Just, SORRY!
On to the post:
We did a whole bunch of fun activities in December. Tony took off work from December 14th-18th for a little Christmassy "staycation". On the 14th we saw "The Princess and the Frog" and then saw the rest of the Christmas village downtown Ogden with Tammy and Zach.
We visited with Santa there and Christian wasn't afraid at all.
We loved looking in all the little buildings.
We loved looking in all the little buildings.
On the 15th we rode Frontrunner into Salt Lake. The kids were superexcited to ride the train!
Some fun while waiting at the station--watch out for that left hook!
Some fun while waiting at the station--watch out for that left hook!
It's here!
Christian was enthralled the entire ride. Faith loved it for about five minutes and then proclaimed it "pretty boring."
Christian was enthralled the entire ride. Faith loved it for about five minutes and then proclaimed it "pretty boring."
By the time we got to Salt Lake we were starving so we ate first at Dee's, right next to Temple square. The kids both got the salad bar, Tony had an omelette and I got french toast with salad bar. After Buddy had eaten quite a bit of pasta and fruit, he asked me if he could have one of my "breads" becuase he was enthralled with the tiny syrup pitcher I had been brought. I figured he just wanted to play with it, but I was full anyway and cut up a piece for him. He was very careful with the syrup and ate every bit of the french toast. He then asked for and consumed another whole piece! I've never seen the kid eat so well. Faith loved the coloring page place mats there.
We loved walking all over temple square and seeing all the lights. The temperature was pretty mild and we didn't even freeze to death!
The kids in front of the temple, just before a nice couple took our family picture.
On the 16th we kept Faith home from school and headed down south in the morning. We stopped at Taffy Town in Salt Lake and then headed out to the Peppermint Place candy shop in Alpine. It used to be one of our favorite places to visit when the shop was in the same building as the factory. You could go upstairs and look through big windows at the people making candy canes and suckers (here are some pictures from their website) and through other windows at people making things out of frosting (like on these and these and these). It was so fun! I guess they outgrew that factory and built a new one and a separate, freestanding shop. Now I don't love it. Most everything's pretty expensive and it's more like a gift shop. But I did get some cute frosting gingerbread men that I later put on dipped pretzels, Faith got this gumball seal and Buddy got a gumball Dr. Seuss fishbowl (which was eaten before I could get a photo).
We then stopped in at Cabella's and enjoyed their giant aquariums.
The kids love to see all the taxidermied animals, but Christian was still wary of being eaten by one of the bears :)
We fed the fish that are swimming around the bottom of what I like to call "dead animal mountain".
We loved walking all over temple square and seeing all the lights. The temperature was pretty mild and we didn't even freeze to death!
The kids in front of the temple, just before a nice couple took our family picture.
On the 16th we kept Faith home from school and headed down south in the morning. We stopped at Taffy Town in Salt Lake and then headed out to the Peppermint Place candy shop in Alpine. It used to be one of our favorite places to visit when the shop was in the same building as the factory. You could go upstairs and look through big windows at the people making candy canes and suckers (here are some pictures from their website) and through other windows at people making things out of frosting (like on these and these and these). It was so fun! I guess they outgrew that factory and built a new one and a separate, freestanding shop. Now I don't love it. Most everything's pretty expensive and it's more like a gift shop. But I did get some cute frosting gingerbread men that I later put on dipped pretzels, Faith got this gumball seal and Buddy got a gumball Dr. Seuss fishbowl (which was eaten before I could get a photo).
We then stopped in at Cabella's and enjoyed their giant aquariums.
The kids love to see all the taxidermied animals, but Christian was still wary of being eaten by one of the bears :)
We fed the fish that are swimming around the bottom of what I like to call "dead animal mountain".
These prairie dogs were Faith's favorite. The kids had fun doing the shooting gallery there, too.
We then went to our favorite duck feeding grounds and went through two loaves of bread. I told Tony that if they all bloat up and die from all that it would be on his head! He said that people stop by and feed bread to them almost constantly every day even all through the winter, so they should be used to that diet by now.
