Christmas

In our family we always get new pajamas that we open on Christmas Eve. Andy had to work Christmas Eve night, so opened them all up at 4:30 in the afternoon before he left.

Ally was so excited that we were finally letting her touch the presents that were under the tree, but then she needed help to actually open it.

Skyler opened his and then didn't understand why we weren't opening all the other presents right then, too.

After they opened them up, they insisted they needed to put them on right then. Then they saw Rudolph's nose out our back window at 5:15 or so, just after Andy left, so they were convinced they needed to hurry up and go to bed. I kept them up until around 7 and then let them go to sleep.

The next morning Andy got home around 7:15, and we woke the kids up and opened presents. It snowed 5-6 inches during the night, so we were super lucky Andy's truck has 4-wheel-drive, or he would never have made it home! When our hills aren't plowed, they're nearly impossible to get up.

Ally climbed right up on top of her toy while it was still in the box.

One of Kylee's favorite gifts was a frozen book/piano that showed her how to play songs.

Santa brought Kylee and Skyler scooters, and Kyee and Skyler got one for Andy, so the three of them like to ride their scooters around the bar in the kitchen while there is snow outside. Kylee is crazy fast at it, and takes really sharp turns without tipping over. Skyler is amazingly good as well. At first he just walked around the bar pushing his scooter, then he started putting one foot on and kind of hopping along, and now he can actually push it pretty smoothly. He hasn't figured out that he can push and coast, but for being only 2, I'm surprised at how good he is.

December 2014

One night we were having Oreos for dessert after dinner, and Andy decided Ally might like one. She LOVED it, and made a huge mess!

Kylee's Christmas Dance Recital theme was Nutcracker re-mix, and she was a soldier. She's in the elementary/junior Hip Hop class, and she did awesome!

The week before Christmas I found out that FrontRunner offers a group pass (4 people) for only $15 for a whole day of riding on FrontRunner, Trax and buses, so we decided to take the kids on FrontRunner up to see the lights at temple square. We went up pretty early and then ate dinner at City Creek and met some of our friends to walk around and look at the lights.

I have no idea why Skyler's face is so weird. He wasn't mad or anything. We said smile...and this is what we got.

Ally the red-nosed baby. She was toasty warm, but her little nose always turns bright red when she's outside.

Halloween and Thanksgiving

I took Skyler and Ally to see Kylee's Halloween parade at the school, and they were engrossed. Skyler was counting how many Elsa's there were, and then he was super excited to see his Kylee-Roo-A (that's what he calls her) dressed up like Anna.

For Thanksgiving we went to Connie's house in Colorado, as did most of our family. One day Ally was really tired, and she actually fell asleep next to Grandpa Bruce on the couch. This is extra amazing because Ally is NOT what you would call a good baby sleeper. She isn't one of those babies that will easily fall asleep when she's not being cuddled and/or tucked nicely into her crib. Apparently all the noise eventually was just too much for her, and Bruce's arm seemed like a safe enough spot to sleep.

While we were there we hiked the "castle rock", since that's what Castle Rock was named for. It's a fairly short hike (maybe three miles round trip?) and Skyler was super excited to carry his water bottle all by himself the whole way.

Random Catch-Up

I just realized I haven't updated our blog for two months, so here we go with the random catch-up. In October we went hiking up Payson Canyon to see the Fall leaves. The kids loved it, even though Skyler walks SLOW! 

At some point along the way they picked up walking sticks to help them along. Kylee knew what she was doing, but it was pretty funny to watch Skyler try to mimic her. He didn't really get it, and pretty much just carried his stick.

Also in October my friend and I organized a park clean-up day where we got a bunch of people from the neighborhood and the Parks representative from city council to come down and dig around all the trees and add mulch. We have big plans for our park, and I plan to continue to harass the city in the Spring to get things going. They invited me to join the city Parks and Open Space committee a few months ago, so they're apparently not THAT bugged with all my input!

One night a few weeks ago Skyler found my sunglasses and put them on. He thought he was hilarious.

Here's him and Kylee with their "serious" faces on.

Kylee and Skyler took one of Ally's diaper boxes and decorated it to play in. One day when Ally kept pulling leaves off the plants (which was her favorite past-time for a few weeks, but now she seems to be okay with leaving them alone) I jokingly put her in the box for a timeout. She LOVED the box, and spent quite a bit of time playing in it for the next week or so. Finally when it was super mangled, I threw it out.

At Kylee's school Halloween carnival in the end of October, she and Skyler each won a goldfish, so we pulled out our old tank and food and stuff and set the fish up. It's been two months and they are still going strong! These ones are named Pumpkin (Kylee's fish) and Goldfishy (Skyler's fish).

A couple of weeks ago we were having Oreos for dessert, and Andy decided Ally might like to try one (because she tries to grab everything we are eating). She loved it. I also just noticed that Kylee is giving bunny ears to Skyler in this photo. Apparently she's learned that prank now!

Day 6-8 - The Beach!

After Disneyland we spent three days at Newport Beach. We went to the beach last year after Disneyland as well, but since Andy had just started his new job and couldn't get that much time off, he didn't go. He was excited to get to go this time. Skyler was hesitant at first, but once he remembered how fun the beach is, he had a blast.

Even Ally got to dip her feet and legs in the ocean.

Kylee doesn't care for the ocean very much, so she spends most of her time digging and building things in the sand.

Ally and I spent a lot of our time lounging under our umbrella because I was worried about sun-burning her.

Kylee somehow got TOASTED the first day, even though we put a ton of sunblock on her, so the second day she wore shorts to protect her red thighs.

If I tried to lay her out on a beach towel, she immediately crawled over and started digging in the sand. She really thought it was interesting. Once when the tide was out I dug a baby-sized hole and let the water seep up from below to make her own little baby swimming pool. She had a lot of fun splashing in there and getting muddy sand in her hands to squish.