Snow Day

We had so much fun when Jeannie was here but it went by WAY too fast!!! We didn't take a ton of pictures the rest of the time she was here but we did get a bunch on Monday when we took Colin out sledding at my parents!!

First let's recap Sunday though. Sunday morning we got up and went to church. That afternoon we just hung out and relaxed. Everyone took a nap while Colin did. That night we did more relaxing...I'm pretty sure we watched 'How to Train Your Dragon' again- great movie!! After Colin went to bed we played Phase 10. I love that game!

Monday morning we just hung out and went over to my parents about 1. Colin had so much fun in the snow. I guess it's more enjoyable when you actually have the proper clothes on! We started out just pulling him on the sled. We progressed by sliding down the sand trap! It was awesome!

Colin and Jeannie in the car

Going down the hill all by himself!

Grandpa was the first one to go down the hill

Jason went down face first!

Jeannie in the snow- doesn't see much of this in FL!




Colin was excited to get to throw snow balls at Uncle Jason and Grandpa. We were standing there enjoying ourselves when my dad comes walking through the yard with the snow shovel in hand filled with snow..he was going to throw it at Jason to make Colin laugh and ended up throwing it at Ryan..I'm not sure Colin even saw but it was funny!





That night after dinner we took a drive to see the lights at the Shrine. They are gorgeous..I'm glad I don't have to set them all up! Tuesday was Jeannie's last day with us. Ryan had to work so we hung out at home for awhile and watched 'The Karate Kid'. Then we went to Applebees for lunch and ran to the grocery store so we could get a pie crust to make apple pie. Jeannie and I just chatted during Colin's nap and we all hung out that night enjoying our time together. Jeannie's flight left Wednesday morning so Ryan took her to the airport on his way to work. Her trip went by incredibly fast but we are so happy she was able to come spend the holidays with us! We wish that we lived closer so we could see her more often. Maybe one day we will!

Colin and I are just enjoying our break now! On Wednesday we went over to my parents house and hung out for awhile. They got the new dance game for Kinect. It was hard but funny to watch! I think Jason's got the best moves in the family (Rachel might get mad and say it's her but I'm not so sure)! Her and I went to the mall that afternoon but only had time to go to a couple stores (because SOMEONE takes FOR-E-VER in the dressing rooms)-- that's okay, it was fun!!

She came over to our house last night to have the second installment of our OTH marathon. Before Colin went to bed we watched Taylor Swifts Thanksgiving Special and he was like "Colin go see her, Mommy? She hold me? She come to my house to play with me?" He might just have his first crush! I told him maybe we could write her a letter and send his picture and she would think he was so cute she'd give us tickets to one of her shows..wishful thinking, huh?!

Today we went to play group and then Mom, Rachel, and I went to see 'How Do You Know?' It was pretty cute. I thought the beginning was a little slow but overall I liked it! And I love Reese Witherspoon's hair in it!!

Once Colin woke up from his nap we wanted t0 get a picture of him and Josh in their Utah State shirts (Josh got him one for Christmas). Colin said he wanted to take a picture but he freaked out as soon as I gave him to Josh! He cried the entire time until I took him back..maybe we'll try again!

That's it for now! Ryan's got tomorrow off so that should be fun. I'm not sure what we're going to do..maybe try to get rested up so we can stay up to ring in the new year!!

Christmas Day

Colin let us sleep in until 9 on Christmas morning (sadly I woke up on my own at about 7:30). We headed downstairs and saw that Santa came!!

He even found Jeannie all the way from Florida!!

Then it was on to more present opening!!!

Our rule for this year was not to get Colin a lot of toys. Instead he got a toy box to keep all of his current toys in!

Once we were finished at our house we headed over to my parents to spend the day!! This is the first Christmas in 5 years that all of us have been together!

