Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas and everyone was very good, so we had lots of fun opening everything from Santa and family. Grace woke up at 5, but we told he she had to go back to bed, so we slept until about 6:30. Olivia slept longer, but there was no holding the others back, so we went ahead without her. Jed and his soccer goal. It yells "GOAL" for him when he gets it into the net. He loves it. He told Chris when he gets it in the net it is a goal, and when he doesn't it is a "not goal". Funny kid.

Grace opening the first present of the morning. We were all blessed with wonderful things and we are thankful for all our loved ones and blessings in this life.

As a side note, we were having pizza for dinner tonight, and Grace did not want to eat the sausage. Chris was trying to tell her how good it was. Chris said it was just like a hot dog, but Grace replies, totally serious, "Except for the ketchup". No arguing with that logic!!

Meeting Santa

We went to our ward Christmas party and the kids had a chance to sit on Santa's lap before dinner. Grace had been excited all week and drew him a couple of pictures before we went. This is a shot of her giving them to him. She asked for a baby doll, which had never been on the list until that moment. I hope she won't be upset if it's not delivered! Here is Jed asking for a train set, good thing we knew about that wish. He has told everyone we've seen since then that he will get a train set and that Santa has lots of them in his bag.

I think Olivia's feeling are obvious in this picture. Needless to say, she didn't ask for anything.

Ladders?

So, this is Olivia sitting on Grace's bed and being very happy about it. The only problem is Grace's bed is the top bunk, and Olivia climbed the ladder to get up there by herself!

I was in the bathroom helping Jed and I could hear her squawking and making noise, so when he was done I went to find her, and I didn't see her anywhere, until I looked up. How is it my baby is a rotten dog now?

Excited!

In two weeks, our family gets to go to New Orleans,To watch the Utes
Play in this Game!

Not only do we get to have a great experience, we also get to see some family that we haven't seen in 2 years! Way too much time. I think Chris and I might be more excited for this trip than Christmas, well at least as excited!

GO UTES!!!

Fort

Today I was pretty desperate for the kids to do something on their own, so I made them a fort, and Jed in particular was stoked. We had made them before, but I guess he didn't remember the fun of them. He started to drag every toy from his room into it, until there was no room to sit. After Grace helped me straighten that situation out, they played in it for a good while. They had snack and "naps" and even played with stickers under there. Of course Olivia wanted in on the action, and she felt this was the easiest way to get in!

I made Grace and Olivia Christmas dresses(match at Grace's request) and tried to get a cute picture with the 2 of them, but this was the best I got. Olivia was not having a thing to do with sitting still for me.

Drawings by Grace

The other day I was picking up around the crayon/coloring disaster in my house, and I found this piece of artwork by Grace. Now, the first thing I noticed, as I am sure same goes for you, was the shark. But then I noticed all the other wonderful parts of this picture. Look at the mermaid in the bottom left. If you look close you will see her shells, belly button and pretty red Ariel hair. Also included in this masterpiece is a puffer fish and a crab on the bottom, as well as a ship, and if you look really close at the ship, you will see a person on it. I had the kids drawing Christmas related items last night, and this is what Grace gave to me. Notice the reindeer has a red nose, and Santa's huge bag of toys. The reindeer each have cute tails. and even have bells on their harness. The bright rainbow like thing is his "thing that makes them go"

I am always amazed at the detail she puts in her pictures, as well as how she can sit and color for hours. She is so sweet and makes drawings for everyone and usually writes "I love you" on them all.