Temple Square Lights!

After we went to the museum (see post after this one) we all went to Temple Square to see the lights. Seeing the lights should be another thing to add to your bucket list if you have not done it before! It is so beautiful and peaceful. I love seeing the lights, listening to the choirs perform, looking at the beautiful Christmas decor, and making memories with my family.

It was pretty cold out, but that did not seem to bother anyone (until the very end, Ha.) Even Oakland was content the entire time!

The trees with the bright red lights were mine and Erin's favorites.....
Nicki, Brian, and Kristian.....

Grandma G., Lucas, Oakland, Nicki, (top) Erin, Kristian, Brian, Cindal, Grandpa G., Landon, (bottom) Me, Ivy, and Austin.

Grandma and Grandpa Gifford with the grandkids that were hanging around at the time :)

Behind the temple there is a beautiful reflecting pool. On the pool they had little floating candles and this beautiful Nativity! Did I mention how beautiful it was?!!!

Another group shot (still missing some though!!!)

The kids were little Popsicles by the time we got back to the car, but after some hot chocolate they were back to normal! Can't wait to go again next year!

Church History Museum

Sunday we spent the day in SLC. We started at Todd's house for dinner. After dinner we went to the Church History Museum where Dave's parents serve. I am always amazed when I go there. This time they had beautiful nativities from different countries (that I did not take any pictures of!!!) My kids favorite part of the museum is the kids room (imagine that.) They have several activities, crafts, toys, etc. to keep the little ones busy. I thought it was so cute... Ivy spent a good 20 minutes playing in the "nursery" taking care of this "little sick" baby.

This is in the area where there are artifacts and stories of the pioneers. The picture below is a teeter totter type thing that is supposed to give you the sensation of being on a ship.

I know I have posted a picture like the next one before, but I am amazed by it. The pioneers that traveled by ship had to sleep in these little bunk beds. If you don't think they look that small, imagine sleeping 3 people in each bunk. In my picture I have 2 in each bunk and that looks PRETTY CROWDED!!!

This exhibit is just one of the many at the museum. If you have not been to this museum you need to put it on your bucket list!!! It is amazing.

Sleeping habits

Last night Erin and Ivy were asking Dave what they looked like when they slept. Dave told them to go to sleep and he would take their picture. Well he decided to have a little fun with it.

Erin asked me to post these on our blog.....

Austin's normal sleeping picture.
Dave messing with him....

I don't think he got a normal sleeping picture of Erin because she is not a normal sleeper. It is not uncommon to find her sleeping at the bottom of her bed or covered with stuffed animals. Any how, here are the pictures of Erin....

Ivy's normal sleeping picture was really blurry so I did not post it. And yes I am a horrible parent and let her sleep in her underwear!!!

Oakland sleeps about as crazy as Erin does. He is all over the place!

Dave just has way too much time on his hands. :)

Eat, play, and gossip

We had a miniaturized family reunion on Monday. My Cousin Sandy and Bill flew in from Missouri to stay with their grand kids for the week. We decided to take advantage of this and have a get-together. My cousins from Morgan and Layton came over too!!! We had a grand ole time eating and catching up on all the family gossip :)

Bill and Randy eating and gossiping....
Sandy and Linda taking pictures and gossiping.... (Sandy made fun of Linda and her squinty eyes all night... Poor Linda!)

Obed and Dave eating and not doing much gossiping (I am sure this does not shock those that know Obed and Dave!) Dave made horrible faces for the camera all night long, what a stinker!

Not much gossiping went on with the kids. Just a lot of playing and having fun!!

Spee refused to eat without Kristy right there with him...

More picture taking, eating, and gossiping...

and more eating, .... You get the idea :)

And my favorite shot of the night, 5 little monkeys were caught jumping on the bed!

Little Stinker!

Oakland has become quite the stinker lately. He is loving this "walking" thing and even more.... Climbing (I found him almost to the top of Erin's bunk bed the other day! Yikes!). He is a bully to Wesson and LOVES to torment Ivy. When he is about to do something that he shouldn't, he checks to make sure he has your attention first, and then does whatever naughty deed it is. The whole time he has a smile pasted on his face!

His newest enjoyment... throwing things in the garbage can. Dave and I have to check frequently to see what he has thrown away last. It has ranged from fridge magnets to car keys. I caught him in the act while throwing away one of Ivy's shoes. What a stinker he is!!!
Disclaimer: Once again... I used the cell phone, that is why it is blurry!

Ivy's 4th B-day

Ivy turned 4 yesterday! She was so excited all week long for her "Dora" birthday. When the day finally came she had a smile pasted to her face all day long. We had a family party for her where she received lots of fun gifts. Then we took her out to dinner. I asked her where she wanted to go and she said "I don't care as long as they sing happy birthday to me!" We ended up going to Jerimiah's and they gave her a HUGE birthday cinnamon roll!

Ivy with one of her favorite b-day gifts. She named her Sarah!
Opening presents.

Ivy and Dora!!!

Happy Halloween

Hope y'all had a great Halloween. We sure did. The weather was perfect, the kids were excited and the candy was good :) We went trick-or-treating with our cousins and had a great time.

The kids after all the hoopla... ready to go to bed (ya right... more like jazzed up on sugar!)
Ivy was kind of an annoying cat, she went around licking everybody. I thought it was cute that Kristian (her cousin) had to be a dog so "he could chase Ivy the cat around" Ha!

Austin always wants to be something gory.... Very boy.

So stinkin' cute! Oakland was not that impressed with Halloween. He TOLERATED the costume but did not really like the door to door thing.

My little 70's girl. Nicki asked Ivy what Erin was going to be and Ivy got confused and said "she is going to be 17". I think I can wait 11 years for that :)

Shawn even dressed up.... Or did he :)

I love Halloween! What a fun holiday. I like it even better now that I am not teaching school!!!

The corn is as high as an elephant's eye....

Okay Karlenn and Angie... That title is for you since the two of you are really into "name that tune"!!! (I know it was really not a tough one.)

For FHE last week, we took the kids to the Pumpkinaze. It was fun chasing each other around, trying to scare each other by jumping out at them, getting lost, and simply having great family time. I could not believe how tall the corn was!

At the beginning of the maze they had these HUGE slides. I think the kids enjoyed the slides more than they liked the maze! It was hard to catch a picture of them going down, usually I caught a foot or part of their head... I did manage to catch a few.

When we were finished with the maze we all got hot chocolate and sat by the fire. It was a great FHE!!!

Pumpkin Patch

Ivy and Kristian's pre-school went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch last week. I had to work (bummer) so my sweet sister in law, Nicki, went with them. She took these fun pictures of them.

Here is Ivy and Kristian in front of all the cute carved pumpkins.
They are so cute together!!!!

Ivy is going though a "I can't smile" phase. As soon as I get my family pics from Dave you will see even worse smiles from Ivy!!!

Every year my kids have gone on this field trip, there is a guy that puts a pumpkin on his head and scares the kids (not too badly since they are only 3!!!) and every year he offers the kids a chance to put the pumpkin on their head. This year no one would do it except Kristian.... How brave he was :)

At the very end of the field trip each kid gets to pick out a pumpkin to take home. Ivy was so excited about it. She slept with it in her bed the first night that she had it! What a funny kiddo she is!