Temple Square

Down Town Salt Lake is beautiful always, but down town Temple Square at Christmas time is down right magical! Spending all day and into the night down there was loads of fun. Our little Gracie Lou brought us out so we could listen to her perform on her violin in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Boy oh boy! those are some very talented little kids and Gracie is right there among them.

The kids were enamoured at this HUGE Christmas tree.

We had some time to kill before it got dark enough for the lights to come on at Temple Square, so we did some improvising. I heard about a free scavenger hunt at the Grand America hotel, so we were on it. Of course we had to ride the Trax to get there and I'm pretty sure that was the kids most favorite thing ever!
I tell ya what, this was no easy peasy scavenger hunt. It was serious stuff....so I forgot to take pictures. But it just so happened to end at the sweetest "no pun intended" candy shop, where we were given a delicious shortbread cookie. Mmmmm! The candy shop just happened to be next to the coolest toy store ever! The kids liked it better than the cookie.

It was magical in there. Really.
We also enjoyed more Trax rides, tours on Temple Square, eating at the Lion House, and seeing the ginormous statue of the Savior. (A must see when in Salt Lake)!

We so love this tradition each year. Through the cold and all, it's worth every bit!

All Dressed Up and Somewhere to Go

I can hardly stand that this little beauty of mine is growing up! Sometimes I get a picture of her that shows both childhood and maturity-hood. Oh goodness....slow down! Hannah is the epitome of goodness. She wants so much to always choose the right, to do good, to be kind. Does she miss the mark sometimes? You bet, but she is quick to say I'm sorry and so very quick to forgive as well. She is getting the true meaning of Christmas and it warms my heart more than anything right now. There isn't a prayer she offers that she doesn't thank Heavenly Father for Jesus. For His birth and for His life. She's mindful of Him always.

And this little beauty had a dance performance yesterday. Oh goodness, the cuteness of all those little girls is almost more than I can handle.

Nutcracker

I LOVED the nutcracker when I was a little girl. And I think Hannah enjoyed it too! We couldn't take any pictures of the performers, but Hannah was so captivated. It was pretty impressive. It didn't take long for her to ask if the little girl and little boy were "in love". I told her no.....they were just very good friends and maybe they would love each other when they were older. I'm pretty sure that is what kept her attention for so long though. She didn't believe me for a second.

Hannah with some of her best little friends. Hannah, Grace, & Chadley

And me with some of my best friends as well. Sisters Nikki & Susan (not pictured is mom)

And Suzanna too.

Love The Nutcracker. Love my Hannah.

Catching Up

The kids found my camera while I slumbered in bed a little longer. This is what you get when you don't just annie up and get out of bed.

 Cheap entertainment for a few extra minutes of sleep. Well, rest.

The fairies have been so fun in our home. They move around each day and hide in sneaky places. The kids thoroughly enjoy looking for them each day. Sometimes they are really hard to find. But one morning they were quite easy. Even all grouped together. How convenient.

They are working like a charm by the way. I think Santa will be visiting our house on Christmas for sure!
(Don't ask how those fairies are flying perfectly. They are magic!) They left us a letter. So thoughtful.

"Dear Hannah, Nathan, Abby too. Dear Mommy, Daddy, All of you,

We went to see Santa and all of the elves. To tell them we're happy with each of yourselves. We have been watching and writing the things that we see. Most of it's good and made Santa happy. But we have to share all and never lie, that a few things we saw made us cry. So just a reminder that Christmas is near. We make one more trip before Santa is here.  So keep doing good, helping, and kind, and on Christmas morning you are sure to find all of the goodness that YOU have done will be sure to turn into Christmas Day fun."

For Family Home Evening we made paper snow flakes. Can you guess which ones Aaron made? Can you guess which ones I made? or can you not tell mine apart from the kids? (sorry about the poor quality pictures. I really need to take a camera class. Oh how I would LOVE that!)

And that about wraps up our happenings lately. Of course, there's been LOTS of Primary stuff I've been doing. Hannah has seen the doctor yet again for strep throat. (I see an ENT in our near future). There's two more days until Christmas break and I CAN'T WAIT! I haven't started my neighbors gifts yet, not a single present is wrapped, haven't shipped our gifts to family yet (they are wrapped and ready to go though), very little baking has been done, but I feel the spirit of Christmas more than ever!

Thankful Thursdays

This week I'm thankful for:

- Chocolate. It has been my friend. Not so much for my thighs and buttocks area, but I sure have enjoyed it.

- Grateful hearts of children. No matter what gifts they are given, they are always so grateful. Reminds me to show more gratitude.

- Good teachers. I could sob and sob about this one. Nathans preschool teacher is one of the most kind hearted, loving women I know. She sincerely loves my Nathan and tells me often what a smart and good kid he is. Wish more people saw that in him too. Hannah also has a wonderful teacher who challenges her and  caters to her love of learning.

