One of my college roommates recommended the Gallivan Center to me and when searching for more information, I came across a groupon. I wasn't sure how the boys would do, but it was much cheaper than San Jose I figured it was worth a shot.
They were excited to try and looked adorable in their tiny skates.
Scott walked around the outside of the rink while holding onto me and the railing.
I was surprised by how well they could both walk on regular ground while balancing in the skates.
The second lap around I tried taking Scott away from the railing. He showed some improvement, but I was pretty tired from supporting him and myself. I haven't been skating in years.
Jonah was easier because he's lighter, but was also 100% dependent on me.
We swapped and John took them each for a lap.
Jonah was done and entertained himself while John took Scott a little more.
Little Perry was happy exploring.
By the 3rd and 4th time around, Scott was getting the hang of it. He just held John's hand and was moving at a more reasonable pace.
Watching all the action.
Cutest little skater.
Getting speedy
and braver!
Once we stopped moving it was cold out. John loaded the kids in the car while I bought hot chocolate and we headed to the cabin in Heber City.
We all enjoyed the outing. I love seeing my kids try new things. We're hoping to take Scott again some time so he can keep improving.
We flew out to Utah for John's brother's wedding. I woke up from a short nap to find only Scott awake.
We had a few meltdowns waiting for John to get the rental car. It was a long day of traveling considering how short of a flight it was.
I didn't take pictures of the wedding, since they had a professional photographer. I took this of Julie and Perry outside the temple, though, because they were so cute.
After the temple we had a luncheon, then a break. John took the big boys to a dinosaur museum across the street from our hotel where I stayed and napped with Perry.
Then we went to the ring ceremony, dinner and reception. By the end I pulled out the ipad with a movie so my boys would sit quietly a little longer. It was popular with the cousins as well.
The wedding was on Thursday, so we had a long weekend before the week at the Christmas cabin started. Since this was John's only time off for months, we tried to fill every day with fun family activities.
The first day John and I went to see the new Star Wars movie. We checked out the Bean museum, where John scared the boys with a hidden bear. Except Perry didn't mind it.
We met up with my friend Emily at the Provo rec center.
We checked out of the hotel and went to stay with our old ward friends the Pincocks the next night.
We went to the City Creek mall. Perry got to stretch his legs
and we met up for lunch with our old friend Kevin.
We found a nearby ward to attend the next morning. The boys liked going to new classes with so many kids their ages. Perry and John took a foyer nap.
Our friends the Fa'amausilis made us dinner that night and we stayed with them.
Perry loved crawling around and watching all the kids.
Scott and Jonah loved all the toy cars. We'd been doing fun things all weekend, but hadn't had time where they just played. It was very relaxing for all of us and the boys didn't want to leave.
We met at Kneaders the next day to see my friend, Brianon, and her cute baby, Henry, who's a few weeks older than Perry.
He is SO chill. He was especially patient with Perry trying to touch him and Jonah in his face trying to play with him.
We met up later that day with Kelly. It started with Perry having a blowout and ended with Jonah throwing up. Thankfully Kelly is the best sport about things like that. Next time I'm having a kid-free girl's day, though.
We fit in a lot of visits and activities and food for a short time. We also went ice skating that night, but there's a whole post's worth of pictures.
For Christmas this year, my mom took us on a Polar Express ride in Santa Cruz.
It was pouring buckets of rain, but once we got situated in our seats we started drying out and getting excited.
The rain helped it look a little more magical. I think the evening would've been better, too, but those tickets were sold out. I love their reflections.
Jonah getting his ticket punched.
Happy Perry. I tried and tried to get a picture of the three of them.
This was as good as it got.
They had the movie music playing and Santa came through at the end, but otherwise it was pretty uneventful. I asked the boys what their favorite part was and they said the hot chocolate and cookie. I think next time we'll just bring treats and take a regular train ride.
Perry quickly turned to a life of crime. Including stealing legos and eating markers.
Scott's preschool cooking class.
Jonah said, "the cows made LOTS of milk!"
Perry's tongue is feeling those top teeth coming down.
Sweetest snuggle baby
Pulling up to standing happened right after crawling. Then he climbed up the big step into the kitchen.
Coloring at the creche exhibit.
Jonah was very focused. He and Scott sat together through a whole nativity puppet show afterward.
Scott assembling my little lego kits I used to keep on my desk at work. He'd take them apart and redo them every day.
Sweet brothers.
We took our neighbor's dog for a walk in an effort to provide more preschooler-capable service for our community. Bonus that it helped the boys overcome some animal fear that builds up for them over time. Scott held the leash like a champ the whole walk home. Thankfully their dog was extremely well behaved.
Raising another generation of pyromaniacs. Very loving ones, though. Scott held Perry back so he wouldn't crawl in the fire and die. His words.
Pushing Perry at the park.
Bringing in the trash cans for another neighbor while they were out of town. Bonus for us is that now we know Scott can do it himself, so we've added it to his weekly chore list.
The recycling bin is bigger than he is. He can definitely only bring up the empty cans, not put out the full ones.
Perry snuggling with the stuffed animals.
Scott started dressing and pjing himself in the mornings and evenings without being asked. He came out this night and started "reading his bible" to Perry.
He told him the Christmas story and I tried to record him because it was adorable. He talked about paying taxes and at the end says, "that was a good one."
Scott agreed last minute to participate in his primary nativity reenactment at our ward Christmas dinner. Jonah wanted to join in, of course. Other than a brief rewrapping of Scott's sheet in the beginning, it went perfectly. Near the end, most of the other kids were getting restless, but the boys impressed us by standing still and silent until it was over. They were the youngest participants, too, so we were surprised how well they did.
I was showing Scott something on my phone and Jonah ran over to be in the picture with us. So I turned on the camera and took one.
Jonah set up camp on the floor between their beds.
Big boy in his cutie overalls.
John and I watched my old family videos to decide what to keep before giving away our VCR. I spent the evening thinking of my Grandma and great aunts and uncle who have passed away. It made me miss them and helped me feel grateful for the trips we made to visit. Their love for us as little kids was almost palpable even in old home videos and reminds me exactly of my own kids and their extended family. John kept seeing Jonah in my toddler self. I felt so loved and nostalgic, but also a little sad.
The next day my aunt called to let me know my Grandpa had died the night before, probably as we were watching movies and thinking of him. I'm so glad I took Perry out to see him a few weeks ago so they could meet and I could say goodbye.
