Snow Day!

After Christmas was over we spent a few more days visiting with family.  Friday we went out and played in the snow.  The kids had been asking to go out and so we got them all bundled up and went outside to play.

At first Kylie and Hayden just had fun walking around in the snow. Kylie had played in snow about two years ago, and Hayden had never had a chance to play in the snow yet!

While Kylie ran around like a crazy woman in the snow, Hayden didn't wander too far.  He had fun trying to pick up the snow and jumping on the tramp with Grandpa Gary.

After about ten minutes Hayden was super cold and ready to go inside.  Kylie stayed out a little longer, eating snow with Aunt Kendra and throwing snowballs with her and Grandpa Gary.  She had so much fun!

Saturday I took Kylie and Hayden and we had a fun day with Grandma Tess and Grandpa Pete playing games and with all their new Christmas toys.

Sunday was Dallan's homecoming talk in church.  Kylie and Hayden actually sat through the entire meeting, probably because they had so many people to play with!  After Sacrament Meeting we all went back and had a little luncheon with everyone.  We didn't stay long, because it was already snowing and we had to head back home that day.  But we did get to visit with a few people, like Great-Grandpa Knudsen and Great-Aunt Connie.

On the drive home we stopped for a few minutes to visit with Uncle James, who had arrived early that morning.  Sadly, both the kids were asleep so it was a quick hello-goodbye.  We had terrible snow all the way to Nephi (took over an hour to get there!), but after that was clear skies.  When the kids woke up they had fun opening the presents from Uncle James, and then when it was dark Great-Aunt Connie's light-up gifts were very mesmerizing!

Now we are home safe and sound and happy to be in our own beds!!  Thanks to to all our family that made our Christmas visit so fun and enjoyable!!  You are all amazing!

Christmas Day!

Christmas day dawned bright and cold.  It had snowed that night, much to Kylie's delight.  I bundled her up and let her go out and play for a bit while Uncle Dallan and Aunt Kendra shoveled the driveway.

Once everyone was up and ready we drove over to celebrate Christmas with Grandpa Pete, Grandma Tess and Uncle Tommy.  We all had way too much fun opening presents and spending time together!

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and playing with our crazy amount of toys.  Kylie also liked helping Grandma Tess in the kitchen.

After a super yummy dinner and a game the kiddos were tuckered out and ready for bed.  We had an awesome Christmas!  Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Hansen for the wonderful day and all the gifts!  Also thanks to Grandpa Pete for all the super cute pictures!

Christmas Eve

On Monday we received a quick visit from Brandon's family as they passed through on their way back home from California.  They got everyone some California shirts and the kids look so cute in theirs!

On Tuesday we packed up and left for the cold north!  The kids were so good for the whole ride up, even though I didn't pack many toys, seeing as they were going to get a ton for Christmas.  We  spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa Hansen.  The kids loved running around and exploring and touching all of Grandma Tess' holiday decorations.

Christmas Eve we spent with Brandon's family.  We had fun visiting with everyone and that evening we went over to Grandpa and Nana Naylor's house for Christmas Eve dinner with all the extended family.  At first the kids were a bit nervous, because there were a lot of people there.  We had a yummy Mexican-themed dinner, and it was hard to keep Kylie away from the dessert table.

Afterwards they did a piñata which was a lot of fun!  They went from the youngest kids up, so Hayden was first and since he loves to hit things with sticks he knew exactly what to do!

Kylie was next and she didn't get it so much.  The little bear was so cute and she knows she isn't supposed to hit things, so she was a bit confused.

After the piñata there was a little family talent show. Kylie did well sitting with Grandma Shari and watched it, but Hayden needed a little distraction from Grandpa Gary.

Then we all went back to Grandpa and Grandma Knudsen's house and did our presents for everyone!  Kylie really knows all about unwrapping presents now and helped Hayden unwrap all of his.

Thanks to the Knudsen's for all the wonderful gifts and for such a fun Christmas Eve!!

Some Christmas Fun!

What a lot of fun we have had this week!!  It is starting to get colder now, so that and the fact that I was still getting over my wisdom teeth extraction means we didn't go out much.  So we had to find fun stuff to do at home, like putting up the tent, making forts, playing on the bunk bed, learning shapes and colors with Playdoh, and playing with water in the sink!

Wednesday morning we got to see Brandon's family as they passed by on their way to California. Uncle Dallan had just gotten off his mission from Riverside, CA, the previous day and they were all on their way back to visit.  We were so excited to see everyone and Hayden got to meet Uncle Dallan for the very first time!!

They also had a little impromptu dance party where the kiddos impressed everyone with their moves.

 

Later that day we had some more fun playing in laundry baskets since I still wasn't up for going outside.

Then we had our friends Kennedy and Acadia over for a few hours and Kylie really enjoyed playing with them.  They had a big tea party, which resulted in many potty trips for the two visiting girls and I was kinda happy because Kylie was so interested (FINALLY) and even asked to sit on the potty herself!  She didn't go, but she did want her underwear on instead of her diaper afterwards which was a huge leap forward! Sadly for the rest of the day she didn't make it to the potty on time, but at least she was interested, and even the next day did a little more potty training before she was bored with it.  Too bad!  But I think once the hustle and bustle of the holidays are over I am going to really start hardcore potty training!  Not looking forward to it.  Everyone says wait until they are ready, but she has shown enough interest off and on that I think it is time to just go for it!

Later Wednesday night (Wednesday was a super busy day!) we had the Bear Cub Scouts over and made gingerbread houses (well, not houses but rockets, boats, or planes...) and Kylie had fun making and decorating her own little gingerbread 'teepee' and Hayden loved all the different candy to try.

Thursday was also a kinda busy day.  I finally felt up for going on a walk, which the kids were very excited about.  I wanted to get a picture of Kylie in Great-Aunt Cathy's coat, and when I asked her for a picture she flashed me the peace sign, which was a first!

Later that day we had our friends Sophia and Angela come over to play and we played all afternoon long and they even stayed for dinner!  It was super fun and of course they had their hard moments and then their super cute moments!

Friday we finally got our other car fixed, so now I have a car!!!  Whoohoo!!  We celebrated by going to Costco and then to the mall to do a little Christmas shopping.  Every time I take the kids out somewhere we always get comments on their red hair.  I am still considering dying my hair red to get rid of the "Where did the red hair come from?" question everyone inevitably asks, but I am sure that won't even stop the old people from commenting (yes, it's almost always old people who ask). 

Sadly Brandon got really sick so he spent most of Friday in bed, but he had worked so hard the past two weeks and was able to bring in some extra money so we could actually have a little Christmas!  I have found Christmas shopping to be very easy for Kylie (I could get her everything under the sun...), and so super hard for Hayden (he just had a birthday...).  Basically everything his age is a car.  How many cars does one boy need?  Obviously there can never be enough - but still!

Saturday we finished up our Christmas shopping and then had a lazy day at home.  Brandon was still not feeling good, but it seems like no one else caught what he had yet so that is good.  We are looking forward to a fun-filled holiday week with family this coming week!