Temple Square and my date night with Tyson

On Friday night we took our kids and Abbey to Temple Square to see the lights.  It was a perfect night to go because the weather was amazing.  The kids were taking off their coats and we never even got the gloves out of the stroller.  It was such a great night to go, which is why it was so crowded!  But despite having to fight our way through crowds to see everything, we had a nice night together.  

We had decided to let Tyson have an overnight in a hotel since the girls all got to go on trips.  Alex booked a hotel downtown and Tyson and I got to stay.  He was a perfect little date and we had a blast.  He wanted to sleep in the same bed, "so we can snuggle".  It worked for awhile, but after he tossed and turned and kicked me in the face a few times I moved to the other bed.  We had late night snacks, watched a Christmas movie on tv, and took turns telling stories during the commercials.  He's one of the funniest little kids I know so we laughed a lot and I loved getting to spend one-on-one time with him. 

 

The next morning we got up, got dressed, and had breakfast at the hotel.  We were both bummed that the hot chocolate machine was broken (except I wasn't actually too bummed, since he spilled his hot chocolate 3 times the night before!) but we made up for it with orange juice and fruit salad.  I gave Tyson a few options for an activity and he chose the zoo.  We called up Aunt Carla last minute and she met us there.

On the train! 

By the giraffes.  I had to take this for Cooper, who gets excited about "affe"s now. 

We visited the lions at the perfect time, where we got to watch the trainer feed it chunks of meat.  It was cool to be standing so close!

I love this little boy of mine, and I'm so glad Alex planned up this little date for us.  I'm one lucky mama.  

Sunday 10

1.  What a week!  I'm not even sure where to start.  I guess I'll start with Michelle's family coming into town last Thursday evening, November 20.  That was the kickoff to our week of Freebairn Family excitement.  Neil and Dani also got in that night but they were staying at Cindy's, so we didn't see them until the next day.  We had dinner and got the beds all set up, and the kids had a blast playing together until we finally had to force bedtime.

2.  Friday morning we got together with Cindy and Neil and Dani and their kids at the play area at the mall, where Michelle was also meeting up with some local friends.  We had a family dinner that evening at Cindy's and had fun hanging out and letting the kids all get to know each other.  After the kids went to bed, Michelle, Cindy, Dani and I went shopping to finish getting stuff for family pictures.  We stayed out way too late, but we were definitely productive!

3.  Saturday we all met up at the Children's Museum.  We stayed long enough for Cooper to get way beyond tired, and then I took my kids home while everyone else stayed a little longer.  Michelle's family went to visit some of Roy's family that night, while the rest of us had another family dinner.  My parents and Cami got in that night and the family reunion officially began!

4.  Sunday we went to church, where Roy blessed baby Andrew.  We had a big lunch here after, followed by lots of hanging out until dinner.  So much food.  :)

5.  Monday my kids went to school, Tyson to preschool, and Michelle and Roy did their own thing while my mom and I did some grocery shopping.  After the kids got home from school we got ready for family pictures.  They went relatively smoothly, until Brynne fell and scraped up her lip, and Cooper decided he was absolutely finished with producing his normally photogenic cheeser face.

6.  That night Ariel and Melissa Singleton, our childhood pen pals from Kaysville, came to visit.  It was so fun to see them!  My mom decided to have all the kids open up their traditional Christmas Eve pajamas since they were all together.

Lydia 

Cooper, Neilsen, and Sam. 

Mor Mor, Andrew, Holly and Alli 

All 14 cousins with Mor Mor and Far Far!

7.  We let the kids miss school on Tuesday, and we all went to the Bean Museum.  A Santa Rosa friend, Melissa, met up with us there with her 4 year old son, Vaughn.  I took my kids to the BYU Bookstore afterward, then went home and got dinner ready.  Another family dinner that night, then preparation for Fakesgiving, as we dubbed it, began.

 Hailey, Sam, Tyson, Logan, Vaughn, and Cooper

8.  Wednesday was our big Fakesgiving!  We had everyone over here, along with Mambo, Carla, Dan, Jenn, and Jared, and Dani's brother Devin.  Everything went really well, and it was fun and crowded!

