December Joy

December was incredible! While we all had tons to get done, we enjoyed several fun things along the way. Audrey's class made gingerbread houses and I got to bring some icing and supervise the building of the houses. The houses are adorable, and Audrey loved it.

December was also a short dance recital for Audrey. She danced to "Chestnuts roasting on a open fire" and showed us their warm-ups and a few movements across the floor. She danced beautifully and it was fun to be part of her experience.

We got to visit Santa and put in our requests early this year.

As a family, we visiting the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Musuem. Here we are playing as a family around the water table. We always love it here, but Carson was especially excited to show it to dad again.

Christmas Eve:

We acted out the nativity it was adorable seeing the kids participate in the story. Later that evening we made chocolate chip cookies so that we could leave some for santa. The kids helped Chad write a note to Santa discussing coal and whether or not they would get coal or toys. We had a magical evening.

Christmas Day:

Audrey had a hard time sleeping through the night and she woke up at 5:00 am. She patiently waited in her room until the designated time to come out. We had grandma and grandpa come spend the morning with us. We did our stockings first, then opened presents. Favorite toys were:

Kate's new table and chair set,

Carson's dino cave,

and Audrey's Easy Bake.

Later, we had Brett's family join us for Christmas dinner. The food was great and we had a blast. What a wonderful day!

Around and About in November

We are still doing adventures often. Here are the kids at the Aquarium. We got to see them feed the sharks (a first for us), and we all enjoyed hearing that they will open a new wing in January. They already have almost all of the animals. Here the kids are at the coral reef play area which is always their favorite!

Carson was in preschool sports Basketball in November. He loved playing around and running. He is still working on the dribbling and shooting. It is fun to watch him have a good time.

We enjoyed the zoo free day in November - it was such a nice day that it was perfect. We saw lots of animals and enjoyed lunch there. We were joined by Julie and Jen and their kids. How fun to have friends and fun things to do.

Our Thanksgiving dinner was at Chad's parents house. It was such a lovely dinner, and we really enjoyed catching up with everyone. It was like old times, with a family flying in and everyone spending a couple nights all in the same house. With all the grandkids (I believe 13!), I am surprised we didn't go crazy, but it was actually just wonderful. We took family pictures, and here is a candid of some of the kids before the portraits were taken.

The day after Thanksgiving, our family was joined by Brad, BJ and Max at a skiing trip at Alta. It was very fun to ski with the kids. Audrey remembered how to do it quickly and did quite well. Carson got a little nervous, but he really enjoyed hot chocolate and chocolate cookies at the lodge. He says that he is willing to go again this Saturday! Here are Carson and Audrey at the lodge playing around.

Saturday after Thanksgiving, Audrey and her friend Rylee got to see High School Musical 3, AT LAST! We all went and had fun. When we returned home, it was fun to see our Christmas lights turned on and our tree shining.

On the last day of November, we went to temple square and saw the lights and visited the nativity. It was really nice to get such a beautiful start to the Christmas season. Now we have the spirit of Christmas. What a fun time of year.