Christmas card outtakes

On a Saturday in October I decided that we needed to head up to the canyon to get a family photo before the leaves were all gone. Many of them were gone, but we lucked out and found a few spots that still looked really pretty. We hadn't been able to find our camera tripod (still packed away in some box) so we used the tripod from our telescope which wasn't great at holding the camera. 

As soon as we entered the canyon Chase looked around at the trees and declared that we were in the jungle.  He was thrilled when we got out of the car and started trekking around on a few different trails looking for the perfect spot.  He wasn't so thrilled to sit down and take pictures though...

 

This one cracks me up, this seems to represent our entire year of chasing after Chase:

But in the end we did find a family picture that was deemed good enough for the Christmas card.  We're always happy to add to our Christmas card list, let me know if we should add you!

Christmas Break

Today is the last day of my kids' Christmas break.   It has been great having some time off from everything.  Derek had some vacation time left so he was home too.  We were able to prep for Christmas, finish some projects on the house, and spend lots of time as a family.  We made it to temple square and saw the beautiful lights, even though it was freeeeeezing. 

On Christmas Eve we had a little family party at our house.  We had dinner and the kids made gingerbread houses. 

After the party it should have been easy to finish everything up.  I finished wrapping gifts after a couple of hours and everything was ready to go, but Chase wouldn't go to sleep.  We tried everything, including driving him around in the car on the icy roads.  He finally drifted off around 1:30 and we quickly finished up all our Christmas preparations and went to bed around 2:30.  He woke up at 3am screaming and continued screaming until 6am.  Thankfully Ethan and Julia slept in (the beauty of our Christmas break schedule I guess) and didn't make us come down until 10.  Chase slept until 11. 

Ethan and Julia opened presents without him, and he woke up cheerful and happy to open presents (even a few that weren't for him). 

That afternoon we went to my parents' house to share and open gifts, and we took brunch with us. 
That night my family came over for Christmas dinner.  Daphne and Chase were really cute playing together, and it was so fun seeing everyone.  . 

 

(I should have taken more pictures because I didn't quite get everyone.)

It was a great day, hope you all had a great Christmas too!

San Antonio

Earlier this month Derek had a business trip to San Antonio, Texas. We had some frequent flyer miles so I met him there for a quick trip.  It was just one night (I didn't dare leave Chase any longer) but it was so nice to have some time for just us.  We saw the Alamo: 

Inside the Alamo there were the most amazing trees with branches that twisted in every direction:

We walked along the riverwalk, had dinner at a little mexican restaurant, and rode on one of the boats that went up and down the river.  All the trees along the river had Christmas lights streaming down from the top, it was beautiful!

 

The alamo at night:

 

Us at the mall at the edge of the river:

Thanks to my mom who watched the kids while we were gone!

House #2

I finally got around to taking pictures of the rest of the house.  This first one is of the entry from our garage, our little mudroom area.  Derek put hooks up for our coats and jackets, key hooks and mail slots, and just added bulletin boards.  It has been so helpful!  Here it is with coats piled on all the hooks:

And moving upstairs, here is Chase's room:

Julia's room:

Ethan's room:

The kids' bathroom:

Our bedroom:

Our bathroom:

And my sister wanted to see our house decorated for Christmas, so here you go!  Our tree looks ridiculously tiny with the high ceilings in this room, maybe we'll find a bigger one next year. 

 

 

We are loving the house so far, but I still have a lot of decorating I'd love to do one of these days!

New house

I had a few people asking when I was going to post pictures of the new house, so I'm finally getting around to doing it!  Now I am not done decorating, organizing, or even unpacking.  But this is how everything looks at the moment.  When you walk in our front door we have a formal living room on the right (our piano room), and a formal dining room on the left.  And you can see straight into the family room which is at the back of the house.  Piano room:

Dining room:

Looking through the dining room from the entry near the garage, you can see our entryway and our piano room:

This is our family room from above, it is at the back of the house (and I just realized that there is an extra toy sitting on the mantel that is not usually there, so ignore the object on the far left):

Our kitchen, which is right next to the family room at the back of the house:

Looking from the kitchen into the family room:

(Sorry about the awful lighting on this one) Kitchen from opposite corner:

Back yard and fence which we just barely got finished a few weeks ago:

Main floor bathroom:

Derek's office/ guest room (definitely still needs some work!):

Well that's the main floor, minus the little entry by the back door which will be getting hooks for jackets and coats soon.  Our basement is unfinished, and I'll get pics of the upstairs soon.