Saturday Adventures

Our activity for Saturday was to head up to Salt Lake to see the Christmas windows at the Grand America and then head over to Temple Square to see the lights. 

We loved the windows this year! Gwen was hard to keep wrangled, but the older two loved them.

 Gwen showing us the lights outside. 

 This giant gingerbread house is made from real gingerbread!!!! It was crazy amazing!

 Getting to Temple Square was the adventurous part of our evening. We got stuck in horrible downtown traffic. It took us over 30 minutes to get from the hotel to even close to Temple Square. Then we got stuck in a protest marching down from the State Capitol (hence the traffic). Then once we finally got parked, Gwen barfed all over the parking lot. And finally every person in the state of Utah seemed to be at Temple Square that night. It was so packed we couldn't get to anything. We eventually made our way to the very edge of Temple Square by the Church Office Building so we could take some pictures. We go every year and have never seen crowds like that. It was nuts, but it will definitely be a year we remember. 

Gwen was amazed by the lights and the "Castle Temple". The older kids were really sad we didn't get to see the nativity or go into any visitor centers. We might have to go up during an afternoon so they can see those things this year. All in all, the lights were beautiful and despite the crowds, it was nice to feel the peace of Temple Square. (Especially after getting caught in an angry protest.)

 We had a fun evening together making new memories.

Saturday Surprises!

Friday night, the kids put their shoes under the Christmas tree for Father Christmas to fill. Mommy had a rough night with little sleep and so Daddy got up with the kids the next morning to see what was in their shoes. They were happy to find shoes full of treats!

 They were also so happy to find that Father Christmas had left Christopher Pop-in-kins behind to keep an eye on the kids until Christmas. 

 Tessa was the first to spot him!

 They wasted no time unloading and tasting their loot. 

 After a minute of being downstairs, someone started knocking on the front door. Tessa had actually tried telling us before all the kids were awake that someone had been ringing the doorbell, but we told her she must have been hearing things cause no one should have been ringing the doorbell at 7:30 on a Saturday morning. 

When Eric was downstairs with the kids he heard the knocking, so he opened the door and they found Aunt Katy standing on the porch!!!! She wasn't supposed to fly home until Wednesday evening, but she was sneaky and surprised the whole family by telling us the wrong date. The kids were so excited to see her and after about 30 minutes Eric came and woke me up so I could see her. He woke me up and told me to look at the pictures he had taken of the kids. I am not going to lie, I was a little annoyed because I was deliriously tired. I tried to open my eyes and when he showed me the pictures with Katy and Gwen I was totally confused. It was a fun surprise though and I am glad she is home for the holidays!

  And like a good Aunt, she brought doughnuts for the kids for breakfast. Tessa and Gwen only ate the frosting, as always.  

Christmas Countdown

Last week we began our Christmas Countdown activities. We love having something fun to do each day leading up to the big day. 

Day 24: Don't Eat the Reindeer! 

You should hear the maniac laughs that come out of these kids when we play this game. They love it!

 Day 23: Stringing popcorn for the tree. 

They did way better with this activity than I expected. We only have 2 strands on our tree and our living room floor was covered in popcorn when they were done, but they loved it!

Day 22: Make paper snowflakes. 

They made a big pile of snowflake and hung them in our windows. 

 Day 21: Our 3rd Annual Grinch Party!!

 We love our Grinch party. This year the kids made Grinch masks, played Pin the Heart on the Grinch, we read How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and we had our Grinchy Green dinner. 

 We made green Grinch heart cookies for dessert.

 Day 20: Salem Pond and Letters to Santa 

Daddy was gone for the evening, so we loaded up the car and headed for some Christmas light adventures. We loved finding houses that were decorated for Christmas and we went to see all the lights on Salem Pond

 Everyone agreed that the Pond was beautiful all lit up. 

Before bed, they all got their letter written to Santa. Tessa had a hard time deciding whether or not she had been good this year. 

Adam's Santa Hat

It's that time of year again. When Adam eats, sleeps and does everything in between all while wearing his Santa hat. The only times he doesn't have it on is when he is at school or at church. It's the first thing he grabs when he gets home from school and it doesn't come off his head until we leave for school the next morning. 

(And yes, he's playing outside in December in short sleeves. We're having a heat wave that we are hating. We want some snow!!)

 I am not sure how many years now Adam has been wearing the same Santa hat, but we noticed that it was filthy and pretty stinky. So, his old hat was retired and he got a new hat this year. Even he was grossed out when he saw the difference between the two hats. The picture doesn't really do the old hat justice. I guess you can say it was a very loved and well worn hat.