A Merry Christmas

We were really looking forward to Christmas this year.  It's just so much fun to see the excitement of little children.  It really was the perfect day.

The Sunday before Christmas

We had the Wilson's over for Christmas Eve dinner.  Except for my boys hardly eating anything nutritious, it was a wonderful meal.

Decorating cookies for Santa

Our attempt at acting out The Nativity before bed.  Sam & Daniel played Mary & Joseph, the shepherds and the wisemen...they're very versatile.  Really they just laughed at each other the whole time.

One last picture with Santa's cookies and carrots for the reindeer

Christmas morning was a lot of fun.  The boys were so excited at everything they got and were so sweet to each other.  Santa really spoiled us.  

That evening we went to dinner at my sister, Becky's, in-laws house.  It was so nice not to have to cook again and so fun to relax and chat with everyone.  Merry Christmas!

Tree time

We opted for a pre-cut tree this year due to Bill's hectic work schedule.  So for FHE Monday night, we drove to a Christmas Tree lot and coincidentally, our friends the Wilsons arrived at the very same time!

The tree we picked turned out to be a bit bushy for the corner it's in, but its a nice Noble Fir and the boys loved decorating it.

The next morning we woke up to a thin dusting of snow on our lawn.  The boys bundled up (Daniel chose Sam's church shoes) and went out for some fun.

Green snow angels

Yum!

The Big 4

Sam is another year older and wiser too!  He had a great birthday weekend.  Saturday morning (December 1st), we met my sister, Ann and her kids and our friends, the Wilsons at Just Kiddin' Around for some birthday-eve fun.

Everyone loves presents!

Playing with the trains with Whit

Shooting

 Shopping

Sliding

Climbing

And cooking!  I was worn out just watching them!

Sunday morning, Sam opened all of his presents.  He also gave his first talk in Primary.

Decorating his Superman cake (it wasn't my best, but he loved it)!

What a happy 4-year-old.  We think we'll keep him!  Happy Birthday Sam!  We love you!

Thanksgiving

I hosted playgroup the week before Thanksgiving and we made these little gems.  What cute little turkeys we have running around!

The Tuesday evening before Thanksgiving, we packed up and headed to my parents house in Salt Lake.  We arrived pretty late and went straight to bed.  The next morning...

...we played Cornhole...

...and croquet...

...and even mowed the lawn.

Since Bill had to work a lot of the day, my parents took us to the new Museum of Natural History.  It is really impressive and the boys had a ball playing in the water and looking at all of the dinosaurs.

Thanksgiving day was gorgeous!  Sam accidentally put on Daniel's clothes (and the pants on backward), but after we got him straightened out, it was a great day with my brothers, Dave and Dan with his family...

Launching a rocket with Grandpa

A few games on Grandma's iPad

Relaxing in between cooking

Our newest cousin, Henry Adams

Playing with the lizards from the museum

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious.  Zibbey and I were in charge of everything and it all turned out great.  We have so many things to be thankful for this time of year!

Halloween

We began this week with a pumpkin carving FHE...

Sometimes the marker got away from Daniel

Proud of their jack-o-lanterns

Sam had proclaimed a few months ago that he was going to be a  bat.  With a little creativity (and a lot of sweat), I came up with this little number.

Waiting for our ride to go trick-or-treating

Cutest frog ever!

(The black nose was applied by Sam while I wasn't looking)

A successful night!