Temple Square...2013

Tonight we headed down to Salt Lake to go see the Christmas lights at Temple Square.   This is something we always do when we're in Utah for Thanksgiving.  The kids were really excited to go because it's been a couple years since we've been there.

Our first stop was at the Conference Center across the street from the temple...

   We headed inside to take a little tour.  First we took the kids to see where General Conference is held.  They thought it was pretty cool to actually get to see where the prophet sits during conference.          After that, we walked around a little and looked at all the paintings of the Book of Mormon, then we headed to the roof to check out the city before it got dark (You can't go up there when it's dark).  We had an awesome view of the temple...              Can you see Jaedyn being a little stinker behind us???...           I love the Salt Lake Temple because it's where I was sealed to my parents and also where I was sealed to my best friend.   (I think the pictures of Josh and I are funny because it looks like we have horns and you know what people who don't know anything about the church say...they think we have horns hidden under our hair!)   After hanging out on the roof for a little bit, we headed back inside the Conference Center to see a few more things before we went over to Temple Square to see the lights.  We found this fun outside window waterfall, so the kids pretended that it was raining on them...I loved their expressions!      After we explored all of the Conference Center, we headed over to Temple Square.  Every time I'm there I take a ton of pictures of the temple...it's just so beautiful!  These were my favorites this time...               The kids loved all the lights, except Jaedyn was being a little bit of a stinker, so she wouldn't pose in very many pictures for me...                   I love taking pictures of this view of the temple because Josh and I have a wedding picture in this same spot...I love it!               Here we are almost 16 years later...      Here are just some random pictures I took of the lights at Temple Square.  If you look closely in the top left one (in the bottom right corner) you can see Josh carrying Jaedyn and in the bottom right one you can see him sitting down with her...she was tired!     We had so much fun visiting Temple Square again.  I really miss living here and coming every Thanksgiving.  The lights are so beautiful and it's fun coming back to the place where our eternal family began.

Thanksgiving Fun...2013!

We headed up to Utah this year to spend Thanksgiving with my parents, my sister, and her family.  We got to our hotel late last night, so we didn't see anyone until today.  When we got to my parents' house, this is what my family (and Randy) did while my sister and I helped my dad in the kitchen...

        ...Seriously!?!?!?   I finally told them all to shut off their electronics and play...so they did!      Then it came time to carve the turkey.  My dad always lets Josh do it because he has so much fun.          See what I mean?!?!  He's such a nerd sometimes!   While Josh was playing around with our food, I tried to get Jaedyn to take a picture with me because we were both wearing our polka dot shirts.  It took several times to get a serious smile out of her.  She's such a silly girl sometimes!      Here's a Thanksgiving centerpiece that Jantzen made especially for the dinner table.  He was so excited to use it and grandpa was excited to have it on the table.       Finally it was time to eat dinner.  The younger kids, plus Laykin, sat at one table...       ...while us older kids sat at the big table... ;     My mom was too sick to get out of bed, so it was just my dad that joined us for dinner.  We had some fun conversations and we had a lot of fun joking around.  I especially had a good time making my dad laugh.  It's funny getting him to laugh because when he does, he doesn't make any sounds.  He just smiles really big and you can see that he's laughing, you just can't hear it...it's hilarious!  He's been that way as long as I can remember, but it never gets old watching him try to laugh.       After dinner, the kids played some more.  They love the Lincoln Logs that my parents have.  They're always playing with them non-stop when we go there. Jaedyn and Laykin were buddies the whole weekend.  This is a house they built together...
    Jantzen had fun building houses too...     Later on we headed back over to our hotel room because the kids wanted to do some swimming before the night was over.  I didn't want to get in, so Josh did.  They all seemed to have a good time...                   What a cute little fish!!
    I think the kids love the hot tub more than the actual pool.  They all had to show me their feet and I just had to laugh at Jaedyn's face.  I think she thought she was going to fall in...it was hilarious! (Her face, not the fact that she was a little scared)           She obviously wasn't too scared of the water though, she tried to go under a few times...           Here's the boys goofing off a little.  I think they were trying to jump in the pool backwards together, but it didn't quite work very well.  Oh well, they still had fun.     When the kids were done playing in the pool, they dried off then we headed back to our room.  Before we got there, we had to make a stop in the lobby for some hot cocoa.  We took that back to our room and watched some TV while we enjoyed it.   We all had such a fun day together.  I'm so glad we were able to make the trip up to spend time with our family that we don't see very often.

Thanksgiving Preschool Party!

Today Jaedyn had her Thanksgiving celebration at preschool.  She's been so excited for this day because they've been learning a song that talks about turkeys in a tree that she says is really silly, plus they had a little surprise for all of the parents at the end.

All of us moms were invited to come watch the kids sing the songs they've been learning.  They sang "Autumn Time is Coming", "Thank You Song", "Three Little Pumpkins", and Jaedyn's favorite was "Turkeys in a Tree".  They all sounded so cute singing them, especially Jaedyn!  I really liked the pilgrim hats they made to wear for their program, they were cute.  I didn't think Jaedyn would keep hers on the whole time, but she did.

        The surprise they had for us at the end was, they all "gobbled" really loud at us and laughed about it!  These kids are so silly!
 This is one of Jaedyn's BFF's, Sammy.  They absolutely love each other!       After the kids were done singing their songs for us, they got to have a "Thanksgiving Feast".  Ms. Tate made them a full on Thanksgiving dinner and most of the kids loved it, Jaedyn, not so much.  She's way too picky.  She took a bite of a carrot and decided she didn't care for it.  The only thing she really liked was the rolls...silly girl!           Jaedyn made this cute turkey full of things she is thankful for.  She even wrote "I am thankful" on it by herself.  Her list of things she's thankful for includes her teacher, Thanksgiving, mom (me!), her family, and toys.       She also got to bring home a science project they've been working on.  They made their own crystals, she was so excited to show it to me...         I love seeing all the fun things that Jaedyn gets to make at preschool and I love watching her sing songs she's learned.  Ms. Tate is a really awesome teacher!  I am thankful for her!

Another Tooth Lost!

Jantzen is loosing teeth like crazy these days!   He came out of the bathroom the other day after school and opened his hand and said, "I just pulled out another tooth"...seriously!!  He was so calm about it.  That's so much different than Jaron is when he has a loose tooth.  With Jaron comes a LOT of drama when he has a tooth that needs to be pulled, with Jantzen we don't even know he has a loose one until he shows it to us...in his hand!  Jantzen's even had a loose tooth fall out of his mouth while he was sleeping.  The tooth fairy is going to be paying out a lot of money to this kid...and he's very happy about that!

    I think Jantzen will have all of his adult teeth before Jaron does...poor Jaron!

"Catching Fire" Movie Night

Tonight Josh and I took Jaron and Kennedy to see "Catching Fire".  We've all been patiently waiting for this movie to come...for about a year and a half!

   Before the movie started, we all had some fun taking pictures...mostly Jaron and Kennedy did.  Just look at them, it's like they're teenagers or something!           I love that Jaron and Kennedy get along so well.
Jaron didn't get off the hook taking pictures with me and Josh.  They weren't as fun as the ones he took with Kennedy.  I guess Josh and I aren't as much fun as they are.         The movie was awesome, just like the first one!  We can't wait for it to come out on DVD, so we can have lots of family movie nights.