Merry Christmas to All!

We had a fabulous Christmas week!  We started with a day at the theater.  

We always go to the Salt Lake Acting Company's children's theater every December.  This year's play was Frog and Toad Through the Year.  It was excellent!

Here we are on the stage before the show started.

Grandma L. and Uncle Noley & Aunt Christy joined us this year.

We went to visit Grandpa L.'s grave after the play to wish him a Merry Christmas.

Mom had to work a little this week and so we had a "Boy Party" one day.  No pictures are available to prove or disprove anything that may or may not have happened that day!!!

And then - somehow, Christmas day was here.  

Here we are with our eyes closed getting ready to head downstairs for the big morning.

Santa and our family and friends were wonderful to us this year.  

Sam and I each asked for some Skylanders, a camera, a demolition lab, and some chocolate frogs.

Santa came through with everything, plus much much more.

We got rockets and gliders and lots of candy.

We got games and lots and lots of books.

And Sam got a special snow globe made up of lighthouses.  He was so excited!

We gave each other a gift.  Sometimes it is good to have a brother!

Our friend who also happens to be the best babysitter ever gave us some cool Magic Muck!

Uncle Carl & Aunt Francine gave us super cool airplane toys.  Love them!

And Santa must know that I love Geography - he gave me this cool United States floor map.

We ended up having a wonderful pajama day and literally played all day and all night. 

The demolition lab was the big winner of the day - oh and our new cameras captured every minute of every demolition.

It was a wonderful Christmas.  

There was some reading and snuggling up to keep warm.  We meant to take a picture of all the snow we got - but we decided to stay inside and be warm.

See - - - pajamas and demolition labs. . . all day long.  

Thanks to everyone and we hope your Christmas was wonderful too!

Sam Alert:  Hey everyone - One of our family Christmas traditions is to read Christmas stories every night.  We each take a turn reading a story each night.  Our final night's story was The Grinch.  We also love Rudolph and Frosty and Snowmen at Christmas.

Another tradition is to open one present every Christmas eve - and the present was new Christmas jammies.  They are super cool and soft and warm.  

Happy Christmas to all of you!  Catch you next week.

Getting Ready for Christmas

We've been having fun wrapping up school for the holidays and helping with Christmas preparations.

In between all of that, there was some free time for playing.  Sam and I got out all of our car playmats and spent a great afternoon playing cars.

We both had book reports due this past week.  

Sam worked hard on his report - which was a Christmas wreath.  

And my book report was a biography - I chose Theodore Roosevelt.  He is my all time favorite president.  I loved learning more about him and I even got to dress up as him for my oral report.  Check this out - don't I look like a young Teddy?

Our Christmas Sings were this week as well.  These programs at school are always so much fun and highly anticipated by both us students and the parents.

Enjoy a couple of songs from my program - first up "Jingle All the Way"

"Hot Cup of Cocoa"

I love my class and my teacher, Mrs. Lott.  We're having a great year!

Sam's program was excellent too.  Here are a couple of videos from his program.

First up - "Do Re Mi"

They also did a Choral Reading of "Winter Wind" by Jack Prelutzky.

And finally, enjoy "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree".  Sam really gets a rockin'!

And here is Sam with his best friend Boston - who happens to be the brother to my best friend Carson.

We also got to go see the Christmas lights at Thanksgiving Point.  

We enjoyed some nice warm cocoa after we got home from the lights.

And interestingly enough - Sam and I turned into Christmas ELVES yesterday to help mom and dad with Christmas preparations.  My elf name is Howard and Sam's elf name is Bernard.  We got all of the Christmas cards put together and mailed off.  We decorated the house and we helped with some shopping.  We've still got some wrapping to do and some serious house cleaning.  Elves at the ready...

Sam Alert:  Hey everyone - I've been a snowflake making machine!  Little and big - and even tiny tiny.  Our house looks like a blizzard came through.

Elf Bernard and Elf Howard even helped with delivering all of the neighbor gifts this weekend.  This fun car playmat was made by mom for our neighbor's cute little grandson that is living here for awhile.  

Sam out - Have a Merry Christmas!

March of the Gnomes and Other Events

This is definitely not turning out to be a typical December.  We're having such warm, warm weather it seems like October.  But we're filling the month with Christmasy activities . . . and still enjoying the warm weather, so it works out just perfect.

We went out to see some Christmas lights . . . and ended up having a yummy dinner and seeing some reindeer, but no lights.  We'll try for the lights again soon.  This is Dancer - reindeer are so cool.

Sam and I have been doing a lot of reading.  We made a little reading nest in the upstairs hallway and hung out there for an afternoon.

On Saturday we went to the Christkindlmarkt (a German Christmas Market) up at This is the Place State Park.  It was so much fun.  We got to see Santa and visit with him for a few minutes.  

There were reindeer there as well. This guy was one of the bigger reindeer we've seen.

Then there was the March of the Gnomes.  We LOVE gnomes - they are they best.  In Germany, gnomes are celebrated for their knowledge, wisdom, and cheerfulness.  

Here come the gnomes.

And here we are - in the middle of the parade.  

We ended the market with some great little purchases and the very best German sausages, sauerkraut, and grilled onions you can find!  Super duper yummy!  Who knew we loved German food - oh, the hot potato salad was amazing too!

Then we did some celebrating of the arrival of 1st term report cards.  

You should all be glad that you know us - it's not just the gnomes that have knowledge and wisdom.

