Happy Christmas to All!

We hope that all of our faithful readers had as happy a Christmas as we did. I can't believe that it is all over for another year. We started out our Christmas Eve with dinner and presents at Uncle Noley and Aunt Christy's house. Aunt Jill was able to be there as well which was nice because she lives farther away then the rest of daddy's siblings. We love our favorite Uncle Noley dinner of soup and scones. Yummy as always!

Daddy always reminds me not to inhale powdered sugar - but I love how it can still get all over my face and nose when I eat it.

Mason the white nosed reindeer?Present time - we got so many fun things this year. Aunt Jill and Rian and Hayden gave me a Webkins frog. I named him "Freddie".We had a great time giving presents as well. I picked out Moose pajama pants for Uncle Noley. I think he liked them! Even Sam got warmed up to everyone and gave a few hugs and kisses. Christmas brings out the best in most everybody I think!Then the games began. Uncle Noley has this really fun Shark bowling game. After we got tired of using the wind-up shark to knock down the fish pins, we decided to use ME as the bowling ball. It's a good thing Uncle Noley's floors are shiny and slick! I went flying - and it was fun! Sam is getting his form down for his turn at being the bowling ball.Even Aunt Jill got in on the action. They got both of us going at the same time. We definitely knocked down all the fish pins.Then after we got home, I remembered to take care of two very important items of business before I could turn in and fall asleep - - - leaving reindeer snacks (and glitter) in the snow outside our house so that the reindeer could find us. Mommy said "a little goes a long way".And then I left out cookies and chocolate milk for the big guy himself. I'm pretty positive he'll like the chocolate milk - it's my own personal favorite! Sam fell asleep before we got home so he will have to help with these kinds of details next year.And then . . . . finally, Christmas morning arrived. We must have been really good boys this year because Santa was exceptionally good to us. I got some really fun toys and books. I wanted some Thomas trains and a gift card (to pretty much anywhere) and I got that plus more. Sam enjoyed his presents too. He got some cars, a new soft stuffed puppy dog, balls, books, and other fun things. We also got some really cool aluminum water bottles with our names on them that Samuel really thought were ornaments that should be hung on the tree. Silly boy! Here I am playing with my new remote controlled car. Santa must know me almost better than I know myself. We loved our presents from all our family and friends as well. And we enjoyed picking out presents to give - - Sam and I gave each other some of our most favorite things. Here's more proof that we really do love each other, most of the time. We spent Christmas afternoon at a family party at Aunt Cathy's house but mommy, who takes her camera everywhere, forgot it this time. So you'll just have to trust us that it was fun. We got to play with lots and lots of cousins and enjoy some good company.

We ended Christmas night with a little Thomas the Train movie time - the three boys and Copper and Sam's new stuffed dog. Can you see Copper eyeing Sam's chicken nugget? No, no, no Copper!Sam Alert: Hey everyone - Merry Christmas. This is only my second Christmas but I think I'm getting the hang of this thing. I got a new set of building blocks and quite enjoyed building things - and of course knocking them down. Maybe I see "architect" in my future?And here I am with my new doggie - I LOVE animals of all kinds. For a kid who has detested every stuffed animal ever shown to me, I really have taken a liking to this doggie and to Mason's new frog. Hum - maybe I really am growing up? Or maybe I'm just getting soft in my old age! Have a great week everyone!

The Countdown to the BIG Day!

As you all know - Christmas day arrives on a Friday this year. That leaves a whole bunch of days to fill with fun activities for the family. Daddy has been off from school/work since Monday and mommy only worked part of Monday and then we're all home until after New Year's day.

So much time . . . so many fun things to do to keep two boys busy and out of trouble.

We decided to go to Temple Square on Monday night - a very, very busy night in downtown Salt Lake. It was also incredibly cold and Sam decided he didn't want to wear mittens . . . so after literally running through all the displays and lights and warming up in the various buildings, we ran back to the car and headed back home. It was very pretty though!

And very foggy/hazy - but that made for a really cool picture. We made dry ice "fog" on Tuesday. This is a really fun science experiment that we like to do with daddy. Thanks to Uncle Carl and Aunt Francine for supplying the dry ice! Here is Sam's first solo sledding trip. Look at the concentration on his face. Believe it or not he loves to sled but the only time he smiles is at the bottom of the hill after a successful slide.
Who needs a sled when you know how to roll?
Here we are sledding down the hill. I think that Sam prefers not to see where I am steering the sled. Dad says, "It's a good thing that there are no trees on the hill!" I don't know what trees and gray hair have to do with each other but dad says they are connected.

Here I am going solo while dad and Sam race me down the hill. I love going solo.

Here is our last run. Dad went solo this time while mommy drove us boys. No surprise, without a expert driver like myself at the helm they both crashed and Sam and I both did a face plant. Blahhh... I hope that wasn't yellow snow!

What a fun day on the hill!!!

After lunch and a nap we went bowling. I almost beat mom and dad again. I am getting pretty good at this game now.
Sam Alert!.......

I can't get enough of the Christmas Train. I have trained dad well! (No pun intended, maybe, ha....ha.) I take dad by the finger and lead him to the train and he knows what to do. We just lie down together and watch the train. I find it very relaxing as I wave to the passengers.

Here I am bowling. I am pretty good too, at least when dad actually aims correctly. I think I would beat everyone if dad would get new glasses. I love it when I am included and treated like a big boy.

O Christmas Tree . . .

O Christmas Tree . . .

O Christmas Tree . . .

How lovely are your branches!!!

