Merry Christmas

We were a little late getting the tree up this year on account of our trip to Mexico the first week of December. We were also a bit delayed when we found that our water heater was leaking and had flooded the basement! Saylor was so excited when we finally got the house looking festive. The only hard part was that Saylor wanted to add all the ornaments to her toy collection instead of putting them on the tree.

We decided to do our own thing for Christmas Eve for the first time. After dinner we made cookies for Santa, wrote/drew a Thank-you note to Santa, and read the Nativity from the bible. We also opened our Rudolph's (gift bags decorated like reindeer containing pajamas from Snow's Mom) and donned our new PJ's. It was such a cozy evening at home.

Saylor was so excited about Santa this year which was really fun. She was delighted to find that he had taken some bites of the cookies she left him, and even more excited to find the pet frogs that he brought her. It was a pretty magical Christmas!

Our Early Christmas Present

Snow and I gave ourselves a pretty sweet Christmas present this year--we went on a Mexican Riviera Cruise. Honestly it was a necessity because Snow needed to remember what time-off felt like and I needed to spend some quality time with my hubby. We went on the trip with some friends from Tucson: Patrick and Erica. We had the best time! We visited Puerta Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo and I seriously think I could live in Mexico. At our first stop in Puerta Vallarta, we went snorkeling, kayaking, and exploring a private beach. We also sampled some killer fish tacos. At Mazatlan we did a canopy adventure where we rode zip lines all across this jungle area--it was awesome. I know something like that is totally out of character for me, and no I didn't sample the regional agave tequila before doing it--it was scary at first, but we all ended up loving it.Our taxi driver took us to this awesome restaurant where the four of us ate for 10 bucks--again, I could live in Mexico. In Cabo we visited Lover's beach and did a little more snorkeling. This time Snow and I had shrimp tacos and they were delicioso. I know you guys are wondering why we were so excited about the food when we were on a cruise gaining 2 pounds a day. All I can say is that we have been missing Tucson's authentic Mexican food so we couldn't resist sampling the local fair. We also had plenty of time for games of Settlers of Cataan and Killer Bunnies. We got our groove on in the dance club, played a few game shows, did some sunning, and a lot of eating. Snow's big disappointment was when he barely missed winning a medal in the on-board putting contest. His defeat was especially bitter because the winner had gotten into the final round by cheating. Luckily he was able to console himself by winning the spelling bee!!! My only regret is that our camera ran out of battery halfway through the trip. We got a disposable one, but even photoshop could not rescue the photos that piece of trash produced! Anyway, we had an amazing time--I hope Santa delivers the same gift next year!

Happy 3rd Birthday Saylor

Ok I am really behind on my blogging, but I thought I would share some of the exciting things that happened for us in November and December. Saylor turned 3 on November 22. Snow and I took her to a jumping castle place the night before to celebrate. She was completely fearless and as you can tell, did not slow down long enough for me to take a decent picture!
The actual day of her birthday was an eventful one for my family because my sister, Jan got married. Congrats Jan and Danny!! We still had cake and ice cream for Saylor with her grandparents, aunts and uncles.I can't believe my baby is 3! She is such a sweet smart girl and we are so proud of her!

Family Photo Shoot

We had some family pictures taken recently in the hopes that we might have something decent to use for our Christmas Cards. Thanks to her do-it-yourself haircut, Saylor was having a terrible hair day, but we got a few cute shots nonetheless. Snow's favorite picture is this one:
He thinks we look "GQ" in it, although I thought only guys could look "GQ". I have to admit I like the unintentional wind in my hair effect. My favorite picture is this one:I think it is a flattering shot of all of us. I would love to hear what you think. I have also included a few honorable mentions. Thanks to my sister's soon-to-be sister-in-law, Kristina, for being our photographer!

Fun in the Fall

Fall is one of my favorite times of year because there are so many fun things to do. I thought I would post about some of the things we have been doing to these last few weeks. Some of the moms in the neighborhood took our kids to a pumpkin patch. It is such a fun place to go. In addition to the kids picking out their own pumpkins, they had slides, cow train rides, sandboxes filled with corn kernels, a jumping castle, a kiddies corn maze, pig races etc. We had a really great time.

My cousin threw a Halloween party this year which was really fun. I haven't dressed up for Oct 31st in years and I think I am a little rusty. I am not sure our Mummy costumes are very convincing (they were however, very cheap!)

Once we had our pumpkins we of course had to carve them. Saylor thought this was great fun, minus the part where you have to dig out the gooey pumpkin guts and I have to agree with her. This must have been an exhausting experience because I look really tired in this picture!Of course we can't for get the climax of Fall--trick-or-treating. Saylor was a mouse this year for Halloween and she LOVED her costume. In fact she wore it pretty much constantly the two weeks before the big night. She looked cute in it and our neighbors agreed because she got lots of treats!

I would be lying if I said that one thing I loved about the Fall was raking leaves. Saylor, however, thinks this is indeed one of the best parts!

I'm a Mean Old Witch

Saylor learned a new song in preschool, complete with actions, and I wanted to share it with you.

Visiting the Witches

Gardeners Village is a super fun place to visit this time of year. On Saturday a miracle occurred--Snow was home with us, and the weather was nice so we decided to take advantage and visit the witches (along with pretty much everyone else in Utah). It was pretty packed, but that didn't put a damper on saylor's enthusiasm for finding all the witches. She especially liked the one that crashed into a building, and the one who was afraid of a mouse. We also decided to let her go to the petting zoo. I wasn't sure what she would think about it--I thought she would be frightened, but after 30 minutes of petting all of the animals, we had to drag her away. It was a great way to enjoy a beautiful Fall day and put me more in the Halloween spirit if there is such a thing!