Railing Artwork

The railing, fully decorated.

A little elf

A reindeer

Ho Ho

An ornament and sleigh

This is the first year we've had a railing to decorate. I wound some pine around it and Jenna declared it looked to bare and needed to be more decorated. She set to work drawing, coloring, and cutting out cute little Christmas figures and had me help her tie them to the pine with curling ribbon. Sooo cute and creative. I don't want to take them down.

O Christmas Tree

Our tree this year was....interesting. Jenna helped Jon pick it out, but there wasn't much to choose from. We got it and set it up on December 2. The next day we decorated it and the day after that, we came home from church to find it had tipped over and all the glass ornaments that were on top had hit the wood floor and shattered. Toby was in the kitchen barking like crazy--it probably scared him to death. The elves were hiding in the tree, so we joke they were partying a little too hard in that tree. :) It's very lopsided. Jon had to anchor it to the wall. Anyway...the tree in the pictures looks slanted and that's not the camera--that's how the tree is. It is kinda pretty, even if it's not perfect.

Christmas Eve and Morning

We went to visit family on the 23rd and 24th. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. :(  We got home in time for dinner and made a favorite stir fry and egg rolls. We frosted sugar cookies, read Luke 2, and watched A Christmas Story.

Kendall woke up around 6:30 am on Christmas morning. He went upstairs to where Santa usually comes and there wasn't anything there!! He went to the downstairs family room and found the gifts there. He went and woke Kristen up and told her that Santa didn't come. She went running upstairs and saw that nothing was there and immediately came to wake up us. Jon told her to look around the house and she found things hiding downstairs. Pretty funny....

Lining up on the stairs to go see their gifts. Jenna wasn't happy at all about having to line up and wait.

The aftermath. Phew!

Christmas Morning--Jenna

Jenna's wish came true--more Littlest Pet Shops!

I've never seen a girl who takes the holidays to heart as much as Jenna. She was soooo excited to open gifts.

Jarren had her name and gave her a Zooble with a baby.

Jenna got a ton of craft stuff, some Littlest Pet Shops, teensies, clothes, snap-on earrings, Just Dance Kids 2, and a webkinz Chihuahua, etc.

Jenna loved Christmas!!! She savored all the gifts and hasn't stopped playing with her new stuff. She got a lot of craft stuff and has made a ton of things with it. She enjoys everything so much. Her heart and soul was put into Christmas this year, which made it a lot of fun.

Christmas Morning--Jarren

Jarren got a new mountain bike, a Star Wars Lego set, SW Lego wii game, beyblades, and Mario stuffed animals, etc.

Cool new 6 speed bike!

Kristen had his name and gave him some socker boppers.

So excited to sit by the fire and open gifts.

Jarren was awake pretty early. He came in to get us up and  Jon told him to come back in 40 minutes. He came back in 30 minutes and said, "Dad, there's only 10 more minutes until I can come back!" He was thrilled with his gifts!! He hasn't quite mastered the gear changing on his bike, so often asks me to do it. Since you have to change gears while pedaling, it makes for a free neighborhood entertainment show, watching me eat my knees while riding his bike around. :)

Christmas Morning--Kristen

British Flag

British t-shirt---is there a theme here?

Makeup

Kristen got some fun things too--ipod touch, makeup, clothes, dress up 5" heels, Just Dance 3, umbrella, jewelry, etc

Kristen had a pretty good Christmas. She is soooo obsessed with all things British. Have I mentioned before that her dream is to attend college in England and meet and marry a British LDS vegetarian guy? Yeah.... She's been asking to wear makeup this year. I have a hard time with that because she's still in Elementary school and she's only 11.  But...lucky her...Santa brought her a small makeup kit so she can practice here at home so she'll be ready to wear it when she goes to middle school in 8 months.

Christmas Morning--Kendall

Kendall got a new ipod touch

A new Axe gift set--Kendall loves his Dark Temptation fragrances.

A new wallet

The whole package--new sleeping bag, new clothes, ipod, Axe, hand and foot warmers, itunes card, etc.

Kendall got some fun things for Christmas this year. He was happy!!! Last year was such a disaster--I admit, I was a little worried how he would be this year. True, he was a little disappointed that he didn't get a phone, but he was good. About a month ago, he was washing his face before bed and his ipod slipped into the sink. The funny thing is, only the texting didn't work, but a few days before Christmas, the whole thing died. It wasn't holding a charge anyway.

Christmas Cookies

Kendall was very, extremely generous with the sprinkles. Gotta love Jarren's cute face in the background.

Jarren (and Hooie) with the plate for Santa. Lucky guy!!

The girls took their decorating very seriously.

Jenna was dying to make sugar cookies for Santa this year. She wanted to do them all by herself, so she measured out ingredients and mixed them up (with a little help) and cut them out. We baked them, but then there wasn't enough time for them to cool and be decorated that night, so there they sat for a few days until we got to them--on Christmas Eve night. Everyone had fun decorating them (and eating them too, of course). We still have a few and they sure are good!

Lunar Eclipse 12/10/11

There was a HUGE moon that was almost full when we were on our way to Temple Square. I woke up the next morning, early, to pick up my Bountiful Basket and saw a cool moon. It was going through a lunar eclipse. I ran and got Kristen up to see it, since they've been studying the moon and then picked up my basket. When I got home, I woke everyone else up to see it and we saw it just before it went completely dark. Not the best pictures, but it was really cool.

Temple Square

Mid-jump

Jarren took this one of the Church Office Building with all the Temple Square lights in front of it.

Jarren being silly--it looks like he has a temple crown. :)

The Nativity

Buddy the Elf and Santa

We met my family downtown and walked around Temple Square. I love all the lights, although it sometimes almost stresses me out to think of how long it takes to put them all up (and take them all back down again). I remember going there for a HS choir thing in October and they were putting the lights up. Anyway....it was beautiful, cold, and a lot of fun. Kendall had basketball and wasn't able to come with us.

Ho Ho Ho---Santa and a Firetruck!

Sitting on Santa's and Mrs. Claus's laps. They were so good and only asked for one thing!

The lights around the City Building were lit when Santa came.

The firetruck.

Our city has an annual Santa arrival on the Monday after Thanksgiving. I've never taken the kids before, because, from past experience from the Easter egg hunt, things are packed and totally crazy! Jenna brought home a paper about it from school and was sooooo heartbroken when I told her we wouldn't be going. So...change of plans. I took the kids. It wasn't as bad as I had anticipated it being. It was actually a lot of fun. Santa arrived on a firetruck, with Mrs. Claus by his side. Then they went into the City Building and a line formed to wait to visit them. They also had craft kits for the kids (a few different ornaments to make), sugar cookies to decorate, hot chocolate and hot scones, hay wagon rides, and marshmallow roasting. And it was ALL free!! Santa gave each child a bag with an orange and a candy cane in it. Even Kendall had fun. :) I think we might try it again next year....

Stage

Jarren sometimes gets things in his mind and it's hard to deter him. He decided that he wanted to build a stage. I'm not sure what he wants to do with it, but he wants one. One Saturday, a few weeks ago, he set to work (with a little of Jon's help) and made himself a stage. I'm sure they'll have fun with it.