Tis the Season!

Annual Stringham Christmas Party
We look forward to this night all year long! I'm so glad the Stringhams keep hosting this year after year (this was our 10th year!). Margie spent who knows how many hours compiling dozens of family pictures, Christmas party pictures, and other trips we've taken together and made a DVD for all of us to take home as a gift. We have the greatest friends; we love these guys so much.






Live Nativity in Draper
Ever since we've lived here quite a few families in our neighborhood go to the live Nativity in Draper as a group. We all meet up and Fudruckers and then head on over to the Nativity. The line is always long but it's always worth it; we come prepared with hot chocolate! It really feels like a little Bethlehem.







Finding that Perfect Tree
We broke down and bought a fake tree a few years ago but we miss going out and bringing home a real tree. So last year we decided that we'd be a two-tree family; we have the Tai-Pan tree and the Kid Tree, and the kids so much fun decorating their tree with basketballs, golf balls, and hand-made ornaments.




And here's the family tree:

Making Christmas Crafts:
More Christmas Parties:


Visiting Santa @ SouthTowne:



Christmas shopping and lunch in Park City:





My Cute Boys:



Live Nativity with the Hasletons
Tom and Heidi invited us to go to a live nativity in Alpine. We all met up for pizza and then drove over to the Nativity. Again, the line was quite long - but so worth it! They got to see all of the people dressed in robes weaving baskets, carving wood, shaping clay.. again, just like a little Bethlehem.







Mike & Jana Pratt's Christmas Party:
And this is where we were tonight; we always love running into all of the neighbors and friends from our ward. In this picture: Jared/Lanae & Kathy/Spencer.


So tonight I got a wild hair that I'd hurry up and make all of my Christmas treats before Jared leaves to go out of town next week so that he can help me deliver everything. And that meant 10x's the recipe.. and that lead to a few trips to the store because I kept running out of ingredients. And there is still pumpkin spice bread baking in my kitchen at 2:45 AM. What's wrong with me? And yes, this is the 4th night in a row that I've been up past 2:00 AM. There's just always one more thing to do - how do other people get it all done? I can't seem to.
But Christmas is always busy, and I love it all, there's always so much going on and so much to do. That's all for now - more to come :-)

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had the best Thanksgiving weekend, mainly because we had my mom in town, along with Kent, Carly, Braelynn, Amy, and Greg. We were so glad that they all made the journey up to Utah and spent the weekend with us. We had quite the Thanksgiving feast and had so much food (so much that we still have left-overs in the fridge, yikes - time to clean out the fridge). Jared's mom, dad, sister - Jen, Zack, and Zaden joined us for Thanksgiving dinner, and we had more family over later on that day. What a day, and what a fun weekend. We watched the BYU/Utah game, the Jazz/Lakers game, lounged, etc. etc. My mom treated us all to a movie - Tangled; the kids all loved it and we just had fun being around our family.



Carly & Braelynn ... she's just precious!

Zaden showing off his hand-painting skills:




Tiffany & Jaden / Lanae & Cayden (aren't these the cutest boys??) We are so lucky!

Grandma Larson & Jordan

Family picture; my dad's side of the family was in town and stopped in for a visit:

My boys, hanging out at Grandpa Burton's house

We really missed Chad, Natalie, and their kids this year, but they'll be here in UT soon enough. I love my family!!!

St. George in November

We wanted to squeeze just a little more sunshine out of the year before the snow sets in, so we took a trip down to St. George with our friends one last time. We lucked out, it was warm enough to take the kids swimming, the boys played golf, played at the parks... and just had fun being there with Heidi, Tom, and their cute kiddos.





Jordan got to play golf with his dad:


Pirate Island Pizza:


We've been going to the Z-Fitness gym for the past few years every time we're in St. George so we always see familiar faces when we're there. So we recruited one of the girls who works there to come over and watch our kids so we could go to dinner and a show. We had so much fun, and so did the kids. (And if anyone needs a great sitter while they're down there, let me know and I'll give you her name and number. She was great!)










Welcome November! We've had some cold weather but we have had a few really nice days. So when the sun is out we're always looking for a great place to enjoy to weather. Here's our first few weeks of November...

Playing at the Park with Tif and her boys:
Somehow I ended up with the cutest, most cheerful, most adorable cousin who makes me smile and laugh my heart out every time I see her. And I get her all to myself every Friday (and other days, too!) I really am the luckiest girl to have such a great cousin and best friend. I love Tif so much. She's just beautiful inside and out, and I'm so glad we're so close. Love my baby girl!


Playing with our best buddies and making cookies:


The "Twins"; our cute little boys:


Playing at the Park with friends:



Classic Fun Center:





Gardner Village and Pizza with the Family:






And now we are counting down the days 'till Thanksgiving! I'm so excited this year because my mom, Kent, Carly, Braelynn, Amy, & Greg are all heading into town to spend Thanksgiving with us. We'll really miss Chad and Natalie and their kids, but soon enough, soon enough, they'll be right here with us.
I love Thanksgiving and I'm really excited about the whole day, making the food, watching the kids play, it's just a fun day and I can't wait to see my family. Counting down the days...