Christmas 2011

We tend to celebrate Christmas all month long and this year was no different. On December 10 we visited the lights on Temple Square with our friends, the Winegars and the Ormes. It was freezing that night, but we all had a good time. Connor really loved all the lights.

It snowed a few times this winter, but overall this winter was pretty mild. One of Connor's favorite activities was shoveling snow with Brad. He would beg him to go shovel snow, even when it hadn't snowed. We bought him his very own shovel. So cute watching him next to Brad.

Brad's new toy. It shoots snow about 20 feet.

We had a MOMS Club Activity with Santa Claus (my friend's dad, who happens to be in our ward) on December 20. I tried to prep Connor with "Look! It's Santa! He brings you presents and candy for Christmas!" over and over again to try to get him excited so he would sit on Santa's lap for a picture. Santa read "The Night Before Christmas" to all the kids and then they sat on his lap. Connor sat perfectly still and calm and when Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas Connor said, "Um, more chocolate." Santa laughed. He really loves chocolate. Grandma Brenda should be proud; he is definitely her grandson.

Friday December 23, we drove down to California to spend a week over Christmas with my family. We were there until January 2. It was a great trip, with the exception that Connor came down with Croup on Christmas Eve. We were in the ER from 11 p.m. 'til 3 a.m. since he was coughing so bad and having a hard time breathing. Great. Fortunately he is a pretty tough kid so it didn't really affect him too much after the first couple nights of coughing. Unfortunately I also caught it too (just a bad chest cold for me) and let me say, I really hate being sick when I'm pregnant! I couldn't take ANYTHING to help me feel better except Tylenol, which didn't help my symptoms at all. While in California, we:

opened Christmas presents (which I didn't get a single picture of, dang it, but aren't Will, Jaxson, and Connor cute in their Christmas jammies Christmas morning?!). Connor got books, puzzles, clothes, his blue tricycle from Gaga and Papa, a Buzz Lightyear nerf gun, and a train table from Brad and I (which we gave him when we got back to Utah).  Connor REALLY loves trains and he spent the first week playing with only that every day for 6-8 hours a day.  I wish I was exaggerating.

visited Irvine Park for a train ride,

went to Sea World,

walked around RSM Lake by my parents' house with Claire and Jaxson,

honored a new tradition - Chuck E. Cheese,

and just played around my parents' house and in their neighborhood.

We drove back to Utah January 2 at 3 a.m. (which we always do when we drive so Connor sleeps half the drive time - awesome). We had a great time with my family and always enjoy the Christmas season.

Happy Turkey Day!

Brad, Connor, and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We got to spend it with my family in Orange County and it was a nice long weekend filled with wonderful family, yummy food, fun pics and flics, and cute babies.

Brad and I arrived in O.C. late Wednesday and the first thing we did after getting there was give baby Connor a bath because he had a major blow out - what better way to start the Thanksgiving weekend?! Early afternoon on Thursday, we ate a DELICIOUS homemade turkey dinner complete with rolls, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, stuffing, veggies, cranberry sauce, and sparkling cider.


After we ate, we took family pictures at FloJo Park in Mission Viejo. It's much harder to get a good picture with 2 little babies, but I think we did pretty good!











After family pictures, a few of us watched State of Play with Russel Crow and Ben Affleck while the boys played XBox, and then some of us played Yahtzee and ate apple pie. Then on Friday, my parents and I went to see New Moon, the new Twilight movie (I'm reading the books too and I like the story - don't judge me :)) and the Smiths (Christine, Matt, and little Braden), some of our long time friends, came over to visit with Connor, Brad, and me (ok, just Connor, who are we kidding?).






On Saturday we went over to my sister Ady's in-laws' house in O.C. (the Castletons) for a BBQ and to watch the BYU vs. U of U football game. BYU won 26-23 in overtime!! GO COUGARS - RA RA, RA RA RA!!!

The Carver grandparents had a great time with their grandbabies this weekend:




And grandma Carver bought the babies their first Christmas outfits, so we had to take some pictures:




Connor and Jaxson are already best buds! They are so cute together!




We had a great weekend, and we're sad it went by so fast!