Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas time!! We were able to fly out to Utah to have Christmas with ALL of Barrett's siblings and parents. Barrett ended up changing his flight to come with me and the boys. It was a Christmas miracle because the day he was supposed to fly out, the east coast was hit with almost 2 feet of snow. My sister didn't make it to California until 2 days after her scheduled flight. We were so thankful...especially since Tommy decided to cut his 8th tooth while in the air. We were able to help decorate the beautiful, unique, sweet smelling Christmas tree, which Damon loved. We enjoyed being at the big family Christmas party Saturday where an elf came and made balloon creations. Damon loved his motorcycle balloon. The snowman was pretty awesome too! We had a surpise baby shower for our sister-in-law and ate yummy pizza, while all the brothers were snowboarding and our poor brother-in-law was having surgery for kidney stones. Damon played in the snow a lot and loved every minute of it! We were able to go to the temple, see a couple movies in the theater, shop, play games, visit and talk, hear a wonderful Christmas choir at church (I felt like I was at a concert with a violins, cello, flute, harp, guitar, and so many choir members I think it was the total number of people in our entire branch!), hear Christmas stories on Christmas Eve, and enjoy the spirit of Christmas!We saw lots of cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmas, and relatives...isn't that what Christmas is for?! We sure loved it! Thank you Barry and Rolayne. It was fun being all together!

*Can you tell which pictures were taken on our old camera and which ones were taken with our new Christmas camera?!! Oh, and the really good pictures out of order are pirated from Quinn...thanks for letting me steal them...they're awesome!

It's Official...and other stuff

This afternoon Barrett was sworn in and is now an offical lawyer!!!! HORRAY!!!!!!!
ps. I told him to give a cheesy pose:)

And here's the other stuff we've been up to...
Damon loves pretending he's playing a guitar with this pot just like "Miss Jackie" at story time.
One day at story time, a man from the wildlife refuge came with some stuffed creatures and objects like antlers...Damon found sticks and pretended they were his antlers.
Another story from story time...we were to leave our shoes in the lobby in case Santa was able to stop by...he filled our shoes with treats!! We also made Reindeer dust...oats, so the reindeer can smell the oats to our house and glitter, so Santa can see the sparkly way to our house:) We love story time...good thing it is twice a week!!
Kim came Saturday. We went to Fifer Orchards, and had free warm cider, free s'mores, and a free hayride!! It was soooo cold, but worth it. We bought some apples and cider of our own, but before we could get out of the store, Damon had found a wrapped cookie and taken a bite of it...so we had to buy it! We also took Kim to see Barrett's office and a drive down by the State Office buildings to see the cute candles in every window and other fun Christmas lights. We sang Christmas songs all the way to Papa Johns to pick up our pizza and keep Damon awake. The best quote...after singing "Joy to the World", Damon said, "Kim, this is my favorite part...and saints and angels sing..." (while singing it). She later took me shopping to help me pick out an outfit for Barrett's "swearing in ceremony". Thanks Kim!!

30 and 3

Some of us had birthdays this week! Some of us were a lot more excited than others. Some of us got way awesome presents. All of us had fun. All of us had lots of yummy food and cake. Go Birthdays!!

First Saturday in December

Today we headed to "The Big City" (that's what Barrett told Damon). After 3 years of taking the train just about every day, Barrett was missing Philadelphia. We met up with our friends at Macy's to see the Wanamaker Organ, Christmas tree and light show, and Dickens Village. The kids were so cute watching the lights. Dicken's Village was so cute and made us want to watch Muppets Christmas Carol. Barrett and I had to sing at least one line of "The Love is Gone..." when we got to the figure of Scrooge's girlfriend breaking up with him. Whenever I get annoyed or upset with Barrett, he sings me this line:) It was pretty rainy, but we walked through Love Park (which I had never been to...of all the dozens of times I'd been to Philly!). We ended the event with Potbelly's super delicious sandwiches...we by-passed the Philly cheesesteaks this time. On the drive home, the "wintery mix" turned into super large snowflakes, but by the time we got home, there wasn't much snow. Barrett still had to make at least one snowball. We watched "A Boyfriend for Christmas" a Hallmark original and one of the best and also one we had never seen. We LOVE Hallmark and Fa la la la Lifetime! Hooray for Christmas!!

Thanksgiving

We went to West Virginia and saw 2 of my brothers and their families and my parents. The drive down there was supposed to take 5 hours, but took 7, with traffic and a much needed break...it was horrible. It was fun seeing family and having Damon play with cousins. Tommy got sick and was feverish and grouchy, but he did cut another tooth on the bottom! The food was amazing!! Super juicy turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, tangy beans, 2 different kinds of homemade cranberry sauce, pretzel jello yumminess, cornbread stuffing, and awesome orange rolls. Plus a zillion pies! It was fun hanging out, visiting, shopping, going to parks, the church gym, watching psych episodes, making oreo turkeys, Christmas crafts, making Bakerella cupcake bites, and taking family photos. I thought I took a lot of pictures, but I didn't get any of the new babies, or my sisters in law, or my mom, or the Thanksgiving feast, or the cupcake bites, or our excursion in the van. The drive back was pretty good, not much traffic. We're excited for the next few weeks!!