"And now," cried Max "let the wild rumpus start!"

Another Christmas has come and gone. Here are a few of the high and low lights....

We woke up to no power and about a foot of snow on the ground, which throughout the course of the day turned into at least 2 feet.

Marti had been asking for a princess kitchen for about 2 months, we set it up on Christmas Eve expecting a big response from Marti on Christmas morning. Marti came down the stairs and wouldn't even look at her kitchen, so typical Marti, she is so wary of new things (and places and people). Emersyn got half way down the stairs threw her hands up in the air and yelled "oh yeah!", she just about fell down the rest of the stairs she was so excited. Marti was excited too, it just takes longer to get it out of her.

Marti and Emersyn got recorders in their stockings, I just happened to see them in Pier One a few days before Christmas and thought they would be fun. Marti loves it, she calls it her flute. She is so serious about having her fingers on the holes before she blows in it.

We went to Kemps for Christmas brunch, biscuits and gravy and ableskivers. Emersyn ate more food than just about anyone else.

Marti and Emy loved running around and laughing with their Kemp and Cobbley cousins, and of course opening presents.

After a ham and turkey dinner at the Cobbleys we got in our snow gear and went sledding down their backyard. Emersyn went down the hill all by herself, what a daredevil.

There was one injury on Christmas, of course it happened to Emy, she is about as coordinated as her mom (that's not much). She was getting pulled in the wagon and she fell out and bit right through her lip, luckily she didn't need any stitches. She is so tough she just cried for a few minutes and then headed back down to play.

Here is a slide show of our Christmas morning....

Christmas Questions

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? paper, I love to wrap presents, although you can make gift bags look nice too.
2. Artificial or real tree? artificial, the only good thing about a real tree is the smell, and you can fake that with a candle (not quite the same, but almost)
3. When do you put up a tree? the weekend before Thanksgiving
4. When do you take it down? the weekend after new years
5. Do you like eggnog? I don't know if I have ever had it, but I am sure I probably wouldn't like it.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? garth brooks concert tickets
7. Hardest person to buy for? my dad, isn't that the hardest person for everyone?
8. Easiest person to buy for? Marti, she loves princesses
9. Do you have a nativity scene? yes
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? mail
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? gosh, I don't know
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? How the Grinch Stole Christmas
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? usually I start in the summer, but this year I was late and didn't start until well into December
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I plead the 5th
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas time? cinnamon rolls
16. Lights on the tree? white
17. Favorite Christmas song? Carol of the Bells
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? stay home, at some point we will have a warm Christmas maybe go to Hawaii or New Zealand
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? ummmm, yes I think so
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? neither, this year there is a Utah Jazz santa hat
21. Open presents on Christmas Eve or morning? one on Christmas Eve
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? that it has to end
23. Favorite Ornament theme or color? last year I did a really fun green, blue and gold kind of Moroccan tree, it was so beautiful
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? ham, I love ham
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? more joy

Tis the season

It's so neat that the girls are interested in doing Christmasy things this year. Lynn had all the kids over to her house to decorate gingerbread houses, of course they had to wait for the super glue to dry first (ha ha Lynn). This year the kids even mostly decorated instead of just eating the candy, except Emersyn, she is her mother's daughter.

They helped trim our Utah Jazz tree, of course I had to follow after them so that not all the ornaments were at the bottom.

We made snowflakes to hang around the house and a Christmas chain so we know how many more days until Christmas. Marti tells everyone she sees that as soon as all the rings are off the chain Santa will come to our house to bring her princess kitchen.

Marti and I helped decorate my mom's enormous tree, my favorite part was when we got done I asked Marti if she liked it and she said, with her best southern accent, "yes, I sure do".

COLDPLAY!!!!

Kory and I went to the Coldplay concert on Saturday night, for those of you who don't know who Coldplay are SHAME ON YOU (I'm talking to you Mom and Trystal). It was the 2nd best concert I have ever been to, Garth Brooks is still the 1st but it was a close call. I had heard they were coming a few months ago but I decided that I didn't want to spend that much on tickets. Then Lynn called me last Monday and said that Aaron could get tickets for a suite, obviously I couldn't say no to that (Kory could have). About 1/2 way through the concert they set up a little stage right in the audience in front of our suite and did a few songs from there. It was so fun, seriously, if they are coming to your town get tickets and go. Here are a few pics I took....

Emy's First (Intentional) Haircut

Emy got her first haircut last week, she looks like a little lady (which I hate because I still want her to be my baby). She was ok with the cutting but she didn't enjoy having her hair blow dried. Surprisingly there were no tears or tantrums, I'm glad she behaved better for a stranger than she does when I try to do her hair.

Halloween

Happy Belated Halloween! Marti was Cinderella, of course, and Emersyn was Mulan. I was really glad that they both were old enough to understand Halloween this year. Our new neighborhood is filled with kids, we almost ran out of candy (and I buy a lot).

Nevada

A couple months ago when Steph and Jason were in town we went to Steph's hometown in Nevada for Tyler's baptism. I just barely got around to downloading the pictures on to the computer and as I was looking at them I remembered how fun it was, so I am putting the pictures on now (better late than never)...