Second half of December 2013

On December 17th Christian got to put on a Christmas program with his 1st grade class.

It was full of songs in English and Chinese, and every kid had a speaking part. It was so darling!

That night Faith showed us the sets for her upcoming Grinch play.

Tony was off on the 19th and got to come with me to see the performance that morning. Faith had auditioned several weeks before and had been awarded the starring role as the Grinch, and she rocked it!

I also love the costume she made.

That afternoon we braved the snow and went to Temple square.

The temple was beautiful through the light snow, but we were disappointed that half of the lights weren't working due to that morning's ice storm. Even worse, we couldn't get in to see the Christus because they sent the missionaries who staff the visitor's centers back to their apartments earlier in the day when the weather was bad.

We started heading to This is the Place, but looked online and found that they had shut down, as well. We ended up picking up some lights at Modern Display and looking at all of their great decorations.

We capped off the night with dinner at Chuck-a-Rama and I got a picture of our fun house lights when we got home.

Here are some fun, pre-Chrismas gifts we've received: Brandi gave me the toilet paper with the label "In case you get crap for Christmas," and Tammy made the subway lettering tile.

On the 21st Sirui left on her cross-country sightseeing trip. She went to Las Angeles & San Diego, New York, Boston, and Las Vegas with a few friends from her program.

That evening we went to candlelight Christmas at This is the Place. It wasn't as awesome as last year, but it was still nice.

December 23rd we finished up our baking and delivered plates to family and friends.

Faith even made these cute tags for them!

On the 24th, the kids finished the last chocolate in their advent calendars.

The kids opened their Christmas Eve gift from us and wore the pajamas which were inside to my mom and dad's party. We ate lots of appetizers and beef burgeoning for dinner, then had a blast with some Minute-to-win-it games. First we stacked nuts using a candy cane,

and then shook plastic ornaments out of tissue boxes tied onto our bums. We sure had some great hip action that night!

Christmas morning started early--5 am! The kids got the Disney Infinity game which they asked for, 

and were also surprised with bows & arrows.

Christian gave Tony a card and me a necklace, and Faith made this cute snow globe with a picture of her with her arms out, looking up into the snow falling.

Faith was super excited about her guitar!

Dusty enjoyed his catnip infused mice,

and Skittles' favorite gift was a new bully stick.

In the background you can see the pots & pans Tony got for me. He also surprised me with some cute clothes and an electric blanket.

The kids immediately went out for some target practice.

My mom & dad gave us some fun gifts, including Lagoon passes. (Eric was wearing a mask because he was recovering from influenza.)

 

  I loved this tee shirt they gave Tony!

 

  We were spoiled even more with lots of gifts at Braeggers' including new dishes and silverware for Tony & I.

Lana beckoned me downstairs to show me how cute Christian was hanging out with grandpa in his office.

We stopped by Grandma Mitchell's to wish her happy birthday & merry Christmas.

Back at home, the kids took stock of their loot and played their new games.

On the 31st we picked up Faith's friends Cambry and Nataly and went to "Noon Year's Eve" at Boondocks where the kids did laser tag,

go-cart racing,

bowling, and playing in the arcade. At noon they did an early New Year's countdown. We stomped bubble wrap and tried to get our hands on some of the prize filled balloons that were released from above, but we were only able to get one and it had candy instead of a gift card or money in it. It was still fun!

That evening we went to Braeggers'. Instead of the traditional Chili's ribs for dinner, we ate soup and bruschetta from Olive Garden. 

Happy new year!

First half of December 2013

On December 2nd the kids, Sirui & I (Tony was still at work) went to the Kaysville lighting ceremony and parade. They had hot chocolate,

a live band, and lots of lights.

The parade didn't have many floats, but it did have this cool fire truck with a light-up Santa on the front!

We didn't love it and would have to give it some thought before committing to attending another year, but I'm glad we got to see it at least once.

That evening Christian tried a beard of his own.

The next night, Faith had an "ugly sweater" party for Young Women's and made this beauty for the gift exchange.

Here's the one she came home with:

On December 6th Faith got to perform with her ballroom dance class at Festival of Trees.

She did great and looked so pretty!

