Christmas at our house

Merry Christmas Everyone! I can't believe it's come, and gone already. We sure did do a lot of things this year to enjoy the season. We saw the lights at Temple Square, Ogden's Christmas Village, and in Layton. We saw Santa at the Mall, and rode the train. It seemed like we really had a lot of fun this year. I'm going to be sad to see all the decorations get packed up for another year.

Santa didn't forget us!! The girls must have been really good this year, because he left a lot of gifts under our tree :) The girls each got quite the little pile and Mom and Dad got a few things too. We were lucky enough to inherit my Grandma Helen's Christmas Tree. I have to admit, that when I saw it in the box, I was a little disappointed, but once we got it up, and I put a million lights on, (like I usually do), It was fabulous!! Prettier than I could have imagined. It really brought the spirit of Christmas into our home. We've actually been through quite a few fuses, because I have so many lights on the Tree. Next year, I'll have to do it in 2 sections! :) But Chris and I both agree, that it's better than anything we could have bought at the store!!

Oh yeah, and Santa left this bounce Castle too! The girls were super excited when they came down the stairs and saw it. They have been loving it. Indoor exercise for those cold snowy days. Now who can beat that?

Here is a picture of the new Brighton bracelet Santa brought me. I LOVE it!! I also got a Panini maker, garlic press, socks and a couple of movies. Chris got a Torque Wrench, Jeans, Socks, a movie and I surprised him, by registering our Snowmobiles. Now we just need some Snow!!
Well, the girls came away with the real Haul! All of the toys they had been asking for!

A couple of remote control cars. Strawberry Shortcake for Elle, and Littlest Petshop for Bree. Who knew, they would be on the same frequency. So when they use them at the same time, they end up driving each others cars.... Crazy!
This Elephant is very SPECIAL. Elle has been watching the old classic Rudolph movie. She has watched it over and over and loves it. She has been obsessed with this Polka dot Elephant that lives on the Island of Misfit toys. It was the one and only thing she asked Santa for, when she sat on his lap! It's a good thing Santa was able to find it!! This is her favorite gift from Christmas!






The Wuggle pets were a hit also. Bree got the party pack. She and Elle made pets yesterday. It's like build a bear at home. You put your stuffing and magic sprinkles in, and crank the handle to fill your pet. Zip them up, and there they are! They are really cute, and the girls had fun bringing them to life!

My parents gave the girls some sleeping bags for their bunks in the trailer! I love them :) They are big enough, that the girls will have them forever! Cute, Pink, and matching. Just what they needed for all of our fantastic camping trips!

Well, we had a lot of fun at our house on Christmas morning. The girls were jumping up and down from the time they came down the stairs and saw that Santa had made it to our house. They squealed as they opened every present. And Santa knew what they wanted, even if they had forgotten to mention it when they sat on his lap. I love the Magic of Christmas!!

I hope you all had great Christmas' too!

I'm so grateful for My Savior and for Forever Families! Family is the most important thing of all! I'm so blessed to have such wonderful family, near and far, both close and extended. I often think of the people who have gone on before. My great grandparents, grandparents, etc... And I can't wait to see them again someday. And spend some time with them. And someday I'll get to meet Chris' dad too! I just love this time of year. I love how so many people give service and acts of Love. Now lets just carry that on through the rest of the year!

Seeing Santa

There are only 8 days until Christmas!

And we haven't been to see Santa.

Until tonight :)

We had a fun little night tonight. We saw Santa, rode the Christmas Train in the Mall, played in the little Mall play area, drove back to Layton and went through the Park to see more Christmas Lights, and then hit McDonalds on our way home. Whew!

And had sooooo much fun!

Here are Chris and the girls in line to see Santa!

This is the first year, the girls were not scared. Not trying to get away, or sitting on our laps! Before we went, I wasn't even sure if I'd buy a picture this year. The others are kind of funny. But then I thought, how many years do we have, where the girls will believe, and want to see santa? Where they'll be small enough to do this? So I decided I would buy the picture, because these years go by so very fast! When it was their turn, the girls walked right up, and sat on Santa's lap. It was so quick, I almost missed it. They were happy! Smiling! Wow, Chris and I just looked at each other, like, who are these girls? They smiled for the camera, and proceeded to have a conversation with Santa. They both asked him for their hearts desires. It was so easy. No fuss. No prodding and pleading. It was FANTASTIC!!

After seeing Santa, we bought our tickets to ride the little train in the Mall. I had told the girls a long time ago, that we could ride the train. The train is in the mall most of the year, and we never ride it. So I told them that when we went to see Santa, we would ride the train. This was just as fun as seeing Santa!

After our train ride, the girls wanted to play in the small play area in the Mall. So Chris and I sat and talked while our girls went crazy! They were having the most fun night ever!! We had to talk them into leaving, because we wanted to go see the Lights in Layton on our way home.

It was so cold tonight! The car thermometer read 26 degrees! Brrrr... But we walked all around the lights. Christmas music playing, it was just more fun fun fun! And the girls talked us into some McDonalds on the way home. Elle's favorite :)

This was a really fun night! So glad we have so many fun activities and things to enjoy this time of year. I love my girls, and want them to feel some Christmas magic. Don't you remember how magical Christmas time was when you were a kid? I sure do!

Tis the Season

I'm sitting here, and the house is quiet. It's snowing outside and everything is white. I'm listening to Christmas music, and taking it all in. Christmas is coming way too fast. Not that I'm not ready, but just that I don't want it to end. This time of year is so very magical. The lights, the music, the nativity, holiday food, family, etc..etc.. I don't want to miss a thing.

We have partied a little too much in the past couple of days... I have one sick little girl sleeping right now. Fever, throwing up. Not fun. I don't want her to feel badly. The girls haven't gotten their sleep the past couple of days. We've been out enjoying the season. A little too late at night I guess.

