Snow Day

 We went back to school the Thursday after New Year, and then on Thursday night it snowed, a ton in Blanding and Monticello, and so we had a snow day.  I tried to take some well framed pictures, but I'm no photographer.

 The kids played in the snow for hours, so we didn't miss school too much!

St George

We were able to stay in St George in a very nice condo owned by my brother in-laws parents. That is a bit of a stretch, but my sister and brother in-law did stay with us 2 of the nights. We had a really fun New Years Eve party planned by the fabulous Dicksons which I have no pictures of. The next day we went to a really fun and cheap Children's museum, and we didn't curse it! Usually when we go to Children's Museums they are super crowded on the day we go, but this one was not too bad, it was pretty busy by the time we left, but we got there right when it opened. I was impressed with how much there was to do since the cost was only $3.

This is a classic picture of Carrie, she is a Diva

She really enjoyed the grocery store area

They had a really fun "Grinch" area with these "sleds"

I had to include this picture because this little boy just walked up and knocked down Kate's castle.  She was not sure what to do but i just laughed, because well I have boys and they would have done exactly the same thing, isn't that what you build towers for?

James is a ham but he really enjoyed dancing on an actual stage.

We also went swimming and explored a super narrow slot canyon that only Kate and Olivia made it through and just hung out having fun together.  And Devon and i got to go on our first alone date since Leah to see Star Wars- the Dickson's are great babysitters.  We also got to go at separate times to the temple, so it was a full and fun trip.

Las Vegas

We decided we needed a vacation to a warmer place after Christmas, so we went o Las Vegas and St. George.

In Vegas we wen to Circus Circus and played some games and watched some circus performances.  The kids were mostly interested in winning stuffed animals, but they enjoyed the shows too.

Then we went to M&M world (and got M&M fans) and then to Rainforest Cafe- which had moved so we got to add a lot of extra walking to our trip.  Carrie was a little scared of the "rain storms" but the kids really loved it.

Then on to the Bellagio which was super crowded but the Christmas gardens are always fun to see.

And the chocolate fountain

And you can't go to Vegas without seeing the Bellagio fountains, the kids were fascinated.

At the Rainforest Cafe we had to get the brownie volcano.  Devon made a brownie volcano for my birthday, and we told the kids we had eaten one on our honeymoon, so they were pretty excited to see it in real life.

It doesn't seem like too much but it was a really full and fun day!

Christmas

 We had Christmas with just our family too.  We tried to invite 3 families over, but we struck out an all of them.  We still had fun though.  We acted out the Nativity, James was the angel

 Spencer was the shepherd and Samuel the Lamanite

 And the donkey

 Carrie was the cutest Mary ever.  She sang all the songs to her baby, really just nonsense words since she didn't know the words, but it was super cute.

 We opened new Christmas pj's

 From Santa Carrie got a "Sofia Castle."  That was her dream come true.  We play Sofia a lot now days.

 Spencer got Snap Circuits and put together about every experiment in the book the first day.

 James got a transformer car- it turns into a dinosaur and is much easier to transform that the "real" transformers, and it talks.  We realized that Santa doesn't like us parents much because every toy he gave the kids makes noise.

 Carrie got her own phone in her stocking- it just doesn't have a data plan- or a battery, but she doesn't mind at this age.

 Leah go a play gym that I have put in her crib (since she still sleeps in the bassinet.)  It has been great to be able to put her there when I need to do something an dI need her to be safe from Carrie's "helpful" hands.

 James is funny.  Devon found cool slap watches for the kids.

 Carrie was so excited James got her a clippy Cinderella doll.  Our kids drew names this year and had a fun time shopping for each other.

 I really like matching clothes so I bought the girls matching dresses.  They look super cute, and if I ever put this dress on Leah Carrie insists on wearing her matching one.

Oh yeah, and it snowed on Christmas morning, you don't get much better than that.

Leah's first laugh

We have adopted the Navajo tradition of celebrating a babies first laugh with a "First Laugh Party." In the Navajo tradition who ever makes the baby laugh first has to throw and finance a huge party for all of the clan with a big dinner etc. Also the party has to be the day or day after the baby laughs. So Spencer made Leah laugh first, he has been trying hard to make her laugh since she was born because he really wanted to throw the party. We didn't have a huge party or slaughter any sheep, but it was a lot of fun.We kept it pretty small but invited our neighbors the Dee's and our friend Kelsey.

One game Spencer planned was the "clean up the spit up" game.  He splashed water on the floor and we all had to wipe it up, very appropriate for a baby party.

We also had Teddy Bear bowling and hide the Teddy Bear and a Teddy Bear treat made out of cinnamon rolls (Spencer really likes Teddy Bears).  It is a fun tradition- everyone should adopt it!

December

 I had hand-me-down Christmas dresses for both girls this year, so even though they didn't exactly match they looked super cute together.  Carrie is such a good big sister, she never leaves Leah alone.

 Devon hurt his back right before Christmas, so he and Carrie stayed home from the Christmas concert at the Elementary School.  Our neighborhood Santa was nice enough to come to our house so Carrie could see him.  we seriously have the best neighbors ever.

 We have had enough snow to go sledding a few times.

 Christmas pillowcases from grandma

 We can't get enough of this smily girl

 Carrie loved her new hat and gloves, pink of course

 We are glad to have our friend Kelsey back.  We had her over for her birthday dinner, but since she doesn't eat sugar we had to be a little creative for dessert.  We even put a candle in her smoothie

 This is hard to see but during the Hot Air Balloon festival they had some Crown Dancers, I didn't know what that was, but it I thought it sounded cool.  It was a lot different than I expected.  The crowns were like 2 feet tall and made of wood.  The dancers didn't wear shirts but where painted with blackened grease and had their faces covered with nylon type material.  Carrie was quite frightened.

 The boys both entered the art contest with the Air Balloon Festival.  Here they are reenacting a picture of Devon and Gabe when they were little.  Spencer's art work is at the top right.

 We found a great sledding hill in Blanding one day when Devon had to go up to see the Chiropractor about his back.  Spencer's sled eventually broke, but then he used half of a sled for almost a month.

I made the kids have "quiet time" and read everyday during the break, Carrie wasn't too good at staying in her room, but she loved "reading" with the boys.