Christmas Concert

Derek and I were able to attend the Tabernacle Christmas concert in December along with Devin and Emily, and Kristen and Craig. The guest singer was Natalie Cole, and the concert was wonderful.

Thanks to my mom for watching the kids so we could go!!



We hit some heavy traffic on the way up, so we ended up sitting up in the very top section of the Conference Center (last time our seats were really close to the front), but at least we were all able to sit together, and we had a great time!

Natalie Cole singing with the Tab Choir

Live Nativity

Last year I found out about Provo's Live Nativity and really wanted to go,

but it only runs for one weekend and we missed it.

Luckily I found out about it ahead of time this year,

and we went with some friends.

It started with a nativity show inside the Provo Tabernacle,

and then we were able to go outside and see the live animals.

There was a big crowd around the animals at first, but it quickly died down

and we were able to get up close for a few photos.

(Of course Ethan refused to be in any of the pictures.)

Here's Julia next to the llama.
This is the same llama
that made the night much more exciting
when it escaped from its pen
and took off running around the yard
next to the Tabernacle.

We were worried that it would go through the gate into the street
but luckily they caught it before that happened.

It was such a fun night!

Black Friday Zoo Trip

Wow, I'm way behind on blogging!

This first catch-up post is from back in November.

The day after Thanksgiving instead of shopping with masses of people

we decided to visit the zoo.

It had been years since we last visited Hogle Zoo,

and even though it was cold

the kids loved it.

Mom and baby elephant-- they were so cute!!

These little guys were very interested in Julia.

The turtles were HUGE!

Can you see the mom and baby giraffe behind them? So cute!

And of course we had to visit the playground!

We found this area right before leaving.

What a great way to observe the animals!

The Christmas Spirit

This month has been crazy, and I'm way behind on my blogs.

So hopefully I'll have a little time over the next few weeks

to catch up.

But until then,

I hope you all have a very

Merry Christmas!!

Check out this sweet little video on the true meaning of Christmas:

The Christmas Spirit

It's a...

So it's official!

It's a................

And I was so sure it was a girl! :)

(According to the poll most of you thought it was a girl too--

10 voted it was a girl, and 2 voted it was a boy.)

The ultrasound showed that everything looks great.

He's measuring about a week ahead of my due date,

but they said that if it's within 10 days that they don't change the due date.

I guess we can start buying boy stuff!!!

Ultrasound tomorrow!!!

So what do YOU think we're having?

I added a poll over on the right,

feel free to vote...

or just leave a comment!

One reason we love Fall...

Check out our huge pile of leaves in the front yard!

Raking the leaves is work, but jumping in the leaves is pure fun!

Happy (late) Halloween!

So I totally slacked off on taking pictures this Halloween.
These are the only ones I got all day!


And this isn't what Ethan wore to school.

In true Ethan fashion he couldn't wear the same costume to school

and for trick-or-treating.

He went to school as a Ninja, though different than Julia.

The pictures I usually take at the school's costume parade

never turn out very well,

so I didn't take any.

Too bad since that was the only time he wore his original costume!

I didn't love either of their costumes,

but at least they were easy!

Ethan as a Death Eater, and Julia as a Ninja

Hope you all had a great Halloween!

Derek's costume

Derek has a twin in our neighborhood!

Well, at least some people think so.

Introducing Derek and Ty!

Every single Sunday someone gets Derek and Ty confused at church.

So for our ward Trunk or Treat Derek and Ty went as each other.

What do you think? Do they look alike?

Go answer the poll over on the right ------->

(Poll is now closed.)

Poll results:

1 vote: Yes they look exactly the same
8 votes: Yes, they look similar enough that I might get them mixed up
10 votes: They look alike but I wouldn't get them mixed up
1 vote: They look nothing alike, I don't know what everyone is thinking

Happy Birthday Ethan!

OK, so I'm a couple weeks behind on my posts, but I had to post about Ethan's birthday!

For Ethan's party we decided to take the kids to the movies to see G-Force.

Between our 2 cars we can fit up to 8 extra kids.

We sent out 10 invitations figuring that at least 2 kids probably wouldn't come.

Wrong!

Every single guest came, and 2 brought siblings!

We were SO glad that the weather was nice enough to have lunch outside!

The party started with pizza in the backyard.

And wow, those boys can eat!

Ethan received lots of fun gifts.

And we ended with brownies (Ethan's choice instead of cake) and ice cream.

We then loaded all of the kids into the cars.

Luckily my friend Alisha was able to drive too-- we just barely fit everyone.

Our group had 17 people!

We took up 3 rows of seats at the movies!

But everyone stayed put during the entire movie,

and they were all entertained.

It was an ideal movie for this age range.

It was very fortunate that we had counted everyone before the movie,

otherwise we would have left one boy in the bathroom when we were ready to leave.

Everyone ended up having a great time,

and it was a fairly easy birthday party.

The next day we had Ethan's family birthday party

at Grandma's house.

This time he had an actual cake,

and his choice of dinner-- lasagna.

He was very excited to get the new Far World book.

And he was also excited to receive money for his birthday!
He'd been saving his money, and he finally had enough to buy a PSP.

All in all I think he had a wonderful birthday.

Happy Birthday Ethan,

we love you!