Snow at Home

We got snow for a couple of days in Meridian! The kids went outside and played for a long time in the little snow that we got. Johnny kept insisting that the snow was ice cream and Alex tried her best to make a snowman, but the snow wasn't sticking so Johnny ate it instead.

They discovered the joys of jumping on the trampoline when covered in snow.


The second day we tried out Alex's skis to make sure everything fit right before her first lesson this Thursday. Johnny was excited to try the skis too but not so excited when he found out that Alex got to go first.

Merry Christmas To All!

Christmas at the cabin. This year all that goes into packing for Christmas at the cabin really paid off. We had a blast. Our group doubled in size this year (last year it was just the 4 of us) but it is still a smaller Christmas than those we remember in the past. It was a fun weekend. Christmas Eve the kids opened their ornaments. And then fell asleep fast and eager for tomorrow to come.


A few of Johnny's favorites were his horse "Smokey" (name compliments of Brad but loved by Johnny), his Incredible's laser remote control car and his fire truck. As he was tearing the paper off of his fire truck he could barely get the words out, he was so excited "my...my...my FIRE TRUCK!"

A few of Alex's favorites include her set of 6 princess shoes that she modeled over and over for all to see, her legos which she was excited to see included pink and purple legos and her horse which she orignally named Princess Jasmine although it has taken on many names since then.


And of course they LOVED their Santa presents this year. Alex got the ballet studio she had been asking for and was so excited to see that Santa gave her two pairs of ballet shoes even though she forgot to put that in her letter to Santa. Johnny is quite the basketball star with his basketball hoop Santa left him. Right away we had to raise the net to the highest position and then he started getting tricky by backing up and standing on something because regular hoops were just too easy for him to make.


While we were skiing the kids decorated a gingerbread house with Nana and Papa. It was fun to come home and see what they had done. And the game of the weekend was Uno attack. We all took turns winning and losing with that game and even Alex took her fair share of cards tossed into her lap. It was fun and relaxing...for the most part. We've learned that Bret is better at entertaining kids than being on any moving objects.

White Christmas

A few highlights from our White Christmas

A view of the valley below the cabin.

Skiing Christmas Eve with Craig, Brad, Me, Jo & Bret.
We had great powder and practically the whole mountain to ourselves.
I tradition I hope to keep up in the future!
Thank you Mom and Dad for watching the little ones for us!

Are you ready for some footall?
We had 2 feet of light powder when we arrived at the cabin
and made good use of it that weekend.

Pre-Christmas Warm-Up!

Ok, so we're spending Christmas at the cabin as usual and this year we will be spending it with Brad's family. So instead of hauling all of my family's present to Cascade and making his family watch us open them all we took last night and made it into a mini Christmas. We started out by making our Christmas treats that we'll be bringing to the cabin and then topped it off with present opening. It is nice to be able to spread the gifts out a little so they're not so overwhelmed on Christmas day. And let me tell you, they were quite entertained all day today. Here are a few snapshots I just had to take!

Alex, and yes Johnny too, dancing to "Bella Dancerella Cheerleader"

Spirit spirit, she has Spirit!

Johnny's new race track

This one I threw in because Alex falls asleep like this just about every night and I've been meaning to take a picture of her when I've gone in to turn off her light. She always keeps the book propped just in case she might wake up and want to finish where she left off.

Dress up Time...

My parents gave the kids each a huge bin full of dress up clothes. Johnny's favorite was the Thomas the Train costume and Alex loved all of the wigs and wings.

A mischievious choo choo...

An extatic blonde butterfly...

A disgruntled pink punk bug...

Indecision...here's Alex walking away after showing me ALL of her costumes on at once.

Picture Time!

My sister-in-laws, Tiff and Em, were kind enough to let me practice taking pictures of others on them. I learned a lot and will be a little more prepared next time but we got some really cute pictures. I took them of my nephews, Brayden, Logan and Ethan who will be joined by baby boy #4 soon! As well as some of Tate and Emily who are celebrating their third anniversary and are expecting baby #1!

