A Candleight Chistmas

This last weekend we went to Heritage Park for their 'Candlelight Christmas'. Everything was set up to show what a Christmas holiday would have been like in the late 1800's. What was neat was that some of the buildings there are the originals from when Utah was first settled by the pioneers. The state has restored them and built replicas of a few others to promote Utah's heritage and history. And since I'm a history major (=dork) and took a Utah history course in college, I thought it was pretty cool. But neither Luke nor the girls could have cared about all that good stuff, they just wanted it to be fun. And quite surprisingly it was! We got to see live reindeer, visit different cottages and meeting houses to join in the activities/crafts and see a Christmas play, saw a live nativity complete with goats and sheep (Brooklyn's favorite part), walked through a tiny elf village where you could see little elves working inside, took a train ride around the park and then saw Father Christmas on our way out. All in all (and despite the freezing cold) we had fun. Brooklyn never got bored or tired of it, just cold at the end and it wore both girls right out- they were asleep within 2o minutes of walking in the house. Another Christmas festivity success :)

Super sweet icicle ornaments! Do you love Brooklyn's hat?! We realized after leaving the house that we forgot hers so she had to borrow one of Lola's extras. She pulls it off well ;)

Daddy and B on the train ride

Petting the sheep and goats

Asking Brooklyn to show you her 'I had fun face' gets you this one

Lola's First Snow Day

Getting Dressed. Don't worry that I layered her up so much it was like in the Christmas story where the kid couldn't put his arms down. Didn't want my baby to be cold :)

All ready to go out

First thing she did was slip on an icy patch. Since she wasn't crying I took a picture (but we all know I still would have even if she was)

She was pretty apprehensive about the snow at first. I had to show her that you could walk on it and touch it and nothing bad would happen before she was ready to test it herself with her boot.

By the end, she was having way too much fun and was very sad to have to come inside :)

Look at those cute pink cheekies!

Snow day was a success and I cant wait to take the girls sledding once it snows again!

It's Christmastime Once Again

We've had an eventful last two weeks preparing for the holidays and participating in the festiveness of the season. We kicked off the season by putting up and decorating the tree. Yes, we have a fake tree because I do not love the mess nor trouble of a real one. Kind of lame I know, but I have my wonderful neat-freak of a mother to thank for this and it really is nice to have one less hassle during the holidays :) Each year the girls get a new ornament on Christmas Eve so Brooklyn put up her 3 and Lola put up her first one from last year. Then we finished with the bulbs and lights (which are pre-wired of course) and we hung our stockings.

A few nights ago we ventured over to see some holiday lights at Thanksgiving Point. Brooklyn enjoyed it as always and Lola was completely mesmerized by the millions of bright, twinkling lights. She kept pointing and yelling 'Look. Look!!' It was definitely a fun evening despite the fact that a deer ran out in the road while we were there and hit our car. Luckily, when he saw us, he tried to jump over the car (which to our surprise he mostly cleared it) and the only damage to the car was a dent on the hood from a hove and some scratches. We were really lucky that we didn't hit him head on or have one of his hooves or legs break through any windows. Crazy right?!

Get ready. Many more festivities to come... :)

Lola's Two Favorites

Reading books and being naked!! A true girl- she likes to accessorize even when naked :)

Photo Friday

Happy Holidays!

As you can see, Lola wasn't the least thrilled about sitting on some creepy, old man's lap. She was SO scared all she could do was shake with fear and cover her eyes. Ha! She finally calmed down somewhat when we put her on Brooklyn's lap, but she wasn't about to give us any sort of a smile... At least we got a cute one from Brooklyn :) Here's to great 'Meeting Santa' memories!

Happy Birthday Luke!

Luke turned 34 on Sunday. I picked him out a very fitting card this year. It read: This year just enjoy your birthday and don't think about getting old... That happened about 3 years ago. :) But despite being extremely old now, Luke had a pretty good day. We went out to dinner (just he and I) the night before, and he spent the day hanging out doing whatever he wanted- which was nothing :) Brooklyn came over and brought him a card and then made him this great birthday poster (below). I made him a special breakfast and dinner, as well as chocolate and vanilla cupcakes per his request, and the girls and I gave him a new hat and Xbox game (and were going to a 'surprise' dinner with all of his friends tonight and since he hardly reads the blog, I doubt he will see this post before then). Pretty much it was the most awesome birthday ever. Happy Birthday Babe, we love you!!