Christmas!

Christmas Eve at Grandma Sherrie’s. Dinner, nativity, gifts, and Santa:

Mine and Kelly’s fam went in on a set of nativity costumes for my mom. It’s something I’ve heard her say she’s wanted a thousand times, so I think she loved it. The set actually turned out pretty cute.

Our fam with Santa

The spread. This really does not look like very much, but I’m here to tell you…the kids got too much as usual!

It was fun to have Christmas in our new basement this year. The toys and mess didn’t have to get cleaned up right away, which made life a little more fun for everyone!

Kate’s token gifts this year: guitar, electric scooter, microscope, Draw Like a Pro projector, origami.

Cole’s token gifts: marble run, Kindle Fire, Legos, Superman watch (why he had to have this I’ll never know?), microphone, Star Wars cars, drill activity set.

Christmas morning; waiting to go downstairs. This is the first Christmas we didn’t have to wake up the kids!

Dinner on Christmas Day at Buca. Yep, we’re those people. And, yep, it was tasty.

And the day after Christmas…dinner with Ryan & Dren’s fam at Benihana.

Blackhurst Fam Christmas Party

One thing that makes the holidays is going to family Christmas parties! I don’t know how much longer Dave’s family has for this tradition since his family has grown from kids, to grandkids, to great-grandkids, but I hope our kids will get several more years celebrating with the whole family.

We watched a most darling nativity with two of my very favorite people starring  in the show.

And here, the kids were overjoyed by the cousin gifts! Cousin Jake had Kate’s name and got her a Pretend and Play School Set, and Cousin Allyssa got Cole a remote control helicopter (both gifts I may have had some input on).

Immediately, Kate had a pool of children in a corner of the room where they were doing assignments, getting report cards and stickers, and the likes. She’s pretty much doomed to be a teacher…just like her momma.

Later that night, the kids were nestled in their beds snuggled up to their new, handmade pillow cases from Grandma Sandra.

And the next night, building, dressing, and buying their new Build-A-Bear’s with their gift cards from Grandma and Grandpa.

Cole even had to dress up in his Darth jammies so he could match his new ‘Dark Vader’ bear.

 

We feel so lucky to have so much family nearby to help us create these perfect Christmas memories!

Christmas Break

I love that the second school is out for these two, I always find them early in the morning, cuddled up together, and in front of the TV. We could never get rid of our TV; how else would my children bond?

We also just had our first substantial snow day. The kids wasted no time in heading outside to play. We even got to build a snowman since the snow had just enough moisture in it for a good stick.

Gingerbread Houses

We built, well, GRAHAM CRACKER houses for FHE. We only had to buy a few pieces of candy too since we still had a ton of Halloween candy left over! I couldn’t help but notice that this was the first time I was free of helping a little person, or holding a baby on my lap, so I could actually build my own house; such a strange and exciting moment in history (but won’t last come 3 more weeks). Oh, well.

Kate was very creative and impressed me with her design skills. And Cole, oh Cole! It was like he was exploring the wonderful world of Candy Land. Every time I looked over at him he was shoving a new candy in his already full mouth, or dumping a spoonful of frosting onto his tongue. I have to guess this was both kids’ favorite FHE ever, or at least in a long time.

In the end, it was clear which home Dave designed. Take a guess…

Yep, the one on the far right. Working immaculately, and demonstrating excellent fine motor skills are not just visible in his day job apparently.

Moving Right Along

So…Kate won the Reflections Art Contest on her school level (see earlier post). The next level in the competition is amongst the different councils of the district. Our district includes the cities of Alpine, Highland, and Cedar Hills. Kate has always advanced to this level in prior years , but has never come home with the win. I had not even planned on attending but at the last minute, the dad thought we should. We all piled into the car, drove over, walked in the junior high school’s auditorium, and heard Kate’s name being announced at that very moment (didn’t even have the chance to sit down and take our coats off).

Shaking Principal Bruner’s hand

 

We couldn’t believe she did it! What terrible parents we are to have almost missed this momentous occasion!

Thanksgiving Weekend Sleepover

We took our annual Thanksgiving trip up to SLC with Dave’s family. This year we stayed at the Little America and had a blast.

We kicked off the fun at the Body Worlds exhibit, at the Leonardo. The kids actually did very well seeing the bodies and had lots of questions and comments throughout. They also got to see the effect of smoking on lungs and such, so I think that made for some bonus teachable moments. After that exhibit we explored the rest of the museum with Rob and Jenny’s family. We all enjoyed making airplanes, playing with Legos, doing stop-motion animation, and acting out in front of a green screen, oh, and doing an ultrasound of the baby inside the mom’s belly.

 

We had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with Miss Annette’s family, and then explored the lights and candy windows at Temple Square. The kids enjoyed coming back to the hotel for a late night swim (with about 948 other children who had the same idea).