{2006-Ryan and I were in Las Vegas, Josh was on his mission

2007- Josh was still on his mission

2008- Jason was on his mission

2009- Jason was on his mission

2010- EVERY BODY'S HOME!!!}

Colin got a new Christmas boogie board--which proved to be the perfect gift because of our white Christmas!! (He is also modeling his new dinosaur shirt and new shoes!!)

Colin got the movie 'How to Train Your Dragon'. He'd seen it before but Ryan and I never had. We all watched it. It's AWESOME!!! We had gotten Colin play-doh and the whole time we watched the movie he was playing with it, making dragons! Once the movie was over Ryan decided to make a dragon of his own!

Before dinner Pa wanted to take Colin out sledding...we didn't quite have the right clothes with us so we bundled him up as best we could and then put a trash bag over him to keep his clothes dry. He seemed to enjoy it...until his hand got wet!

Trying to run with his trash bag on!!

After a delicious dinner we played Kinect and then watched Despicable Me. It was a wonderful Christmas and it went by way too fast!!

Merry Christmas {Eve}!!

WARNING: I took a TON of pictures this year!! Guess that's what happens when you have a camera that doesn't suck!

We had an awesome Christmas Eve and Christmas. It went by way too fast! Jeannie got in Friday afternoon. She was supposed to get here on Thursday but the person watching her puppy called her in the middle of the night on Wednesday because the dogs weren't getting along and she told her that she needed to come pick Mia up...long story short, she was supposed to be at the airport at 4:30 AM on Thursday and ended up going to pick up her dog at 12:30 AM...clearly that doesn't leave enough time to make other arrangements so she had to cancel her flight. Luckily she was able to get Mia into the vet to be boarded and could take a flight out on Friday. She was also able to extend her trip from Tuesday to Wednesday since she had missed a whole day. So she got here and Colin opened some presents before he laid down for his nap.

How cute are his elf pajamas?! Certain members of my family (aka: my brothers) were making fun of him but I think he looks adorable!!

We went over to my grandparents house to celebrate Christmas Eve with all of my moms family. We ate dinner and then some of us went to the candle light service at church. The others stayed at grandma and grandpas and watched TV and played. When we got back it was time for presents!! We had such a fun evening hanging out with everyone!! And..guess what? We had a white Christmas!! It snowed all day on Christmas Eve...made the roads a little treacherous heading to grandma and grandpas but everyone made it safely!

Aunt Kim parked herself in front of the strawberry pretzel jello!!!

Jason's got the crazy eyes!

Allison made a book for Grandpa for his birthday..Mom and Josh were looking at it

Colin got a new glove for Christmas!! He was very excited!!

So excited to open his presents!!! (What a cheeser!)

Colin played a game with Aunt Amy and Kylie-- he won...of course, he did make up his own rules!

We got home close to midnight and had to get some milk and cookies ready for Santa!!!

It was an awesome Christmas Eve! We're so blessed to be able to spend it with our family and are so happy that Jeannie was able to be here with us!! We're having such a fun vacation with here here!!

Palaeobatrachus

Colin and I were watching Dinosaur Train earlier and the Pteranadon family was having a camp out at the Big Pond. The kids were scared because they kept hearing noises. It showed the shadow of some creature and it was saying "ribbit, ribbit." I said to Colin "What do you think they hear? Is it a frog?" He goes "It's a palaeobatrachus." At that point in the show I don't think they'd said anything about it being a palaeobatrachus, however, they've talked about them on previous episodes! It amazes me that he remembers the names of all the dinosaurs on there! Maybe we have a future paleontologist on our hands?!

Santa Colin

He was walking around my parents house this morning with his Santa hat on and two beanies covering his face--supposedly they were his beard. My mom and Rachel made a beard for him so he could see where he was going! He loves it!

