Temple Square

I couldn't let another year go by without seeing the beautiful lights at Temple Square. We went last night. Boy was it freezing. My nose was about to fall off! The lights are so beautiful. I'm so glad we were able to go and share the beauty with the boys. Who knows when they will have the chance again. Elliott wasn't interested in taking pictures because he was so cold. He did agree to take the picture in front of the steaming fountain. He thought that was pretty cool. I love it with the temple in the background. I'm happy we went even if it was ridiculously cold. We weren't the only ones - it was pretty crowded.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve - singing carols



The tree

We had a lovely Christmas morning. The boys slept until 7:30, so we didn't have to get up too early. My only problem is that I woke up at 4 and didn't sleep well after that. I have a history of doing that on Christmas morning. I'm too excited for the day (although this year was just following the routine of the past couple weeks). The boys loved their presents and couldn't get enough of them in one day. That's always a good sign. Elliott finally got the pop-up tent he has been asking for for 2 years. He has slept in it every night since Christmas.

Derek in Christmas bliss.

We spent the afternoon with Stephen's and Mary Anne's families. We all had a great time visiting. Derek loved Lincon's rocking horse. As soon as one of them got off, the other one would get on. It was a fun, relaxing afternoon. We came home and had pizza dinner with our friends the Straits. Derek did surprisingly well all day with only a 15 minute car-ride nap. They were definitely ready to crash when it was bedtime. Merry Christmas to everyone!

School Christmas Program

Elliott had a Christmas program at school. They all dressed up in their Sunday clothes and looked so sharp. They sang 2 songs - I Want a Hippopotomus for Christmas and Must Be Santa. They were pretty cute. Here's a clip of the first song. I love Elliott "creeping down the stairs." It's adorable. They're both pretty long songs, so I'm only including the first video. Enjoy!

Christmas Preparations

I didn't get pictures of us decorating our tree because the flash on the camera broke. I got a new camera for Christmas - okay, so I got it a few weeks before Christmas and I'm happy to be able to take all the pictures I want now.

Elliott loves decorating gingerbread houses. I tried my best this year to let Elliott to the decorating by himself. I put the icing on and then let him put candies wherever he wanted. He did an excellent job! Since Christmas he has been enjoying removing and devouring as much of the candy as he can.



With the Big Man himself. When we saw Santa from a distance, Derek was pretty excited. He kept pointing and smiling at him. When we got to his lap, he wasn't as excited. But he only cried for a second and then sat there mildly content long enough for me to take a picture.

Derek LOVES the musical toys Grandma and Grandpa send every year. He just sits there and pushes the buttons over and over and watches them sing and dance. Sometimes he'll even dance with them too. It's really cute. Too bad he got a little rough with Frosty so he doesn't work anymore. I didn't get a picture of this year's toy, but he loves that one just as much.

Discovery Park

Wow. I guess it's really time to catch up on my blog! One Saturday, now long ago (mid-November) we headed to Discovery Park to play, explore, and well, discover. I read a friend's blog about this park and when we got there, I remembered going there once when I was a college student. That was really long ago. :) It is an awesome park with so many things to do. There are two separate areas for children of different ages. The boys had a great time. It was actually a little chilly, so the boys enjoyed themselves more than the parents, but it was still a great way to spend the afternoon. We'll definitely have to return when the weather warms up again.

Pennsylvania here we come!

Brent got a job offer with Air Products in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He accepted it on Monday. He interviewed with them back in January for an internship position. They contacted him last month and invited him to fly back again. They were so impressed with him that they took an offer to his hotel room just 30 minutes after the interviews were over. They never do that, but they knew they wanted him! Pretty awesome. The offer was much better than he expected it would be, so that was pretty sweet. He really likes the company and the people he has met there. He will be part of their MBA Career Development Program. In the program he has the opportunity to rotate positions every 8 months. After that he can choose the position that he wants to work in. He also likes the opportunity to change jobs within the company frequently to keep things interesting. They offered to fly me and Brent out before he accepted the offer, so we were able to go out there last weekend. My mom was so nice to drive up and stay with the boys so we could enjoy our trip without them. They had a great time together and so did we. A realtor took us around the area and showed us housing options. It was really nice to see the area. We also had a chance to do some shopping and relaxing. It was a fun, although short, trip. We even got to experience a snow storm there before coming home to our own storm.

We are really excited for the adventure that awaits us in Pennsylvania. I'm sure it will take some getting used to, but it'll be fun. We'll definitely miss our families and friends out west. Now you have an excuse to go back east. :)

18 months old!

Derek is 18 months old as of a couple weeks ago. He is finally walking!!! He started just a week or so ago. It is so nice to have him walking. He still doesn't say much, but he is figuring out more words slowly. He also finally hit the 20 pound mark. He has only gone to nursery once so far, but he did great and I loved it! It was great to not chase him around during church. He is such a sweet boy and pretty mellow, although he definitely knows what he wants and lets everyone know it. He can hold his own against Elliott. Derek is a sweetheart and growing so quickly.