It's the Holiday Season

How I love this time of year! We've had a great start to December so far. Kristen invited the girls and I to go to the Reindeer Express put on by the USU Agricultural Department. It was a rainy, cold day but the kids had fun nonetheless, maybe even more so because of all the mud puddles there were to jump in. We saw donkeys, cows, goats and of course, the reindeer! The workers were so nice and told the kids how the reindeer fly and a few other tidbits. It was fun to see.

We got to see this huge camel! It was quite a sight when it stood up.

Sleigh ride in the rain. We had a blast! It was so nice of Kristen to think to invite us.

Loren and his dad drove 5 hours to see Skip Ewing perform a concert in Wyoming last Saturday. That left the girls and I wondering what to do with our day. Luckily, I remembered Nibley City's Holiday party was going on at Little Wonders so we went over to check it out. It's always a fun event. While I waited, for 45 minutes, in line to see Santa, the girls played some games. Allie was thrilled when she won a cookie on the cookie walk.

Was it worth the 45 minutes in line? I actually tried to persuade Lydia that we could see Santa another time but she wouldn't hear of it. After 57 games of My Blue Shoe, How Old Are You, we finally met him! Lydia hopped right up and told Santa she'd like a coloring book with colored pencils. After Lydia was sitting on his lap, Allie thought it was safe to approach. She said she'd like a barbie. They were both thrilled to get a candy cane from Santa's helper.

After Santa we played a couple more games.

Made Christmas ornaments, which we forgot to grab on our way out. They were cute while they lasted.

The Hall of Christmas Trees was cute! Lydia loved the Grinch one.

Then time for hot chocolate!

Lydia proved to be very speedy on the obstacle course. It was such a fun afternoon, thanks Nibley City!

We didn't have time to write the girls' letters to Santa at the party, so we did them at home. I think Santa might be able to swing the coloring book and colored pencils! As always, I couldn't decide which of Allie's faces to use. That girl is hilarious.

Lydia had her Christmas dance recital. It was so cute! She did a dance to Little Saint Nick. Allie was a blubbering mess the whole time and didn't understand why she couldn't dance too. I'm proud of Lydia and all she's learning.

Last Saturday was a busy one! I started out the day at my cousin's bridal shower. My Uncle Bruce had extra tickets to the Utah Festival Chorus concert with Lexi Walker so my mom and I went to that. We had great seats on the third row! It was such a fun event and brought the Christmas spirit.

While I was having fun at concerts and parties, Loren was battling this turkey. We had to cook this 22 pound monstrosity for our ward party that night. It was stressful because it wasn't all the way defrosted, but Loren managed to get it done in time. Even though it was cooked on the wrong side, it still ended up tasting delicious. Not too bad for his first time! I think we'll sign him up for the turkey next Thanksgiving. I'm sure he'd be thrilled.

I think I forgot how hard the 2.5 year old stage is. Allie is definitely showing her independence and attitude lately. "No!" and "it's mine!" are a lot of what I hear these days. Trying to save my sanity, I made a Christmas Spirit chart for the girls. Whenever I see them sharing or being kind to each other, they get to put a sticker on the chart. When they fill up the chart they get an ice cream cone. Well yesterday they filled up their chart! So off to Maceys we went to get a corn dog and ice cream cone. I was proud of them.

Friday was such a fun day! Mom Peck bought all the ingredients for fudge, caramels, english toffee, caramel popcorn and little cookie bars. We baked all day and made some beautiful baskets and containers full of goodies to give away to neighbors and friends. I never would have done this on my own so I'm glad Mom suggested it! It was such a fun thing to do right before Christmas.

Ever since we moved in, we've wanted to do something with this opening to our crawl space. It lets in so much cold air in the winter and all we have is a blanket to put over it, which isn't that attractive. So yesterday, Loren and his dad went into "project mode" and made a cute little door! It took them almost five hours to cut and make which was significantly longer than we originally thought it would take. But it's so nice to have done! Now we just have to hang it.