- That there is no snow yet. This is actually bitter sweet. I do love a white Christmas so I hope we get some snow by then, but I'm so grateful not to drive in snow yet, or have to bundle up too much just to go outside, although the temperature sure has been cold enough for bundling. I'm just grateful there's no snow yet.

- My calling. I really love serving in Primary. I love serving with the women I do. They are wonderful examples to me. I love being with my children each Sunday and seeing how they are in Primary. One might be a little better behaved than the other, but I love to see when they actually are listening and ingesting the truths they are learning each week. I cannot believe all three of them will be in Primary come January.

- I'm grateful to be feeling better in my pregnancy. The second trimester is a breeze so far. Well, besides the normal tiredness. I'm feeling good!

- The sound of giggles. So much better than the sound of screaming.

- Money in the bank and food in my cupboards. It may not be much, but boy is this something to be thankful for!

Abigail is 3

She is my Christmas baby. My easiest birth and maybe the scariest as well. She came to us fast and furious and that too would be a perfect way to describe her these days. She has us wrapped around her little finger, and she knows it. She says the funniest, most adorable things, like: "mommy, can I have 'whatever' ? Me: "not right now". Her, "please, I will give you a treat.....I will give you two treats"! Oh she kills me. I have the hardest time saying no to her, staying mad at her, or just plain being unhappy when I'm with her. She is joy at it's finest!

Aaron and I want to make sure her birthday is just as big a deal, just as important, as if she were born in another month that wasn't so crazy busy and already full of gifts. So, we've been celebrating her birthday for a few days. Sadly enough, her daddy couldn't be here with her today on her actual day, so we celebrated with him on Monday night and took her and the kids to see a real life reindeer. I'd like to add that it was a bone chilling night. FREEZING!!!!!

 Frienemies at its finest! These two are hands down each other best friends and worst enemies, at times. I think they will always be close and not just in age.

 There was an amazing ice sculptor there. This is a job I have no desire to ever have, but his work is very impressive for us onlookers. Can you imagine working outside in the freezing cold, with ice? No thank you.

After freezing our tooshies off outside we headed into the warmth for a nice cup of ice cream. You betcha! it's what the kids wanted and we are cheapos and the ice cream is cheap. The kids are troopers in the cold. They must have thick skin like their daddy, because I am a complete wimp!

Today we celebrated all day long. From sun up, to sun down. She woke to her favorite cereal (all the kids really), Lucky Charms! This they inherited all from me. It's my favorite too and Aaron detests it.

Do you see those cute, chubby little fingers holding up 3....she's been working on that for weeks I tell ya, weeks! It's her day and we had no rules as to how she could eat her cereal. Milk, no milk. Spoon, no spoon. Fingers, face, whatev....she got it.

 Notice all the marshmallows are gone. Ya, that is the best part and she knows it.

At this point her siblings were having some slight resentment because she was not so much in the sharing mood this morning (which is so very unlike her really).

We had some of her favorite things throughout the day. Yogurt, which all the kids got to enjoy. Yogurt is a staple in lots of homes, but I cannot keep it stocked long enough in my own. These kids LOVE yogurt.

 Then it was off to school for the older two and some one on one with just the mom. I took her to McDonald's. Yes I did. There. I despise McDonald's for those who don't know. I bought her a children's meal (what are they called people....what are they called?) and watched her eat it and let her play play play on the germ infested playground. Oh how I love this girl and although she can could count on one hand how many times she's been inside one of these places....the memories run thick and she LOVES them. What child doesn't really? She was beaming from ear to ear. And she gobbled up her happy meal. Happy meal. That's it. Happy meal. Anyway, I forgot my camera for this fun part of her day. Darn it! I was there though people. I really was.

After our lunch we picked up some balloons and did some more shopping. She is a fabulous shopping buddy. She received some money from two of her great grandparents so we had some fun buying a few little things this munchkin needs and some things she wanted too....like candy.

Mixed in between the hustle and bustle of our day, she received phone calls from Grandma's and Aunts, and a couple visits. Aunt Suzie came to see her with a gift; a soft lamb and blanket that Abigail has had her eye on for a few months when she saw it at Costco. She still squealed with delight when she saw it was now finally her very own. Grandma and Grandpa Eyre stopped by as well with their gift. Abigail is one grateful little girl. She was so sweet to say thank you before opening any presents and it was so heart felt.

The real anticipation was her cake however. She must have asked me 100 times if she could eat her cake. Poor girl. It was a long time to have to wait with so much celebrating going on. But the time finally came and she was not disappointed.

 

And then more gifts with lots of little helpers. 

Then it was off to eating cake and ice cream and playing with friends and new toys. She was happy. She is a happy little girl. She makes all of us pretty happy too. Even if it's really hard to get a decent picture with her.