CHRISTMAS!

Christmas day was wonderful. Santa came through this year with a big surprise for Carter and McKay - just want they had been dreaming about - A Wii! Tanner was happy with everything that had anything to do with Cars. Everett was not quite sure about all the commotion. We enjoyed opening some presents and then it was time to go to church. I actually really enjoyed attending church and being able to really focus on the true meaning of Christmas. There was so much beautiful music and uplifting words. It really made the day complete. Once we were home, it was round two of presents since we did not have time to finish before church. We were then able to enjoy the rest of our day with games and even a little nap. We then enjoyed a turkey dinner together that evening, before the chaos of trying to get out of town the following day began. We spent so many years doing Christmas day with our families that it has taken some time to develop our own traditions and to just enjoy our time with our own little family. Now that our boys are getting a little older, I feel that it is important to cultivate some strong traditions. I think this has been the best Christmas with just our family yet.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I love getting ready for Christmas. The snow is here, and it's time to get all bundled up with some hot chocolate in front of the fireplace.

The boys have been wanting to decorate this gingerbread house for the longest time. They had a great time and it was fun to see the artistic touches they each added to the house.

Awards!

Recently our boys have the been the recipients of some awards. We are very proud of them!

Carter received his Wolf and two arrow points in Cub Scouts.

Carter took third place for third graders in the district Rich Morrow Math Challenge Competition. His school also took third place in the third grade competition.

Carter and McKay both received an award as DU (Denver University) Rising Stars. They received this award based on Academic Excellence and Outstanding Character as a future leader. They were both awarded tickets to the DU vs. Wyoming basketball game and were recogized at half time. After the game they were able to meet the basketball players and received autographs.

Thanksgiving in Utah

This year our Thanksgiving was spent in Utah with the Moretons. The five days together went very quickly, but we were able to do some very fun and noteworthy activities.

The day before Thanksgiving we took the boys on a trip to the aquarium with cousin Cameron. They had a wonderful time checking out all the sea life.

Thanksgiving was a fun day full of games and cooking. We enjoyed having the family together along with my grandparents.

The day after Thanksgiving we were able to attend the Oquirrh Mountain temple. It was very beautiful and nice to have a quiet morning in the temple together.

Over the weekend we also took advantage of our time together and got family pictures. We took pictures with all of my family and then some with just our little family. It was hard to get all the kids to cooperate at the same time, but I was happy with the results. Everett is even sporting his skinny jeans!

On our last night there we went to Temple Square to see all of the beautiful Christmas lights. This is always one of my favorite things to do around Christmas!

Happy Halloween!

I had a great Halloween with my Chef, Police Officer, Frog, and Dinosaur. Since they were out of school on Halloween we were able to enjoy some time at Nick's Pumpkin Patch and then a little Trunk-or-Treating at the church.

Fall Break - Austin and San Antonio

The second half of our trip was spent in Austin and San Antonio. We visited our old stomping grounds at the Law School at the University of Texas and then even dropped by our old apartment in Central Austin. Wow, so many memories there! However, I am glad that we have moved on from that phase in life.

We then went up North of Austin to visit Lamont's brother Bryce and his family. We had a great time spending the day with them and enjoyed some time dancing with the Wii and carving pumpkins.

The next day was spent in San Antonio. No trip to San Antonio is complete without a trip to the Alamo. We then had some delicious Mexican food at a favorite restaurant along the riverwalk. On the way back, we visited the San Antonio temple and walked the grounds.

Fall Break in Corpus Christi

This year we decided that we wanted to take advantage of the boys' week off for fall break. Finally, a last minute decision was made to buy some flights into San Antonio and to go and visit friends in Corpus Christi. It had been 4 years since we had moved away and we were excited to go back. We found that not too much with Corpus had changed in our four year absence - they were getting new Walmarts and Krispy Kreme had closed, but other than that it felt so similar to when we left it.

We had a lot of fun staying with Lamont's cousin Kevin and his family. It had been a while since we had seen them and it was so good to get together. Tanner had a great time playing with their little girl Kimball.

One morning Lamont, Carter, and McKay did a little deep sea fishing with our friend, Dave. They had a blast and it was definitely a highlight of their trip. They caught about a dozen fish, but just kept the good ones. While the older boys were gone, Tanner and I got our fill of fish at the aquarium.

No trip to Corpus is complete without spending some time at the beach. We enjoyed a hot dog roast there with our friends the Weatherston's. It was a lot of fun and it felt just like old times. In fact, we had such a great time that we decided to spend the next day at the beach as well. I realized that Tanner had never been to a real beach before and he just ate up every minute of it. Little Everett even got in on some of the action with his swim gear.

One night we spent some time with our friends the Bright's and Morse's. It was so fun to catch up. When we lived there, our kids were such good friends and we found it didn't take long for them to pick up right where they left off.

We also stayed at the Alexander's. They were so hospitable and we enjoyed spending time swimming in their pool (while there was a major snow storm at home in Denver), playing the Wii, and enjoyed a cajun fish fry courtesy of the boys's fishing trip. So delicious!