Happy Birthday to Jon!

Happy Birthday dear Jon!!  There were a couple presents for him this morning,

And we headed out for a birthday brunch at Original Pancake House!

This evening we went up to Tara's house with a homemade carrot cake for Jon and Noel.

We sang,

and they blew out the candles together!

The cake was delicious, if I do say so myself!  I still think it's crazy that Jon, his brother Justin, and his dad all have the same birthday!  And Noel is a twin, so there's actually 4 of them with the same day!

We will have the girls back on Jan 1, and will do more celebrating with them then.

Happy Birthday, my love!  Here's to many more!

UNHM

Today Jon and I went to the Natural History Museum with Noel.  We didn't have the girls, and wanted to do something Noel could enjoy with us.  He's not here very often, so we try to take advantage.  The museum is really cool, and even cooler when you're not trying to occupy children the whole time!  They usually go too fast through it, and you get exhausted trying to slow them down!  Going with adults is a much more rewarding experience!

Here Jon is by the sand and wind tunnel.  You can direct the flow and direction of the wind to see how it affects the loose sand in the exhibit.

I think my favorite part is the wall of different kinds of triceratops!  We also tried to flood the salt lake valley beyond the shores of Lake Bonneville in a water exhibit they have.  It's really a cool place.

Snowbird

Today the girls came back for a little activity with Grandpa G and Tara.  We headed up to Snowbird to ride the tram up the mountain to the lodge.  It was a beautiful sunny day.

Tons of people up there to ski, with all their colorful outfits!

The snow covered mountains were so pretty, and it was seriously so bright!

We got the girls hot chocolate and hung out in the lodge by the windows for a bit, looking out over the mountain ranges.

Riding the tram back down was a lot less crowded and you could actually see out the windows.  We looked up and the wind caught the loose snow at the top...pictured is just a remnant.

It was a pretty clear day.  You could see the valley, and lots of barren ground!  We really need more snow.

What a fun excursion with the fam!

Merry Christmas!

Finally Christmas morning is upon us!!!  We took this video as the girls came into the living room.  It's in three parts because I couldn't upload it in a single video.  They were thrilled with the madness of it all!

Here the girls are, with all the splendor!  We decided not to take any more pictures so we could focus on the girls and just being together.  They got so many cool things, and so did Jon and I!

We went up to Grandmere's for Christmas breakfast and gifts and met with family there.  Breakfast was wonderful, and there was a festive spirit!

We were trying to arrange for a picture in front of the tree and presents before the mess of opening them set in, and Thomas was being a little bub.

We finally made it work with Thomas in the picture, too!

Then of course a silly one.  The girls have been little stinkers lately, pulling faces in pictures that are supposed to be nice, so the rule has become a nice one, then you can be silly in another one!  The silly ones are definitely better in a way!

Our first Christmas as a family!

We are silly.

Then the tussling began!  Thomas thought this was for him, and despite the multitude of other gifts that WERE for him, he got in a tug of war with Joni!

Matriarch and Patriarch overseeing the fun.

We tried to take a cute one of Thomas and his parents, but he was being as silly as the girls are!

Mimi is in love with the giant bear we got her, and insisted she bring it up to Grandmere's.  She perched with him quite a bit, and has named him Mr. Bear.

Mac and the other girls helped with distribution of gifts.  I think they see it as the fastest way to see what's theirs!

Our first Christmas married!

Shortly after gifts the girls went to their Dad's and Jon and I went to see his family for a bit, then home to decompress.  We returned later for Christmas dinner of Swedish meatballs, which Jon happily ate, but he was not on the super pro hamball team!

It has been such a lovely day spent with family.  Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve!

It's Christmas Eve!!  Today we just had Sacrament meeting, but we all got dressed up and the girls got to wear their new Christmas dresses!

We are a beautiful family, if I do say so myself!

This afternoon was preparations for Christmas Eve dinner, to be had with Jon's family.  And of course selfie shenanigans

Another important item of business today was the making of cookies for Santa!  The girls love making sugar cookies, with all that cookie cutter work and decorating!

Santa's plate is ready to set out at the appropriate time.

That is, if it doesn't get eaten by Mac first!

Jon's family joined us this evening for dinner and Christmas Eve festivities, and it was wonderful to have them here.

Dinner was fantastic, and the table looked very nice.  I went with a rustic theme, and got to use my Christmas dishes and lots of cranberries!

I made these cute little cranberry wreath place card holders and hand lettered the names.

I think they turned out really well.

Here are all of us

The girls got to open their Christmas Eve gift from Snowbell, as always, cute jammies for the night.

Then it was crème brulee time!  Jon loves his blowtorch and it made them perfect!

After eating, we headed to the living room, where the girls gave Grandpa (and Grandma!) G their gift, a picture calendar!!

They carefully set out the cookies for Santa with a glass of milk.

Arranging them just so.

Mimi's little snowman just kills me.

And then after reading the Christmas story in Luke, bedtime!  Finally!  Then the work began for Santa, Jon, and I.  The final set up was CRAZY!!  The girls will be so excited to wake up to this in the morning!