bed head...with a little peanut butter

Liberty Park

I used to go to this park in downtown Salt Lake every summer when we visited my grandparents. Even though it was cold the kids loved feeding the geese and ducks, sliding down the big sled hill (without a sled, of course), and playing on the awesome playground.

 up close and personal

 Harrison was afraid and running away because he thought they would eat him after he ran out of bread

We did find some old pieces of cardboard to slide on. So that was fun. 

 slide and tunnel

Christmas aftermath

Just in case you can't tell these pics were taken with my new real live camera on not on my phone. Happiness!!! (slowly making my way through the instructions so I can go beyond the automatic settings)

 Harrison got carter a snow white lego set and then helped her put it together

 modeling for mommy while jumping on the trampoline

 silly goose

 trying out his scooter going around the kitchen

 putting together carter's present from grandma..Pattern??

 New legos!!!!

 a break from making me dinner with her new kitchen. Obsessed. As we knew she would be.

Christmas tree close up!

Just love this girl!

Christmas concert

Harrison's preschool did the cutest little Christmas concert last night. They'd been practicing everyday. His class did Rudolph the red nosed reindeer and participated in a few other songs. We were sitting near the back and couldn't see too well but I finally convinced him to wear his red bow tie, which was just adorable :) plus carter started screaming 'I want to watch Daniel tiger on mommy's phone!!!' In the middle of it. Classic. (She's done that in sacrament meeting too). 

So precious

Maybe you can see him ?? Ok. Not really. 

Thanksgiving Day

On Thanksgiving we went down to the lake in our community to walk around prior to heading up to Cory's parents house for a delicious dinner.  It was a beautiful morning. 

Field trip to Salt Lake City library

Harrison's preschool class took a field trip to the library a few weeks ago.   Carter and I got to come along. They were learning about transportation so we took the trax train and also planned to go down to the frontrunner station to see the big commuter train after the library. Plans got re-arranged a bit when the train we happened to be on either hit someone or he collapsed in front of it.....after lots of ambulances and police cars came and we waited for awhile we had to switch trains for an investigation. Luckily the kids couldn't get a good view of what was happening. Yay for adventures with preschoolers! Once we made it downtown the library was awesome. The kids found a "cave" and an "ice castle" inside and then we read some books and took the elevator up to the roof where you can climb even higher for an amazing view of the city.  It was really cool. Then we walked like three blocks (felt like a hundred carrying Carter) and finally got down to the frontrunner. When we stopped to see the trains go by we realized I had left Harrison's jacket and Carter's shoe behind. Awesome. All in all a great day though, promise :)

 on the way downtown!!!

 outside the library

A CAVE to climb around in (i.e. a place in a library where kids can be loud and crazy!)

Utah adventures

I was sad to leave DC and all of the amazing things to do, however, Utah stacks up pretty well when your kids are 4 and 2.  Plus there are parking lots and drive thrus :) We got a membership at Thanksgiving Point and really enjoyed the dinosaur museum and Christmas lights. We also went to a natural history museum in Lehi on a special family day with TONS of crafts and animals to see. We have loved having Joe, Alissa, Emmeline, Hazel, and Zev around to play with at least once a week.  Before it was constantly 12 degrees (not kidding, but really, it's not as bad as I thought if it's sunny) we also found an AMAZING park by our house with a huge slide and a zip line (did I mention it was 30 degrees and all of the kids were running around barefoot?? Utahns are weird.) On another Saturday we took the kids down to the City Creek Center which was super nice and had a great play area that the kids happily amused themselves in for a long time while mommy got to sneak off to Macy's and H&M :)

 Finding how much Carter weighs in relation to different species of dinosaurs

 shooting homemade apparati up an air tube thing to see what happens

 Carter, Hazel, Emmeline, and Harrison about to get eaten by a shark

 playing with this spinning sand thing. Carter could have done that ALL DAY

 at the Lehi museum petting a duck wearing an owl mask

 hello ducks! They were so tame it was hilarious.

 happily coloring away

 coloring as well. I think.

 climbing a not at all realistic dinosaur at the mall. It was ADORABLE how Harrison kept an eye on Carter and played with her. Seriously I hope my kids are best friends forever.