For dinner, we went to one of our favorites, Hickory Kist in Spanish Fork. (Unlike the new Peppermint Place) they have big windows where you can watch them make the bread.
Here's Buddy trying to fit his quarter of the ginormous sandwich in his mouth.
Here's what we get on it: turkey breast, American cheese (though I would probably prefer Provolone), mayo, regular mustard, cranberry sauce (don't skip this--it makes the sandwich!), onion, tomato, lettuce, and sprouts (another fave). I'm totally craving one of those now!
We then went through the drive through lights at the Spanish Fork Golf Course. They were great, but Faith's favorite part was that Tony let her sit on his lap and steer the car our second time through. We just hadn't had enough lights, so we then went to the Thanksgiving Point drive through lights which were also awesome. Outside the shops there they had some reindeer that we got to see.
We shopped there for just a few minutes and got an ornament to commemorate the visit. I think this will start our new family tradition of getting an ornament each year from our Christmas outings.
On December 17th Joy had a Unicorn pary for U week at their house. The kids played pin the horn on the unicorn.
Then they tossed the unicorn shoes (like horseshoes).
I got some great action shots on these!
They had a snack of unicorn horns (Nacho Cheese Bugles).
And finally, a unicorn horn craft.
That night Tammy took us and Tina's family to Zoolights. We saw a lot more animals this year and we loved it!
We stopped by Krispy Kreme on our way home and had doughnuts and hot chocolate.
I got this pic of Dusty that night, just look at those chubby haunches!!
Faith has early out every Friday, so early afternoon on the 18th we got the kids in their comfy new Christmas jammies and headed north. Tony used to deliver in Logan and knows of some fun places to visit. We started out at Gossner Cheese Factory where we loaded up on cheese curds. They had been made that day and were extra squeaky!!
We then hit the Pepperidge Farm factory in Richmond and got giant bags of Goldfish crackers and some cookies. At the end of the evening we went north to the Middle of nowhere, Richmond to the Fatboy factory and ice cream shop. I'm not a fan of the Fatboy ice cream in their sandwiches and bars so I didn't order anything, but the kids and Tony had some scoops in waffle cones and cups. It was a pretty fun day, but the kids had had enough of the car so we'll have to remember to take that into account next year.
On the 19th was the Mitchell family Christmas/Birthday party. I love how Buddy's enthralled with Grandpa Mitchell for some reason in this picture :D
On the 20th the week of activities finally took it's toll and I found that Christian had fallen asleep on the kitchen floor after church!
On the 21st I had some surprises planned for our family home evening activity. Tony had been looking for a waving Santa cookie cutter that he had remembered from his childhood, but his mom didn't have it or any recollection of the thing. I finally found one at "For Your Kitchen" at Newgate mall.
I had also gotten these cute aprons for the kids from the dollar store.
Buddy seems pretty excited about his cookies!
On the 22nd, since we didn't have school, we invited Ann, Natalie and kids over for a Christmas pary. I had the kids make these cute wooden spoon reindeer. (My kids were too busy playing to bother getting in the picture)
My friend Brandy gave this to us for a neighbor gift and I thought it was so darling!
Tony and I stayed up wrapping gifts on the night of the 23rd until 3 am because I didn't trust Buddy with them. Unfortunately, I wasn't watching the little bugger close enough that morning of the 24th because Faith found this scene in our master bathroom:
I had kept the wrapped gifts in my bedroom instead of tempting Christian with them under the tree, but I hadn't noticed that instead of playing in the playroom he had slipped into my room. I, of course, freaked out on him but then, of course, felt bad since I knew he was not able to resist. Instead of having a relaxing Christmas Eve, Tony and I were up rewrapping. 
We then went to our favorite duck feeding grounds and went through two loaves of bread. I told Tony that if they all bloat up and die from all that it would be on his head! He said that people stop by and feed bread to them almost constantly every day even all through the winter, so they should be used to that diet by now.
For dinner, we went to one of our favorites, Hickory Kist in Spanish Fork. (Unlike the new Peppermint Place) they have big windows where you can watch them make the bread.
