The Polar Express

For how many years have we read the book at Christmas time and how many now have we watched the movie? Last night, thanks to our "little bit far away Grandma and Grandpa" we got to experience it!

We caught the train headed to the North Pole in Heber City. It was only 45 minutes away and we were shocked! The elves on our car fed us homemade chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate. (we actually had to limit Brooklyn to just a cookie because there are no bathrooms on board The Polar Express) But Tallan had two cookies and two full cups of hot chocolate! Lisa won for coming from the furthest away since she came all the way from Germany. She taught everyone on board to say, "Merry Christmas!" in German, but I don't really remember how to say it anymore.

We read the book...


We sang Christmas Carols to bring Holiday Cheer and we even got a visit from Santa! Mrs Claus came through to chat with us and to share her cookie recipe...

Brooklyn wasn't as excited to see Santa as the other kids were...

Here is Brooklyn with Figgy, one of Santa's elves that were on our car. They told jokes and talked to the kids about what they want for Christmas. Figgy especially liked Brooklyn.

The conductor came through to punch our tickets just like in the movie!

Brooklyn's favorite part of the train ride was getting the jingle bell that Santa gave her. She took a picture of it herself sitting on her seat.

What a magical night it was for all!

Snow much fun!

We got a HUGE snowstorm this weekend and even though Tim couldn't convince us girls to go play in it with him, he had fun! (Tallan is too young to object)

The finished product! Yes, that is a water noodle for arms and a planting bucket for a hat.

Elfed!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1156140152

Family night fun!

Not Again...

I kept getting after my sister for only updating her blog once a month, and now I'm just as bad as she is!

Here's a not so quick or little update on the past month in our crazy lives...

November 17: Began working on Tallan's room and getting the house ready for Thanksgiving. (as of today, Tallan's room is still under construction, but Tim is working really hard and doing a great job!)

Doesn't it look great?! I'm so excited about it!

November 18: Celebrated Grandma Lynn's bday
November 21: Went to Kangaroo Zoo with Tim's sister's kids. Tim went up to put Tallan on one of the slides and came out saying he broke his leg. He ankle was totally not in the right place. I ran to get Tallan off the top of the slide and went to get Dr. Grandpa. By the time we got back to Tim, he said his ankle had popped back into place. It was painful and pretty gross looking too!

November 21-24: Thanksgiving at our house this year! 20 people for dinner, 13 people at most sleeping at our house...2 turkeys, 1 ham, 6 pounds of potatoes, 3 pies, homemade rolls and stuffing, and 8 bottles of apple cider later, we had a great time! Our guests included: mom and Brian, GG, Val and her family, Aunt Patty and her family, and cousin Megan. Of course, the battery was dead on the camera and we couldn't find our charger anywhere so we don't have any pictures! : (

November 25: As we begin our primary lesson, Tallan throws up all over himself and Tim. They went home to get cleaned up, but not before it caused a chain reaction. One of the boys took one look and leaned behind his neighbor's chair to throw up! 3 other kids in the class said they were going to be sick once the smell got to them. I took everyone out to get drinks and some fresh air while some of the men in the ward cleaned it up. Am I really cut out for nursing???

This is the rocket Brooklyn decided to push Tallan down the stairs on when we got home from church...

He survived and the wall only got a small hole in it!

Luckily the Whitford's were in town and came over to brighten our day. The babies slept, Parker and Brooklyn terrorized, and we played some spades of course! We miss them!

November 27: Utah Flash game with the Whitfords. Tim's company sponsors the team so they have box seats to every game with free dinner from Bajio! Yum! We got some free t-shirts and Tim even won a night's stay at the Marriott! Woo hoo!

November 29: Walking Brooklyn home from preschool she fell off the curb with her hands in her pockets and banged up her face and knees pretty bad. Poor girl!

Had to go to the health department to finish my immunizations for my class. While we were there, Tallan spiked a fever all of a sudden of 103.6 with no other symptoms. We took him to Grandpa Flinders' office for a quick exam and found nothing wrong and his fever subsided. Found out later when that happens, usually a seizure follows...scary!

Since we were already at the doctor's office, we decided to do a quick ultrasound...IT'S A GIRL!

November 30: Tim and I went on an actual date...we cleaned up my booth at The Quilted Bear (yeah! I'm done!) had dinner at Costa Vida, and then went to BYU to see the folk dancers in "Christmas Around the World". SO cool!

December 1: The Christmas season is here! Not only did we wake up to snow, but we got our first Christmas tree after 6 years of marriage! We even decorated it and I am very proud of it!
December 2: Did some holiday baking and decorated the gingerbread house!

You can still see the wounds from her curb fall!

That brings us to today...we are all still alive and even with all of our crazy things happening I wouldn't change a thing! Life is great!