Afterward, we looked at the crafts and trees with Sirui and my mom & dad. I loved this "names of Jesus" quilt.

At the end we did some activities and crafts.

Since we were in Salt Lake, we decided to stop by the Winter Fantasy Faire that was going on. Christian decided to take on the kids' challenge where you had to find certain people or things and get stamps on a passport. We got this cute picture with Steampunk Santa,

visited with an ice queen,

got a shell from a mermaid,

and won a Medieval game of chance. Because of his diligence in completing the challenge, Christian received a ring and got to be knighted.

We got to see guys in armor fight with metal swords and axes (it was real and violent enough to scare Sirui!),

try on some leather armor,

and bought some fuzzy hat/mitten combo things.

Buddy loved it, Faith was bored, and Sirui & I were only slightly amused. I think it would be more fun during the evening when it would be busier. The more nerds, the merrier!

On the 7th we went to breakfast with Santa at Station Park Harmon's. We were about three minutes late and missed the big guy arriving via LifeFlight helicopter, but heard that those who witnessed it first-hand got eyes and mouths full of rock salt which the wind from the helicopter blades picked up from the parking lot and pelted the bystanders with. 

The breakfast was large and delicious. It was only four dollars per person, and the full amount was given to benefit a local school for children with disabilities. The ingredients were donated by the grocery store and the meal was cooked by volunteering firefighters.

After we ate, we went into the store and were delighted when a flash mob bell choir treated us to a performance of "Carol of the Bells!"

Next, we went to Home Depot where the kids built a "Despicable Me" tic-tac-toe game.

We got some snow that day, and the kids had fun sledding down the slight incline of our side yard.

It turned into a bit of a blizzard on our way to the kids' Christmas piano recital, and we all enjoyed Buddy's idea of opening up the sunroof and letting it snow inside the car! Sirui thinks we're a silly, fun "happiness family."

The kids both did beautiful jobs on their recital pieces, and we got a chuckle out of Christian's dramatic double bow.

My mom gave each of the kids music note tree ornaments :)

That night, we went to see the Christmas village at the Ogden park.

Faith didn't have boots that fit, and soon became miserable with freezing wet feet, but we stopped by WalMart for some dry socks and slipper boots and still had a wonderful meal at Lee's Mongolian.

We even stopped by Roy city to see the lights and the huge tree synchronized to music.

When we got home, Buddy donned the elf ear/wig combo he'd picked up at Target along with some crazy teeth he already owned, and TOTALLY freaked Sirui out. I think that girl will have nightmares for years after spending time with us!

Because we had gotten some snow, and we never can know how much we'll end up with on a given year this far west, we decided to give the kids an early Christmas present on the 8th--cool sleds!

They used them as makeshift snowboards down the driveway,

then we took them to (now nonexistent) old South Ogden Junior High hill for sledding after church.

Tony went with the kids, and Skittles and I stayed warm in the car.

We have an "Elf on the Shelf" this year who has been making himself at home, in a different location each day. One day Buddy found him chilling in the freezer, and made me this tree ornament as a gift to commemorate the occasion.

What an artist! You'll see how true to life this is on my next post, all about his adventures.

The 14th was our ward Christmas breakfast.

That evening we went to the Dickens Festival.

They had a fun magician, but the rest was just booths of stuff for sale and we weren't very impressed.

Next, we decided to take Sirui to Cabella's.

 

Here, Faith is posing with the puppet she bought at the Dickens festival with some of her leftover birthday money. I was a bit weirded out that she was so enamored by the strange little guy, but I can never quite figure Faith out.

Sirui got to learn about guns, first from this shooting gallery, and then from perusing real guns at the store.

To round out the night, we enjoyed the drive-through lights at Thanksgiving Point.

When we went through the drive-through at Chic-fil-A for dinner, we were the recipients of an amazing random act of kindness: the car in front of us paid for our meal! We truly felt the Christmas spirit and were inspired to pay it forward.

Eye Candy

I realized I haven't done a "hot guys" post in awhile and in December I entertained myself one night when I couldn't sleep by pinning some of my favorite actor crushes to a Pinterest board I named "eye candy." 

These are just a sampling of my favorites!