Temple Square and Christmas Traditions

Saturday was such a fun day! We had made plans to go to Salt Lake that day and enjoy some of the Christmas season and the sites up there. Daddy had to work most of the day, so we got stuff done around the house in the morning and then picked him up on our way to Salt Lake. 

On our way out of town, we stopped by Walmart to grab a couple of things. To our surprise, Santa arrived just after we did! The kids got to tell him what they wanted for Christmas and take some pictures with him that the photo lab developed for us. Caleb freaked out if I put him anywhere near Santa, so he didn't get a cute picture.

 LOVE this picture of Gwennie! She had to think about what she wanted for a second. 

Our first stop in Salt Lake was The Grand America. We love seeing their Christmas windows and this year they were all different Christmas songs. It was so fun and the kids had fun guessing all the songs. 

 The gingerbread cabin was absolutely amazing this year! It is all edible. They even had had an outhouse and the toilet seat was made out of rice krispy treats. It was crazy cool!! 

 Gwen found a beautiful display of nutcrackers.

 The Grinch window was our favorite! The Grinch's head went up and down the chimney. 

 We had to take a potty break while we were there and to say that Tessa was amazed by the elegant bathrooms, would be an understatement. She was dying!!! I could hear her yelling from the stall, "Even the toilet paper holder is golden!!!" She said it was the most elegant place she had ever been and wants a bathroom just like it. 

 There were so many people trying to take pictures of the cabin, so we had to be quick. It was so impressive!

 Our next stop was the candy windows at Macy's. They were all Peanuts themes. Which we loved! 

 We stopped by the Joseph Smith Memorial Building where Tessa wanted her picture with the tree, the chandelier, and the beautiful windows. 

 We loved having Temple Square to ourselves during the afternoon. We got to get close to all the nativities and see the visitor centers without all the crazy crowds. We hung out at the new Church History Museum while we waited for the sun to go down, and then we walked around and saw all the beautiful lights. Our timing for everything not being crowded was pretty much perfect and we had a lovely afternoon and evening!

Grinch Dinner

Our Grinch Dinner is probably one of our favorite December activities. I am so glad I had the idea a few years ago. It gets more fun each year. We got our table all Grinched out for our green Grinchy feast. 

 While I prepared things for dinner, the kids all colored Grinch masks. 

 They played Pin the Heart on the Grinch and we had to watch the movie, of course. 

 Our Grinch dinner was yummy this year! We had a Roast Beast (chicken) Who-Hash (roasted potatoes), green salad, green bean casserole, pistachio salad, and green punch. Tessa feasted on chicken nuggets.

 We enjoyed our Grinchy cookies for dessert. Such a fun evening!

December Memories

A few things from the last couple of weeks that we want to remember....

Gwen is our puzzle girl. She does puzzles daily and she can do hard ones! This Christmas puzzle is 50 pieces and she can do it all on her own. 

 We made fingerprint candy canes. The girls love anything that involves painting.

 Caleb discovered the whipped cream in the fridge. He had us all dying of laughter. He sprayed it in his mouth, looked totally surprised, and then said, "Mmmmm!!!" and started spraying more. Needless to say, we had to start hiding it in the back of the fridge. 

 We made reindeer cookies. Mommy is babysitting 4 extra kids these days and a couple of them were with us when we made our cookies. 

Homework is always better in a Santa hat. 

 Pa let Tess have the wishbone from the Thanksgiving turkey. The girls were so excited to pull it. Tessa got the bigger piece and wished for 2 candy canes. 

 Oddly enough the next day we had a candy cane hunt and Tessa found 2 candy canes. She was so happy her wish came true!

 Our cute Adam still wears his Santa hat day and night, unless he's at school or church. I'm not sure how many more years I will find him sleeping in it. But I sure hope this isn't the last year. He looks so much like his Uncle Mattman in this picture!

 We took a drive around Salem Pond. This is one of our favorite holiday activities. The lights on the water are so pretty!

 Adam finished reading The Hobbit a couple of weeks ago and asked if he could watch the movies. Daddy wasn't up for a late night, so Mommy stayed up late and watched the first movie with Adam. He wasn't very impressed with how much the movie strayed from the book, but he loved staying up late and watching a "grown up" movie. 

 The girls spent one Saturday morning doing ballet, gymnastics, and yoga. Tessa was the coach. I kept hearing, "Downward Dog! Upward Dog! Sitting Dog!  Running Dog! Belly Rub Dog!" I guess I need to do more yoga so they can learn some real moves. 

Santa at the Library

Monday we went to the Springville Library to see Santa. Daddy stayed home with Caleb and Mommy took the older 3 to the fun activity. While we waited for Santa to arrive, Adam got to go up and help everyone sing Jingle Bells. It's a good thing he always wears his Santa hat. He stands out.

 Santa arrived and read all the children a Christmas book. Tessa was thrilled because the book he read was a book about dinosaurs. 

 After story time, the kids got to visit with Santa for a few minutes. Adam told Santa he wanted a remote control car and a real baseball bat. Tessa said she wanted a dress like a girl from Mexico would wear. And our silly Gwennie said she wanted a toy horse and a necklace. Santa told all of them those were some good choices and he would do his best. They are lucky this year! They are sure seeing a lot of Santa!