Naughty or Nice?

It is Christmas Eve and Guy cannot wait until tomorrow. Everyday he asks me when it will be Christmas and I defer to his advent calendar. Then he cries saying he can't wait. I helped him write a letter to Santa Claus. After all the "I wants" I encouraged him to think of Santa and the elves, so he added, "I want to see the red-nosed reindeer. Are the elves working on my toys? I hope I can ride on Santa's sleigh."

 Festival of Trees

 My kids have the gimmees.

 Jack is in a festive mood. I made this sweater for his work party. The reindeer on his shoulder plays Christmas songs.

 My friend Mary and I worked together to put lights on our houses. Her lights turned out great, but I keep burning out my first strand so they are not currently working.

 Need to hire us? $100 an hour + childcare expenses. Some men were working at the house next door and they sat in their truck and watched to see if I would make it off the roof. I am sure someone lost a bet.

 Naughty or just a kid? Guy wanted a piece of Sloan's birthday brownies. The picture doesn't show how far bits of glass reached.

 We invited 13 kids to our house to watch Toy Story 3 and to decorate gingerbread houses. It was fun! (I cleaned my carpets the next day.)

 Guy did a great job decorating his house. So good, in fact, another kid chose his house to take home and left the one he or she made. He was a little sad, but recovered quickly.

 I am thankful that one glass pan is all the loss I have. It rained for 5 days straight and the rivers overflowed. I took the following 2 pictures Wednesday after the Virgin River went down about 5 feet. It is still so huge. I feel bad for those who lost their houses after the Beaver Dam broke. I have a lot to be thankful for.

Merry Christmas!

Sloan Turns 2!

 December 15th Sloan turned 2 years old. I made chocolate brownies with chocolate frosting because I thought she would like it better than cake.

 Lots of presents.

 The next picture made me laugh so hard. I love her face. Guy got Sloan a purse with a pad of paper and pencils in it. I think it was her favorite gift.

 Thank you to all her aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents for their wonderful gifts. She loved them all.

 I took the kids out to try to get some cute pictures of them. I put a few on our Christmas card.

 Sloan is a daredevil on her bike. She will go off curbs now. She asks to ride it every day.

I love my little girl. She is a little too attached to me and has separation anxiety, but we are working on it. She yells, "Daddy!" and goes running to Jack every day when he gets home. She follows Guy around and wants to do everything he does. She has just started to show interest in girly things like baby dolls and combing her hair.

Thanksgiving

I am thankful for friends and family. Jack's mother visited from Paducah, KY for Thanksgiving and we invited friends to join us for Thanksgiving dinner. Guy took the following two pictures.

 Thanksgiving 2010

Back Row: Shannon, Sloan, Guy, Jack

Middle Row: Peggy (Jack's mom), Hoa, Joel, Tim

Front Row: Kim

 The next morning we set up the tree and decorated it with Grandma Peggy.

 That night we went to the Tuacahn amphitheater to see the live nativity, the lights, and to ride the train.

 Even Santa was there.

 On Saturday we took Peggy on a hike in Zion National Park. It was unseasonably cool weather over Thanksgiving. Guy took the following two pictures.

 On Monday, Washington City had a tree lighting ceremony at a nearby park. I decorated the kids' bikes with battery operated lights for the bike parade. It was fun, but hard to take a picture of Sloan on the move. She is fast!

 Here is Santa's elf talking to Guy about what he wants for Christmas: a Star Wars toy and a gun.

 This Santa had a real beard.

I love this time of year!