Here's Buddy trying to fit his quarter of the ginormous sandwich in his mouth.
Here's what we get on it: turkey breast, American cheese (though I would probably prefer Provolone), mayo, regular mustard, cranberry sauce (don't skip this--it makes the sandwich!), onion, tomato, lettuce, and sprouts (another fave). I'm totally craving one of those now!We then went through the drive through lights at the Spanish Fork Golf Course. They were great, but Faith's favorite part was that Tony let her sit on his lap and steer the car our second time through. We just hadn't had enough lights, so we then went to the Thanksgiving Point drive through lights which were also awesome. Outside the shops there they had some reindeer that we got to see.
We shopped there for just a few minutes and got an ornament to commemorate the visit. I think this will start our new family tradition of getting an ornament each year from our Christmas outings.
On December 17th Joy had a Unicorn pary for U week at their house. The kids played pin the horn on the unicorn.
Then they tossed the unicorn shoes (like horseshoes).
I got some great action shots on these!
They had a snack of unicorn horns (Nacho Cheese Bugles).
And finally, a unicorn horn craft.
That night Tammy took us and Tina's family to Zoolights. We saw a lot more animals this year and we loved it!
We stopped by Krispy Kreme on our way home and had doughnuts and hot chocolate.
I got this pic of Dusty that night, just look at those chubby haunches!!
Faith has early out every Friday, so early afternoon on the 18th we got the kids in their comfy new Christmas jammies and headed north. Tony used to deliver in Logan and knows of some fun places to visit. We started out at Gossner Cheese Factory where we loaded up on cheese curds. They had been made that day and were extra squeaky!!
We then hit the Pepperidge Farm factory in Richmond and got giant bags of Goldfish crackers and some cookies. At the end of the evening we went north to the Middle of nowhere, Richmond to the Fatboy factory and ice cream shop. I'm not a fan of the Fatboy ice cream in their sandwiches and bars so I didn't order anything, but the kids and Tony had some scoops in waffle cones and cups. It was a pretty fun day, but the kids had had enough of the car so we'll have to remember to take that into account next year.
On the 19th was the Mitchell family Christmas/Birthday party. I love how Buddy's enthralled with Grandpa Mitchell for some reason in this picture :D
On the 20th the week of activities finally took it's toll and I found that Christian had fallen asleep on the kitchen floor after church!
On the 21st I had some surprises planned for our family home evening activity. Tony had been looking for a waving Santa cookie cutter that he had remembered from his childhood, but his mom didn't have it or any recollection of the thing. I finally found one at "For Your Kitchen" at Newgate mall.
I had also gotten these cute aprons for the kids from the dollar store.
Buddy seems pretty excited about his cookies!
On the 22nd, since we didn't have school, we invited Ann, Natalie and kids over for a Christmas pary. I had the kids make these cute wooden spoon reindeer. (My kids were too busy playing to bother getting in the picture)
My friend Brandy gave this to us for a neighbor gift and I thought it was so darling!
Tony and I stayed up wrapping gifts on the night of the 23rd until 3 am because I didn't trust Buddy with them. Unfortunately, I wasn't watching the little bugger close enough that morning of the 24th because Faith found this scene in our master bathroom:
I had kept the wrapped gifts in my bedroom instead of tempting Christian with them under the tree, but I hadn't noticed that instead of playing in the playroom he had slipped into my room. I, of course, freaked out on him but then, of course, felt bad since I knew he was not able to resist. Instead of having a relaxing Christmas Eve, Tony and I were up rewrapping. His obsession is so serious that just the other day we discovered that Buddy had found a Christmas decoration of ours that has a family of bears next to a tree who sing when you turn it on. I had stashed the thing in my closet after hearing the songs seven hundred million times in December and then forgot about it. Having an intense desire to know what the little bears had in their packages, Buddy took scissors to the things only to discover that they were just hard plastic cubes wrapped to look like presents :( He was personally offended.
While Tony was doing some last minute shopping, he got this Santa pet hat. It has an attached beard that you can't see with all of Dusty's fluff, but he still looked adorable in it! You can just tell how much he loved it ;)