Sam, Tyson, and Logan - born within 4 months of each other. 

Abby and Brynne, 2 months apart. 

Cooper loved the turkey cupcakes Cindy made. 

My grandma and her 3 living children. 

Cooper was super happy, obviously.

 Luckily he cheered up with a little help from Far Far.

9.  Thursday morning everyone left.  It was so so so much fun to have everyone together and I'm so grateful that we could make that work.  I can't wait for the next time.

10.  I got back from taking Michelle's family to the airport and I got right to work making rolls for the Stoddard family Thanksgiving.  We spent the afternoon and evening there.  Another amazing meal, more cousin play time, and a hilarious game of Telestrations with the adults who stayed.  We are so very blessed to have such fun, supportive, and loyal families on both sides.  I love this time of year for the extra chances it gives us to think about our blessings.  We have many.  I'm so grateful.

Primary Presentation

Alex tells me I am waiting too long to post about my first Primary Presentation.  I'm thinking it's because he wants me to brag about his amazing secret-keeping skills in flying my mom out for the weekend.  To say I was surprised is an understatement.  I can't believe he pulled it off without me even suspecting that something was going on.  It was so nice to have her here for a few days to help with some last minute details and to sew pillows for our new sectional.  :)

The Saturday program practice went okay, but I definitely left feeling nervous for the real thing the next day.  We had 20 kids who were going to be reading segments of missionary letters and at the practice I was convinced that less than half of them had even read their part before.  I begged them to go home and at least memorize the name and location of the missionary, and to read through the part 10 times.  There were a few other little kinks to work out as well.

The morning of the program came and I have to say I was so proud of how it all went.  The kids were well-behaved, several had memorized their part, the songs went well, and overall it just ran smoothly.  I feel so happy to have one under my belt and I am actually excited to take what I learned and use it next year.

I definitely went home, took a few deep breaths, and had some chocolate before running back out the door to a meeting after church. Much needed.

We spent the next couple days having fun with Mor Mor here!

Football Camp and Reflections

Tyson has been loving the Itty Bitty Ball camps they have at the Legacy Center.  He did soccer camp over the summer and football camp last month.  We sign up with his friend Brayden and they love being on the same team.

Alex stopped by to watch for a little bit one morning, and Cooper was so happy to see him.  And of course, when dad leans against the wall, Cooper has to stand and lean against the wall, too.  He loves that daddy of his.

Basketball camp is coming up next and he's looking forward to it!

Alli has worked so hard over the last several months to compose a piano song for the school Reflections contest.  Reflections is a national PTA program that starts at the school level and moves to district, region, etc.  We went to the awards ceremony where Alli found out her song passed to the district level!  We are really proud of the hard work she put in to complete this project.  She's extremely self-motivated and that pays off big-time in situations like this.

Soccer games!

We were lucky to finish the Fall portion of the soccer season with fantastic weather.  Usually the last couple of games are cold or rainy, but this year was really great.  Brynne has loved playing on an all-girls team this year and has definitely improved.  

Holly switched teams this year so she could play with Brooke.  These two girls scored by far the most goals on their team.

I love their coach!  He has nicknames for all the girls.  Holly is Freckles or Freckles McSmiles.

Halloween and Gardner Village

My favorite thing about Halloween is going to Gardner Village to do the witch scavenger hunt.  We went there on a perfect sunny day and had so much fun.  Cooper missed his nap that day and wasn't the happiest when we tried to make him take a picture.

Halloween day was great.  The girls were up and ready pretty fast that morning.  Alli was a fortune teller, Holly was an 80's girl, Brynne was Mother Gothel from Tangled, Tyson was Batman, and Cooper was Super Cooper during the day and a dragon at night.

We went to the school parade in the afternoon and Tyson loved pointing out all the superhero costumes.

Cooper was so fun to take trick-or-treating!  He cried for the first 5 or 6 houses because I wouldn't open each candy for him right then.  But he quickly figured out the game and started putting the treats in the bag himself.  I love my neighborhood, especially on Halloween.  My girls love to go off with their groups of friends and get through the whole neighborhood quickly.