Running into the New Year

A lot of these pictures will look like the last post, but it is because we had two Christmases this year (and Ian wore the same pajamas for as long as he possibly could). Sorry for the picture overload, but we had a little catching up to do.

We headed down to Farmington on the way to Cedar City and Rachel and Ian spent some quality time with Payton.

Our Christmas in Farmington began with Rachel opening another very exciting present of the holiday, a Snow White doll. Now she spends some serious time having "princess parties" with her new buddies Ariel and Ms. White.

Ian and Payton were enthralled with these little laser guns. Lights and noises-what could be better?

Ian's favorite toy of the season is this dinosaur. Here he is showing off his prehistoric skills with his new playmate.

The kids also got this great magnetic fishing puzzle that has been really fun for both of them.

After we made it down to Farmington, some serious snowstorms started coming through. Here Ian is helping shovel the driveway. He was so cute to really try and help his dad and uncle. What a big boy!

Rachel, on the other hand, decided to spend her outside time doing what she does best - eating snow. Because it seems like a futile endeavor to banish this activity, we have had many talks about only eating the clean stuff. I guess snow just tastes better than just about everything else in her opinion. At least it's less sugar than ice cream, right?

Uncle Parker wanted to make the visit memorable for the kids and so he made this sledding hill down the back stairs. They all had a blast and we had to keep pulling Ian off of the sleds because he wanted to go by himself face first.

One happy snow boy.

Kelli and Payton taking a run.

Another past time this holiday was pushing the boys around the kitchen on a Frisbee. Don't knock it until you try it, the boys had a blast.

Wheee!

Ian demonstrates the one-foot approach.

Ian was thrilled to have visitors in the portable crib.

Because of snow, sicknesses, and car troubles we couldn't get down to Cedar this year and were so sad that we missed Brian, cousins, and of course grandparents and friends. Hopefully we'll get down there sometime this semester. But, because we had to stay up north to get our car fixed we finally made it to see the lights at Temple Square this year. They were spectacular as always and they had part of the nativity floating in the reflecting pool. It was stunning.

Our little family warming up inside the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

Grandma and Grandpa with the kids and the beautiful lights.

Rachel's beloved robot head received a body this week. We don't really get it, but she is certainly excited about this new ensemble.

Yeah for sledding! One of the perks of living so close to campus is we can go sledding on the great hills by Old Main. Rachel had SO much fun doing runs by herself and with Justin and Bridget. She was tough and even though she flipped over and then ran into a tree (at relatively slow speeds on the second incident), she got right back up and trudged up the hill for some more fun.

Ian also loved the sledding and we even let him try a little by himself with one of us jogging right in front of him. He really thinks he is so big, it cracks us up.

We finally made it back to Logan just in time for the New Year and we couldn't let it slip by without our favorite tradition of running in the snow at the stroke of midnight. Rachel was having a hard time staying in bed and so we even let her piggy back with Justin on the run. She thought it was so funny and I don't think we're going to be able to let another year go by without her joining in from now on.

Here Bridget and Rachel are trying to get warm after the crazy snow run.

We did a little school-break cleaning and found an old harmonica that has brought a lot of "music" into our home. Ian and Rachel enjoy doing duets on the recorder and harmonica. Ahhh, sibling harmony, or something like that.

Showing off their breath support.

And, finally, on one of Dad's sick days Rachel was trying to think of something to pretend and wanted to be a Chinese princess. We pulled out some of Bridget's old pajamas from China and she was thrilled to have such regal clothing.

Other than that, Ian had his check-up this week and is in the 35% for weight, 76% for height, and 93% for head circumference. We're still sporting the "orange on a toothpick" look around here (that's what his first pediatrician called him when she saw his numbers).

We hope that everyone had a great Christmas and New Years this year!