Santa and Snow

Earlier this week we took the boys to City Hall for the annual Christmas Sing Along.  It's a fun event that the city puts on, where you come to sing Christmas carols, eat cookies, and see Santa.  For the past few weeks I've been trying to prep Owen about what we would do, and why Santa is nice and not scary.  (Because for the past 11 months when you ask Owen about Santa his response was "Santa is scary.")  Luckily it worked!  When I asked him what we were going to do he had it down: "I will sit on Santa's lap, tell him what I want for Christmas, Mommy takes a picture, and then I get a cookie!"

Porter, on the other hand, was not so sure about it!

Owen & Porter watching Brad 

The next day we got our first big snow of the year!  Of course Owen wanted to play in it.  After 20 minutes of  gathering hats, coats, boots, snow pants, gloves, etc.-  they were ready.  Poor Porter!  He could hardly move!

Owen had fun making "snowballs".  The snow was so powdery it fell apart as soon as you threw it, so he changed his game plan and started eating it.  

Porter loved it at first!  But then he had a hard time walking, so he spent most of his time crawling. 

They had fun for about 10 minutes, then the novelty wore off and the cold the best of them!  We hurried inside for some hot chocolate and blankets. 

Lights on Temple Square

We decided to "beat the crowds" and head to the lights on Temple Square a little early this year.  Ha.  It was just as crowded as ever!  After a slight 'what were we thinking?' moment, we remembered that we couldn't do anything about it and quickly got over it.

Owen especially enjoyed it this year!  It was so fun to watch him take it all in.  He loved the fountains, the concert in the Assembly Hall, and the outdoor nativity.  He really wanted to go see the statue of Christ in the Visitor's Center but the wait was about 30-45 minutes and we just couldn't do it.  We will have to go back after the New Year and see it again. 

What a great way to start the Christmas season!

Farewell November!

Between a teething toddler (6 weeks and counting...), a spirited 3 year old, a very busy husband, and quite a few family heartbreaks, November was a tough month.  Luckily things are beginning to look up, not necessarily because any of the circumstances have changed (Porter is still teething, Owen is still 3, Brad is still busy, and so many that I love are still hurting)-- but because the spirit of the season has arrived in my heart!  

One of my callings in my ward (I have 4 right now, if you're keeping track, but that's another story) has given me the opportunity to write and put together our ward's Christmas program.  Reading through the scriptural account of our Savior's birth, specifically the faith of those Nephites who had held fast to their faith for so many years and who were willing to die for it, has been such a strength to my faith.  What a great reminder that even when things are tough and when so much sadness is happening around me, ultimately God is in control and all will be well.  

"And it came to pass that [Nephi, the son of Nephi] went out and bowed himself down upon the earth, and cried mightily to his God in behalf of his people, yea, those who were about to be destroyed because of their faith in the tradition of their fathers. And it came to pass that he cried mightily unto the Lord all that day; and behold, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying:

“Lift up your head and be of good cheer..."

Some of my favorite moments of November were casual family moments, spending time with the 3 people I love the most.  

The boys loved crawling through this over and over again.  One of the few moments they played well with each other... still holding out hope for more moments like this!

Owen discovered Nintendo Wii this month.  His treat at the end of a day would be 20 minutes of Mario with Dad.  I don't know who enjoyed it more, Brad or Owen!

Owen wanted to help Porter with his bottle one morning.  Reminded me of this picture, just 1 year ago:

We couldn't wait until December, and brought out all of the Christmas decorations just before Thanksgiving.

Porter loved "helping" with the Christmas lights.  Actually, he really just wanted to do this the whole time:

We ended the month with a great Thanksgiving with Brad's family.  I didn't take any pictures, but I'm hoping to get some from family soon.  

It was unseasonably warm that weekend, so we took advantage of it and went to the Herriman Pond on Saturday to do a little "fishing".  

 Look at those handsome guys! 

Oh Owen, you keep me on my toes but I sure do love you!

Halloween

Our little frog & Sheriff Woody (Toy Story) had a fun Halloween this year.  

We started off the afternoon trick or treating at Brad's office and then ended the evening with some more trick or treating in the neighborhood with Grammy and some of our neighbors.   This was the first year that Owen understood exactly how this all worked.  He had so much fun running door to door.  He refused to let us empty out some of the candy in his bag to try and lighten his load, and ended up dragging his bag to the final houses of the night.  Oh to be a kid again!   Porter hung out in the stroller and was treated to a few suckers to keep the post-bedtime whines to a minimum.  He sure loved that!

