Christmas Day

We had a couple surprises left on our doorstep over Christmas week and because of that, it has helped make this year's Christmas merrier and bright. This year the kids really got into the whole Santa thing and they were so excited to get presents. We made sure to try and teach them the whole reason for the season and even sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus on Christmas Eve and had birthday cake. It was such a treat to watch them open presents and see their smiling faces!!

Lauren's Blessing, Disneyland, and Temple Square Lights

The last two weeks have been busy spending time with family and friends. We drove out to CA after dealing with very cold Utah weather and looked forward to warmer and sunny skies. We even hit -18 degrees as we drove through central Utah!! While in CA, we blessed Lauren at my grandpa's house with my family present. She even wore the same blessing dress that I wore as a baby. It was really nice and even more special with my brothers and grandfather there to help with the blessing. We did the same thing for Brandon and Briana's blessing while in Texas a couple years ago for Christmas with all of Craig's family. We also spent a day at Disneyland to celebrate Craig's 40th birthday!! As soon as we got back to Utah, my dad came for a visit and we headed to Temple Square to see Christmas lights - in 23 degree weather!! It has been very cold here but I'm looking forward to spending Christmas here at home with lots of snow on the ground.

Blessing pictures

Disneyland pictures

Temple Square with Grandpa

Lauren and Logann

Craig's sister Kathy and her family stayed with us during the Thanksgiving holiday and I took a short video of Lauren and her cousin Logann who is 2 months older. The other video is of Lauren making baby noises that I thought I'd share.

Once there was a snowman...

It snowed yesterday and today the snow was perfect for making a snowman. I had to add a couple accessories to it so it didn't look like just a big blob.

Random Pictures

Here are some random pictures from the last couple days.

Family Pictures

We got family pictures taken today for Christmas cards and just to have an updated family photo as well. I got the kids dressed and took some pictures of them from my camera and then my friend Kathy came over with her much better and way more expensive camera and took pictures for us in our family room. I bought black sheets from Walmart to hang on the wall for our background and the pictures turned out great.

Lauren Pictures

Lauren is now 12 weeks old and is doing great. She is sleeping through the night (hooray!!) and I feel like a new woman getting some decent sleep again. She is such a joy to have in our home and can't believe that it's been 3 months already!!

Halloween Festivities

The kids had a great Halloween this year having a neighborhood party, a preschool party, and then Halloween itself all in the same week. Craig and I showed up at the end of preschool on Thursday to watch the kids play games and sing Halloween songs that they had been practicing all month. They sang a song called The 5 Little Pumpkins sitting on the Gate and I wish I knew all the words because it was the cutest song and I was pleasantly surprised by how much of the song Brandon knew. Of course, Briana knew all the words but Brandon is really picking up stuff quick. The wonders that preschool is doing for this kid!! Halloween night Craig took the kids out while I stayed at home with Lauren and passed out candy. Once they got home, Craig told me about the kids trick-or-treating adventures. Craig stayed on the sidewalk and let the kids go up to the doors and get candy. Three of our neighbors had Brandon walking into their home once they put candy in his bucket. One neighbor had to come back to the door and have Craig come inside because he couldn't get Brandon out of his own house. He happened to find the playroom and didn't want to leave. Another home had a motion-sensor skeleton at the door which had Briana screaming back to daddy and she refused to go to the door for the next three houses. After telling me the stories, Craig took the kids upstairs to get their pajamas on while I continued to answer the door to trick-or-treaters. I happened to hear both kids behind me when I opened the door to a group of about 5-6 kids with the mom standing at the bottom of the porch steps. I handed out candy, waved hi to the mom, closed the door, and turned around to see a naked Brandon standing there. I was so embarrassed!! Then yesterday for preschool, we visited a pumpkin patch. We did a hayride which was a nightmare with a fussy baby and Brandon taking off every time the tractor pulling us made a stop. The great thing about the pumpkin patch was the huge hay slides they had which kept the kids entertained so I could feed Lauren. We spent about 3 hours there and with them running all over the place, I knew that I'd get some peace and quiet once they went to bed since they were exhausted when bedtime came.