Frosty Day

Right before Christmas a cloud descended on us here for over a day. When it finally lifted, this is what we were left with...

Everything was frosted
And I get to live here and enjoy this beauty
Boy did I get lucky

Before Christmas Happenings

December was busy getting ready for Christmas, and of course we had to visit family. First we went to Twin Falls two weeks before Christmas for Nathan's cousin Tyson's wedding to his lovely new bride Kaylee! Welcome to the family (there are a lot of them, and now comes the job of learning everyone's name;) )! The night before was the dinner, which had a great Mexican theme. That night though while we were staying with Jason and Nicole, James came down with croup, and Nathan ended up sleeping in the car with him for most of the night so that the cold air would help him. It worked for James, Nathan though got one of the worst nights sleeps ever.

Daddy of the Year award goes out to him.

Grandma and Jackman at the family dinner for Tyson and Kaylee's wedding in Twin Falls

Grandpa and Grandma Haworth and their seven beautiful daughters
I see them and think of the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, but in reverse.
They are all amazing, and I am very lucky to be a part of their family.
And Grandpa and Grandma are amazing for raising seven daughters!

Tyson and Kaylee, just married on a very windy Twin Falls morning outside the temple.

Then before we went to AZ for Christmas we saw a lot of our family in UT and Franklin. I didn't get a picture with Grandma Hiller though. Those can be though to get, and so are treasures :)

It was cold, but James wanted to go see the cows...so we did


James all bundled in the cold

Playing on the floor at the Haworth's


Grandpa and Jack-Jack


James opening his awesome Mater from the Kutterer's.


Kira and Jackman opening his splash bathtime ducky,
which he LOVES by the way


We also took some cute pictures just around home before Christmas.
Mommy and Jack-Jack with our beautiful tree and Dicken's Christmas Village.


"aahh-goo"
Jackman looking especially cute in the sailor suit that used to be his daddy's!


James running with the stick horse

Daddy and Jackman, he is almost five months and looking so big and alert!

Jackman Tried Rice Cereal...

...and didn't really care for it. In fact, I'm not sure how much even got in his mouth let alone swallowed. We'll try it again in a few weeks :)

Mom, I don't think I like this, can i just have milk please?

Mommy making funny faces to get Jack-Jack to eat

Tow Mater that's who!

James and I found a real Tow Mater in Orem! He was just on the corner near a Christmas Tree yard. We had to stop. Jack stayed in the car, it was cold, but James loved it. Mater is becoming one of his favorite Disney character's.

In James' hand is a car that he calls Doc, who is also from Cars for those who didn't know.

For those who are interested, he was by the Target in Orem.
There is usually a fruit and veggie stand there in the summer, winter has Christmas Trees,
and Mater.

"Look at the detail on that rust, it must have cost a fortune"
quote from Cars 2

Kendra's Birthday!

I had a great birthday surrounded by family. The only sad part was that Nathan left that night before dinner was over to go to Houston for business (and my birthday was on a Sunday, so I thought that I was safe to have him home, bummer). We did get to have both of my sisters, Kirstin and Ann, over for dinner, and Mike, Kira, and Tanner. Thank you guys for coming up to make it special. And it is Christmas time, and I love the decorations, especially around my birthday. Growing up we would always put the tree up the day after. This year I wanted to have it ready for when people came to dinner, so we put it up a day or two early.

Here's to hoping that 27 is going to be a great year.

Family

Kirstin, Kendra, and Ann
I think this picture just shows how much Kirstin and Ann look a like,
but I think that we all look pretty similar

A Full Thanksgiving

This year was Thanksgiving in Colorado.
Boy did we do a lot of things in the few days that we were there:

Went to downtown Littleton, and saw Santa light the lights on the trees. It was cold, and then it got windy, but it has been a tradition from the time I was a little girl.
I was glad I could share it with my sister, my parents, and now my little boys and Nathan

Went to the Butterfly Pavilion! It is this neat place that is a giant indoor tropical paradise, and there are butterflies everywhere that you get to see.
You have to be careful not to step on them, too.
Look at James' face showing his daddy one that was flying! And that wasn't posed.
There was also a fun learning and exploring area for little kids like James, and he climbed the rope spider's web.

Also at the Butterfly Pavilion there are other area's that you can see other things, like underwater creatures, neat bugs, and spiders!
You can even hold Rosie the Rose-haired Tarantula, and we all did it!
Look at James, he did it too, and he giggled and thought it was neat.
I on the other hand had to wait until I was holding her before I would look, it did get the adrenaline pumping holding such a big spider.

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner at my Uncle Kyle and Aunt Carol's house.
I love getting pictures with Uncle Kyle and his namesake Jackman Kyle.
Kirstin actually surprised everyone and drove out right from Utah, and made it right as we were leaving to go to dinner. Man were mom and dad surprised. It was so hard for me to keep it a secret, especially because they kept asking about her, and I
kept thinking just wait an hour and you'll see her!
I am thankful for family!

We rode Cinnamon our horse. James loved it! He wanted to go around again, and again, and again. It was his first time up on the horse, and I think he is hooked, which is good because someday I'd like to have one.
We got everyone up who wanted to go, and Jack-Jack got to touch her.
She has always been so good with kids, and she changed when we brought the baby over, incredibly calm. And Jack liked it.
Kirstin introduced Mom and Dad to "planking", and they all had a turn "planking" in the barn.

Family time at Kyle and Carol's

We had lots of great family time.
James got to play with his second cousins Landin and Dakota, Grandma Kitty and Gramies got to have quality time with the kids, and we got to visit and take pictures with everyone.

Four Generations
Julie, Kitty, Kendra, and Jackman

Happy Thanksgiving! We hope yours was filled with family, food, and fun:)

The Best Way to Visit Santa

We visited Santa at Sears Portrait Studio.
Best idea. Ever.

No lines, you get a time, show up at that time and sit on his lap.
You get pictures too that turn out great.
Our last two years attempts to visit with Santa have fallen flat due to lines over an hour and a half long.
First year we have a picture next to a manequin Santa.
Second year was worse, you didn't even see Santa, had to wait in line to get a number, to then come back at a time indicated by the number to wait again to see Santa, and you had to pay to see him still.
Both lines were over an hour long (so technically the second year had two lines over an hour each, um, yeah right).
I will never try that again.
James was a little scared, but then warmed right up when they were reading a book together.


And I think the pictures turned out great.


P.S. They are really cheap too:)

Check those pictures out, no crying kids.
Did your Santa photos turn out that good?
Hope that the start to your Christmas season is merry