Wednesday, December 22, 2010

The Piggies!

For some reason, the pigtails make her even more naughty......  boy does this little peanut keep me on my toes!  



Saturday, December 18, 2010

Christmas Festivities!

We have been BUSY this holiday season, but I love it.  It has been so much fun to really get into the holiday season with my little family this year.  Here is an update on all of our Christmas festivities thus far!

Decorating the House! 

Traditionally, the day after Christmas we always pull out the Christmas decorations and 'deck the halls' if you will!

Don't mind me in my bathrobe!


Elf on a Shelf

This year we did "Elf on the Shelf!"  If you haven't heard of it, you should do it next year.  It comes with an Elf that you name, and then the Elf 'hides' in a different place every night and the kids look for him when they wake up!


One of the places we found "Star, the Elf" hiding!


Advent Calendars 

Bribing the kids to smile by the tree and then they can have their chocolate advent calendar...


Woo Hoo Chocolate Advent Calendar!


Matching PJ's 

And of course, the Elf always comes on December 1 to bring Christmas jammies!




Live Nativity 

I dragged the family out to a live nativity!  And even though we got there right at 6pm when it opened, we still had to wait out in the cold for an hour and a half!  Tallie was a trooper, she didn't even make a peep the whole time we were waiting!



Once we got inside, it was incredible.  They had acted out different scenes from the Bible.  The costumes and the decorations were amazing!  It was fun to teach Lance about the story of Jesus!


Lance loved seeing the "Baby Jesus."  About a week later we were out to dinner and Spencer's sister Abi asked Lance who got married in the Temple (we were on our way to see the light at the Temple), and Lance gets a big grin on his face and said "The Baby Jesus!"  It was cute.


Festival of Trees 

Yes, my friends make fun of me because I am such a bundler.  My kids and all of their layers, but Tallie looks so cute all bundled up!


Took the kids out to the Festival of Trees.  It was fun!


Whoever came up with this idea of standing on a stool and getting a big bubble around you, was genius!  I swear every kid at the Festival wanted to do it!


Painting the Nativity 

Spence and Lance spent a Saturday afternoon painting a nativity, Lance has really gotten into crafts lately (hence his sports interview question below!), and really enjoyed painting! 








Lights at Temple Square

We had a wonderful night out with Spencer's family.  We went out to eat.  At one point Speen's dad disappears for a little while, and lo and hehold, comes back dressed as Santa!  It was hilarious!  What an awesome guy, the kids LOVED it!  (as did everyone in the restaurant!)



We took Trax to the Temple Square lights.  Lance LOVED it!



The lights were beautiful as always!






Riding Trax back to the car.  Tallie was a fan as well! 


This is Tallie's new favorite face, look for it in more pictures to come!



Zoo Lights


I seriously LOVED the Zoo lights this year.  I did think we were going to get in free since I was a member, but only got $1 off, which I thought was a bit of a rip off.  But, it really ended up being a ton of fun.  They had a lot of lights, we went with some fun friends, and the best part - - - - it was 50 degrees!  Yes, you heard me right.  It was Heavenly.  I felt like we were back in Arizona!








Ward Trailer

Every year our ward loads all the kids in a back of a trailer decorated with christmas lights and bales of hay, and we ride around the neighborhood caroling to all of the neighbors.  It is a very fun tradition!





Love this picture of the kids hanging on the railing singing carols!




Lance's preschool program 

Lance's preschool program was really cute this year.  They dressed up as elf's and sang some fun songs!




Thanks mom and Tallie for coming to see the goose!


Cemetery Illuminations

Attempting a Christmas Family Picture! 



A favorite daily Christmas Tradition - The Kissing Ball!  


And I'll just throw these in at the end - - - did I mention, how much I LOVE dressing up a girl, it is so fun!  Here is Tallie's Christmas outfit!



Wow, that is a lot of Christmas festivities and we still have a week to go!  It was exhausting just seeing all of the stuff we have already done this season.  I am excited for this next week though!