Merry Christmas

We spent Christmas morning at my parents' house this year.  It was a little bit of a crazy morning since we had 9:00 church, but we made it work.  We woke Izze up to do Santa presents before church, bad idea!  Santa brought both girls a doll, however Addie's was Cinderella and Izze's was a Fisher Price Little Mommy doll.  Izze's first response was to cry and then throw a tantrum, super fun.  The rest of the morning she spent trying to hide the Cinderella doll behind her so Addie wouldn't see it.  Izze loves all things princess which is different from Addie when Addie was her age, something I need to remember! 

Our family exchange, Addie had me!

Izze hiding Cinderella, hasn't even touched her Santa gift as you can see in background.

Izze still hiding Cinderella!

Just what Andrew has always wanted, a Princess brush :)

Addie colored me a picture, wrapped it herself, and was so excited to give it to me.  Best present ever!

This pretty much sums up our Christmas morning.  Both girls in tears, better luck next year...

Jammie Party and Cookies

For Addie's Christmas party at preschool they were to wear their favorite pajamas and bring their favorite Christmas thing to share for show and tell.  Since we were staying at my parents' house that week Addie was able to locate a snow globe which she loved and Target was able to provide us with some cute princess pajamas since I only packed old ones.  Addie loved her party and has loved going to Miss Karie's preschool.  We are going to miss it so much!

We went over to Grandma Jensen's house one day to make cookies.  The girls loved it, Grandma Jensen is so nice to let the girls have free reign, very hard for me to do!  Addie loved pouring the sprinkles on the cookies!

Christmas Windows

We went downtown to see the Christmas windows at the Grand America Hotel with my sister's family and my Mom.  The scavenger hunt was a lot of fun and the new toy shop was super cute. 

This is in front of huge gingerbread house!  There was tons of candy on there, so fun to see!  Izze refused to be in the picture, not surprised at all by this.

Waiting for TRAX, Addie was against pictures at this point.

Such a successful picture day :)

Silly Girls

One night while the girls and I were at my parents' house, Izze found Grandpa's glasses and thought it would be fun to wear them.  Addie had to take a turn, of course, they thought it was so fun.

(This was late at night, hence the untamed hair!)

So Tired

This is how we found Addie one night while she was sleeping.  I thought it was hilarious and had to take a picture!

Snow Fun

It snowed a little bit over the weekend and the girls were excited to dig out the gloves, hats, coats, etc to go play in it.  They lasted about 15 minutes before Izze got bored of wearing all the gear and started taking off her gloves and hat. 

More Birthday Fun

We celebrated Andrew's birthday as well this month.  He was lucky enough to take the day off and my sister was able to watch the girls so we could go to dinner and a movie.  The girls were so excited to celebrate and help open the presents.  Izze kept singing Happy Birthday all day. 

Birthday Fun

Addie has been counting down to her birthday since January!  Sometime in the summer she requested going to St. George for her birthday instead of having a party.  I was all for it, seemed a whole lot easier, I think she was smarter than she realized, however.  We didn't just celebrate on her birthday, but all weekend long!  Addie is so excited to be 5 and makes sure we all remember how old she is each day.

Addie has wanted to go golfing with Andrew for a while now (I think just to ride in the cart), so he said he would take her this trip.  Well all the golf courses were full or too much money, so we opted to go miniature golfing instead.  Addie even got a hole in one!  We were so glad the Warner girls could join us too, good times :)

We did a little party with Maddie, Mia, Kalea, and Izze.   We had pizza and cupcakes, then headed to Jumping Jacks where the girls bounced to their heart's content! 

On Saturday I ran the Snow Canyon Half Marathon with Laura (it was oh so cold!).  Then Addie ran in the kids' race, she has been dying to run in a race since the summer.  She did so well and is proud to show off her medal!

Addie's actual birthday was on Sunday.  She was so excited to see her presents.  We had to drive home so we had her open a present in each town to make her birthday more exciting.  Addie loved her impromptu doughnut cake when we got home.  She loves being 5 and is already talking about her next birthday!

Halloween Festivities

The past few days have been filled with Halloween parties, the girls have loved every minute of it!  We started out the weekend by going to Frightmares at Lagoon one last time this season, then we went to our ward Halloween party, then to my sister's house for a family party, and Addie had her preschool party.  We also took the girls trick or treating, but I left the camera in the car and wish now I hadn't been so lazy because I sure wish I had a picture of them going to the doors.  Both girls would say "trick or treat" and "thank you".  We haven't ever officially taken them trick or treating and they loved it!  They lasted about an hour or so, but that was plenty of time to fill up their pumpkins with loads of candy!

It was so chilly at Lagoon but we still enjoyed going on our favorite rides one last time!

The girls chose to be Tinkerbell this year, Addie loved getting all dressed up and putting on glitter make-up!  Izze liked getting dressed up the first time, but by the end I think she was beginning to wonder why I kept waking her up from her naps to be Tinkerbell.

Halloween Party with my family. Izze would not pose for a picture with Addie.  All the cousins dressed up, we played some fun games and ate yummy food, of course!

Addie's preschool parade followed by the class singing some Halloween songs and reciting some poems. 

Pumpkin Patch

We went to a local pumpkin patch for Addie's preschool field trip a week ago.  Izze has loved seeing all the pumpkins this year and other Halloween decorations.  We went on a tractor ride, went through a corn maze, listened to Addie and her class recite poems and sing songs.  At the end the girls picked out some small pumpkins to take home.

Frightmares

We have gone to Frightmares a few times this season at Lagoon.  The girls love all the Halloween decorations and the kids' haunted house and maze.  We discovered a few times ago that Izze is tall enough to ride the Tidal Wave, Bombora, and Egg Drop.  She loves all of these new rides and giggles/screams the entire time.  We can't believe another Lagoon season is coming to an end, we sure have made good use of our passes this year.

St. George Marathon

I did it, I actually ran 26.2 miles in 4 hours and 10 minutes.  It is insane.  And so exciting.  Mostly insane, I think.  Since May 7, 2011 it has been in the back of my mind and now that it is over, I just keep thinking "I can't believe it is over!"  The training was hard, but I loved it and am grateful for the friends who were willing to run with me at odd times and long distances.  I thought for sure I would run one and be done, but I have an inkling that I may do another marathon sometime in the future.  It was such a great experience and one I will never forget.  I am glad Andrew pushed me to do a marathon and that my friend Janell signed up for a marathon so that I would feel the pressure to sign up too!

Camping ... Finally!

We finally were able to go camping for the third time this year!  We went with some friends to Wasatch State Mountain Park.  It was pouring rain when we arrived there, but we managed to set up the trailer with only minor leakage.  It cleared up the next morning and we went down to the visitors center where the kids tried their hands at fishing.  We also went to Cascade Springs, enjoyed the campfire, played at the campground, and ate yummy food, of course.

Fishing and playing on the playground at Visitor's Center

Campground fun = dancing on the table, digging in the dirt, and eating donuts

Izze posing for the camera

Cascade Springs

Throwing Rocks

One Sunday evening we decided to head up the canyon to enjoy the cool air and throw some rocks in the river.  The girls insisted on wearing their pajamas which was fine by me since it was close to bedtime.  We all had fun throwing rocks in the river, it just never gets old :)