The kids got their annual photo with Santa. I love that capturing this one moment in time always runs around $25.

The next morning we had the breakfast buffet at the Grand America Hotel and enjoyed the window scavenger hunt with the entire Blackhurst clan.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

 

Reflections 2014: The World Would Be A Better Place If...

 

...parents didn't brag about their kids so much?

 

Probably. But winning 3 years out of 3 years?! That's a pretty big deal, Miss Kate! Well done, Sissy!

Halloween

Our Star Wars costumes…

This was planned for a year now. The baby was supposed to be Yoda, but well, baby didn’t come as soon as anticipated. Nevertheless, we showed up at our Ward Halloween Party and conquered. We took home an award for our second year in a row, which is all Kate dreamt of. Cole got to go through the spook alley several times, which is all he dreamt of. And I even managed to steal the Best Soup Award, which is all I dreamt of (jk).

Halloween went great too. Dave had the day off and was able to come with Cole and me to Sissy’s school parade. I later went and helped out at her party, and then in the evening was trick-or-treating. It was our most successful year ever! We served up fresh movie-theater popcorn and had 253 trick-or-treaters; a new record! Others in our neighborhood mixed things up too. There was a soup sampler, hot dogs, homemade doughnuts, cotton candy, hot apple cider, and a haunted house all at different houses throughout our ward. It was a pretty great night!

Fall Break

That long drive! That long drive I’ve done a hundred times before and swore I’d never do it again after leaving Dental School…we did that drive! Utah to California and back to Utah all within a few days. And we survived!

Grandma Sherrie wrapped up presents for the kids, which was a throwback to my childhood, and a fun time-passer for the kids. We left Wednesday evening, rolled into Vegas late that evening, slept at the Luxor, and then made the final stretch Thursday morning. Whew! We drove straight to Universal Studios that day. This was our first time back since Dave graduated so I think it’s been 8 whole years! Cole loves watching YouTube videos of the Jurassic Park ride, and Jaws, so it was time to get him there to see it in person.

Monsters

The new Harry Potter Land under construction:

Nearly every ride there these days requires 3D glasses, which if you know me, is like my LEAST favorite thing. So I was kind of bummed about that. But we did see more filming on the Back Lot Tour than ever before so that was pretty cool. Anyway, after a long day, we left the park and headed to Pasadena for dinner. We got to drive right through the center of L.A., which is always the biggest treat for me! I just love that skyline! We got to Houston’s for dinner; found that it was a 2 hour wait, so instead, hit the relocated El Cholo with no wait time. With a quick drive-by past the old love nest, we headed to Anaheim to check in at the Ayres Hotel Orange.

The whole troop at dinner

The next day was Friday. We had tickets for Mickey’s Halloween Party at Disneyland, which didn’t start till 4pm. We drove out to Huntington Beach during the day to play there. The kids had a blast! They collected seashells, built a mermaid sand sculpture (with a little help from the mom), and giggled about Cole’s shorts filling up with air as they played in the water! Meanwhile, Sherrie, Lyle, and Mike walked the pier and watched the fishermen, as well as the dolphins playing below. It was a great way to spend the morning!

And finally…4pm rolled around! Kate dressed as Glinda, but forgot her crown in the car (the crown I hand-crafted myself and spent probably a whole hour constructing…boo), and Cole was SpiderMan. Dave and I failed yet again at dressing up!

Uncle Steve and his family were at Disneyland too. We parted ways with my fam for a few hours to get some riding in with Steve’s fam.

Us with Steve’s fam riding the Jungle Cruise

It was a fun night and I think my parents enjoyed Trick or Treating more than anyone else there! We stayed till closing at midnight, which made for two very sleepy children:

Our last day there was supposed to be at Legoland. After many hours previously spent in the car, however, we cast a revote and ended up at California Adventure instead. It was a good call. We did all the riding we could want, FINALLY won the race on Radiator Racers, drank some delicious Ghirardelli hot chocolate, and bought souvies for the kids. We ate dinner at Corner Bakery at a mall a couple miles away from Disneyland and called it a day.

With a quick breakfast at the hotel the next morning, we were back on the road and headed for home. A short trip, but very efficient and fun! Not too sure I’ll make that drive again for another 8 years, but it was kinda fun doing it again…and by kinda, I mean, not really;) I think I’d rather fly!!

Cutest Dadgum School Pics Ever!

I mean, there's just no arguing...

Kate 2nd grade

 

Cole PreK (year 2)

 

And while we're posting pics of our little people:

Baby (no name yet) (29 weeks)

 

We had to get a second ultrasound of this guy and this time saw multiple images of his face. Made his Momma cry! It made it so much more real that there's someone actually in there doing all that kicking!!!

 

 

Love these littlest people! So proud of them!