Sitting with Santa...and liking it

We had our ward Christmas party the weekend before Christmas. I was asked to do a musical number, so our whole family sang, "Picture a Christmas" (the primary song...which I love). Santa made a surprise visit to the party as well. You know those pictures of toddlers who are screaming and crying as they are sitting on Santa's lap. Well, that was NOT my son at all. Caelan, Ben, and Megan weren't ever terrified of Santa at that age, but they liked him more from a distance. Nathan, on the other hand, was elated at the chance to be able to sit on his lap. He was grinning from ear to ear, and he talked and talked to him. A bunch of other parents were totally surprised. And he LOVED the candy cane he got from him. It was great.

First Snow of the Season

YAY! We got our first "real" snow of the season. There was a tiny little snow sprinkling the week before Thanksgiving, but this is the first snow that is actually piling up (we've probably gotten 3 inches so far). I was really hoping to get a good storm before Christmas, and even though it will probably melt by next weekend, it sure is fun to look out the window and see snow falling (and it has been going all day). The kids are loving it (well, until Nathan's hands get too cold - then he's not such a fan). We tried to make a snowman, but it's just too powdery...but we did make snow cones and eat them. YUM! We got a snow suit from Grandma Sorensen the last time we were in CA, which definitely helped him stay warmer.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

We are fully into the Christmas season. Dad was out of town again last week (in Texas doing some training on how to be a trainer). The kids and I pulled out the Christmas decorations for the inside of the house (except the tree). We also made some homemade Christmas card to send to servicemen who won't be able to home for Christmas, and we've been reading a Christmas story every night. Then the weekend hit...and we had Christmas activities galore.

Dad and I then put up the Christmas lights on the outside of the house (which look fantastic, by the way.....not very many people will see them because of where our house is located, but they look great to us - simple, but nice).

That evening we headed into Albuquerque to a Stake Center that had over 400 nativities set up around the building (anything from snowmen nativities to crocheted blanket nativities to nativity sets from all around the world).

After that we drove downtown and found a great seat on the curb to watch the light parade, which was fun. The kids especially loved when people handed out candy (we're seriously going to have a sugar fast after the holidays...).

On Monday we went to Albuquerque Botanical Garden River of Lights (a huge light display set up all over the gardens). Very fun.

Thanksgiving in Casa Grande

We had a nice Thanksgiving in Casa Grande with a bunch of the Dick family (Great Grammy Dick, Grandpa Dick and all his brothers and their families and Grandma Dick and Lindsay). We went to the park one of the days that we were there. Nathan has become a little playing machine at the park. He climbs up on all the equipment with no fear. He has been doing this for a quite a while now, but we got some pretty good pictures while we were there. He loves the slide. He will go up and down the slide over and over again.