More Christmas activities

Friday the 12th was Ben's work Christmas Party. It was a lot of fun meeting his coworkers and the people he talks about all the time. We had a great dinner and a fun white elephant exchange with the prize of the night being this....

There were a few BYU fans, but more Utes there, and the Ute fans won it. They were going to run over it with their car, but I think they decided to just noose it instead. It's a shame really, somebody would have really enjoyed getting that.

Then on Saturday we had a very busy day! I started off by going to the ward RS Brunch which was wonderful! They had a beautiful program that I got to participate in. I sang in a trio and I think our song went really well!.

Then off I went to Bingham High School's Candlelight Concert. Bingham is celebrating their 100th year and they put together an Alumni Choir. So for the past 4 weeks I've been able to go sing with my old Choir teacher Mrs. Willmore and tons of old friends. It was so much fun!

Here we are performing, I think we did a really good job for only having 4 rehearsals!

That night we had our neighborhood Christmas Party! These are so much fun!!!!! We just laughed and laughed and had another yummy dinner and white elephant gift exchange. I think the favorite gift was a book entitled, "What is your poo telling you?" Just imagine the contents of that book and you can imagine how hard we were laughing. My favorite: the post-partum poop also known as the "bonus baby". The Cowley's hosted us and we are so glad they did. Thanks for the fun fun night!

The Ward Christmas Party

On Dec 6th we had the Ward Christmas Party. We had a great time, and got to see Santa again! Garett was even awake to see him.

Grace was much bolder with this Santa, she knew what to do and didn't even hesitate to hop right up on his lap and ask for a princess dolly!

Tis the Season...

We've done so many fun things this month. We started off our Christmas Celebrations by going to see..

with the Lynes on Dec. 3. It was a wonderful night to get away and enjoy an evening of remembering what Christmas is all about

Then on the 5th Jenny and I decided to go to the Festival of Trees since neither of us has ever been. It was a lot of fun! We only made it about half way through the trees before the kids broke down and we had to give up seeing the rest.

This was one of my favorites, it's blown glass!

We did get to see Santa while we were there! I really talked it up this year, so Grace was so excited to see him, and this is the first year I have a picture of Grace not screaming while on Santa's lap. I also kept asking Grace what she's going to ask Santa for for Christmas. She kept saying, "I don't know" so I "suggested" that she might want a Cinderella doll (which is what I had already gotten for her). She thought that was a great idea and told Santa that's what she wants. So lucky for her Santa can grant her Christmas wish! Poor Garett got woken up to take this picture.
They had a really fun craft area for the kids. They got to make these Reindeer hats.
Here is Matthew and Grace.
Nicole and Grace, I love the silly face.

Here they are making the hats. Grace was loading on the sparkles, and definately felt she needed more. But really would you expect anything less? I'm still vacumming glitter and sparkles out of my carpet.

The other activity the kids chose to do was fishing. Mostly because they knew they'd get a sucker out of it.

Here are the three kids in front of a Disney Tree. There were some truly creative and beautiful trees there and we had such a fun time! Maybe next year I can get Ben to go with us, or watch the kids so we can make it through all the trees!

Decorating for Christmas

We decorated the day after Thanksgiving, and boy did it wear us out. Mostly because we went out shopping that morning (not at the crack of dawn though, because Garett decided to sleep through the night for the 1st time!)

Here is Ben and Garett all tuckered out.

And Grace in one of the Christmas Bins. She's just fake sleeping and thinks she's hilarious.
And here are the results!
(notice our Nativity on the bookshelf? It's the one we brought home from Singapore!)

The Second Christmas tree. (This one was actually the original until we upgraded)

And the stockings hung with care. Garett even has one!

I just love having my house decorated for Christmas!

Grace trying to dress Herself again....

This time in my sweaters. One on top and one on bottom.

Her waist it through the neck and one of the legs is in an arm. She couldn't figure out why there was room for one more leg.

Thanksgiving and New Family Pics

Our Holiday weekend started on Wednesday with Ben taking the day off. We slept in and did a little shopping and then Ben so graciously watched the kids while I went and saw Twilight with Jenny. It was okay, but I'm nitpicky and didn't love Edward, or Bella very much. After the movie we went over to the Lynes for some yummy dinner and lots of fun!

We had such a fun Thanksgiving. We went to Ben's Parent's house for a yummy dinner and games that mostly came from the xbox. Scene It and Rock Band sure are fun!

Friday I was going to wake up early after Garett ate and head out shopping, but to my surprise he decided to sleep through the night for the first time! (it hasn't happened again since) So I was out shopping by 8 instead of 5. I got some good deals and had a nice time shopping by myself while Ben braved Target and Walmart with 2 kids! What a guy! I met up with him at Walmart and then we went to the Wingshack for some lunch. We then went home and decorated! I love Christmas decorations and it is so fun to have them all up.

Saturday we got to see my sister Michelle! We haven't seen her since July and I was excited! We met up at my brother Rob's house for some games and dinner. While she was here she took some pictures of our family. Thanks Shell!

We had a great Holiday weekend and it was sure hard to get up with an alarm again on Monday. Oh well, only 3 more weeks till Christmas and lots more family time!

2 months Old!

Here he is 2 whole months old and his first set of shots. He was a brave little guy even though I forgot to give him some Tylenol. His legs were sure sore the rest of the day and he just wanted to be held. Here are the stats on our big boy.

Height- 24 1/4 inches 93%

Weight- 14 lbs 90%

Head- 16 inches 66%

Grace really loves him so much. The other day she said, "Mommy, Garett is my best best friend!" That made my heart melt, and then of course she realized I loved it so much she said it about 100 time the rest of the day. But still... you gotta love it.
Grace's smile is so sweet in this picture. And she really is sweet some times. In fact the other night I laid Garett on a blanket to play while I made dinner and Grace brought over her library books and read to him instead of jumping over him and squishing him like she usually does. She really is a good big sister and is slowly getting a little more obedient. Now, if I could only make her voice about 10 notches quieter!