Christmas Week

We had such a great Christmas this year. Everything went well, we got a lot of great stuff, nobody was sick, weather wasn't bad, etc. One thing I did learn from doing this blog is that we need a new camera desperately. Maybe that will be on my next wish list.

Of all the gifts Evan got from Jon's family, this fireman hat might have been his favorite. Funny thing is, they got the hat for free at a restaurant.

Christmas morning I had an elaborate Christmas breakfast planned, but decided I didn't want to spend my morning in the kitchen so we had snowman pancakes and sausage instead. The kids thought it was great.

Santa had two sets of trains for the boys all set up in the living room. They played with the trains and ate breakfast for almost an hour before asking about the stack of wrapped gifts behind each train set.

We had to beg Evan to open gifts because he was too fascinated with the trains. We finally gave up and let him open gifts later.

Look at this face of pure joy. The thing he is holding, with all of his heart, is a cowboy costume I picked up in the Halloween clearance section. He was so excited to get it, tried it on once and hasn't cared since.

Boys of all ages love remote control cars. Well, I have to admit, it was pretty cool.

After church we went to my dad's to open gifts (didn't take any pictures) and then went to Jon's grandparents house. This is Shawn showing his great-grandma how to use the walkie talkies he got.

Shawn with most of his load.

Later in the week we had a family movie party with treats and popcorn and blankets. Fun fun

We went to a jumping, trampoline type place with some of my family. Shawn was literally crying when we left because he wanted to stay there "100 hours"

"Do not climb walls of the tramps"

We also went for a little walk along the Jordan River. It was such a beautiful week. I don't know if you can see the giant rock hurling through the air. Shawn loves throwing rocks.

Cute little guy worn out by the walk

Thanksgiving Family 5K

We have lovers of running in our family (uh hum...Jessica and Allison) who decided we should run a race on Thanksgiving morning. We decided to just do a 5K in Draper to benefit the Food Bank. It actually was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing it again. Participants were: Tiffany, Dad, Amy, Jessica, J.P, Allison, James, little Natalie, and me. Allison and Jessica actually placed really well in their age groups. Congrats to those girls. Tiff has all the pictures on her camera, but I just stole this one she posted on Facebook (see bottom picture). The sunrise picture is on my way to the race. It is a good thing it was so beautiful because it was the only thing that helped my super grumpy attitude about waking up and going out on a cold dark morning to run a race.

Temple Square Lights

We went to Temple Square to see the lights right before James and Allison headed to the airport. It was a beautiful night and the only thing that went wrong was our camera kept taking fuzzy pictures.

Instead of bringing the huge double jogging stroller we just smashed the boys in together once Shawn decided he was done walking. Evan was so cozy being held by his brother that he almost fell asleep on the way back to the car.

Happy Thanksgiving

This post has nothing to do with Thanksgiving, but since I couldn't think of a title and it's Thanksgiving week I guess I just went with it. Here are some random pictures of what we have been up to.

I asked Shawn why he drew on himself and his reply, "I was trying to be like Jesus"

A couple weeks ago we stayed with my family at Aspen Grove near Sundance. It was a fun getaway.

This is the only picture I took of my birthday festivities. Jon made me a great breakfast and we opened gifts. Then I went to lunch with the girls in my family. That evening we went shopping and I got some fun new things. The next night Jon and I went out to eat at the Riverwoods (where this picture was taken) and then to the musical "White Christmas" at BYU. It was such a great birthday and I have a wonderful and thoughtful husband.

We decorated for Christmas last week and Shawn has found a great new place to relax.

Can I just tell you that Evan's age is my favorite. They are so cute and fun and aren't into back-talking or attitude yet. Evan has turned into my little dancer and he has mastered the sideways hop which I can't get enough of.

Longest Halloween Post Ever

Okay, so this might not be THE longest Halloween post ever, but it is long. I just wanted to do one giant post about the last couple weeks. We had a fun Halloween and hope you all did as well.
We went to Cornbelly's for the first time and had a blast

Train ride

Little haunted monster

Sandbox type thing made out of corn kernals

Horse races

I realized that I really don't enjoy corn mazes. After a little while I made my family walk straight through the corn to get out.

This is what happens when you don't put the seatbelt on and then try to go past something that looks fun

Wooden bus

I took the kids and went with my cousin Jenae to Pumpkinland. Of course we got there at the same time as several school buses. Just our luck.

Evan's favorite thing about Pumpkinland.......chickens

Carving pumpkins at home

Shawn carved this pumpkin by himself. Jon cut off the top and Shawn did the rest. Yes, we let him use one of those pumpkin knives all by himself. I think he did a great job.

This is Shawn's pirate face

Mary Poppins and the chimney sweep. What is that guys name? Bert maybe? We had a Halloween party with my family at J.P. and Jessica's house. We ate a yummy dinner and played minute-to-win it games.

Outside for the pumpkin bowling

My dad took pumpkin bowling very seriously. He was not happy that he totally missed the "pins" the first time. In the bottom right part of this picture you can see the broken pumpkin thanks to my husband for throwing it so hard it hit the fence behind the pins. :) Hence, the next pumpkin was covered in duct tape.

One of the games: try to knock the cups off the chairs by twirling around

Evan didn't have a nap that day because of church and the party. He spent a lot of time just cuddling with Grandpa.

Game: try to eat the doughnuts hanging from a string without any hands

The group (at least the ones who dressed up)

The grandkids (Captain America, tiger, pirate, Bumblebee from Transformers, Girl Frakenstein, and Captain America again)

Getting ready to go trick-or-treat

Evan wasn't totally understanding what was happening, but he would go up to the door and just hold out his bucket

Cute little guys. Evan always just follows his brother around