Santa Claus

The kids got to meet Santa Claus when they were at Grandma and Grandpa Christensen's house. This year neither of the kids were afraid of him. Gabs was a little hesitant at first but then she jumped right in. Noah was ready to go from the first sighting of Santa in the hall.

Is it my turn yet?!? Please, oh please.

Victory!

Even Aunt Taylor had to get in on the fun.

Wait, you mean if I actually talk to him I get a treat? Awesome!

Bye Santa. See you next year.

Grandma Christensen is awesome with having this arranged for every year. Our kids are so blessed to have so many wonderful family traditions.

Jazz Game

Kyle was lucky enough to get one of his wishes fulfilled while we were visiting Utah. His cousin called up one night and offered us some free tickets to the Jazz game. So, we decided Gabbie could go with us because she took a long nap. Noah had to stay home and go to bed though.

Aunt Nan and Daddy helped Gabs climb up the stairs from will call.

It was really loud and she wasn't one hundred percent sure if she actually liked being there.

Our cute little family without our little man.

When the Jazz won, they let down a bunch of streamers from the ceiling. Gabbie decided that she needed to pick as many of them up as she could.

Cute, cute girl.

Thanks for the fun game Cousin Owen.

Good Morning!

We got to get up early for scripture study with all of the kids' aunts and uncles while we were visiting.

We also helped make breakfast on those days where we didn't eat cold cereal.

Gabs got to help Grandma grind some wheat so we could make scones.

Thanks for helping us to learn while we were visiting Grandma and Grandpa.

Visiting the Temple

The week before we left for Utah, Tay received her patriarchal blessing. She got a strong impression from her blessing that she needed to go do baptisms for the dead in the Salt Lake Temple.

So we bundled up in some warm clothes, with the exception of Tay, and head up to Salt Lake.

Unfortunately, Utah was 'supposed' to be getting a blizzard. They shut down the temple and were only doing live ordinances that were already scheduled.

The kids were very good about just waiting around until Taylor got finished talking to the temple workers inside. Gabs did way good at being patient, probably because she was sleeping!

Well, at least we got to look at it, right?

Next time!

Road Tripping

We made our way back to Utah for Thanksgiving this year. The next few posts will be of that trip.

Here were the kiddies on the start of the drive. As the pictures progress, you can see all the changes we made while driving and the kids' attitude transitions.

Mom and Dad's one and only road trip pictures.

This was on Saturday morning after we had stopped to eat some breakfast so we could get out of the car. Daddy took Noah's seat and strapped it down to the floor with wire and string. It might have looked very unusual, but it was actually more sturdy than when he was hooked in on the seat.

Peek-a-boo

Yum...Lunch

Man it's bright outside.

Awesome music dude!

I'm so stinking tired but I refuse to go to sleep.

Crash.

Yup, not me. Still awake.

We were all so ready to get out of the car by 24 hours later. We arrived safe in Utah and got ready to do some visiting.

Finger Licking Good

For our art project one day, I whipped up some finger paint with flour, water and food coloring.

Gabs has finger painted before so she was excited and new exactly what she was supposed to do.

This was the first time we tried it with Noah. Perhaps he wasn't quite ready...

I tried to get him to paint his name on his picture but he was way more interested in eating the paint. Good thing it wasn't toxic.

Setting up the Tree

For one of the Family Home Evenings in November, we decided to set up the tree.

This was Tay's contribution to the process...

We had one bulb out so we had to undo the pre-strung lights from one section and go through every single bulb. Kyle was a trooper and did an awesome job getting the lights back on the tree.

Noah and I decorated on another day while Gabbie was taking a nap, but we left the star for her to put on.

Now that it has been up for awhile, I am ready for the tree to come down. Noah is really bad about playing with the stuff on the there so it looks pretty messy and funny. I'm trying not to let it bother me too badly because in the grand scheme of things, it's just a tree. That's not what this time of year is about.

Some Way Old Halloween Pictures

Yes, these are a few months late. But better late than never right!

Gabs went as a good witch and Bubs was a garden gnome.
This is a classic picture of Bubs; he picks up any food he sees and stuffs it in his mouth.

At the ward Fall party, the kids got to play lots of games and do trunk or treating. They even got to play on a firetruck.

Playing in one of those ridiculously overpriced jumper things.

Back in October, Gabbie and Noah were invited to a birthday party. It was a weird invitation because we didn't know the little girl who was turning 7. Her older step sister, who had taken the discussions in our home, invited us over so there would be some kids around to play with her. Needless to say, it was a lot weird.

They had one of those moon bounce things that are huge out here. We frequently see them in people's backyards as we drive by.

The kids had fun jumping and trying to be like all the older guys. I had fun because I didn't have to tell Gabs that she would probably never get to jump in one of those things again because I wasn't going to pay for it. So it was a win-win situation.

Here are a few of the pictures I was able to get...