Christmas Day

We were unbelievably excited for Christmas this year. I can't believe we made it to Christmas morning, because it just seemed like it would never be here. Santa Clause left pillow pets in Anna and Max's beds and that was a good first surprise.

Santa brought Max some aliens that eat other aliens--they are super cool.

More princesses and a doll house for Anna!

Books and balls for Charlie, who had his first Christmas, since he barely missed it last year.

All the excitement finally wore us out. Max took a nap at Grandma Judy and Grandpa Bob's house on the couch, right in the middle of everything.

We had such a fun day and got to talk to Uncle Taylor and Uncle Carter who are both serving missions. I love Christmas!

Christmas in Idaho Falls

We took a trip up to Idaho Falls this year for a few days right before Christmas and that was a good idea! We made gingerbread houses with Grandma Sonja, took a drive to see lights, opened some special presents including magic pillowcases from Grandma Devonna and Grandpa Hal. We love our grandmas and grandpas so much and were so happy to see so many of them this Christmas time!

Happy Birthday Max

Happy birthday to Max! He finally is three--even though he has been claiming to be three for about a year now (the whole time he was two).

The morning of his birthday he came down and hopped in bed with us--like he does most days, and we decided to give him his present then. He was super excited to get a Buzz Lightyear as we are going through a major Toy Story phase at our house. I have just recently been aloud to try out the cool buttons on Buzz that make him shoot laser beams and talk in Spanish, and he is a pretty cool toy. On Max's birthday we also went to Jump On It--one of his favorite places and had a great time together. Mom and Charlie mostly watched.

A couple days after Max's birthday we went up to Idaho Falls and got to celebrate his birthday there as well! He is a very loved boy and had lots of birthday fun this year.

Max's Boots

Max will be three tomorrow and on Tuesday he got to go with Grandpa Kent and Grandma Leita to buy some cowboy boots. He was so excited, and he knew on the calendar which day was the day for the boot store. He came home with these good looking boots and has had them on ever since, I think. Yesterday I took them off of him when I tucked him in at naptime, and when I peeked in at him he was sleeping with them on again. What a lucky boy!

Sad Story and Thanksgiving

Here is the sad story . . .
On the Sunday before Thanksgiving Charlie fell out of a booster seat at my mom and dad's house while I, his mother, was standing six inches away. He cried and cried and I felt so bad. We went home and put him to bed and he slept all night so I thought he was probably fine. The next day, though, after watching a normally very, very, active ten month old spend a whole day wanting to be held, or just staying right wherever I set him down (even if it was within sight of the Christmas tree), I decided to take him to the doctor. The doctor sent us over to the hospital where we got x-rays and found out that Charlie's right leg was broken. Poor boy! Luckily, it was not a very bad break (a buckle fracture of his right tibial, I think, and was up by his knee) And since he is not walking and jumping around yet the doctor gave us the option of not casting it and "just keeping him close by and holding him a lot". That didn't sound like it would make for the best days of our lives, but a cast for six weeks seemed even less appealing so we opted to leave it without a cast. We had a few pretty sad days at first, but Charlie is feeling so much better now and is pretty much back to his normal, busy self.

Thanksgiving . . .
Because of our sad boy and bad weather, we stayed home from our planned trip to Grandma Sonja and Grandpa Kent's for Thanksgiving which made us all miss them a lot. We can't wait to see them in December! We enjoyed spending our Thanksgiving day at my grandma and grandpa's house in Lehi and having them all to ourselves. That doesn't happen very often! They were so sweet to us. There is just something about being at their house that makes everything feel better.

We are very thankful this year for family who love us and help us so much--from close, or far away.