Santa Clause Came to Town!

I was so lucky this Christmas to have my family in town (Kent, Carly, and Amy) and they got to spend Christmas with us!! Here we are on Christmas Eve with the whole gang (Jared's mom and dad, Kent, Carly, Tiffany, Coby, Corbin, Uncle Wayne and Aunt Laurie, Sommer, Amber, Amy, and the rest of us). We had so much yummy food and just had a great time being together as a family.
Earlier that day we went up to see the Joseph Smith movie at the JSM building downtown and then we hit the Gateway for some last minute Christmas shopping, and it was COLD!!
CHRISTMAS!!! Christmas morning was just the best. I can never sleep on Christmas Eve so I was up 'till about 4:00 AM and at the crack of dawn I wanted to get a head start on making breakfast. Austin was my first little guy to wake up and he was so excited - he just kept bouncing up and down and laughing. Jordan came downstairs and said, "Mom, Santa left me a bell on my door!!" and then he saw the new cars and tracks and he couldn't wait to dive right in and start opening his presents. It was a fun morning for everyone.


Jordan and Austin's Aunt Wee and Uncle "T" completely spoiled these little boys (as always!); Jordan got a new tool box and he's learning how to use his new tools so he can help Todd and Wendy work on their house and build a new bed. That's his latest obsession. They got more cars and tracks, a new love sac for the new baby (yeah!), and tickets to go with his dad to see the Monster Truck show in Feb. My boys are so lucky to have such great aunts and unlces!!

Later that evening we stepped out to drop off a few more gifts and visit Grandma and Grandpa Larson at their house.
Every year Jared's mom's side of the family have a Christmas get-together. Santa came to see the kids and everyone had a great time.
And... for Christmas this year we decided to take everyone tubing @ Soldiers Hollow. After everyone froze their toes and had enough we went to Don Pedros in Heber for dinner.




And so this Christmas was just the best; we had plenty of fresh snow, lots of friends and family around, lots of yummy food, and so many cars, trucks, and race tracks to keep these kids busy for a very long time. Thanks to everyone for making this Christmas so special, and thanks Kent, Carly, and Amy for making the trip up here to be with us. We love you!!

Boy, Oh Boy!!!

Oh my... I'm going to be a very busy mommy, chasing THREE boys around!! We're all very excited about welcoming this baby boy into our family, and Jordan can't wait to have another little brother. SOOO... that's our big news for this next year!!



Jordan had a Christmas program at his preschool, and he got to see Santa (again!). He has the drill down: waits in line, hops up on Santa's lap, tell Santa what he wants for Christmas (monster truck and a hummer), and then gets a candy cane. Not a bad deal! :-)



Some friends met up at Cheesecake Factory to celebrate our good friend, Darren's birthday. Great friends and yummy food!!

And lastly, my three most favorite boys. I just love knowing that pretty soon there will be another cute little face in the bunch. I'm a lucky girl!!
And here we go... ready to celebrate the holidays.

December = Christmas Parties and Birthdays!

December is always a busy month; lots of birthdays (Jared's brother - Todd, my brother, Kent, my two Sister-n-laws - Natalie and Carly, my niece - Valerie, my Aunt Diane, and I know I'm forgetting some)... it's just a busy birthday month. And, there's the party that we honestly look forward to all year long, the Stringham's Christmas party. We just love this group of friends and we're so lucky to know each of them. We usually stay the night up in Park City and have breakfast the next morning, but this year was just as fun (we always have tummy-aches from laughing so hard all night) so as always, it was a riot.
And our very sweet neighbors, the Powells host an annual Christmas party at their house and they go all out, and it's always a fun night. Lots of fun in December.. and more to come!

Draper City put on a Christmas event and Jordan got to see Santa, decorate a cookie, and write a Christmas letter to Santa (well, he tried; he ended up showing off his art skills and drew up a monster truck).



Ward Christmas breakfast: my little monsters wouldn't sit still for even a minute so we just roamed around for about 30 minutes and then called it quits.

Jared's brother Todd (aka: Uncle "T"), Wendy (Aunt "Wee"), Grandpa Larson, and the 4 of us took Todd to dinner to celebrate his B-day; my kids love their aunt and uncle so much and Jordan gets so excited every time we go out to visit them.


So every year at the Stingham's party, we do these white elephant gifts. Let's just say they get a little crazier each year (thanks to Jared Carlson!) I think this gift topped the chart (yes, that's a live gerbel), and the winning couple actually took the little rodent home!

Jared's gift: the Redneck Shotgun. No need to explain :-)





Our friends/neighbors just adopted these two little babies from Missippi and they are just the cutest little things! Sooo.. more babies in the neighborhood for us!

Polar Express!

Last year we all went on the Polar Express and it was such a hit with Jordan; he talked about it quite a bit so I think we're going to make Polar Express one of our Christmas family traditions... at least while they're still young enough to really enjoy it. This year we went with the Machons and Stacey/Dane - some of Jordan's good friends. All the kids put their jammies on, hopped on the train, had cookies and hot chocolate, sang songs, and then we all got to see Santa Clause!
I'm sure we'll be seeing Santa Clause a few more times before Christmas :-)

These are a few of my favorite things...

Austin was on the floor playing with these little wood stackable trains and he was just so enthralled with his little stacking project. I just sat there and watched his little hands pick up the blocks and stack them, take them apart, stack them again, and he did this with such intent for quite a while. I love this little boy so much and I just love watching him explore the world around him.
I caught a cute picture of Jordan crashed out on the couch after a long day of playing, preschool, running errands with mom, etc.; ahhhh….sound asleep. Yes, these little boys are my most favorite things.

Enrichment Night

We had our annual progressive dinner and I was in charge of the dessert. We have such a great group of ladies in our neighborhood and in our ward, and so many talents! So.. I have the best hubby in the world and this is just one of the many reasons why: I thought I had all the time in the world to make these peppermint torts (and of course, I've never made these before - bad idea)... well, the cream stuff just wasn't sticking together like it was supposed to and I was running out of time, fast! Jared could tell that I was starting to panic and so he calmly left the house and came back with some yummy cakes and pies from Harmons. I made one cake, but I was still 3 short, and he just saved my life. I love this guy so much. He's just the best and I'm a lucky gal to have him in my life.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We're still stuffed from Thursday; my Aunt Laurie and Uncle Wayne invited everyone over to their house for Thanksgiving and it was delicious!! Food and pies everywhere.
On Saturday a big group of family and friends went to see "BOLT" in 3-D and Jordan was glued the entire time. I haven't been to a 3-D movie since I was a kid, so I really liked the movie, too!! Jordan's Blue Puppy is now called "Super Puppy", so we'll just have to wait and see if the blue puppy has any new found magical powers.
And then we went to the "Divers" - that's what Jordan calls the Mayan; he could care less about the food, he just loves to watch those divers do their tricks.
And now we're just resting and enjoying a quiet Sunday afternoon (kids are sleeping, so is dad); and I'm going to join them :-)