Christmas spirit

While I was upstairs getting ready for church this morning, it seemed kind of quiet downstairs, so I decided I had better see what was going on. When I came down, this was the scene.

If this isn't capturing the true Christmas spirit, I don't know what is! Sweet kids! (Coordinated and directed by Korinne, I'm sure!)

Santa!!!

What's the best part about a ward Christmas party? The chance that a special visitor might show up for the kids....and Santa didn't dissappoint us! The kids were very excited to see him, and all 3 of them even liked him (no screamers on Santa's lap this year!) Now, I hope these kids can pull off being angelic from now until Christmas, since they have officially put in their orders!

Gingerbread houses

Wednesday night, Colby was at a YM activity in Salt Lake, so I decided it was a good night for the kids to decorate their gingerbread houses. I'd lilke to say that I make all my own gingerbread and shape the houses and everything....but I haven't been that brave yet (maybe one day). In the meantime, we just use the kits that are ready to assemble. But the kids have a blast decorating their houses, and eating some of the candy! And I love to see the finished products!

We'll have a beautiful little village on the table, that's for sure! Cute, cute!

Christmas lights.

We usually love to walk around Christmas village and see all the lights, but this year, it is so bitterly cold, that we couldn't last very long! We had fun, but the best part was the hot chocolate and getting back out of the single digit temperatures!

Maybe the temps won't be quite so frigid when we head to Temple Square to enjoy the lights. Here's hoping for a little less frostbite on our noses and toses!

Go Jazz!

Colby and Dr. Anderson like to treat some of their doctor friends to a suite and dinner at a Jazz game. The food was good, the seats wonderful and the game fun as always!

San Francisco and WICKED!!

Warning: LOTS of pics!
Woo-hoo...San Fran! We played around at Fishermans' Wharf on Pier 39....we liked watching all the sea lions coming out of the bay to sun themselves on the docks. And of course, eating clam chowder in sourdough bread bowls at Boudin's (where else!) Sooooo yummy! A great view of Alcatraz (the Rock)....we'll be heading out there on Sunday. And of course, cute Korinne and Grandpa Dave.

Korinne is having fun chasing seagulls off the pier with an umbrella. Silly girl.

Korinne's birthday treat at Chili's on Friday night. She thought it was great that everyone was singing to her! And of course the yummy Molten cake....love it!

We had great path along the bay right outside our hotel in Brisbane.

Saturday was ... WICKED! We are SOOOOO excited! The show was, to say the least, absolutely AMAZING! Elpheba and Glinda were so incredible...beyond description! Korinne kept leaning over to me and asking if Elpeba was wicked yet. We absolutely LOVED the show....oh how I want to see it again! Everyone I talk to says that this one in San Francisco is so much better than many of the other places....I'll just have to take their word for it, since I have nothing to compare it to...all I can say is it was beyond incredible! I highly recommend the trip out! Too bad you can't use a camera inside the theater!

Here's the Golden Gate bridge at night. Not the best pictures, but I was freezing, so this is as good as it gets!

More lazy sea lions.

On the ferry on our way to Alcatraz.

WOW! The Rock.

Korinne enjoying her audio tour and checking out the cells in cell block B.

Korinne going into solitary confinement. I actually could use one of these at home sometimes!

This is one of the cells where a couple of prisoners used spoons to dig out and widen the vents to escape...holy cow.

Look at that beautiful skyline! This is the view of San Francisco from Alcatraz.

Korinne is having so much fun with grandma and grandpa!

Thank you mom and dad for an incredible trip and fun memories! What an awesome birthday present! We are two spoiled girlies! We love you mom and dad!

Korinne's birthday (and mine, too)

It's hard to believe that it has already been a year since Korinne was getting ready to be baptized....how could she be having another birthday already?! Since our birthdays are only 4 days apart, we decided to just celebrate together.
Korinne wanted a crazy mad hatter cake...so here is the finished product. (yes, it is supposed to look topsy turvy!)

She got a lot of great stuff from cousins and grandmas...and of course, American Girl "Julie" that she has been begging for forever! So, I finally gave in.

But, best of all was the gift from my parents, for both of us. They are taking us to San Francisco to see "Wicked" the weekend after Thanksgiving! Woo-hoo! We can hardly wait! (More to come on that later!)

Reflections

This year's reflections theme was "Beauty is..." Korinne took a beautiful picture of the fall leaves up the canyon on conference weekend. She won an honorable mention...way to go sweetie! Porter also took some pictures. His was called "Fall" and he had a picture of waterfalls and the fall colors up the canyon in a collage. His entry went on to the next level...and he got this beautiful trophy! He is so excited to have his first trophy...he shows it to everyone and points out that it has his name on it.....Way to go buddy boy!

Painting

November might not be the best time of year to be starting this project...but, oh well. It's about time we did something with the boys room! This will definitely be a work in progress and probably take me a couple of months to figure out how I want to decorate it. When it's done, (maybe by next summer), I'll post more pictures. At least the painting is getting done...with multiple helpers!

Hot chocolate!

What could be better than hot chocolate on a freezing day after raking leaves before the snow starts to fly? Especially while watching the "Hot Chocolate" song on Polar Express. Ooooh! We got it! HOT CHOCOLATE!

Basketball

Porter has been absolutely LOVING playing basketball! It amazes us how well he handles the ball at only 5 years old (well, almost 6)! He can run the length of the court dribbling without stopping or watching the ball...it just comes natural. He's a pretty great shooter, too. Before the snow fell, he would spend hours outside shooting hoopes from different positions....he says he is just so excited to finally be a "real" basketball player! His games have been a blast to watch... these kids are so funny at this age. A lot of them are daydreaming and prancing around and playing with their jerseys, while Porter is so serious and totally into the game... it just makes us laugh. We love this little guy! He is intense, but sooooo fun!
These pictures don't ever turn out so well....the lighting is never too good on these courts and since I don't have a fancy schmancy camera like Celeste :), this will just have to do!