December 20, 2010

November & December Updates!

Here we are five days away until Christmas and I thought I'd better hurry and post about our Thanksgiving! We spent it near Big Cottonwood Canyon where our Uncle Billy lives. My brother and sister along with all of their cute kiddos from Vernal came out. We even got to have a few cousins over too that are out here for school. My favorite thing about Thanksgiving is getting to spend literally all day with family (cooking, eating, lounging, playing games, etc.) We had a great time!

Rylan getting festive with the holiday!


Uncle Billy cooked the turkey on the grill which was delicious!! Look at that beauty!


Daddy and Addilyn waiting for dinner!


This year Thanksgiving was in town and we didn't really have to travel for it. Because of this, I got to help out a lot with making all the side dishes and desserts. I told my Mom I'd make a cute dessert for the kids to enjoy so when I found these cute "turkey cookies" I thought perfect! Oreos with a mini Resees cup and some candy corn sticking out...how difficult could it be? Yeah.... whatever! This was totally not my thing apparently. I had the hardest time making them. Luckily my knight and shining husband came to the rescue and offered to help. He did such an amazing job, I completely turned the entire project over to him. I of course helped by unwrapping the candy and handing him the pieces. :) Here's an example of the difference in talent.


My turkey is on the left! As you can see Kyle's turkey (on the right hand side of the picture) was basically perfect so he made every single one of them! He did an awesome job! I never knew he had such a talent for decorating with food! :)

Khloe enjoying a yummy "Turkey Cookie" for dessert!


Now on to December! At the beginning of the month we went to an activity at my Mom's work. It was her Dickens' of a Christmas celebration! This is her below decked out in her old fashioned Christmas carol outfit. Super cute! She's the Recreation Director (I think that's what it's called) at an assisted living home here in the Salt Lake Valley. Meaning she basically plans all of the activities for the facility. She does an awesome job! She's super creative and seriously thinks of every detail! Love the outfit!



They had live music, tons of yummy food, a magician, carriage rides, and Santa Clause! Rylan was fascinated by this man playing the trombone. He literally just stood there without moving for the entire song!


This is the first year that Rylan met Santa Clause. Our first take was at our ward Christmas party. He didn't take it too well. He cried and tried to get down.....



He was okay with standing near Santa, but didn't want anything to do with sitting on his lap. Lucky Rylan though got to meet Santa for a second time at the Dickens' of a Christmas party at my Mom's work. When he saw Santa he starred for a bit and then walked over. Sweet Santa Clause shook Rylan's hand and then picked him up! I thought that was going to be the end of it for sure, but he didn't cry! He just sat there and starred at him....



Rylan has seen Santa a few other times as well and whenever he see's him now he points and smiles. I think it's sweet how Addilyn is just chillin' in Santa's lap in both pictures. I'm sure next year her reaction will be much different! :)

This past weekend I went to Vernal to watch my sister Christy's kids while she and her husband took off to Colorado. I got to play "Mommy" to a total of six children (my two children included). Growing up I always said that I wanted six children some day so it was fun to see if I could really handle it. Christy's kids were super good so they made it easy on me! Rylan loved all of his cousins to play with (Finally someone other than just Mommy!) and he also enjoyed all the new toys!

This is Rylan on the piano (Sorry Chrissy, I hope this was okay...I couldn't pull him away from it). He played it with such thought. Rather than banging the keys like you would think a child of his age would, he gently pressed the keys like he was really playing a song. Check out the concentration on his face!


Cousin Kooper loved pushing Rylan around in this miniature doll stroller. Rylan loved it too. He almost fell asleep a few times!


The weather was really nice so we got to play outside a bunch. There was so much room to run and play compared to our apartment! Rylan loved it!


Cousin Kaylee holding Addilyn!


Addilyn is four months old now! She smiles a ton and loves the sound of her voice! She'll just sit there and babble to herself making all sorts of noises.


She has the cutest expressions as well!


This was taken in the middle of one of her "stories" she was telling me. (If you can imagine her babbling and yelling with her mouth wide open.)


She can hold her head up really well while on her belly and she sits up with support now too! I can't believe how quickly she is growing! She's getting really strong in her legs. Here she is standing up...with support of course.


Rylan's still super curious about everything around him! He's progressed from emptying out drawers and cupboards to now emptying out closets....I found him in the front closet after coming back from laying Addilyn down. The pile on the floor are things that were neatly hung or put away in the closet.



He emptied out the entire cabinet of pots and pans at Uncle Jeff's house. It's amazing how things like this will entertain him longer then his own toys :)


Most recent....Chrissy drove us back to the city after our visit to Vernal and stayed a few days! We played, shopped, and had a lot of fun! We went to the Fun Center here in West Jordan where they had a huge jungle gym play area, bouncers galore, a skating ring, and much more! Rylan was unstoppable. He was all over the place and had the best time! I'll post those pictures later, but for a sneak peak....

Check out the look on his face! He loved crawling and climbing all over!

We are off to Vernal, Utah this year with my Mom to visit my brother and sister for Christmas! We are super excited to spend it with lots of family again! So for now... Merry Christmas!!

2 comments:

Smith Family said...

It's fun being so close to family. Sounds like you have been busy. Rylan and Addilyn are absolutely adorable. Thanks for the update and ALL the pictures!! Happy Holidays!!

DKElggren's said...

I love all of pictures, but my favorite is the one with the turkey on Rylan's head.