We flew...

For Christmas this year Dan's Mom gave Peyton and I a pass for IFly Indoor Skydiving Dan also got a pass as a gift from his boss. We used our passes last Saturday, it was so much fun and Peyton especially loved "flying like a superhero"! We only got our first attempts out of 2 on video on our camera- I'll post our second attempts later when we get them. Peyton and I both did a lot better the second time around. Dan's second attempt wasn't as good because they had a hard time with the wind level (or whatever they call it).

Christmas...

We had a great Christmas this year, as always. We were able to spend a lot of time with family which we always love. We started out the week by having my family over to hang out and play a little rock band. It was great to see everyone, the girls (my younger sisters) are all getting so big (we haven't seen them in about 7 months)! They brought the kids some fun Christmas gifts.

Zara- 9

Jade- 14 and Danielle- 16

Jazmin -12

Jade is getting so tall- she is 14 years old and is already 5'9"

On Christmas Eve we headed over to Dan's Mom's house for the annual December birthday celebration and more family time. We didn't get home 'till 9:30pm because our keys got lost (found in the couch after much searching)! We still had to make cookies for Santa, pretzel jello, and had planned to watch a Christmas movie (bagged that plan). Anyway, Dan and I got to bed around 1:30am and I was scheduled to work the next morning at 7am. Luckily I got put on call for the first half of my 12 hour shift and was able to be there when the kids got up. The kids were very spoiled this year, it was fun to see them both so excited about everything. Peyton was really excited about the gifts he gave to others, which we were glad to see. Here are a few pictures of the fun.

Sally got hooked up with a bunch of doggie stuff, including a new bed.

Worries...

Lately Peyton has been showing an extreme amount of interest in Dan's baldness:) Yesterday while driving in the car we had a funny conversation (one of many about the loss of Dad's hair) that went something like this:

Peyton "Mom, when you were a baby did you have hair "
Me "well, I think I was born without hair and then it grew in. When you were a baby, did you have hair?"
Peyton "I don't know, did I"
Me "well, you were born with hair and then it all fell out and then it grew back in"
Peyton "oh, kind of like Dad's?"
Me "well, sorta, except Dad's isn't going to come back"
Peyton "oh" (seemingly in deep thought)

Then this afternoon he was sitting by me as I was paying bills and he randomly said:
"Mom, when I am a grown up is my hair going to fall out and not come back like Dads?"
LOL- I explained that it might and we wont know until he is a grown up- he seemed pretty disturbed by the thought! I guess we'll have too see what the future holds for Peyton's hair, or lack of!

Gingerbread items...

We had some friends over on Sunday night for our annual gingerbread house making night. This year we decided to make a gingerbread train instead of a house. The kids mostly just wanted to eat the candy, they were funny.

Curt and Jodi always take it so seriously (I think they were hiding their blueprint)

Sorry Paige and Andrew- we don't have a picture of your finished house!

The Choo-choo train.

Zoo Lights...

Last Friday we went to Hogle Zoo to check out the Zoo Lights with Stacey and her kids. The lights were actually a lot better than we had expected, we even saw quite a few animals. Bailey was so good, she sat in the stroller almost the whole time (which meant we weren't chasing her around) and the other kids seemed to have a fun time even though it was pretty cold.

Finally!!

School is finally out for the semester, I took my last final a week ago today. It is so good to have a break, I can't believe how much time it seems like I have now, I'm sure it will fly by. Dan took last week off to help with the kids and the house for finals and he was a such a big help. I felt bad that he had to spend his vacation being Mr. Mom but he sure did a great job. Here are a few of the things Mr. Mom accomplished last week.


Put the Christmas decorations up in the house
Paint the bathroom
Decorate the bathroom (he picked out all the stuff himself)
Watch the kids- pretty much all day everyday
Make dinner (almost every night!)
Laundry- washed, folded AND put away!
Set up the tree
Put the lights on the tree
Put up the lights on the house (we did this together)
Clean the house for my after school party (while I was sleeping- after working a grave)
Dust the house
Vacuum the house (for about the 6th time during our marriage!)


I really am so thankful to have such a great husband, he has had to put up with a lot and I am thankful for his patience. I hope he enjoyed spending time with the kids and feels like having a clean house is rewarding (probably not like I do!) But anywho, just thought I'd mention that he is a great husband and father!


Just a few random pictures that were on the camera.

Family Pictures...

We had some family picures done a couple weeks ago. My good friend Leah is a photographer, she did an awesome job! We have never done family pictures so I was pretty nervous with young kids, but everything went very well and Leah go a lot of great shots. She posted a lot of my favorites on her photo site (you can check them out here) so I just chose some of my other favorites. There are just too many good ones to choose from!

Santa...

Last night we were able to go visit Santa at the Christmas open house for Prudential Utah Layton. Peyton was so excited to finally see him and let him know exactly what he would like for Christmas this year. He even wrote his letter before we left and was very specific about his requests. Bailey didn't seem to care much, she still wrote a letter (she colored, I wrote). When we got there and it was our turn Peyton ran up to Santa and presented him with the envelope containing both of the kids letters and said "this is from me and Bailey, you should open it right now!" Santa was a little hesitant and said "uh, I'll have to look at it later". I knew Peyton might be a little upset so I urged him to get on Santa's lap for a picture then he could tell Santa what the letter said. He was excited to have a picture and get on with the telling so he hopped up on Santa's knee, cheesed it for the picture, then proceeded to tell Santa in detail what he wanted. Then it was Bailey's turn, she didn't even want to go near Santa, she immediately started screaming hysterically. I sat on his lap while holding her so we could at least have a her and Santa in the same picture. She was trying to push away from me and get as far away from Santa as possible! Throughout the night we attempted to visit Santa a few more times with her, each time we got the same result. I think she'll be more into him next year.

Thanksgiving...

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. We slept late, ate omelets, cooked a few things for the feast, then headed over to my cousin Oléa's house (it was also her birthday) for some yummy dinner with her family and her sister Celestial's family (thanks for the invite). We all had a great time, especially Bailey who adored Celestial's new baby Himaya "Maya". She just wanted to hold, kiss and look at Maya the whole time. She also loved to play with the cat and reading books with Celestial's husband Jake. Peyton had fun playing with Michael and AJ (Olea's kids). Dan and I enjoyed visiting and watching a little football. After Dinner and hanging out we headed over to Dan's sister Betsy's for some yummy pie and time spent with his family. It was a very relaxing day for all.