Christmas Season in Full Swing

We have a fun couple of weeks at our house with many Christmas activities: 

 

We put up our tree... so far it has remained intact.  With the exception of the Elmo ornament, Nate hasn't even touched the tree.  Weird because he has torn apart all the nativities and everything else in the house.

This boy loves to color and to be on the counter.  I think he is writing his Santa list...  

We made our first batch of fudge of the year to send to Aunt Chelsey.

We went on a sleigh ride in Midway to Santa's Village.. unfortunately no snow so it was a hayride... but still lots of fun.

Nate and Santa

Liv and Santa

Olivia and I made up a batch of reindeer food for her school friends-.   My first Pinterest project that I actually completed.  I thought it turned out pretty cute.

 

Plus Olivia and I went to a hand bell concert at the Orem library and  we went to the Kid's Christmas party sponsored by the bank where we watched Arther Christmas.  And the fun has just begun... tonight we have a Hanukkah dinner with our neighbors,  two work parties next week, Nate and Olivia get to ride the Christmas train with Grandma and Grandpa Magleby next week (while mom and dad are at mom's work party), lots of present wrapping, more fudge making, a visit to Grandma Hillman's and Grandma Greats, and lots of other fun things.   I love this time of year.

 

Enjoying Fall

Halloween has come and gone and Thanksgiving is next week... where has this year gone?  It has been such a good year for our little family!  Now that we have snow on the ground it has made me realize that Christmas is right around the corner.  I am looking forward to the holidays this year- especially Christmas. My kids are at such a fun age- it will be magical for them! 

 

Before the snow fell we have been enjoying the beautiful fall weather- up until this past Thursday it was 70 degrees and we have loved it.  Here is a little of what we have been up to the past couple of weeks...

 

Halloween:  The kids got to go trick or treating in the morning at school and so they came home with a big bag of candy before the night even started.  Nate wasn't sure what to think at first, but after the 5th or 6th house he started saying "Trick or Treat" and then trying to eat all of the candy he was given. Olivia was a pro, but got tired after about 45 minutes and was ready to go home.  I was okay with that.  She probably had more fun handing out candy at our house than the actual trick or treating.

 

 

We got our family (just kids this year) pictures done.   Angie Harwood took them and she did a great job catching their personalities.  I was worried how they were going to turn out since neither child wanted to cooperate that day, but I think she got some good ones.  Here is a sneak peak:   More to come on our Christmas card. 

Here are some random happenings... the last couple of weeks I have tried to take more pictures since I went for a spell without taking any

Teaching Liv how to wash dishes....

Scott's cousin Sarah took Olivia to the Living Aquarium on Saturday afternoon.  Olivia loved it... she got to pet a baby shark and  touch a sting ray.  When we picked her up she was so excited.. she kept telling me we need to go back with our whole family... we may have to do just that.
 

We got a ton of snow on Friday and Saturday... about a foot of heavy snow that broke several branches.  Nate thought it was so fun to eat and to throw... he kept saying "more snow".  Olivia made snow angels and helped us shovel the driveway.  It was a fun way to spend Saturday morning.

BYU Basketball has officially started.  It is going to be interesting with these two kids.  We have only had three games so far and they do pretty good for the first half, but by the second half it is Nate's bedtime and he gets to be a bit of a bear when he is tired.  He is busy and wants to climb up and down the chairs- thankfully everyone around us has been really nice.  Olivia wants to play on daddy's phone instead of watching the game... sigh.  Oh well... someday they are going to look back and this and remember how much fun it was- at least I hope they will.

So tired...

 

We had enough leaves in the back yard this year to make a pile for the kids to jump in to- they loved it.  Nate would climb up on the trampoline (it is only about a foot off the ground) and would dive in.  Liv thought it was great to be buried in the leaves and keep asking us to do it again and again. 

Busy...

Life is busy right now... it always is, but since we have gotten back from New York I have felt like I have been running non stop between family, home responsibilities, work, relief society, and everything else and I am not finding the time to get it all done ... as I look at the calendar this week it is just as crazy... oh and BYU Basketball officially started this last week, which means we have basketball games at least one night each week until February... and the holiday are coming and I have lots of projects to complete... if only I didn't need lots of sleep.  Despite its craziness... I love my life!!! 

Here are a couple of things we have been up to...

We spent the weekend with my family in St. George for my mom's birthday.  We had a great time... the kids (even the big ones) played in the pool, we drove to the temple and walked around, did some shopping and the big girls went to Hairspray at Tuachan.   These were the only pictures I took... I think I am slipping.

 

We went and fed the ducks....

 

Played in the park trying to enjoy these last few days of warm weather...

 

New York Trip (Part 2)

 

I should have finished the post about our New York trip yesterday... as there wasn't too much left... 

 

Thursday October 4, 2012

 

Olivia and I went to Chase Farms and picked raspberries.  Nate and Daddy stayed home so that Nate could get a nap.   She thought it was pretty neat to eat the raspberries right from the bushes. 

 

Also on Thursday Olivia got her hair braided - it is so so cute.  A friend of our friend took me to a salon in Rochester and she got the full treatment- the nice thing is that is supposed last for a couple of weeks so that we don't have to fight with hair everyday.  If anyone knows someone in my area who braids, please give me a call. 

Friday October 5, 2012

We drove from Rochester to Kirtland.  We had originally hoped to run into my sister Chelsey who is serving a mission in the area, but she was transferred out the visitors center last week.  It was pouring rain and the kids had had enough so we made it through a quick tour of the Kirtland Temple and then a short visit at the visitors center... here are two of the sister missionaries that served with Chelsey until last week.

 

 I could not convince Nate to eat anything but cookies and chocolate (his new favorite word) all day, but I figured when he got hungry he would eat.  When we got to the hotel in Akron, Ohio he saw some leftover pizza sitting on the coffee table so he climbed up and starting eating away... silly boy.

 

We flew home on Saturday... poor Liv was not feeling well and slept most of the way home.  We had a 30 minute connection in Denver for our Provo flight and I was sure we were going to miss it.  Thankfully the plane taking us to Provo was also delayed and we made it home on Saturday night by 9.  It was such a fun trip... but it is good to be home.  I was off today due to Columbus day and it was nice to get laundry done, grocery bought, and get back to somewhat of a normal schedule before heading back to reality tomorrow.  The kids must have had fun because they pulled out the suitcases and played "going to New York" (Liv learned this from Lillian who taught her how to play "going to Utah"). 

Here are some pictures of the kiddos in the airport/on the airplane-  These were taken on Scott's phone and I am not sure how to flip the last two.

Nate charmed the flight attendant and she let him go into the back and play... those dimples do it every time.