 SLIDING DOWN!!!

WHEEEEEE!!!!

Grattitude

So, I waited until December, but I can't let Thanksgiving go by without expressing how grateful I am for my life right now. I love my wonderful sweet children. Both of which happen to be crying, cranky, and disobedient at this moment, but who bring me so much joy every single day. Harrison has the kindest most loving heart and I have no idea where he gets it from. Last weekend we were at the play area at the mall downtown and he was so cute playing with carter and looking after her. He loves his sister, he loves his mommy and daddy, he loves his friends.  He is fun, smart, and creative. Carter is an adorable bundle of energy. She is stubborn and opinionated and hilarious. She wants to do it all herself and now.  She loves her brother and her nursery teachers and our neighbors and our poor lost kitty (did I mention our kitty is lost? yep.). I'm also grateful for my husband who puts in more work at home than most dads I've seen. Who does bathtime every night and doesn't bat an eye if I want to go out with friends (which he never does).  Who is always up for eating out vs. staying home and for getting out of the house in any way possible. I'm not going to say I'm grateful that he "works hard so I can stay at home with our kids" (because I used to hate when people said that when I had a hard working husband and still couldn't stay home with the kids) but I'm grateful he was willing to make a big change and move across the country and take a new job so we could do what we felt was best for our family.  People ask if I miss working and I have to say no. no way. not at all. I have no regrets (ha ha one month in) about giving it up to be home with harrison and carter at this point in life. I don't feel inadequate or I'm not contributing to my family or have some need to justify my choices. This was right for me and I love it.  Doesn't mean they don't drive me nuts and that I won't go back to work in a few years but I'm happy to be here at this point. Yay for the holidays and for being grateful. Knock on wood :)

77% clean and 90% unpacked

I took a minute last night to take some pictures of our new house. It is mostly unpacked and I'm thrilled to put other things on my list of projects now. There is lots I want to do to make it our own but I love it and am grateful that we have lots of space to grow here with beautiful wood floors, a big kitchen island, and a beautiful, safe neighborhood to live in. This house was the one we crammed in looking at at the last minute on our whirlwind Utah weekend in October and I think we made the right choice. Yay!

The front at night with a few Christmas lights up

Entry with my tj maxx hooks and a huge basket of laundry that needs to be folded 

Sitting or 'Home teacher ' room. Our home teacher is the previous owner. Gotta love Utah :) the green cabinet is my favorite. I painted it and love it. The dishes were free. Having service for 24 just in case makes me pretty happy too. 

Office. Pack and play ready for any babies who want to come visit. 

Living room with a view of the thankful tree we just finished. Screaming for some chairs and a bigger rug. I'm On the lookout! 

Kitchen and the other side of the living room. So much more open than our place in va which is awesome. 

Dining room/area. 

Carter's room . I want to do something else with that blue frame....

Harrison's room. His constelation prize for moving across the country was bunk beds. Now we have an extra bed for any of his friends. He pretty much wants baby brother to sleep in there from day 1.

Some day this will be

baby brothers room. Right now it is filled with random stuff and needs to be painted. 

Master bedroom. I love the square windows all over the house. And yes, this stage in my pregnancy demands a body pillow. Thanks for leaving that one behind when you moved out six years ago, Jen :)

And here's my dresser. Taken apart because for some reason the drawers won't close properly. That'll teach me for buying something not off craigslist !

Cutest kids ever. Bath time.

Basement #1

Basement #2.. The box is from the slightly larger tv we got Black Friday. Nowhere near the Utah standard but 40 in is pretty big for us! I'm really happy about the built ins and closet that easily fit all our toys and promise to not use the extra space as an excuse to acquire more!! We have plenty!!!

The basement also has two more bedrooms and a bath but that's boring and messy. I promise a real bed for visitors so if your moms house in Utah is too full when you come out next please stay here!