December 2015 - The Christmas Season Begins and Star Wars

We started off the Christmas season right by going to see the lights at the Riverwoods. Their lights are so fun and always impressive. We love the little fire pits and stopping at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for some caramel apples. We totally lucked out because Santa was there in his little house! There was no line! I was in complete shock. It was perfect. And we could take pictures for free. We totally lucked out. It was a very fun way to start off the season.

Shortly after that we had another holiday event. We attended our Ward Christmas Party. It was very fun. We had great food and listened to some very talented singers and musicians in our ward.

And so began the Christmas events. We attended the annual Christmas Party with my work, Pinnacle Quality Insight. They reserved an entire theater at Jordan Commons to see Good Dinosaur. This time we took Charlie while Colson stayed with my parents in Draper. They gave us meal vouchers to get whatever food we would like from the concessions. Charlie was loving it, chowing down on his quesadilla and fries...and lots of ketchup to himself. I won a prize in the raffle! I won a Food Saver, but I have yet to actually use it. I just need to take the time to learn how to use it. For now, it is more of a space killer than a food saver. But I am determined to put it to use soon! This was the second movie Charlie has ever been to, but we were especially excited because he would actually understand what was going on this time and we knew he would enjoy it. He enjoyed it, however, it was such a dramatic and scary movie for him! The little dinosaur in the movie is scared of everything, so the whole movie was a roller coaster ride of emotions. Poor Charlie spent a good amount of the movie being freaked out. Even the Pixar short before the movie started was horrifying. It was the scariest one I have seen. It is the one with all of the Hindu gods that fight a three headed monster. I’m pretty sure he was traumatized. I will never forget the look of horror and shock on his face as he sat there frozen and wide-eyed. We thought for sure we would have to take him out at some point during the movie. There were a handful of times that he actually screamed out. Somehow he made it through the movie, and in the days that followed he mentioned wanting to go see the “big movie” again.

We had a couple of game nights with friends. We invited over the Carvers from our ward and another night we had Amy and Johnny over. We loved these times with friends.

We went to Kangaroo Zoo with some of our PG friends for a playdate. It was great! The kids loved it. After trying the big slide, Charlie kept it low key after that. He wasn't about to climb up those stairs again for a terror ride. It's a pretty steep slide! All of the kids that went down it were sprawled out laying on their backs with their arms and legs wide as if they were flying squirrels trying to slow down their fall. It was pretty dang funny.

We had a Christmas party with Jason’s high school friends at the Cook’s House. We had pizza, did a white elephant exchange, and played Schamoo. It was really fun.

We sold the family heirloom! That's right, we said our goodbyes to the old Explorer. May you have safe journeys with your new owners (quite the motley crew).

The day for Star Wars finally came! We went with my family and the Phillips cousins the Saturday after it opened. We were so stoked for the day to finally arrive, and we were even more thrilled that the movie surpassed our expectations. We thought it was great and just lots of fun. After the movie we went to Culvers for dinner. Such a fun night.

And here is a look at some more of our Christmas season preparations:

November 2015 - Thanksgiving

We had a long overdue date night with our friends Mike and Kate Pacada when we got back from our cruise. We ate at Five Guys Burgers then went to see the new concluding movie of the Mockingjay Part 2. That has been a really fun series of books and movies for us. After that we headed back to our place for more visiting and catching up.

Other than that, the rest of our November was spent celebrating Thanksgiving with family. It was the Gruber’s year this year. Amy and Alli’s families arrived the weekend before Thanksgiving, so we had lots of time with family. It was great! We got together for Sunday dinner and Monday dinner. On Tuesday, those who were not working had a great time at the Curiosity Museum. On Wednesday we came for dinner and then Jason and I stayed late to play games; we put the boys down to bed in one of the rooms and then took them home once we were done playing games. That worked so well, we were in shock.

Greta, Alex, Charlie, Oliver, Duke, Harlan, Colson, Capri, Clara, Penelope, Mya, Elsa

Thursday was Thanksgiving Day. Nancy had reserved the kitchen and gym at the church. We spent the afternoon playing in the gym and then we had our feast, and then continued our playing some more. In keeping with tradition, we had our talent show there as well. The food was amazing and the entertainment was spot on. Everyone brought a game or activity to share. We napped the babies at the church and I was stocked that Colson slept right during the Thanksgiving feast! Perfect! The White, Hymas, and Hadley families also joined us this year. We had lots to be thankful for.

On Friday, we hung out with the family all day and stayed late again, putting the boys to bed there and taking them home late at night. On Saturday, we played in the snow, had a fun McDonalds outing to eat and so the kids could play in the play place, had dinner at the Grubers, and then once again we stayed later and played games. This is only substantial because playing games is something Jason and I really love to do (as you all know by now). To be able to do that (once kids are in bed) is huge and something we really look forward to.

By Sunday it was time for the visiting families to head home. It was sad to see them go, but at the same time we had such a fabulous week. Duke was so cute to Colson all week; he kept squeezing his cheeks and saying how cute of a baby he was. Capri also loved holding Colson. He got a lot of attention. It was adorable. Clara loved telling Jason and I about the latest with Penelope, like when she was sad or her progress with walking. She couldn’t wait to set up plans to help her learn how to walk. She was also dead set on having Penelope and Colson race. Colson was already walking around, but there were definitely consequences. He had a moment when he fell and banged his forehead on the infamous brick step in the family room. Everyone rushed to him and helped comfort and ice him. Charlie had his down days too. He threw up one morning and was not quite himself for two days. Besides that, however, Charlie loved all of the action. He was kind of in his own world playing things, soaking in the cousins, and loving being at Grandma and Grandpa’s. During the week we had a few other sick people; Oliver got it, Penelope got it, and Nancy and Alli got illnesses the day after. Not too fun.

It is crazy how much older Alex and Harlan are getting. They loved going off and doing their own thing and playing their own games. They also loved joining in on any adult games that they could. Harlan proved to be very competitive and really good at sports. It is so fun getting to know their personalities more and more as they grow older.