New Year's Eve

We had breakfast at Little America Coffeeshop with Grandma Rainey to finish out 2012 with a bang.

Grand America always has a cool scavenger hunt and a crazy gingerbread house.

 

Our New Year's Eve tradition since 2009 is to go to ZooLights. It's always cold (14 deg this year) and cheerful and fun.

 

 
 We usually eat at Cinegrill after the Zoo, but this year, the Taylors invited us to a pizza party at their house. There were a lot of kids and food so it was lots of fun. Alex's tradition is to stick his face in a cake, so we enjoyed that too.

We were home by ten, but we marked the new year with our neighbor's fireworks. 2012 was an awesome year, and we're excited for 2013!

Smith Family Party

Grandma Rainey grew up as a Smith and she has a big family and they have a big Christmas party every year that we just love. The kids don't get to run around a ward house very often, and they love it more each year. There are always a lot of new babies to meet and a rousing gift exchange.

 

 

 Isaac was friendly as usual, and he cuddled right up to cousin Brad (sitting by TB in the picture below). Brad told Ikey that he used to suck on his middle fingers and hold ears too. Ikey was very interested to see if cousin Brad likes trains like him too. Ikey really bonded with Brad and he gave him a kiss. Brad was telling someone how tight he and Isaac were and Ikey said, "I'll kiss anybody."

Jovie was the best gift of the year!

 Ross helped Jovie with her wind-up snowman toy and played a game of "stomp on toes" that he and Isaac invented. Ross always has a joke and a laugh and we just like to hang around with him.

Snowy yard

Our big Christmas Eve snow storm made for some good fun in the yard!
Todd and the kids can honestly spend two or three hours outside at a time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AsjvdhpyVg

Here's a sledding tour of our yard:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tcJq0iBHLw

Christmas

We had to wake up the kids after 8 am on Christmas. It's the only day this year that they have slept in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmcTkOwxZLI

When always leave carrots for the reindeer, and they always leave droppings on our carpet. I don't think the reindeer go in most houses, but they come in ours. The kids caught me snacking on reindeer poop on Christmas morning and they were shocked to find out that reindeer poop tastes like chocolate....only magical flying reindeer poop. 

Ikey asked for (and got) a lot of trains and train tracks.

Jovie wanted a piano.

 

 Todd wanted a plaid shirt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfw3-o2Z2_c

Grandma Faucheux made this beautiful purple quilt for Jovie and she loves it.

 
 

We had breakfast at Grandma Rainey's house with sweet cousins Sierra and Stormy. We did more presents and food at Grandpa Joe and Grandma Pat's house. Grandpa and Grandma Faucheux visited us in the afternoon with more presents!

 

We had a delicious big Christmas dinner at Pete and Dan's house. Our vegan friends whipped up about thirty pounds of prime rib for about 25 people. We had a very fun Christmas day! 

Christmas Eve

I spent Christmas Eve morning making scones, french bread, cookies, and a huge mess in the kitchen which TB was nice enough to clean up twice. The kids spent the day napping to get ready for our big Faucheux party. It started snowing just before we left for our half-hour drive to Grandma and Grandpa's house so it was an hour drive that included a detour to avoid a bunch of minivans that slid off the roads. It was a WHITE CHRISTMAS which is exactly what I wanted.

Jovie has been practicing to be Mary in the Christmas Play for a long time. She said, "I'm a good mother. I put a bowl of milk on the floor for my baby." Isaac was hesitant to be Joseph until I told him he gets a costume. He fell off the donkey (cousin Dallin) right onto his head. Jovie sang "Holly Jolly Christmas" for the family talent show: http://youtu.be/RLEhAFgLN-8

Ikey sang "Last Christmas" for the family talent show: http://youtu.be/S0w4qVfTgj0

 

We hung stockings by the fireplace "with Joy" Jovie said. Ikey tested Santa's cookies a bunch of times and they were just right every time. No one tested the carrots.

Progressive Dinner

Our first ever progressive dinner was so fun! Four families from our neighborhood started at Chris and Bobi's house for a healthful salad and crafts for the kids. Chris told us a crazy story about a car that was stolen from his business, then wrecked just 100 feet from his home three days later. The thief almost ran over Chris during the high-speed chase right past our house. The stolen Mercedes was ultimately stopped by an off-duty police officer who swerved into him to protect a jogger in the road. It was crazy! The police and the thief say that he wasn't targeting Chris, but that's a pretty big coincidence!

Everybody walked to our house for bbq shrimp and coleslaw appetizer and pigs in a blanket. We served on cute little paper plates and everyone else had beautiful tables set. We'll work on our presentation next time, but the food was great.

 

We moved to Armen and Emily's house for a huge serving (actually two for almost everybody!) of lasagna. Then to Nitin and Jane's for dessert and to watch a movie and play billiards. I think it was the middle of the night when we got home. The kids had a great time and we had such good food and can't wait to do it again. 

