Pajama Day

Life was getting too busy around the holidays and one day Luke had finally had enough.  He had a meltdown as we got in the car to run yet another fifty errands.  I felt awful as a parent and decided we needed to take a break.  I told Luke that the next day he and Brody could stay in their pajamas and we wouldn't leave the house once.  He was beyond thrilled.

Since we had an entire day to spend at home we decided to bring up the GeoTrax trains and build a Christmas train by the tree.  We built it while Brods was asleep but he wanted at it when he woke up.  Luke referred to him as the "Abominable Snow Monster."  I think he's the cutest little monster ever.

Even though my to-do-list was a mile long it was so nice to spend time with the boys.  It has been way too long since we just relaxed and spent time together.  The day was priceless and we need to do it more often!    

A Message from Santa

One morning it took Luke a long time to spot Jolly.  He finally found her in the office sitting by the computer.  Luke couldn't believe his eyes when he saw there was an email from Santa.  It was beyond magical to watch Luke listen to his email.  He was completely caught up in the magic and was speechless.  Luke would even respond to Santa as if he were really there.  When Santa would say something like, "Now Luke are you listening?"  Luke would sit up straight and say, "Yes Santa, what did you say?"  He spent the rest of the day asking to watch his email again and again.  Santa told Luke that he was on the nice list for now, but he needed to listen to his mom and dad the first time if he wanted to stay on the nice list!  Let's all cross our fingers for Luke!  

Friend Christmas Party

We always love our friend Christmas party each year!  The kids love to get together and the adults always have lots of entertaining conversations.  Last year, we added the ugly sweater theme to the party.  The Hansens' don't do a great job at the sweater idea.  We are definitely beaten each year.  I love to see how creative everyone is with the sweaters!

Megan had the kids decorate sugar cookies and they loved it.  It was so fun to see how serious they took the activity.  There was lots of licking and spreading of germs going on, but they were happy!  At the end of the night Luke and Iz made their way back to the table and decorated one last cookie.  I think the cookie weighed over five pounds by the time they were done.  Brody and his girlfriend Lillie were happy just rolling around on the ground and playing with each other.  

Luckily, the Hansen family didn't get any of the naughty white elephant gifts.  We lucked out this year and unwrapped two good gifts.  However, I felt bad going home with two good gifts while the Kuehne's received two naughty gifts so we shared.  It was a fun night and we always look forward to being with our friends!

Letter to Santa

If you talked to Luke even once during the month of December you would have been informed that he wanted a horse trailer from Santa.  When I told him it was time to do his letter to Santa he knew just what to do.  He grabbed the little magazine he had been carrying around all month and found the red truck and brown horse trailer.  I love his little pictures!  He tried to do them exactly like the magazine so Santa would not make a mistake.  

When we got to the post office he thought it was so cool that they had a mailbox just for Santa.  I love how seriously he took this experience.  This Christmas has been so fun and magical with this little man!  Let's just hope he doesn't change his mind about the truck and trailer before Christmas.

Gingerbread Houses

Each year our family looks forward to the Waite Family Gingerbread Houses.  It's always mildly intense.  The goal is to take a normal gingerbread house, cut it apart, and make a new and wild creation.      My favorite part is how no one tells what the other person is creating, so it's fun to watch their creation come together.  

Everyone gives me a hard time because I just do a simple house each year.  I'm lucky to get a house done since I spend the majority of the night making frosting, getting supplies, etc.  I did turn mine into a birdhouse, but it was still booed by the crowd.  This year a few others joined me in the basic house so that helped!  Grandma and Grandpa Talbot, Rachel, Jess, and Luke also make super cute houses.  Luke thought Jess' house was the best.  For days after the party he kept asking me why I couldn't make my house cute like Jess' house.  I'll try harder next year I guess.

  Tom made a Christmas tree lot that was super cute.  He used the little tree marshmallows for the lot.  Phil did a Mars Rover.  It was pretty cool considering it was actually standing off of the try on the wheels.  Mitch gets the award for using the most food coloring.  In honor of the new movie he created a Hobbit Hill.  Perfect for Mitch!  Eileen actually ventured out this year and didn't do the normal house.  She created a gazebo and it was super cute and Christmasy.  Becca's creation took the most planning.  She did Tangled's tower complete with Rapunzel and her long blonde hair.  Personally, Pat's was my favorite.  He did the Krusty Krab complete with Spongebob and Patrick and it looked identical.

I always love this family tradition.  Even though everyone was mad at me for not baking the houses year and just buying them.  It's so fun to get together with everyone and see their creations.  I love how each of the houses reflects the creator's personality!  I am so lucky to have such an amazing family.  

Eight Months

This little baby is all over the place now.  I was lucky to even get this pic of him.  He kept rolling away, pulling his sticker off, and tying to eat the blanket.  It was not our most successful photo with Mr. Brody.  We sure do love this little guy though!  Brody has changed so much in the past month and is growing up so fast.  I just wish time would stop so I could enjoy this baby a little while longer!

-Wears size 3 diapers

-In 12-18 month clothes

-Weighs 19 pounds

-Rolls all over the place

-Puts everything in his mouth

-Loves finger food and eats anything you give him

-Takes 2 1/2 hour naps if he gets to sleep in mommy's bed

-Can finally put his binky in by himself every time

-So close to crawling

-Wants to run and play with is brother

-Drinks out of a sippy cup now

-Looks like teeth are coming in soon

-Chews on everything he can find

-Cuddles up with mommy all night long

Temple Square

It seems like every year we wait until the last minute to visit Temple Square.  This year I thought it would be a good idea to go right at the beginning of month.  Especially since the weather was perfect and hadn't become super cold.  The only problem was the rest of Utah had the same idea.  I have never seen it so crowded.  

We first headed to City Creek's food court since Luke and I were starving.  You can't imagine the lines.  People were even sitting on the ground just to eat their chicken nuggets and fries.  We knew this would be a no go so we decided to try the lights first.  Sadly, it was the same scene.  There were people everywhere, you could hardly move or walk around. 

Next, was the candy windows at Macy's.  I was so happy for Luke to experience these windows.  They were always my favorite as a child and I was excited to have them back to enjoy!  Once again, we had to fight the crowds.  The windows had so many people around them that Mark and Brody didn't even attempt it.  They just hung back and waited.  At each window I would push Luke up through the crowds so he could get a glimpse.  He would eventually emerge from the sea of people and we would continue on to the next window.  Luke said his favorite was the Nutcracker window.  I loved how in awe he was of all the candy they used! 

Since we were done with people and crowds we got in the car and headed to Crown Burger.  It was a yummy way to end the night and relax without fighting through people.