Daddy and mommy got a little lazy a few years back because we weren't around, and they didn't put up a big Christmas tree for a lot of years. We've been very happy with our little 2 foot tree that Aunt Lu gave us and a fiber optic tree Grandpa L. gave us after I was born - - but now that we're a little older and a little wiser we've been asking for a "BIG" tree. This week we finally talked the parents in to getting a Real, Live, BIG Christmas tree. It has been fantastic having it in the house - the smell of pine, the lights, the ornaments, and . . . of course, the whistle of a train running around the bottom of our tree!

Here is Sam putting on his very own ornament that he picked out all by himself. And here I am putting on my new ornament. I love presents . . . can you tell?Grandpa and Grandma G. brought up a Christmas train last summer for us and we finally got to put it to good use! Here we are testing the batteries and seeing if it goes. How many "boys" does it take to put up a Christmas train? I"ll never tell!And here I am with the decorated tree. I think it's safe to say that we all LOVE the tree this year. We still have our two small trees up as well - so that's three trees in our house this year. Yipee!! Aunt Christy will be so proud. We also wrapped our presents. Shhhhh . . . don't tell Samuel what I'm giving him this year, but if you know what Sam gave me . . . I can keep a secret.We spent most of this weekend watching the Christmas train go around and around and around! And around and around and around . . . .

And here is proof that we actually did do some other things this week - wrestling with daddy. Poor daddy always loses.And what's better than church on Christmas Sunday? All the music and singing . . . it was very pretty. If you look close you can see - Zelf - our secret elf. He reports to Santa every night how we are behaving. I hope we are on the "NICE" list!Sam Alert: Howdy everybody! I think I've been spending too much time hanging around my brother. I'm starting to love trains almost as much as he does. We just can't get enough of them.I've also made the decision that I want to sleep in a "big boy" bed now - no more crib for me. Unfortunately I haven't been able to convince the parents that it is time to make this change yet. They say I can't switch in to a big bed until I'm old enough to understand the rule that "You can't let your feet touch the floor once you are put to bed, unless you have to go potty." Right now that phrase means nothing to me . . . . someday soon I'll figure it out and maybe, just maybe this bed will be mine!

Happy Christmas week to you all!

Random Pictures from the Week

Hi everyone - enjoy some photos of us from this week. Hope you are all staying warm and that your tummies are full.

This is me goofing around with our big bucket of balls. We LOVE our bucket of balls - it never gets boring!

Here are Sam and me painting some Christmas ornaments. And here we are with our finished ornaments.Story time with mommy. Our "Snowmen At Night" pop up book - how timely!Here we are having our gourmet breakfast on a work morning. We're mostly still sleepy!And here we are shoveling the driveway and walks. We had a couple of snow storms this week. We never get tired of snow either. Mommy says she hopes we never get tired of shoveling snow . . . but daddy says we won't love it forever. Hum???I know we've asked before about child labor laws - - anyone???Daddy built me a HUGE train track with all my stations - all around our family room. This is heaven for a little boy who loves his trains!!!And more proof that I sometimes love my little brother - letting him play with my trains and tracks!Sam Alert: Howdy - I'm trying hard to feel better and am getting really, really good at using my inhaler. I love being outside and especially think that snow is really fun. I just can't get enough. I love the Christmas lights - and I especially love Zelf our elf. He can't hide from me! Here's to a good week everyone so that your elves tell Santa good things about you!

On the First Week of December . . . .

Our parents gave to us . . . . (ok sing along with us here - you know . . . On the First Day of Christmas . . .)

1 - A yummy dinner out for mommy's birthday. She was too "shy" to sit on the saddle while the restaurant staff embarrassed her so I volunteered to do it. I wouldn't smile for the picture because "I was having too much fun". Mom you owe me big time!!!

And for sitting on the saddle, I got to keep the cowboy hat. How cool is that! Happy anniversary of your 29th birthday mommy! She says that I can't count high enough to know how many anniversaries it is.Here's Sam with the hat. He cracks us up!2 - Zelf the Elf. Zelf is one of Santa's elves that has come to stay with us for the month before Christmas. He watches us during the days and then flies back to the North Pole at night to report to Santa. Every morning we find him in a new spot around the house. We like Zelf - and we sure hope he has good things to say about us to the Big Guy!3 - A day at the Festival of Trees. Mommy took a day off from work this week to take us to the festival with our friends Lu, Bart, Beau, and Amber. We had a fabulous time! The first thing that we did was head over to meet up with Santa. The festival organizers now "Fast Pass" a visit with Santa - so we made an appointment and then got to bypass the long line to jump right up on his lap. Ok - I jumped right up . . . Sam . . . not so much. Mommy warned Santa that Sam wouldn't be very happy. But we snapped the picture anyway to document how both Sam and I am growing up. I did finally get up enough nerve to talk to Santa and tell him a few of the things I think I might like for Christmas. He's a pretty nice, jolly old fella!We love the Small Fry area of the festival. I fished for candy - I'm pretty darn good at this one! I didn't waste any time - just stepped right up, cast my line in, and pulled out a fish. Yum!I made a Snowman bag and a furry pom pom critter. And Sam and I choose Elf wands. Love 'em!4 - The lights at Thanksgiving Point. On Friday night we decided to drive down to Thanksgiving Point to see the lights there. It was a super cold night but we hurried and jumped out of the car (without our coats on even) to take a quick picture.Then we got to see some of Santa's reindeer after we drove through the lights. I'm pretty sure this one is Donner. Sam thinks the other one that was there (not pictured) is Dancer. That's us on the far side of the fence. We put our coats, hats, and mittens on for this part since we stayed outside for awhile. Brrrr!