Ward Christmas Party

Every year we are lucky enough to make it to two of the party's on Santa's list. We saw him at the Micron party and he also came to our Ward party again this year. The kids were so excited when everyone started singing "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" and heard bells jingling in the background. Alex ran over to his chair and was probably the first one there but when he sat down there was such a big crowd of kids that they started the line on the other side of Santa from where Alex was. She hurried to the new line but by the time she got there she was near the end of the line. She patiently saved a spot in line for herself and her brother who sat in front of Santa watching all of the kids take their turns and asking if it was his turn yet. Next time I'll try to remember to have them make a toddler line so the younger ones can take their turns first. Everyone always thinks of it after the line is formed and there's no cutting in line when waiting for Santa, this is serious stuff. Below is a picture of Johnny waiting for his turn.

Anyway, I didn't mind because it gave us an excuse to hang around and take cute pictures of all of my friend's kids on Santa's lap. Most of them left their camera's at home and I was more than happy to oblige. Here's one girl who's the oldest of 3 girls and has a baby brother (just like my family). They are all so cute and I had to share this one photo with everyone.

Ok, now for some pictures of my kids!

Girls Night Out

Last week Alex and I were lucky enough to have two girl's nights by ourselves. On Wednesday I took her to see the "Idaho Choral Symphony Orchestra and the Alleluia Chorus" Christmas concert. It was at night and on the way there she wanted to play "I spy". It was dark out so there wasn't much to see but Christmas lights along the way.

Alex: "I spy something that's red"
Me: "Is it Christmas lights?"
Alex: "Ya"

Alex: "I spy something blue and green"
Me: "Christmas lights?"
Alex: "Ya"

Alex: "I spy something yellow"
Me: "Let me guess, Christmas lights?"
Alex: "Ya"

etc...

While we were there she was full of questions of course, being her first concert. Finally I convinced her to just listen and she sat in my lap watching the different string instruments move together or trying to pick out the horn or drum in the song even though she couldn't see them. They had some awesome and inspiring soloists. At intermission I took her up close to take a peek at all the individual instruments. about 3/4 of the way through the night she fell asleep in my arms to Ave Maria. I was glad to be able to share something I love with her and so glad that she's old enough to enjoy it with me.

On Saturday I took her to her first ballet. One of my young women, Aubrey, was performing in a ballet rendition of "Charlotte's Web." She was excited to have a friend sitting in front of us (it was her older sister we were there watching) and to have her CTR teacher sitting next to us. Again, she had lots of questions so I sat slouched in my chair to explain what was happening in each scene. She was confused at first why there was no talking but accepted it quickly when she realized they were there to show of their dancing talents and not their voices. Her favorite was Charlotte, the spider and thought she looked so pretty in her flowing tutu even if it was "all black". Although when Aubrey's Dad asked Alex which was her favorite character in the play she told him "Aubrey". Good answer Alex. She waited the whole show for Fern's little brother to try and catch the spider (which she remembered from the movie) and then missed it when it happened as kind of a side scene to something else that was going on. Throughout the night she told me I was the "best mom" and she was having "so much fun". I think we'll make both of these a tradition; come this time of year. Next year we'll have to catch her favorites, "The Nutcracker" and "Swan Lake". And this spring the Theater is putting on "Cinderella" and she can't wait for that new experience to watch a princess story, live! I'm so glad I have a little girl to hang out with at times like these and I'm sure Brad's glad that I can take her instead of him. :o)

Gymnastics Meet

Alex had her first Gymnastics meet on Saturday. Only two kids her age competed. It's not really a competition though since she's only in the recreational level but they get to show of what they've learned. It was for all the kids in levels 1-3. Alex was nervous at first when we got there and the gym was full of other gymnists and their parents. But she did so good in everything. She did her floor routine, the vault, balance beam and bars. At the end of the competition the level 5-7 gymnists performed to show the kids what they can learn some day if they stick with it. I think it overwhelmed Alex and made her feel like she could never be as good as them so she didn't want to do gymnastics anymore. But when we got to the gym today and it was her normal class and normal teacher she was excited and asked when she'll be bigger so she can do the things the big girls did. I assured her that it just takes lots of practice and she's getting bigger and better every day. I'm a little annoyed that our video camera wasn't working so I didn't get it on tape but I did take pictures. Here are a few.

