Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we came together for our traditional Christmas Eve sushi.  It was delicious and so beautiful.  

Look at all those colors!

Owen was brave this year and tried wasabi.  He did not like it and drank a whole glass of Sprite to wash the taste (and the burn) away.

The kids got to open a few early gifts from Grandma and Grandpa.

Beck was so excited to get more Legos.

Scott got three new sweatshirts.

Owen got a really cool figure that changes from Anakin to Darth Vader.  So far, it has been the big hit of this Christmas.

The boys were so excited for Santa to come!

Even Jake started watching for him. 

It was such a fun night!  Christmas Eve has always been my favorite.  I have such wonderful memories of being up at my Grandma's house and then waiting up late for Santa to come....somehow he always managed to sneak in and deposit my gifts in the solitary 20 minutes that I slept all night.  

It's still a magical night filled with anticipation and wonder.  

Merry Christmas!

Skiing and Other Activities

We took the boys skiing last weekend.  I found them some cheap skis at the local thrift shop and we headed over to a park just to practice our form before we made the trek up to the ski resort. 

They did pretty good.  Beck loved zooming down the hills as long as he didn't have to turn.  Owen finally got his balance by the end of the afternoon.

He always made to sure to let me know that he was okay with a big thumbs up....even if it was right before he started crying.

I've had some people ask for Beck's poem from the Reflections Contest.  Here it is....

And Owen's latest costume creation.  

Oh my....

The Christmas Spirit

Owen has Christmas Spirit coming out of his ears.  He is so excited for Christmas!  He wears his snowman headband all of the time and likes to make them bounce.

He set up a sleigh and reindeer so that he could pretend to be Santa.  By the end of the day he had about sixteen "reindeer" hooked to his sleigh.

And then there's this - not Christmas Spirit, but still funny.  There are almost no words....this kid is weird....hilarious, but weird!

Thankful

We had such a nice Thanksgiving.  We gathered at Grandma Connie's house and had a magnificent feast.  Then we settled in to relax.

Even though we set her up on the most comfortable recliner, Oaklee had a hard time relaxing.

The kids got to open up their Christmas ornaments.  Owen has been looking forward to this for weeks!

He got Taz!

Beck got Hogwarts!

All the kids and their ornaments.

I have so much to be thankful for - especially for my fun and loving family.

Now we had to get ready for Christmas!  We spent all day Friday putting up the tree, the lights, and wrapping presents.

Owen was more than happy to help and wanted to dress the part.  He found his Santa hat, boots, gloves, and stuffed his tummy with a pillow.

He was so sad though that he didn't have a beard.  I had some leftover batting from the Christmas Village so we found a way to make a beard.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Looking for the Silver Linings

My Grandpa Child passed away last week.  He was an amazing man.

I have adored him for as long as I can remember.  He will always hold a special place in my heart and I will miss him terribly.  It was kind of a bleak weekend (especially since I had to speak at the funeral), but there were definitely some silver linings....

I was grateful to be able to say goodbye.  I was able to go see him one more time before he died, and although he probably didn't know I was there, it meant a lot to me to be able to give him that one last kiss and squeeze.

I also love any excuse to see my family.  They are some of my favorite people in the world.

My dad was able to come home and it is always good to see him.

It was such a beautiful day (albeit cold) and as the soldier was playing Taps, I looked up and noticed how blue the sky was (almost the color of grandma's eyes). 

 I hope I can remember to always find the beauty, even in the midst of sadness. 

One of my favorite things of the whole weekend was that I got to bring out the dollhouse my grandpa made for me for the viewing.  I haven't gotten my dollhouse out since we moved into our house thirteen years ago and it was awesome to see it again and spruce it up a little.  

My family is definitely one of my greatest silver linings....they always have a way of making me feel better about life.

I was so glad Jon got to come home and we took advantage of his time here and let the kids go see Santa....Tripp did not see this as a good thing.

It was also a special weekend because Colby had his farewell on Sunday.  He is going to Argentina in a week and I will also miss him, but he gave an amazing talk and he will have some life-changing experiences on his mission.  I really am so impressed at what a wonderful young man he has become.  

So a few clouds covered the horizon this week, but I've been trying my hardest to find those silver linings, and, hopefully, the sun will start shining through soon.

Reflections Contest

Beck entered a poem about Legos in the Reflections Contest.  We just found out this week that he won!  He was the very last winner announced in the assembly and he was not expecting to win.  He was very excited.  If you look closely at the picture, you can see his hands up in the air in victory.

Receiving his trophy.

His little brother was so proud of him. 

So was his mom.

Good job Beck!  

A Whole Lot of "Normal" Around Here

Nothing really exciting has been happening around here.  We survived Halloween and the sugar rush and now we've settled back into our routine.  Beck decided to go for a swim in the shallow end of our gene pool and the doctor said he needed glasses.  He is still amazed at how much better he can see now.

Owen decided he wants glasses too.

Scott wants in.

Owen tried on one more pair just to be sure.

We have a winner.  He wore these for about three days straight.

Beck's flag football wrapped up.  Here are Beck's stats:

He kicked off twice.

He punted once.

He carried the ball three times.

He almost pulled a kid's pants down once while attempting a tackle.

All in all I would say it was a successful season.

Beck did a pumpkin book report for school last week.  He worked really hard on painting her face and making her hair.  I think she turned out so cute!

And the dogs got a new pillow that they fight over every day.  I have since figured out a way to extend the pillow out so that they both fit comfortably and they don't have to spoon all the time.

And that's our normal around here.....

Trick or Treat!

The boys had a great time trick-or-treating this year.

We had Wolverine

and Two-Face

Beck and his little friends wanted so badly to go by themselves this year, but we weren't sure they were quite ready yet, so we told them they could just stay way ahead of us.  However, the little boys weren't having any of that and did their darnedest to stay up with them.  They kept up until right at the end of the night when they were too pooped to run.  They got tons of candy, but unfortunately, Owen also got leg cramps in the middle of the night from all of the running and I got to sit up at 3:00 in the morning and rub his legs until he could fall back asleep....Happy Halloween!

At the neighborhood Halloween party, Owen tried to eat the donut off of the string.  He was doing a pretty good job but got more of the powdered sugar on his face than actually in his mouth.  

It was so much fun and I love that the holiday season has begun! 

I'm feeling festive already!

Witches and Other Pre-Halloween Fun

We headed over to Gardner Village for our annual visit to see the witches.

They loved the huge spiderweb.

This witch made them a little nervous and Beck had to be repeatedly cajoled into sitting anywhere near her.  

It was absolutely freezing so we took a refreshment break with some donuts and hot chocolate while we waited for the feeling to come back to our fingers.

Last weekend we went over to Jeff (my cousin) and Nick's house to watch the Utah game, and Nick planned some fun Halloween activities for the kids, including carving pumpkins.  The boys loved that they could carve whatever they wanted, although it made Beck a little queasy sticking his hand in the pumpkin guts, and each kid walked away with a $5 prize.

Now bring on the candy!