Terek at 4 Months

Terek turned 4 months on the 21st. He is still my sweet little cuddler. He loves to be nestled up against my chest. He is becoming more and more aware each day. He loves to grab stuff and loves all of his toys that hang from things. Shellie got him to eat some rice cereal... yumm! He weighed in at 14 lbs. 4 oz. which is the 50th percentile. He is 26 inches long which is the 90th percentile! What a big boy. He's going to be tall like his daddy.

The 25th Day of Christmas

We had a very nice Christmas. We woke the boys up at 8:00 a.m. Brenner was way excited to see what Santa brought. Joren could have cared less! Terek just loved all the wrappings. We opened presents, enjoyed a visit from Lucas, Shellie and Legacy, hung out at our house enjoying our new toys, then headed to Lucas' for Christmas dinner and some late night sledding.

We missed having our parents with us, but it was a nice cosy Christmas (in the tons of snow.)

The 24th Day of Christmas

I can't believe it's Christmas Eve!!!
My family always went out to eat on Christmas Eve. We chose Denny's because we knew it would be open. Here's the kids in their new Christmas PJ's. They were so excited about them!!!

We hope you sleep well tonight!

We left food for the reindeer and Santa! Hopefully they find our house tonight!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

The 23rd Day of Christmas

Tonight was our night to drive around and look at Christmas lights.
As you can see, this was our boys' favorite activity.

The 22nd Day of Christmas

After a long weekend with the kids and a long ride home from St. George, Ryan and I opted to get a babysitter for the two older boys and go out with just Terek for Ryan's birthday. I threw some brownies in the oven before we left. The boys frosted and decorated them for him and jumped out to surprise him when he got home. Happy 35th Birthday, Ryan!!!

The 21st Day of Christmas

Today was our annual C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S dinner. We plan out a menu that has something from every letter of Christmas. We ate....

• Cinnamon Rolls
• Ham
• Rolls
• Ice Cream
• Spinach Salad
• Tomato Soup
• Mormon Potatoes
• Appetizers
• Squash

It was great to get together with all of my sibblings. We did a little gift exchange because we will only see Lucas and Shellie on Christmas. Mom has chemo for (hopefully) the last time tomorrow. Keep her in your prayers.

The 20th Day of Christmas

Tonight we headed out to Tuacahn to see the live Nativity and the lights. The kids loved the fountains that run down the front of Tuacahn. They had a cute train that took you on a short ride around Tuacahn.

We kind of missed the Live Nativity because we got distracted by Santa Clause.

The boys get a little less shy of Santa every time they see him. They even sat on his lap this time.

Joren asked for Legos.

Brenner asked for a DS.

The 19th Day of Christmas

On the 19th day of Christmas Dane and Sara got married!!! They got married in the St. George Temple.We had the luncheon and the reception in the new Santa Clara city office building. Everything was beautiful. Sara makes a beautiful bride. We really like her and we're glad to have her as part of our family. I don't have any sisters, but I now have 10 sisters-in-law.

The 18th Day of Christmas

Today's activity was to watch a Christmas movie or two. I have always wanted the classics... Frosty the snowman and Rudolph. Great movies for the boys to watch once we finally made it to Grandma Blake's house.

The 17th Day of Christmas

What we didn't do... wait in line for an hour to see Santa (That was our scheduled activity was to go to the mall to see Santa. When we got there we didn't want to wait in line... the kids have seen him several times and we have tons of cute pics.)

What we did do that could qualify for an acitivity.

• Make gifts for people (can't show pics, it would ruin the surprise)
• Frost sugar cookies for Brenner's preschool
• Wrap tons of presents

• Make reindeer food for all of Brenner's and Joren's preschool friends.

Any of those things should work for our countdown calendar.

Not my job

this..... ...is not my job!

Can I get a snow blower for Christmas?

The 16th Day of Christmas

Today we made our neighbor gifts. I'm going to spare you the gory details of how rediculous these things were to make (sorry Libby, they weren't fun). Next year I'm making something easier. Oh, by the way, they are oreo truffles.

The 15th Day of Christmas

Tonight's activity was... We met Lucas, Shellie and Legz for dinner at Mountain Mike's (my favorite pizza place). Then we all piled in the van to head down to see the lights.

The boys all fell asleep before we got the chance to get out and see the real reindeer that they have at Thanksgiving Point.