Here's the breakdown on the report cards:

Sam - Out of 10 graded subjects, his lowest mark was 97%.  Straight A's all the way.

Mason - Out of 10 graded subjects, my lowest mark was 93%.  Straight A's all the way.

Our school is tough and so are we!

We also spent some time doing more yard work.  This is nearly our last pile of leaves for the year.  In other words - there's always leaves to be raked up - but this is the last of the super big piles to be cleaned up.

And because it was close to 60 degrees this weekend, we took advantage of the weather and played some ball.  Sam loves basketball . . . .

. . . . and I love me some football!  

Sam Alert:  Hey everyone - It's Sam.  I'm just lounging around waiting for mom to get ready one morning.  Just waiting . . . and waiting . . . 

And here I am after finishing some ice cream - I got some seriously great grades this term.  My teacher says that I am "friendly and enthusiastic".  Yep - that describes me to a "T".

And here I am demonstrating my cartwheel skills.  I can land it on two legs, standing.  I'm also turning in to quite the jump roper and my skipping is, hands down, the very best.  Just watch me - I skip everywhere, all the time.

Sam out - have a great week!

And a Happy Thanksgiving To All!

Howdy everyone - Happy Thanksgiving.  

We enjoyed a yummy Thanksgiving feast at school with our parents on Wednesday.  It's always fun to have them come and eat lunch with us.  

After the feast, we headed out on an amazing Thanksgiving trip - we went to Moab and spent 3 days hiking, site-seeing, and relaxing.  What a beautiful place!

We spent most of our time in Arches National Park.  It's one of our most favorite parks!

We started out with a hike through Courthouse Wash - look at this beautiful scenery we walked in.  

The rock formations are so cool - we spent our entire trip deciding what the different formations looked like - sheep, elephants, dogs, pharaohs, gorillas, etc.

Here are the 3 Gossips over on the left - I wanted to call them the 3 Royals, but somebody already officially named them.

After Courthouse Wash, we headed over to the Windows section with a stop at Balanced Rock.

Isn't this beautiful?  If you look hard you can see some of the arches/windows we're about to hike to.

Here we are at North Arch - incredible.

We climbed up to right under the start of the arch.  That's us up there.

We did some "rock-lifting" - ok, not really, but we sure do look strong, don't we?

Here we are at South Window.  

And then we hiked around behind so you can see both North and South at the same time.  That's the nose right there in the middle - and all together you have . . . The Spectacles.  Get it!!!

From there it was a hike over to Turret Arch.

And check out this view - from Turret Arch with a view of both North and South Windows.

Next we hiked over to Double Arch - another one of our favorites.  Isn't it cool?

We climbed up way up high . . . .

. . . . And then went even higher.  That's us with dad up there under the arch.

Here I am under Double Arch.

And here's Sam.  

Finally we had our official Thanksgiving lunch - in the back of the truck in front of Double Arch.  Turkey sandwiches - - truly one of the best Thanksgivings we've ever had!!!

From there we headed to Sandstone Arch.  Look at these fins you have to hike through.

Oh, and it is true . . . boys love to climb rocks!

Here we are at Sandstone Arch.  Sam thinks it looks like two bears kissing.

And then there was more rock climbing.  

Ok - one final picture from Thanksgiving day - more rock climbing, it's true!

We started the next day with a nice, long hike (up hill both ways) to Delicate Arch.  

Here we are at the arch.  It is absolutely amazing!!!  

Dad hiked around and got some great photos of the arch.  See the raven flying around over on the right?

One more family picture under the arch - that is us down there in the middle.  

More photos - just to prove we were actually there.  Here I am.

And here's Sam.

The nice long hike back.  

Did we mention how great the weather was?  Perfect!!!

From there we went to Skyline Arch.

And then we found a picnic site up at Devil's Garden.  This was the most secluded, quiet, beautiful spot for lunch you could possibly imagine!

And of course, there was more climbing of rocks.  That's us with dad all the way up there.

And up there.

And up there.  The rock climbing possibilities are endless.

It was getting late so we decided to start with hiking in Devil's Garden on our next trip to Moab.

We got up the next day and headed in to Dead Horse Point State Park.  

And yes, there was more rock climbing.  There were pretty darn steep drop-offs though, so we didn't go too far.  

So our non-traditional Thanksgiving turned out to be amazing . . . and perhaps a new tradition has been born.  

Sam Alert:  Hey everyone - have I ever mentioned here on the blog how much I love to be outside? Maybe once or twice?  Well it's true - I'll do anything to be outside.  

So this trip was pretty much right up my alley.  And even though I have the shortest legs in the family, I hiked my little self right along with everyone else.

Enjoy a few pictures of me.  

Here I am in one of my famous poses - this cool tree was near one of our picnic spots.

And check out this amazing jump - and this was on our way back (almost all the way back to the truck) from our Delicate Arch hike.  I still had tons of energy.

Ok, so my legs were a tad bit tired here - a very small jumping picture.

Oh, and here's a pic of Mason - relaxing on the rock mountain on our Delicate Arch hike.

And check this out - we found this cute little arch just before you get to Delicate Arch.  We climbed up - - - and this was the view.  See Delicate Arch right there in the background?  Amazing!

And finally . . . . when we got home, we found that Zelf, our elf, has come for the season.  I love Zelf the elf!!!  I made some cookies today for him to take back to Santa - and I've already sent my Christmas list back to the North Pole with him.  

Ahh - what a great Thanksgiving . . . and now I'm moving on to a great Christmas!

Sam out - see you next week!