Merry Christmas Micron

Last night we attended the 4 day Micron Christmas party. They hold it at the Idaho Center and fill it with games, blow up slides, rock climbing, cooking making and of course Santa! This year Johnny was able to enjoy it right along side of Alex. Mine and Brad's goals every year is to get out of there by the time it starts to get way too crowded. Luckily he gets off work earlier than most and so that isn't too hard to do. The kids collected prizes and filled up on cookies and candy canes while we hurried them through the different game booths. Alex tried rock climbing and got higher this year than than the year before. Johnny really wanted to play basketball but it's part of this huge blow up court where you're tied to another person and you both try to make a basket in the opposite direction. He studied it for awhile to see if it might be possible but then moved on to the huge blow up slides. He also really wanted to go on the trampoline where they harness you in and then shoot you up into the air. I tried all night to convince him that he wouldn't fit in the harness and he just wasn't big enough yet. It was fun and we got to see Santa for the first time this season. Any time I mentioned that we were going to see Santa at the party she would explain that it's not the real Santa, just Santa's helper. So she still gave him her wish list hoping he would relay it on to Santa. No doubt she'll still be writing her annual letter to Santa to ask for her Bella Dancerella Ballet Studio. Johnny didn't forget to throw in that he wanted a basket ball and hoop. All in all it was a fun night and they put on a better production every year. Thanks Micron, Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday Alex!

Alex celebrated her 5 year old birthday on Sunday. I mentioned in an earlier post that Alex got to decide between a family party and a friend party and she chose to share this day with her family. I'm not sure that it was much less crazy to host than a friend party but either way, it was lots of fun to be surrounded by so many people who love our little girl. Alex asked her Grammie at one point if she would be at her party and the next thing we knew Grammie and Grandpa Knudsen were buying plane tickets to fly out for the weekend. They couldn't have given her a better gift than their presence there but of course they still showered her with gifts from themselves as well as from her Aunts, Uncle and cousins from back in Cali making her truly feel like the princess for the day. We had her Nana & Papa, Auntie Em & Uncle Tate, Auntie Tiff and Uncle Jason with their boys, Brayden, Logan & Ethan. We found a way to sneak a few friends in there and invited Jason, Suzy, Luke, Brooke & Maddie Johnson who used to be the only "family" we had here when were first moved to Idaho. A couple of days before the party Alex had the idea of a big castle for her friends to walk through when they came to her party. So she spent the next couple of days coloring a huge rainbow castle picture that hung from floor to ceiling in our entryway. Those under 4 feet tall could enter through the castle door draped in streamers. She was very proud of her little creation. It didn't take long before everyone got there that she was begging to start opening presents. I think she finished in record time. Is this a preview of what Christmas will be like? We are very thankful for our family, those who are close and those far away. I know Alex feels the love and is grateful for all of your thoughtfulness and excitement for her on her special day.

Happy Birthday Princess!

Temple Lights

This blog was actually meant to be read from the bottom up. I published it in order but of course the latest blog ends up on top. Oops. Anyway, if you'd like to read it as it was intended then scroll down to the "Family" post about 5 posts down. Either way, Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

The weekend after Thanksgiving we made a trip into Salt Lake to see the lights on Temple Square. It was a magical night with lights all colors of the rainbow, a life size manger scene, live Christmas music emanating from the tabernacle, the Salt Lake Temple towering over head and my favorite part, the beautiful Christos. I hope to visit temple square more often so the kids can see the history and feel the grandeur and spirit of the grounds.

Fun

Most importantly, we had lots of fun. And even more importantly Jo's boyfriend, Brett, entertained the kids for us most of the weekend. He's a keeper Jo!

Football

Hut, Hut, Hike!
Tuck and Run!

Watch out for the steal!
Double Teamed

Don't mess with Dad!