The Lights on Temple Square

This week we took the kids to see the lights on Temple Square. It was amazing! There were nativities representing all areas of the world, beautiful luminaries, music, and ofcourse the gorgeous lights. It was quite cold and wet, but we had a great time.

Do We Have Mice?

I couldn't resist posting some photos of what we found under the tree on Christas Eve. Dan and I stayed up late wrapping gifts on the 23rd and we put some of the gifts under the tree. Less than 24 hours later, this is what we found.

The Wonder and Excitement of Christmas

The best part of Christmas for Dan and I (other than the new Lexus, ofcourse) was watching the kids' wonder and excitement. We've witnessed a small glimpse of doubt coming from Tristan this year so it was especially fun to see his excitement Christmas eve and Christmas morning.

We spent Christmas Eve at Grandpa and Grandma D's. We ate Dad's Orroz con Pollo and one of my new salads. Mom had some games ready for us, including a card game called "Slap" and a game in which we told a story based on an assortment of items she'd put in a sack (it was a very interesting story!) The kids got to open the pajamas Grandma had made for them.

After we were home, we got Santa's milk and cookies ready and the kids also wanted to leave some carrots, lettuce and apples for Santa's reindeer. We had a long discussion about the appropriate time for getting up Christmas morning. Dan and I decided that 7:00 would be fair. It was a hard sell for Tristan but he finally relented after I explained that Dan and I would be up late cleaning and getting the food and other preparations ready for Christmas.

Well, that was nice in theory. Dan and I finally got to bed around 2:00 a.m. and it wasn't long before Tristan was up, telling me he had woken up and couldn't go back to sleep because he was so excited. I'm pretty sure he'd checked out the scenery downstairs. I think I told him to go back to bed and think about school. It must have worked because we didn't hear anything more from him until 6:30 a.m. when he came in to wake me up and tell me it was only 30 minutes until 7:00. Before long, I heard his and Jolie's voices downstairs, and then I heard both of them in Gavin's room, trying to wake him up.

The kids were full of excitment and wonder. Gavin was thrilled to find a battery-powered train that Santa had set up for him. After we were through opening gifts, we spent the rest of the day putting toys together and playing with them. Mom, Dad and Lisa came over for brunch and stayed the rest of the day. We did our traditional Raclette for dinner. It was a great day!

Tristan's Eight!

Tristan turned a big eight years old on Friday! I can't believe it. The kids were out of school for winter break, so we spent the morning with our friends, the Jeppersons. They're moving to Kansas City next week so we were especially glad to see them. It's going to be hard to see them go.

Tristan's friend, Evan, also has a birthday the week of Christmas, so oddly, Tristan spent his birthday at Evan's party. They had pizza and went bowling.

We had a family party for Tristan Friday evening. Grandpa and Grandma D., Aunt Lisa and Grandma I. came over for his favorite dinner (my "famous" spaghetti). I made a special candy cane-covered cake which we ate with peppermint ice cream.

Some of Tristan's favorite gifts were his Heelies and archery lessons. He chose to go for the archery lessons instead of having a party with his friends this year.

Happy Birthday, Tristan!

When You're Two... the World is Your Playground

I had to grab my camera this morning and catch Gavin playing with Sir Topham Hat and his engines. He was at my feet while loading the dishwasher and he asked if he could turn the "windmill" inside the diswasher. Then he said something about a bridge and ran to get his trains. Before I knew it, he was using the small rack of the dishwasher as a bridge for his engines. Before long, he had Sir Topham Hat sitting on an upside-down water pitcher next to the dishwasher.

A Fresh Blanket

Dan and I spent last weekend in San Diego where (big surprise) it was warm and sunny. When our plane landed in Salt Lake Sunday evening it was raining, and by the time we got home it had turned to snow and it was sticking to the roads. By morning we had ourselves quite a little blanket of fresh snow (6-8 inches?)

I'm actually happy for the storm because we've had a crusty layer of old snow hanging around from the last one. There's nothing like fresh, powdery, Utah snow!

Tristan wore his snow bibs and boots to school and Jolie and Gavin and I played for a while and even had a little snowball fight before the kindergarten bus showed up.

Jolie, Jolie, Jolie!

My mom came by this morning to give Jolie an early Christmas gift, this GORGEOUS dress. My mom made it! We saw the fabric several weeks ago and we knew it would make a beautiful dress. Jolie is a lucky little girl.

I wish I could say that Jolie's disposition at church today was as beautiful as her dress. She was rather damanding and sulky. I didn't understand why until I realized that she must have been tired. Last night Dan and I were out late at a Christmas party. Although the babysitters put the kids to bed at 8:00 as instructed, Jolie apparently stayed up until 11:00 or so, spying on the babysitters. This morning she had all sorts of information to report about what they did after they put the kids to bed.

Our babysitters are twin sisters who live in our neighborhood. At church I asked them about last night. They had no idea she was awake but what they told me was consistent with what Jolie reported, so I'm certain she was awake at 11:00 or so.