Our December and Then Some

So it appears that it has been over a month since my last post. Holidays, parties, traveling, sickness and growing a human being are a few of the excuses I have for the lack of posting. We had a packed month and though I didn't post anything, I did take a bunch of pictures of the things we did. Half are from my phone and the other half from our new camera, hence the difference in image quality. So following is a random accumulation of pictures from the last month or so. Enjoy!

We decked our halls at home since we would be home up until Christmas Eve. The kids loved decorating the tree, listening to music, doing advent calendars and making gingerbread cookies.

I took the kids with some friends to a local garden store that has a great train display set up for Christmas. Some kids were more intrigued by the "toys" they had set up.

The girls loved looking at the trains though.

This little sassafras has become quite hysterical in the last month. She can typically be seen doing her "crazy eyes" where she looks from side to side. Also known as: shifty eyes.

We had a wonderful FHE at our friends home where we made some delicious gingerbread houses. The kids enjoyed picking off candy for the next week or so.

It finally started to get cold about mid-December so that Eleanor could rock her furry puffy coat.

Ethan had a pajama day at school where they watched movies, made pancakes and partied in their pjs.

Eleanor came along for the festivities at Ethan's preschool and I think she realized how fun preschool could be. She probably would have let me leave her there alone.

We celebrated Hanukkah. Well, at least one or two of the days. We invited some friends over for brisket, latkes and matzoh ball soup. Afterwards we played dreidel.

It finally snowed a couple inches on the 22nd of December. I had work that morning, so Ben suited up the kids and let them play out back in the snow. Eleanor wasn't a big fan and asked to come in, while Ethan played outside by himself for a little while longer.

We had a fabulous ward Christmas party in which there was great music, food and a Santa. Ethan waited so patiently to see Santa and was one of the last kids of probably 50 to sit on his lap. It was really cute.

Ethan sang "Mary's Lullaby" at church with the rest of the primary kids. And by sing, I mean he made some hand motions.

Ethan drew this nativity scene in his primary class. He was very observant this holiday season and would point out any and every manger scene he saw.

Since we were flying to Utah on Christmas Eve, we had the kids open presents from us on the 23rd. Ethan was so excited to get books, puzzles and a present from Eleanor. He would say after he opened each gift, "This is exactly what I wanted!"

Eleanor got some puzzles, books, and boots and a Lego set from Ethan.

They both enjoyed playing the magnetic fishing game that Eleanor got.

On Christmas Eve, we flew out to Utah and had a lengthy layover in DC. The kids got into the Christmas spirit by sporting new pjs. 

As per usual, Eleanor didn't sleep a wink on the flight, but once we put her in the stroller at the airport in SLC she fell fast asleep. Stinker.

 

The next morning the kiddos woke up earlier than everyone else and were so excited to see the giant tree and many presents under the tree.

 

Santa pulled through with the presents Ethan had requested. The biggest thing he wanted was the "Lego Ninjago Tread Assault." His eyes say it all.

Eleanor requested a pony for Christmas and got exactly that. Both she and Ethan were spoiled by both of their grandparents and cousins and came away with some pretty good loot. That goes for us too!

  

Ethan and Ben got matching BYU ties that they wore together last Sunday. Ethan is a huge BYU fan now.

The scene of Christmas morning.

Eleanor got right to work and played with the gifts she got.

 She occasionally took a break to play with her favorite kitty, Hana and her Uncle Jordan.

 The kids loved having their cousins around and although they left to be in CA with their Mom for a week it only made them more excited to have them back to play with.

Unfortunately, the day after Christmas Eleanor caught a nasty bug and spiked a high fever for an entire day. She was miserable and so tired. Luckily it was only bad the one day and she was back to her normal self within a couple days.

It snowed like crazy the first few days we were there. Both Utah and Rochester were getting dumped on, but it was fine by us since we had nowhere to go.

It made for some beautiful landscapes at my parents place.

Within the next few days Utah got a crazy inversion which made the weather frigid and the visibility poor, but at least you could still see the mountains from my parents house.

One day we took the kids to a BYU basketball game. The kids had such a great time and can now be caught singing "Rise and Shout" and saying, "Go, mighty Cougars!"

On another night we were able to see our friends the Wrights, who live in Centerville, but were down in Provo for the evening.

When Ben wasn't skiing with my Dad and sister he was cranking out delicious homemade crepes on my Dad's newest gadget, the crepe maker. Because of their deliciousness we had them at least 3 times while we were there.

Though I wasn't originally planning on going, we took a day trip down to Goblin Valley State Park. I'm so glad I went. It was awesome.

Funny little hoodoos like this one are all around the 2 square mile park. It was fun to see how excited Ethan was to be there.

We took a trip down to Moab 4 years ago right after Christmas and once again it was beautiful to see the contrast of red rock and white snow.

Eleanor was a little less than thrilled to be there since we woke her up from a nap and made her walk part of the way. She did end up having a good time, but just needed to be held to enjoy the experience.

It really was the perfect day to be there. No wind, in the 20's so the snow wasn't melting. It was like powder. Perfect.

Back at the house we enjoyed lounging around and Eleanor became even more attached to Hana.

Ethan got to experience making his own ravioli. 

My parents even had a mini apron that Ethan got to sport while getting in on the action.

Eleanor "helped" too, though it looks like she was daydreaming more than anything.

When they saw the pasta get bigger, both kids were amazed. They both ate up the ravioli that night. More so because they helped make it.

The kids enjoyed some time with their 2nd cousins. They were really enthralled with this Mr. Bean Christmas special. Weird.

A highlight of the trip was hearing that my oldest brother, Trevor, got engaged to long time friend and girlfriend of 2 years, Amy. We can't wait to have her and her daughter Kate join our family!

We went to the dinosaur museum up at Thanksgiving Point, where the kids were slightly frightened by the dark scenes and all the bones. Eleanor got friendly with this triceratops though.

It took some convincing to get Ethan to stand even remotely close to this shark. We had to continually assure him that it wasn't real.

 I think the kiddos favorite part was excavating bones at the end. Sand in the winter? Yes, please!

We went over to Ben's sister, Mary and her husband, Josh's apartment one night for dinner. All the kids  played dress up and luckily for Ethan they had a cape because Eleanor came out in this backless number that she loved. They had a great time playing with their cousins.

They had a big group hug before we left.

Once Ethan's Bruford cousins came back into town he had a sleepover with them every night. It meant that he stayed up way past his bedtime, but he was in heaven. We were also in heaven not having him in our room and waking up to him saying, "Can I have your iPhone?"

I hit 28 weeks of pregnancy while we were in Utah. Welcome to the third trimester!

Not the greatest group shot, but the best one of the pictures that were taken. We were so lucky to have been able to spend two weeks with these people (and animals). We loved being able to play games, eat delicious food, and have our kids create lasting memories.

Our flight back home was easy, and maybe a little better for Ethan and Eleanor since Hana rode up to the airport with us in my Dad's truck. She wasn't too thrilled being stuck between the two kids and on Ben's lap, but it definitely made our kids' day. 

We got back on Monday night and quickly got back into a daily routine. Ethan is back in school, Ben is back at work (after being out for over 2 weeks) and I managed to take down all the Christmas decor. We miss the lazy days of being on vacation, but we're also happy to be home.