Fentons & Temple Lights

We tried to do some Christmas traditions after Christmas this year. I made Jessica watch the last few minutes of Up before our trip to Oakland.

Jonah the little bird sat between two ice cream sharers at Fentons.

Everyone tried to get Scott to smile.

As it was getting dark, we drove up to the temple.

Jonah pointed to every light and exclaimed, "yite!"

After the impressive displays at the Salt Lake Temple earlier in the week, I still loved the Oakland Temple grounds. Maybe it's just nostalgia.

Jonah saw Rick coming and ran as fast as he could.

Both boys loved all things Ricky all week long.

Showing Rick the "wawa!"

Scott wanted to walk around the fountain.

Naturally, Jonah wanted to copy.

We went in the visitor's center to warm up (which was funny after being in Utah where it was actually cold).

The kids movement made the pictures blurry in manual mode, so I switched to auto where the flash is awful. So I had my mom take one of just us in manual to compare. Much better!

We love the temple! (And Fentons!)

Christmas

We arrived home from Utah just in time to go to one of our favorite holiday traditions--the Blank Christmas Eve singalong. We had a riveting time as always.

Christmas morning started too early thanks to Jonah's sleeping being way off. When I finally got up, John went back to bed and I made a big breakfast of french toast, bacon and eggs.

Rick and Jess flew in the night before and stayed with us for the week. Rick went to pick up my dad, we all ate breakfast, then started opening gifts.

The boys caught on quickly to opening presents.

Jonah just liked ripping open everything. 

John and I received lots of nice things, too.

Jonah was so excited about this Van Gogh book Jessica let him open.

The kids were pretty cranky. Being out of town right before Christmas was really hard. They were tired and then overstimulated with the excitement of company and presents.

Scott wanted to play with every toy and read every book and watch every movie. 

John and I talked about it after last Christmas and decided we could take our time. As the only kids, it didn't matter if Scott and Jonah took all day to open presents.

So they played and we'd eventually direct them to move along.

They received SO many toys, though. Lots of vehicles.

I'm not sure where the hacky sack came from. Even going slowly, I couldn't keep up with who gave which kid what.

Scott took a break and did a puzzle.

The Planes puzzles he wanted to do right away, too. Rick and I split them up (there were 3 in the box) and he did all 3.

Jonah was thrilled to find bubble wrap.

My dad in his new slippers from Amanda and Russell.

Jessica started her book. I love her sweater and hope Mrs. Weasley makes me one someday. 

Jonah showed Amanda how much could fit in her new baskets.

Russell came a little later and found a stash of presents waiting for him. We all received Disney gift cards for our upcoming trip to Disneyland and are really excited to go!

Scott with his new best friend.

Russell crashed. Perhaps it was too much excitement for him, too.

Jonah took a nap and woke up happier and ravenous.

Scott couldn't bother stopping to eat because he had so many fun toys to try out.

I think Ricky liked the toys just as much as the little boys.

We started dinner and my siblings took the kids to the park while I made several pies. It was a nice, leisurely day at home together.

Utah Trip II

Tuesday morning we took family pictures. This is everyone except Nate, who had to work.

 We got a family picture with all smiles!

 Sweet Jonah and his poor split lips.

 Scott was not in a smiling mood.

 Impromptu brotherly hug. Probably huddling together for warmth.

After pictures, we went grocery shopping and took the boys to Cafe Rio for lunch. Then we cleaned the kitchen, cooked dinner, cleaned the kitchen, made cookies, cleaned the kitchen and ate dinner and dessert.

On Wednesday, we wanted to give the boys a chance to get some exercise and fresh air. 

Alan wanted to geocache, so we waited to tag along with him. A mere hour and a half later, everyone was ready to go! Karen said something about inertia . . .

Meanwhile, John distracted kids by "going on a bear hunt" and I washed our bedding and packed up the rest of our things.

 Scott built one last train track and then we went to a nearby park.

Other than during the night and long car rides, Jonah was very happy in Utah. His gums were bulging with teeth, he had a chronic crusty nose and his lips kept cracking despite his love for chapstick, but he was smiley.

Lots of the dads came to the park to let the kids play.

Paige kept sticking her tongue out/licking her scarf? It was cute.

Scott was very serious.

Jonah was happy to be held.

Stori was cold.

Madoc found sticks.

Dallin was happy to play, too.

Bret and Asher

Found one!

Jonah exploring

Having a little race

Another treasure!

I love the mountains in the background. It was a clear and beautiful day and I'm glad we had a chance to spend some time outside.

Joseph drove us back to Provo and we were flying back before we knew it. Scott was absolutely perfect on the flights.

He entertained himself and I even slept for a few minutes . . . until Jonah's screaming 2 rows ahead of us woke me up. He cried through at least half of the trip, but luckily it was a short flight.