Ice Skating

Today we went ice skating for the very first time. Nathan and I have both ice skated before, but being the neglectful parents that we are we have never introduced our children to this enriching activity. Dayton's comment was, "I thought it would be so much easier. I thought you could just glide." Mackenzie has been working extra hard since we got home to "build up her muscles for ice skating." And Lex isn't sure she wants "to ever do that again." "It was alright, but not my favorite thing to do." It was fun to watch them progress from clinging to the wall, to pushing around the orange cones, to bravely trying it on their own. I had hurt my hip earlier in the day, so I was the designated photographer. I froze. My feet were little Popsicles. Nathan was the stellar instructor/hold you while I skate around person. Dayton was the first to be done on the ice after 1 and 1/2 hours and he said to me, "Mom, why didn't dad show us how to skate really good?" I said, "Dayton, he did. He could skate around the rink without holding onto anything and he didn't ever fall." "No," Dayton says. "He didn't do any big jumps or anything." Apparently Nathan needs to work on his figure skating skills. I thought he looked great:-)

It was a great afternoon for a memory.

Christmas Day

Amazingly our kids slept in this morning. Alexa came in to tell us that it was morning at 7:30am, WOW! Shortly thereafter everyone was in our room and we had an abundance of energy. Nathan is not a wake up and get up quick kind of guy so he was the slowest moving person. The kids have to wait on the stairs while we go down and turn on the lights and make sure that Santa came. Well I turned on the lights, let our Harley, unloaded the dishwasher and changed a load of laundry while passing the time waiting for Nathan to make it down stairs. Needless to say, the kids were chomping at the bit. It was a great Christmas for everyone. Santa brought Guitar Hero and DDR Dance Party with 4 mats so almost everyone can play. The kids were perplexed by the gift because we don't have a Wii. But Santa had talked to Grandma Dayton and knew she and grandpa were giving us a Wii. Alexa got an MP3 player, Mackenzie, a digital camera, and Dayton a Hot Wheels race track. We had talked about going to a movie on Christmas day but we spent the day home playing the Wii. I must say, I love those dance mats and I also enjoyed Guitar Hero. Dayton was the funniest to watch. He got a new snow hat from his Uncle Matt and Aunt Ashley and he wore it all day. While playing Guitar Hero he would jump around like a "real" rock star while wearing his hat...okay maybe you have to be here. It sure made me laugh. We played some super fun games, Cranium family edition and a game called Snorta. We watched some Brian Regan DVDs and laughed a lot and talked to many loved ones who live far away.

Nathan pulled off a big surprise for me. I mentioned wanting an acoustic guitar to teach myself how to play. Well after spending a lot of money on brakes for our car I kind of pushed that idea off to another year. Well Nate called his dad and asked if he'd be willing to loan me his amazing guitar for a while so I could teach myself and then decide what kind of a guitar I'd want to buy. Nate's brother, Matt, took the guitar to our friend's (the Hughes') parents who were coming from Utah to Indiana for Christmas and Nate got it from them. All without me knowing any of it. He was so proud. I was so excited and loved the surprise. I have grand ambitions to teach myself how to play. I can play Jingle Bells...slowly...already.

Christmas Eve

As a kid, my family had the tradition of going out to breakfast for Christmas Eve. As we all got older we would go somewhere that had an all you can eat buffet due to the fact that I had 4 younger brothers who could eat. Well that is one tradition we have not continued but we have started going to a movie on Christmas Eve. This year we saw the Tale of Despereaux. We read the book this past year and everyone was looking forward to the show.

We had friends over for Christmas Eve "dinner." It wasn't really dinner because everybody brought a couple of their favorite finger foods but it was sure yummy. The kids acted out the nativity and we all played the chimes in lieu of the caroling activity my children were dying to do. We are so grateful for awesome friends who make holidays away from family so much fun and less lonely. The kids opened up jammies and excitedly got ready for bed all the while telling me how hard it was going to be to go to sleep tonight.

Guitar Hero

Alexa loves Guitar hero. She has only played the game maybe 3 times in her whole life but she thoroughly enjoys it. She first played the game with Cody Hughes during the summer after one of his surgeries when he wasn't feeling all that spectacular. Well she had a chance to play it once again this weekend and once again with Cody, who was feeling much better, thank goodness. Honestly, I think Cody is one of her favorite people. She had a blast! Thanks Cody for being one of Alexa's (and our) favorite people:-)

Nathan's 34th Birthday

The best birthday present for Nathan would have been BYU winning their bowl game against Arizona but unfortunately that didn't happen. Oh, well...maybe next year. I think he had a good day nonetheless. He started the day by skping with my parents and opening an accessory kit to the Wii. This gift perplexed our children because we do not have a Wii. (YET) We convinced them that grandma and grandpa wanted us to have these to play with when they bring their Wii to our house for Christmas. They bought it, I think. Then, Nathan graciously took all of us to a kid movie, Bolt, during the day. The kids and parents all enjoyed it. While the kids and I were waiting in the theater for the movie to start Nate ran over to Dick's to buy his birthday present, a new racquetball racket. He came into the theater and showed it to Alexa and she said, "Dad, that is lame. You bought your own present." I then proceeded to tell Alexa that I would not have known what racket to get her dad and it was better that he get just the right one. After the movie we had dinner with some friends before the BYU game. For the record, Nathan also picked out his own birthday cake. A Dairy Queen blizzard cake. It was super yummy! 34 years, wow! I've been with you for the past 12 and a three quarters and I'm looking forward to many more. Happy Birthday, Nathan!

We love you!!

Smokey Lunch

We were eating lunch at Traci's house and as she was cooking pizza the house got a little smokey. Apparently while making turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, the turkey bag had fallen over the side of the roasting pan and dripped that turkey juice onto the bottom of the oven making a little pool of turkey juice. Well that turkey juice was the reason for the smokiness while the pizzas were cooking. After the pizzas came out I suggested that she just clean her oven since it was already kind of heated up. Well that was not one of my best ideas because that pool of turkey juice caught on fire and proceeded to smoke up her house badly. She turned off the oven and we proceeded to eat our lunch amidst the ambiance of smoke. The best part was sharing this experience with some amazing women whom I love dearly.

2008 Christmas Ornament and Book

Each year my mom picks out a Christmas book for the kids to open usually around Thanksgiving. Then she finds/makes an ornament for them to hang on the tree. The idea is that when our kids leave home they will then have their own assortment of ornaments and Christmas books for their own homes. This year the kids got The Nutcracker book and each got a nutcracker ornament. In addition, my parents went on a cruise to Alaska this summer and brought back husky dog ornaments. The best part of this tradition is the excitement of my kids. They are so excited to open a new book and be able to read it. Then each year as we decorate the tree they talk about the ornaments they have received from grandma and grandpa.

Gingerbread Houses

The kids had a half day today and they spent the afternoon making gingerbread houses. I had made one the night before at a combined activity we had at mutual so they wanted a chance to make one too. It was quite fun seeing how creative each kid was with the assortment of candy. They were yummy to eat too!

The Lion King

We were able to get season tickets to Broadway shows here in Indy. All of the shows are kid friendly and we were able to see "The Lion King" last night. It was amazing. Our kids loved it. The animals were incredible. The best part for me was seeing the excitement, wonder, and pure joy on the faces of my kids. My favorite part was the massive elephant that comes out at the beginning. INCREDIBLE!!