Christmas Day 2012

Hi all! We're just wrapping up (hah!) our Christmas day and I thought I'd better get all this in here before a day passes because then another day passes and then I don't do it. Here are my favorite shots from our Christmas time today.

 Little Eli opening presents. He's kind of at that age where its more fun to open presents than to see what's actually in them. This is fine for us...but makes for a bit of an awkward situation when other people give him a gift. 

 Sammy had a blast this morning. We went pretty easy on his presents because A-he's a baby and B- his birthday is in 5 days (sorry about that lil' dude). 

 Daddy shows the crew some new grand toy. 

 The after math...things looks pretty similar tonight but I'm going to bed and not going to pay attention to it until at least tomorrow...

 On our way to Grandma and Grandpa's!

A pretty view. We LOVED having a white Christmas. 

We Are Plowing Our Way Through December

I've been trying to do a "December thus far" update but December is going to eat me alive so I'll just post what I have. Here is a picture dump of our last few weeks. Seriously if I make it to January alive I'll be very surprised.

 Ward Christmas party. Eli decided he wanted to spontaneously join in with Jr primary in being a lamb in the program. He was mostly into it...for about ten seconds. Then he was on the lamb....ha!

 Sammy is awesome. In the last few weeks I have noticed how much he is starting to really respond to his surroundings and that is scary. He wants to be like Eli so so bad. That is also scary, but in an endearing sort of way. 

 We made a ginger-bread candy train one night. I spent most of the time getting after Eli for chowing copious amounts of candy. I gave up in the end and we jabbed each other with frosting for a bit. It was a good time. 

 My big boy. 

 Eating and ice-cream, eating Teddy Grahams. He eats. A lot. 

He's way into self feeding...but not always in the most effective ways. 

Eli's Birthday!

Eli just turned 3! He's such a big happy boy. There's no one with more energy in our house (although Sammy's making a strong bid). We're so happy to have him in our family! 

 Birthday decor!

 I kept things small: 4 friends and no real structure to the party. Turns out 4 3 year old boys feels sort of like 20 and I should have had a little structure because the house was shaking. 

 Eli LOVED present time. He ripped through each gift with reckless abandon and moved on to the next so fast I barely had a chance to see what he was getting. We'll have to work on being gracious when he gets a little older...

 A flock of ducks flew in and made his cake. That's the story I'm sticking with. It wasn't made by me...after a day of party planning...and  little too much caffeine...and not much sleep...and no idea how to work the stupid frostin tip from the store. Nope. Not me.

Happy birthday to you!

December is Here!

The season is upon us! December is one of my top 5 favorite months. At least. We are in full swing around here with holiday goodness. I'm trying to not over-do it with the holiday doings. I will probably fail. 

First things first...we are potty training. Its a good time. (No...its not.)

Mama's been crafting up a storm for some boutiques I've been participating in. Fun!

 We bought our Christmas tree last night. Dan was the only one I could get to pose for a picture. 

 Eli and Colin read  story after we came back from our tree-getting. 

 Getting things set up. 

 Friday night we made our way to the Festival of Trees. Mom failed when she decided we all needed to wait in line for 45 minutes to see Santa. Fail fail. 

 Sammy takes it all in. 

 Eli was happy to see Santa...

Sammy was not.

Thanksgiving: A Hodge Podge

I've been so slow in posting about our goings-on lately. We've been a busy bunch around here! Thanksgiving came and went so fast that I can hardly believe its already over. Dan took the whole week off and we had such a lovely time taking a little "staycation" around Utah County. 

We went to see the Governor pardon a turkey at Thanksgiving Point. Mostly because it was free...and we needed things to do to keep the kiddies entertained. 

Gov'nor

Dan made the crust. I put it together. It was a yummy yummy pie. 

I went to Walmart on Thanksgiving at 8...a new take on Black Friday. It was surprisingly not horrifying.

The day after Thanksgiving...Eli was a little zombified. 

Everyone was pretty tired. 

  Gratuitous dog shot. 

Another Daddy outing. 

***You'll note there are no pics of the actual Thanksgiving meal...Dan took all those. If we can get our act together and get the pics off his phone I'll post a Thanksgiving Part Two: Actual Thanksgiving. 

Beginning of the Cooler Times

November is here and I remember why I love this month. It's cooler...crisper...and the holidays are just around the corner! Here are a few shots from this past week as we slide into winter. 

Horsing around.

Drumming around. 

Gunning around. 

Triking around

Voting around. 

Pruning around. 

Playing around.

Halloween 2012

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. Us Garfields take our spooky-scary pretty seriously. This year was no exception! We went to just about every harvest-y venue around and did all the usual Halloween activities. A good time was indeed had by all!

 Pumpkins! Eli like the stabby stabby motion. 

 We went to Gardner Historical Village for the witches night. It was a blast! Eli loved it...but was a little  scared of the ladies in their witchy garb. 

 On to trick or treating! Eli loved it...how could he not?? Candy...buddies...more candy...more buddies...his scene for sure. 

 Daddy takes a break. 

 My little medieval group. 

 Sammy was a horse...he wasn't thrilled about it. 

 A little happier here. 

 Mommy and Dragon. 

 Cleaning up a messy horsy.

This year I decided to bring back an old tradition...I made batches and batches of home-made donuts and heated up some yummy apple cider to give out to trick or treaters.  It was fun...but a LOT of work. I think in the end I made over 60 donuts...it made for a very hot and tired me by the end of the night. I think if I do it again I'll just pony up and buy the donuts. 

 Every year Dan's office goes insane for Halloween. This year his department decorated an Area 51 type set-up. They went all out...and took first place!

Dan had an alien coming out of his chest. He should get that looked at.