The 14th Day of Christmas

Today's activity was our Journey Dinner. This was something that my mom always did. We would sit down on the floor and have a little picnic of what Mary and Joseph would have eaten on their journey to Bethlehem. We thought we would jazz it up a little bit and have the kids dress up as the Nativity. Legacy was Mary (Shellie and Lucas made her costume- how cute!). Brenner was Joseph and Joren was the donkey.Terek was baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes (he loved this part because he got to be naked). Our dinner menu consisted of jerky, nuts, dried fruit and crackers. Since Joren was the donkey he felt the need to eat his food off of the floor. (Lucas informed me that I had to still cook a real meal, so this was basically our appetizer.) The kids were really cute and I hope they are understanding a tiny bit the real meaning of Christmas.

Just enough Snow

The boys have been wanting to go sledding so badly. We got just enough snow to go sledding. Daybreak has this great hill that is a detention pond with three different levels of highness. They didn't like the really high hill, but they loved the medium hill and the little hill.

Terek and I even joined in on the fun. We didn't go sledding, but we took lots of fun pictures.

The 13th Day of Christmas

This morning we had Ryan's work party at Thanksgiving Point- breakfast with Santa. It was pretty fun. They had crafts, face painting, cookie decorating, etc. The only bad part was waiting in line for everything.

Working for a Living

Brenner apparently has the patience of his mother. He can't wait for Christmas to get what he wants. He has been saving up his money but still didn't have enough for a Lego set. So I told him he could work for me today. He vacuumed the family room and kitchen, did a whole load of laundry, cleaned out my car, helped me wrap presents, made his bed and Joren's bed and cleaned their room, etc. He worked really hard, so daddy let him get a lego set at Target.

The 12th Day of Christmas

Today's activity was an angel tree. We picked a name from our tree at our community center. We had a little 1 year old girl. We were supposed to get her a warm outfit. We got her these cute pants and jacket and a shirt. It was fun to shop for a little girl!!!

The 11th Day of Christmas

Our scheduled activity was to go to wheeler farm tonight. They have lights and a hay ride, etc. So we met Ryan for dinner. Brenner started getting all sorts of whiney and didn't want to go outside in the cold again. So, we went here instead... Someone had told me there was an Indiana Jones made out of Legos on display. Brenner really wanted to see that. Well, when we got there they said that it was taken down about 3 days ago. So, we just did a little Christmas shopping for a few people on our list.

The 10th Day of Christmas

The boys were busy writing letters to Santa today. Brenner asked for Legos.

Joren wants a dinosaur.

Mommy isn't sure if Santa is going to bring Joren anything because he is such a naughty little boy.

Brenner has been a pretty good helper lately (I love Christmas bribery). If I could just keep him from fighting with his little brother.

Sweet Terek is just happy to get some new clothes (and maybe a toy or two).

The 9th Day of Christmas

Today's activity was to send out our Christmas cards. I addressed all of the envelopes while Brenner stuffed the pictures inside and licked them closed. He also put the stamps on the envelopes.Joren's job was to stamp the return addresses on the envelopes... or on himself, whichever was more fun. I hope I didn't forget anyone on my Christmas card list. If you want one, leave me a comment and I'll make sure I send one your way!!!

The 8th Day of Christmas

On the 8th day of Christmas we went to Gardner Village to ride with Mrs. Clause on a sleigh behind a tractor. I got a totally cute pic of the kids!!! Was it worth $10 that it cost to go on a five minute ride around the parking lot??? By the time we ate dinner, had FHE, stopped by the bank to get cash, etc. etc. we barely made it in time for the ride. We headed to the bakery 5 minutes before they closed for hot chocolate, donuts and cinnamon rolls. I didn't even get to stop by my favorite fabric store.

The 7th Day of Christmas

Tonight's activity was a visit to Temple Square to see the Lights.It was perfect weather and we dressed the kids extra warm after our trip to the zoo.

The only downfall was the extreme amount of people that were there because of the first presidency devotional at the conference center.

Good times with good family.

Pics for Mom

My mom hasn't been able to come to my house in awhile and she hasn't seen how I've been decorating. So I thought I would post some pics of my Christmas decorations for her.

I think I want to do a fun black and white tree in my living room next year. Guess I'll be looking for ornaments on clearance. I have the same tree in the family room that I had last year.

My village looks great up on the cabinets. The pictures don't do it justice.