Christmas at Gram & Grampy's

We spent Christmas at my parents house in Coalville. It was a good day especially because my mom was there and able to come in for a minute to watch the grandkids open some presents. This is also the first Christmas Grace has really been excited for so she had a lot of fun. Here are some pics:

Grace shows Max the ropes to opening a present on Christmas Eve. We always get a new pair of p.j's to wear to bed that night.

We had a hit with the jumparoo for Max, he was all smiles for a while.

Stalkings. . .a good way to lose an arm.

Max and dad ready for high adventure.


Grandpa Higgins and his two glitzy grandaughters, Chloe in her party dress and Grace in her 'Dora splora' dress.

Hope everyone had a good Christmas. I'm especially grateful for the Christmas we had this year. I'm mostly grateful to celebrate Christmas and the Savior's birth. It is because of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that we can be families forever and have the hope that we can be together always. Merry Christmas!

Here Comes Santa Clause

Me, the kids, and some friends went to visit Santa Clause today. I've been getting great mileage out of Grace when telling her she has to be good because the elves are looking and they tell Santa if she's been good or bad, so it was time to let her actually meet the guy- Santa that is. Grace told Santa about the 'doctor baby' she wants (a baby doll that you play doctor on to help it feel better) and got a free coloring book too. All in all a good visit. This is Max's first picture with Santa Clause and he is so much bigger than Grace was in her first pic with that jolly man in red. These are good memories.

Kicking Off the Christmas Season

Christmas Lights
We took the kids to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights on Monday. It was beautiful as always but it was the best trip because it was actually warm and not crowded.

The Gingerbread House
To get the holidays rolling (and to occupy the day that Adam is at work and school) Grace, Max, and I busted out a gingerbread house kit. I thought it would be fun for Grace to let her hair down and decorate something with candy so this was the best option. Grace saw the kit the day I bought it and has been dying to 'build the house' so during her nap I assembled the house so it was ready to decorate. I feared nothing would stand up if Grace started the house from scratch. Max was an excellent audience and spectator, poor guy doesn't even know what he's missing out on yet with the candy, but that also made life tons easier. Grace was actually much more particular and reserved about placing the candy than I expected. It wasn't until she snuck a taste of frosting that the real enjoyment began. Here is the before and after pics of this year's gingerbread excursion.

I just had to add this picture of Max because he's hard to see in all the other pics. He's just such a handsome and happy baby that just goes along with whatever we're doing around him (lights & gingerbread house making). This picture was taken the same day as the gingerbread house.

Our 'Prima Ballerina"

These pics are a little late, but Grace had a ballet recital 2 weeks ago and it was great! It was her first one and was great (and hilariouse). We got to the recital and my week was apparantly catching up with me, because I realized the camera's memory card was full and the batteries were dead just in time for the big show. Luckily my friend Allison saved the day and took these for me.

Grace was surely proud of her pink tutu and the whole experience. She's been in a community ed ballet class with one of her good friends since September, so this recital was the icing on the cake for her. I'm not sure who was prouder of Grace: me, Adam, or Grace herself. It was fun to watch her (she's the tallest in the class and looking away in the picture) and also crazy to think that I have a kid old enough to do this kind of stuff!

Our Get-away to Moab

We went to Moab a couple of weekends ago for an overnight break. It was great to get away from school, house stuff, and the day to day grind. The kids did great! Hiking was minimal since Grace's 3 year old legs can only go so far, but we made it to Landscape arch which was new to us all. This is me, Grace, and Max infront of Landscape arch- it was awesome! It was a beautiful fall day and great to be together. Grace called Arches National Park the 'red rocks' and all the arches were referred to as 'windows'. You gotta love kids and how they see the world around us.

Here is Grace playing in the sand, building sandcastles. She thought the sand was great until a breeze kicked up the next day and she got sand in her eyes.

Here are some other pics. Grace loves her brother 'baby Max' so she always requests to have him share her pillow and blanket whenever they're lounging- two peas in a pod.

Adam gets the lucky job of packing Grace whenever she gets tired of walking, which is often now that she doesn't fit in our backpack anymore (not to mention she's so wiggly). One of the drawbacks to packing Grace is that she is a hat thief.

Max as you can see is really laid back and just a happy guy. He just likes to be along for the ride and to grab a quick snack of sandy fingers after a day outside.

It was a great weekend and a great way to start a blog! Hopefully I'll get better at this and I'll be able to keep everyone posted better!