. They both were very excited for the dirt bike. They had a string attached to there stocking that whined thru the house that lead them to the garage. Landon was the first one to get on and try out the new dirt bike. Jaron was so excited after seeing Landon's excitement that he got on the bike on the wrong side from the kick stand and he ended up tipping over. I felt so bad for him as he cried from his present from Santa hurting him. I calmed him down and encouraged him to get back on his bike. After opening the gifts we had a family breakfast. While I was cleaning up the house and preparing the dinner Sean and the boys went to visit Sean's grandparents. That evening everyone came back to the house and we had Christmas dinner and games with lots of laughs.

Christmas Eve PJ's

Another Christmas Eve tradition for our family is getting to open one present on Christmas eve, which always PJ's. Austin has pointed it out to me the last two year's that we always get pj's on Christmas Eve. Even thought it is clothes the boys always enjoy having something new to sleep in on Christmas Eve. This year it was a theme of mostly UofU Pj's. This is a tradition my mom did with me, my brother, and sister when we were kids. I have always wanted to carry on this tradition with my family.

Christmas Cookies

Our Favorite Ones
Cutting out the cookes

Jaron rolling the dough out

One of our family traditions that we do every Christmas Eve is we make cookies for Santa and decorate them with frosting and candy. Jaron and Landon really love to do this for Santa and they ask all day long when we are going to make cookies for Santa. Jaron was great at helping roll out the dough and Landon was wanting to put the cookies into the oven. Austin mostly wanted to make sure we got carrots for the reindeer, nine carrots to be exact. After we are done decorating the cookies we take our picture showing how great our cookies turn out and then we eat them Yummy!!

Christmas Lights

It was a night of seeing the Christmas lights!! We have not down to see the lights downtown in five years. It was amazing how much the lights have changed. They didn't decorate the really tall trees with lights like they usual do. They did have extra Nativity sets around and snowflake bags that have different Christmas sayings on them. We had a great time having Annie and my dad in town visiting with us and experiencing the Christmas lights. It was a great way to start the week of Christmas off.

Microwave,Stove, & Fridge

After having our microwave less than five years it decided to go out. Sean had a tech come and check it out and we where told that it would cost us just the same if we bought a new one. We went out looking one night at Home Depot, but we were told that they wouldn't be able to deal until after Christmas. The following weekend we went to Lowe's and found another microwave. While Sean was looking at the microwaves I was over looking at the stoves. Since we had moved into our house five years ago I had wanted a new stove. After getting rung up for a new microwave and stove we decided to go a new fridge too since they were having an amazing sale on the appliances. I love the new appliances and the way they make my kitchen look SO much better. The remodeling on my kitchen has begun now just the counters,dishwasher,more lighting, and sink.

Visiting the REAL Santa

It was our second time for the boys to visit Santa. Our first visit the boys spent at least 30 minutes talking with the Santa at Sam's Club. When we decided that we wanted to take the boys again, so we could get there picture with Santa I said what about if we go to see Santa at Sam's Club?? Austin's response was no I don't want to see the Santa at Sam's Club because he is not the real Santa he was wearing DC shoes. Landon's response was no he is not the real Santa because he does not have a REAL beard. Jaron said I am fine with that because I want to ask him who his favorite reindeer is? All of these responses made me laugh, so I decided we should go see the REAL SANTA who is at Fashion Place Mall. He is the Santa that we have been seeing for years and the boys have always know that he is the Real deal!