Eli's 1st Time Sledding

Kaelub and Uncle Aaron took Eli sledding today and I went along to get some pictures. It was so cold and windy! But they didn't seem to mind and Eli kept saying, "do it again." He only had a couple wipe-outs and the rest of the time was all smiles.

Decorating Cookies

On Monday Eli and his cousins had some fun decorating sugar cookies at Grandma Lynda's house. I'm not sure if more frosting ended up on and in Eli's mouth or on the cookies!

Christmas Day

Eli woke up around 7 and was excited to go see if Santa had come. He didn't know what to do at first, but soon was opening up his stocking and drawing on the white board of his new easel. We were all way too spoiled this year! Ava slept though all of the gift opening and didn't wake up until 9:30. Poor girl needed that sleep! My mom kept with tradition and made us go on a treasure hunt for our final gifts. Even Eli got to go on one. Then we went to open gifts with Kaelub's family. His mom works in the Idaho Falls Temple and when they replaced the original chandelier with a new one, she was able to get some of the beautiful crystals from it. She had them mounted in a shadow box with an inscription below for all her children who had been married there. So special & such a wonderful gift to give. After we opened gifts, Grandpa Denny took the kids for rides on the snowmobile. Eli was in heaven!

Christmas Eve In Idaho

We left Arizona on Wed and headed to Las Vegas to spend the night with Kaelub's brother and his family. The kids did great & Eli finally fell asleep about 10 minutes from their house. We left early the next morning to drive to St. George to visit Kaelub's grandparents. It was nice to see them since it had been a while and they were able to meet Ava for the first time. Then we made it through crazy Utah construction (why do they fill potholes on the freeway, shutting it down to 1 lane on the busiest travel days?) to get to Idaho. It was fun to celebrate my birthday with the traditional Christmas Eve brunch at Grandma's house. We even saw a little bunny in her back yard, which Eli loved. (We have since bought food for it to try and entice it to stay.) Then I met up with some of my friends from Sugar for lunch---so good to see them! And 2 of them were so cute and pregnant! :) Next we went to Kaelub's mom's house for their party and poor Ava wasn't feeling too well. (I think she is getting more teeth finally. So she has had a fever and is really clingy... mostly to me.) But we had a good time and made it back to my grandma's for the traditional Christmas Eve night carol singing and program. Ava and Eli got to open their gift before going to bed and wear their new PJ's.

Merry & Bright

Eli loved helping us put the tree up this year. He still said it was pokey, but he had fun helping me put the ornaments on. Grandma Joy sent both of the kids an ornament for the tree. Love them! And Eli & I made tree shaped sugar cookies to eat after we finished decorating the tree. Friday night I had my work party so we got a babysitter to stay with the kids. She told me when I took her home that before Eli went to bed he said goodnight to the tree and unplugged the lights. So cute! His new obsession is watching Finding Nemo. I can't even count the number of times we watched it this weekend! He laughs hysterically at some of the parts. It's pretty funny. We are all really busy with holiday "stuff" and just wishing it was a little cooler. 80 degrees just doesn't feel like Christmas!

Getting Ready

It's snowing. It's cold. But we are so excited & the countdown is on for our trip to Idaho! (This was one of my Black Friday finds. Got one for Eli too. Have to be prepared for those below 0 temps in Sugar City!)

Conversations with Eli

Lately Eli has been cracking me up with things he says. Here are a few I want to remember down the road.
Me: I'm tired, Eli.
E: I'll take you to bed mommy.
Me: O.k. Are you going to carry me upstairs?
E: No. You're too heavy.
(He grabbed my hand, took me up to my bed, pulled the covers back, I got in, he said prayers, put the covers on me, turned off the light, and closed my door!)

Eli was watching cartoons on PBS while he ate lunch today. The cartoon ended and there weren't any more cartoons on. I can't remember the name of the show, but there was an older man in a suit being interviewed. Eli exclaimed, "Mommy, the prophet!"

The other day Ava was yelling/screeching because it was getting close to her nap time and that's what she does sometimes when she is tired. Eli said to her, "Ava, stop screaming! Aubrey is sleeping." (Aubrey is his BF Brookie's little sister. Funny thing is I tell Eli that when we are at Brookie's house and Aubrey is sleeping or when we are at home and Ava is asleep and he is being loud.)

He's 3!

Eli turned 3 on the 24th! I can't believe he is already 3 years old. His dinner of choice was no surprise--pizza. This year I didn't even make a cake since he doesn't like it. I made "birthday brownies" served with ice cream. He ate every bite of his "browns". (That's what he calls them.) And loved his singing candle that he made Kaelub light several times so he could blow it out over and over. He was spoiled by all his family with some very fun gifts. I will have to get some shots of him in action on his mini-trampoline, throwing balls at his inflatable target, learning to ride his bike, and playing with his fisher price nativity, remote control car, and train. We were even able to skype with Grandma Joy, Uncle Aaron, Auntie Jill, & GG so they could join in the fun from Idaho! Thanks to all our family for sending gifts & cards to celebrate his big day!

Love These Cards!

I love searching for that perfect Christmas card design to send out each year. But this year I have had a hard time finding something that I really like. There are plenty of different sites to choose from and I've used a couple different ones the past few years. Then I found this company . I have ordered products from them before and have always loved the way they turn out. There are so many great designs to choose from! I even ordered one of these as a sample card and it came today. Love it! And it came so fast too. I hate when you order something online and then it takes forever to come. That's really annoying when you have something time sensitive like a Christmas card. This card came within 3 days of when I ordered it---fabulous! You can check out more here or here. Now I just have to decide which one to choose---or maybe I will even go with a couple different ones. So many choices.....

Eli's Birthday Party

This year I decided to do a birthday party for Eli and his friends. I asked him what he wanted to do for his party and he said cowboy stuff. (Probably because he was a cowboy for Halloween.) I found cowboy hats, bandanas, and horses on a stick to use as favors along with harmonicas. We panned for gold, played horseshoes, and played pin the badge on the sheriff. I had it at the park so the kids could play on the toys as well. We had food to snack on and cupcakes. All the kids loved helping Eli open his gifts. :) Kelsey took some great pictures of the kids all having a good time. Thanks to Brookie, Jhett, Dayson, Ellie, Gavin, Brody, & Gio for coming!