Utah Symphony

 
Here Comes Santa Clause at the Utah Symphony with Grandma FauxChickenFry and Grandpa Faucheux.

We rode Trax to Little America Coffeeshop for breakfast after the show.

 

Jovie was charming everyone because she was walking around with the camera, snapping photos of all the Santa decorations and the gingerbread carousel.

Merry Christmas to the parents!

We started potty training Jovie (with earnest this time) on December 15th, and she was totally potty trained (naps and nighttime too!) by Christmas. So this family doesn't ever have to buy diapers again. Jovie is a truly amazing smart little person who can do anything she wants. We let her get away with it most of the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qaj0YF-4x9g

Jingle Bus

We rode the Jingle Bus around downtown SLC with the Wans. We saw all the lights at temple square, tried out the fountains at City Creek (no water!), ate donuts and checked out the candy window at Macy's.

 

Skiing

It was about 17 degrees when we went to Millcreek Canyon to try out our skiing skills. We towed the kids up the canyon on their skis. http://youtu.be/hBTDXbIEwrg

And they skied down in the cross-country tracks. http://youtu.be/-xpCPEZEviI

Jovie yelled at every skier that we passed, "Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah!"At the gate where we loaded up, Jovie told someone, "I derailed from the tracks a lot". That skier said, "A lot of us do that. It's no problem."
 
We saw a huge elk wandering around Millcreek Canyon. http://youtu.be/RfBJS4lcSiA

Jovie: I'm Tin Lizzie. I sell bumper stickers. Car, do you want to buy a bumper sticker?
Me: Sure. What does your bumper sticker say?
Jovie: 'Don't bump into me.' Car, stop laughing.

Jovie: Mom, can you put on my orange shoes? Mom, hurry! You're wasting time to put on my orange shoes!

We're seriously potty training while Todd is home for the holidays. This means that we have a lot of conversations about bathrooms. She gets a sticker for every time she uses the potty and she chose a "movie night with popcorn" for her reward when the sheet is full. I also told her that she could have a candy cane off the tree on our front porch if she has a whole day with no accidents. After one accident, she was campaigning for a candy cane and I said, "Jovie, I told you what you need to do to get a candy cane." She said, "Mom, stop telling me about candy canes and give me one." Just for the record, she actually uses a pretty sweet tone of voice when she's saying these things that look so sassy when I just type them out.

Elf Scavenger Hunt

We found all the elves causing mischief at Gardner Village and had a cookie treat at the bakery. Ikey says, "I've never been to a bakery before...just the bread store."

 

Christmas Carol Sing Along

I love the Christmas Carol Sing Along at Energy Solutions Arena. Ikey and I have gone for three years, but this was Jovie's and Todd's first year. I'm sure I went a few times before Ikey was born, but guaranteed I didn't go in 2008 when he was two weeks old.

Ikey's smiley face is a work in progress.

Hallelujah!

Jovie and I went to a sing-along performance of The Messiah at a church in South Jordan. The music was beautiful besides my ridiculous attempt at alto. Jovie enjoyed it as well, especially our stop at Famous Dave's on the way home. I fondly remember attending The Messiah in Carbon County with my mom and sisters every year. My mom always brought treats (We got way less treats than my kids do!) and I fell asleep. My mom was nice to wake me up for the Hallelejah chorus. I thought it would be appropriate to leave the boys out of this tradition and just have "the women stick together" as Jovie says.

Isaac's Christmas Concert

I laughed so hard I cried. I think my dad did too.

The finale of the Christmas concert http://youtu.be/-urVt2STRSI
The second part of the finale http://youtu.be/AaLpa6eG4jI

Here's the whole show. It's kind of funny. http://youtu.be/2_s3QnVRQVM

Interpretive Display

Jovie ran up to a taxidermied mule deer in the "Carbon Cycle" display at the Museum of Natural History of Utah and yelled, "A dead reindeer!"

"Echoes of Christmas" Nativity

It was rainy, but just a little chilly tonight for the live nativity at Liberty Park.

 

Isaac breaks out this weird face for photos now. We took three of these photos hoping we'd capture the smiles and laughs he does between this pose. He's got better timing that we do.

 

That's a real camel with the wise men.

 Ikey and Jovie enjoyed the animals, the music, and walking between scenes.

We need to work just a little on being reverent. At the stable scene, Ikey said loudly, "I don't think the baby is a doll. I think it's a mannequin."

Letters to Santa

Isaac's letter started out, "Dear Santa, I have been good for goodness sake. Please bring a train I can build with dad. My favorite Kung Fu Panda character is Crane. I like Po too."

 

I don't remember Jovie's exactly, but she asked for a piano and asked a lot of questions about Mrs. Clause.