Saturday, we did some final cleanup around our yard. Chopped and stacked some logs from our trees that fell. It will be free firewood for camping next summer. Picking up sticks, sweeping the gutter, putting rocks back and covering the holes where the trees used to be. Moving our trailer away from the fence, which I am so happy to say, only needs a couple of touches from Chris and we won't have to make an insurance claim. SO happy about that! We still have a gate to repair, a few shingles, and one piece of siding. We're counting our blessings!

Which reminds me of that song from my favorite movie of all time..."White Christmas". If your worried and you can't sleep, just count your blessings instead of sheep, and you'll fall asleep counting your blessings! "Awesome"!

Sunday night, we got together with the whole Belnap clan, and went to see the Christmas Village and lights in downtown Ogden. I LOVE that place. So many beautiful lights, and all of the little houses filled with Christmas scenes. Just really full of magic. We've started a new tradition with this. We call it, the See, Sip, and Sing. We see the lights, sip hot soup and cocoa, and sing Christmas carols together. LOVE IT!!

Then yesterday, was my husbands Birthday! I don't think there is a better person in all the world! I am seriously blessed. We are partners in every way. I LOVE spending all my time with him and the girls. All he wanted for his birthday, was a nice dinner with me :) So we headed down to Pleasant Grove, and the girls got to see grandma, while Chris and I headed to dinner. We tried somewhere new. I'd been there once with a girlfriend, but it was new to Chris. Texas Roadhouse! Oh man, what can I say about this.... mmmmmm YUM! Everything was so good. I am not a huge meat fan, and don't eat ribs really. But they gave us a free sample of ribs, because it was our first visit, and Chris just happened to order the ribs. Oh man, I'm a total fan now. Of their ribs at least. I'm seriously going to order them on our next visit :) See, I'm already planning to go back. They were that good. Super yummy rolls, and the Onion!!! Oh, well, you'll just have to go try it for yourself.

Chris' brother Mark always does an amazing job on their Christmas lights! He asked if I would bring my camera down and take some pictures for him. The girls loved them! It was like being back at the park again. These pictures seriously can't do them justice! I'm so glad that I have two amazing families, that we love hanging out with.

Needless to say, we've had two very late nights in a row, and it's effecting my girls. Tonight we go to bed on time, at 7:30. Well, at least the girls :)

I just LOVE this time of year. We've already done so many wonderful things to celebrate the season. I just hope the next two weeks don't go by too fast! I'm trying to soak it all in!

December 1st!

December 1st!

Where to start? It's my little girls Birthday. And typically when we get together to celebrate Elle, it's not a very nice day. The day she was born, it snowed and snowed. A blizzard! And on her blessing day, the same. We actually had to have the blessing at the end of our sacrament meeting, because my family was late, because of the storm. And then yesterday.... Probably the biggest wind storm, we've ever seen.

Our street got hit pretty bad. Almost everyone on our street had either a fence, or tree, or both down. Just this morning, I drove down the road looking for our garbage can. I found a house that had three of them lying in the front yard, and claimed one of them. Shingles from someone's house, tree limbs, wood etc... is scattered all over the backyard. And in our front yard, two tree's went down, and the cement is up. And on the side of our house, our gate has been demolished, and our trailer off it's blocks. Crazy I tell you!!! Just crazy!

I even had a brother and a sister who don't even live by me, that were affected. Tree's and fences down. This was a huge storm. I felt uneasy, and wouldn't let my husband go to work yesterday morning. I just had a feeling I shouldn't let him go. I couldn't let him go. And I wasn't about to send my baby out to the bus stop! We watched the news in the early morning hours, and found out that 10 semi's overturned and the freeway was closed, right where my husband would have been trying to drive to work. And then a little while later, found out that Bree's school had been closed. Yeah, there was a reason why I wouldn't let my family leave the house yesterday.

We watched out the window's all day, watching our tree's falling over, garbage cans, and debree rolling down the street, and wondering what the final damage would be. But I felt a calm. I told Chris, that I just felt calm. Everything would be fine. I knew my family was safe, and in those moments, that is all that really mattered. Fences can be fixed, but my family needed to be safe!! And I really felt like the damage wouldn't be too bad. That we could deal with it.

Chris told me he'd been praying all morning. He never cracks, or lets me know he is stressed. But he had a moment of weakness, or relief I should say. He had gone outside to cut some plastic off our deck that was whipping around, and when he came in, he told me that he had inspected the house, and that there was no damage, other than a couple of missing shingles. And then he broke down. Letting it go! The stress! He is the best husband and father and I am so lucky (blessed) to have him.

Anyway, back to Elle's Birthday. We were supposed to have a party last night at Chuck E Cheese. That is all Elle has been talking about for a couple of months. There are about 40 thousand people without power, and Chuck E Cheese was one of them! Ug!! So I called all over, and just couldn't come up with a last minute solution. So we decided to have everyone over to the house. We would order pizza, and have a great time. I just had to tell Elle that it was going to be great! When you're little and counting on Chuck E Cheese, staying home doesn't sound super fun. But everyone came! And WE had power!! Which is a big deal really. We were blessed to have power. 2 of my siblings and my parents, didn't have power. And Everyone came!! From North Ogden, Herriman, and everywhere in between. And we had a BLAST!! Just talking, and laughing, and hanging out together! It was fun.

You just have to see in these few pictures, that Elle was so thrilled! Happiness was bursting out of her. She had a Birthday shirt, and presents, and cousins, and a CAKE! It was perfect!

P.S. My incredible husband, spent some of the day chopping up our fallen tree's, and then came in and helped clean the kitchen, set up chairs, and got a cooler of water for everyone. He is Seriously my hero!!! I can't say it enough!