utah christmas

You wouldn't believe how easy it was to travel with Ryan along and checking all of our luggage. I forgot what it was like to travel so light. 

 While in Utah, we went to this thing called Flowrider. We could surf and boogie board on a fake wave. It was super fun.

 Then since Dennis and Zola couldn't participate on the wave, we went to a pool and swam. They had a blast.

One of Dennis's favorite things is playing games. 

 GO Kristen!

 Dennis got to ski and he LOVED it!

 While on the ski lift moving away from the lodge, playing Christmas music, Dennis says to dad, "Daddy, I am crying!" A little concerned Ryan asked why. The response caught him off guard and was not was he was expecting, "the music. It was so boodiful"

 The annual homemade present exchange.

Camille made Dennis this really cool I spy game. 

 Dennis made Kristen a Tshirt with a drawing of them together on it.

 I made Thomas a beard since he has a hard time growing a real one. ;)

 Ryan made Katrina a pyrex with "For Good Thyme, Call Katrina Funk" etched in it.

 Myer made me some cool coasters.

 Taylor made Ryan some very delicious beef jerky.

 Katrina made Zola a super cute teddy bear. It is pictured later... I was holding zola and failed to take one.

Zola loves her knew books!

Everyone looks lovely in this one. The good ol' charms. Dennis loved them. 

...horsey, horsey, on your way, we've been together for a many a day...

Thank you guys for a wonderful Christmas trip. We sure loved every minute!

before utah trip

 It was the first time I had blow dried my hair since Zola was born. She didn't quite know what to think of it. And, the second one was while I was baking cookies. She likes it about as much as I do.

Here is Dennis working on his homemade gift for Kristen. 

 

Dennis starting writing with his "letters" all hooked together. 

 At our ward Christmas party, Dennis really wanted to sing in front of everyone. He saw me go up to the microphone and he saw a friend of his up at the microphone. He told me that he wanted to sing several times and I told him that we would prepare for next year. Where is she? He would ask me. who? The lady in the blue (the host of the evening). Then when he got the opportunity he went up to "the lady in blue" and told her that he wanted to sing. She was so great and asked us all to sing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. He did a great job singing really loud the last two words of every line after we all did. That crazy kid had me laughing so hard I was crying. He has no fear.

 He also sang with the primary. See how Stella is holding his arm. I love it.

the stitches

 

Here is a video of Zola playing hide and seek with Daddy.

the dumpster won

We spent the day outside cleaning our yard. We took a wheel barrow load to the dumpster half way down the block and on the way back Dennis wanted to race his daddy. He took off running and looked back to see if his dad was coming. Like he all too often does, he kept running while looking behind himself. He turned around just in time to smack the dumpster with his head. 

It cut his head open pretty bad. We went to the urgent care and they said that we had to take him to the ER. So, we got to see where daddy works. 

 "Next time, I will look forwards so I see what I run into."

 Ryan cleaned him up really good but let the Doctor on duty do the stitching. Just in case there was scaring, he didn't want to feel guilty about it. I think it was a great decision.

Hopefully he doesn't look like Harry Potter when it all heals up.

daily dose of Z

It's crazy to think that my baby is 10 months old. She will turn 1 year old in 2 months. It is going way faster with the second child. 

She is getting faster at crawling and loves to eat paper.

 

 She loves hooking stuff around her two bottom teeth.

mixed up thanksgiving

After Thanksgiving we went up to the cabin where there was snow! Grandma bought Zola a winter coat because she didn't own anything warm enough for the 7 degree weather we were having. Thank you, Grandma. 

 We loved riding on the hay ride. Randy loves making paths through the woods for the tractor. It was so beautiful, quiet, and magical. It was even snowing! You could hear the jingle of the chains on the tires and it reminded me of sleigh bells. I was in heaven. I love the cold. I love winter. I love snow. I love my family.

 My parents friends, Holly and Dave came up and had so much fun sledding with Dennis. They would start up by the garage door and go down the driveway then down the little hill toward the cabin, make the turn and head all the way down to the lake.

 Then, Randy pulled Dave and Dennis behind the tractor on the sled.

 They had so much fun! We didn't want to leave the cabin.

 In Minneapolis for Thanksgiving....

 ....after eating too much turkey we all went on a walk down by the river before it started to snow.

 I love James.

 and I love Dennis.

 Zola and Owen are so cute together. They are going to be great friends. It is funny watching them eat, they couldn't be any more different. Owen could probably eat constantly, he loves it so much. He takes handfuls and shoves them in his mouth. Zola never NEEDS to eat. She will use her pincer grip to pick up a piece and bit it daintily with her front teeth.

 During our trip, Zola mastered pulling up to a stand.

 I love Owen. He is so cute and lovable.

Moose brownie! Yum. 

We also got to see the Dayton's eighth floor exhibit and see Santa!