Odds and Ends

We've had so much fun the last few days! I love Christmas time! Yesterday we went over to my parents house to see Rachel and everyone. We hung out for awhile then I left to go have lunch with some friends. Colin and I also went over to my parents today. We were going to run some errands with my mom but Colin was being a pain in the butt so he stayed home with the boys! Mom and I had lots of fun running our errands though and we were able to get everything we needed! Ryan's mom comes tomorrow morning so I should finish cleaning my house but instead Rachel's coming over to have a One Tree Hill marathon party!!

Here's some pictures from yesterday. We got a few really cute ones of Colin with a Santa hat on but they're on my parents computer. I'll try to get them on here soon!

I really liked my outfit yesterday and wanted to take a picture. Ryan said he would not be in a picture with me with my zebra scarf on-- that's what made the outfit!! Colin didn't want to take a picture with me either so I had Belle do it!

After Belle and I took our picture Colin thought it might be fun so he decided to join in!

Little Ryan ordered a Cardinals beanie and it came yesterday. Rachel opened the package and tried it on before giving it to Ryan...big mistake. He had a huge fit, grabbed the hat from her and tried to hit her with it. The balls on the end of the strings flew off in different directions...luckily they were able to be sewed back on pretty easily! Rachel looks cute!

Ryan just left for basketball and Colin and I are watching Dinosaur Train while we wait for Rachel to get here. We said a prayer before Ryan left. Ryan said it but Colin was saying his own prayer as Ryan was talking. I don't think Ryan realized what Colin was doing. It was so cute though. Colin said: "Dear Heavenly Father. Thank you for this day. Thank you for our family. Thank you for baby Jesus." He said a little bit more but that was all I could hear! What a cutie!! I guess it's stuff like that that makes up for the times he drives me nuts!

Christmas Favorites

This is my favorite time of year!! I really think it feels more magical with my own kid! This is the first year that Colin's excited about Santa. You can tell he actually gets it! I wrapped a bunch of presents the other day when he was taking his nap and put them under the tree. I didn't tell him about it and when he discovered them he was so excited! He's actually handling it pretty well that we told him he can't touch them until Christmas! He asked Santa for cars and one of the things under the tree is a snowman bag. Colin was like "What's in there, Mom? Is it my cars?" He'll probably be sorely disappointed when he realizes it's clothes...I think Santa will pull through with the cars though!

I love everything about Christmas! I love the feeling. I love the decorations. I love being able to give to others. I love the food. I love the music. I love the magic in Colin's eyes! Last night we were trying to tell him about the true meaning of Christmas--Christ's birth. My grandma got him a wooden nativity scene when she was in Germany. I thought that would be a great thing to help illustrate the story for him! It was going pretty well until Colin got one of his trucks for the wise men to ride in to Bethlehem...guess they were walking a little too slow!

So, here's some of my favorite Christmas things:

Movies:
*Home Alone and Home Alone 2--it doesn't even have to be Christmas time for me to watch them!
*A Christmas Story-- definitely a classic!
*A Muppet Christmas Carol
*Jim Carey's 'The Grinch'
*Christmas Vacation

Songs:
I love 'Christmas Shoes'
Colin's favorite Christmas song is: 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town'
Every time there's a Christmas song on the radio Colin says "Christmas, Mommy. Santa's singing!"

Here's some pictures from the last few days!!

Colin found a Santa hat at my parents house. He had it on for a little while and then said he wanted to be a reindeer. I told him we didn't have a reindeer hat. Turns out there's a moose hat in my sisters room that he had seen..it makes the perfect reindeer!

On Saturday I made some cookies to give to my class yesterday. Colin wanted to help. He did such a great job! He wanted to help roll out the balls but I told him that he could flatten them down with a spoon. He had so much fun!

This is how they turned out...adorable, huh?! I got the idea from Parents Magazine. I love them..they might just need to become a tradition. How could Santa turn down a cookie that cute?!

That's what's been going on here! I think this will be a pretty fun week! Rachel gets home late tonight so we'll see her tomorrow and then Jeannie gets in Thursday morning! Good times to be had!