Brothers

We've been going through a bit of a rough patch with Owen's behavior lately, especially towards Porter.  I get so frustrated sometimes, but then I capture quick moments like these and have hope that they can be buddies one day!

Fall Fun

A few weekends ago we decided to drive the Alpine Loop.   We don't necessarily plan for it to be an annual tradition, but that is what has happened the last few years!  Last year Porter was only 10 days old.  Wow!   We were a little early for the full color changes, but we had fun anyways.

Last Friday there was a Fall Festival in West Jordan that we decided to check out.  We vastly underestimated how busy it was going to be!  We didn't have much time and the lines for most of the activities were pretty long, but Owen mostly cared about the bounce house, inflatable slides, & nearby park so it was okay with him.

We snapped a few pictures on our way out.  Much bribery was required, but it was well worth it for those sweet smiles!

And of course, we had to take our annual trip to the pumpkin patch.  We actually went to the patch a few weeks ago for pumpkins, but we got there just as it was closing and the camera battery died, so we had to go back a second time for the pictures.  I'm sure you can guess how excited Brad was for another photo op!

These two pictures make me smile.  They pretty much sum up life right now for these two:  

Porter is so excited to be "big" and doing what Owen is doing...Owen, not so much! 

It's hard to believe that Halloween is right around the corner.  I was bummed to realize it was on a Thursday this year (Brad's school night), and his Professors made it clear from day 1 that the schedule would not be changing.  But apparently, someone had a change of heart.  They moved class and now we will have Brad home for Halloween!  Yay!  Things are always much smoother & happier with him around.  We definitely cherish our time all together these days, but I'm so proud of him and all the hard work he's doing.

St George Vaca!

In the middle of September we headed down to St. George for a weekend family getaway!  It was the first time we've gone anywhere just the 4 of us, and it was nice to get away from "life" for a bit and have some fun with them.  Also, it was really, really, (REALLY!) nice to have Brad with us the whole 3 days.  He didn't do any work or school work.  We were really able to just enjoy the time together!

We picked a great weekend to go because it just rained back at home.  It rained a lot! I got a little nervous when I saw a news report of 2-3 ft. of flooding at Herriman High School.  I was hoping our house was fine, which it was.   

We stayed at a condo, which allowed us more flexibility on meals, naps, etc.  Everyone had their own room and Owen instantly fell in love with his "St. George House".  The first day we swam at the condo and then headed over to town square to let Owen ride the carousel and to let the boys explore the lazy river water area/splash pad.  They had fun getting wet!

Enjoying his carousel ride.  What kid doesn't!

Town Square.  Owen was anxious to get wet so we quickly switched into swimsuits

Our next stop was to Nielsen's Frozen Custard for a yummy treat.  We all loved it.  You can't go wrong with custard!

Yum!

Owen loved the custard but his ice water was a close second.  Silly boy.

Saturday was our hiking day!  We thought about doing Zions, but realized our boys are still a little young.  Instead we opted for the Red Reef Trail at Red Cliffs Recreation Area. This ended up being the perfect hike for our family! It wasn't too steep for Owen and there was plenty of streams & pools of water to stop at along the way. We all really enjoyed this hike! (If you don't have small kids with you the hike continues farther than we went... I hear it's beautiful!)

Ready for some hiking!

Stopping for a snack break!

Brad and Owen with their hiking sticks

This was our turn around point.  (Notice the steep incline and rope to help you get over)

The rest of the afternoon was filled with naps, college football, and more swimming!

Owen finally figured out that his floaty helps him swim!  He was so excited to move his arms and legs and swim around the pool.  It made the swimming so much more enjoyable for all of us!

Later that night we watched an awesome storm roll through!  

Brad captured this awesome picture!

We had contemplated seeing a show at Tuacahn, but I'm glad we didn't.  Both nights we got storms, and this one came with flash flood warnings.  We were happy to be watching it from the comfort of our condo!

What's a vacation without a late night movie & treat!

 Sunday we visited the St. George temple & visitor's center before headed back home.  What a beautiful temple!

"I Love to See the Temple"

It was pretty bright, but I love this squinty picture of my boys!

 We stopped at Fort Cove on the way home for a potty break and to let the boys run/crawl around for a bit.  We had fun taking a few pictures while we were there.

Porter was happy to be out of his carseat!

Owen was a little *too* happy for the cookie we promised him if he smiled for a picture.  Love it!

Owen cried as we pulled into our driveway Sunday night because he wanted to go back to his "new St. George" house.  We sure had a fun time!