Temple Square

We took an outing to Temple Square via the Frontrunner.

It was my first excursion on this particular public transit and overall it was a pretty enjoyable ride. 

Was it less expensive than getting in the car and driving there?... No.  Was it less hassle?... No.  Was it faster?...No.

It was an adventure that I got to share with my family and that is always fun:)

All of us waiting at the station.

Leilani stayed in her stroller for approximately 2.4 seconds and then I chased her around the grounds the rest of the night. 

It was a perfect time to go.  The weather was hardly even cold, so I could let her run all she wanted without feeling miserable (aside from the difficulty of walking after our ice skating excursion the night before).

This is her looking at the temple.

She felt a need for some reverence and I took advantage of this rare quiet moment as I snuggled close to her and we sang "I love to see the Temple."

It was very sweet.

I'm quite pleased by my temple photography, if I do say so myself:)

We ate at the Lion House which was way too crowed and took way to long to get through the line.  It wasn't until we all sat down that we realized we had less than 30 minutes to make our train or we would have to wait another hour for the next one.

We stuffed our faces and raced to the trax only to find that indeed we had missed our train.

SOO what does a large family do to keep busy for an hour?

Play silly games of course.

Such as...

What's in your purse?

Objective: to find something in your purse that no one else has

Camera Fight Club

Objective: take the most ridiculous punching face action photo

(sadly this was not on my camera or it would have been quite the viewing entertainment)

The children...well they ran a muck through the train until other passengers got up to find a more peaceful place to ride...sorry fellow riders.

So we got home much later than we had planned but it was a fun excursion all the same.

Ice Skating

Nothing much cuter than a little munchkin out their strutting her stuff on the ice:)

She didn't fall, she just wanted to play with the ice:)

Oh and p.s. apparently ice skates and high heels have the same effect on a pregnant lady.

I couldn't walk the next day.

Darn sciatic.

I guess it doesn't help that I was leaning over for an hour trying to hold up 35lbs on a sheet of ice - lol.  But it really was a lot of fun and Leilani loved it.

We'll have to go back when Dad can go;)



Christmas Day

What a great day!

We woke up to a room STUFFED with things from Santa.

(we had 13 kids at our house that morning)

Leilani, ironically enough, slept until Targhee had to actually wake her up or we'd be late for church:)

I really liked having Christmas on Sunday.  I felt like it gave Christmas the correct reverence of being on the sabbath and going to church.  It was a perfect reminder of why we celebrate.

After Sacrament Meeting we opened gifts from the family.

The living room was not big enough for everyone to sit in, so we made an assembly line from the tree to the game room and sorted presents into families out there:)

Leilani was happy to wear her Christmas "pretty dress" while we opened presents and even sneered at this little sweater outfit until...

she opened THIS!

She immediately wanted to rip off the red dress and put on the snow white.

My favorite part is that as soon as she got it on she announced, "I need an apple!"

and she ate the ENTIRE thing!  Core and all.  You go girl:)

We then went to Gramma and Grampa Fuzzy's (Targhee's parents) for lunch.

Leilani was not about to give up her Snow White dress.

(is it bad that I have to admit that she wore it for two whole days, including sleeping...I had to hide it from her during a temper tantrum when I had to take it off)

In a snow globe trance

Somebody knows about little girls and dress ups:)

Thank you Aunt Nana!!

I couldn't get her to wear a shirt:)


Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Eve

For as long as I can remember my family has done a Christmas Program on Christmas Eve.

Since my family has grown we have kept the tradition but the talent has moved on to the grand kids.

This year was especially fun because we had 85% of my family here.

(Yes I did figure out that correct percentage...I'm a geek)

Starting out the program on the right foot with Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer

Leilani was not a part of this number, but she felt the need to be included:)

Choreographed by our very own Morgan (the tallest:)

I had a hard time keeping from crying as I watched all of their numbers.  Some were silly and some spiritual, but I was so happy to have my family together celebrating Christ's birth and was amazed by their talents.  Brooklyn on the piano, Jesslyn on the flute, and Preston on the violin. (...and Leilani interpretive dancing)

Leilani was also feeling the spirit of the Bishop tradition so she did an impromptu act of Jingle Bells.

I think I have solidified to myself this Christmas that I am a huge traditionalist, so I always feel the need to participate:)  I sang a song too.

My Mom worked for hours and hours putting together special books for each one of her grand children.  Each book was entitled "Memories with Grandma and Grandpa" and had pictures just about that specific child with a personalized letter written to each one of them.  It was very special and they all loved them.

Oh yes!  And Santa comes every year with a bag of candy.  This year he even had one of his helpers come with him.  Eighteen kids is quite a quota to fill.

Leilani wouldn't take her eyes off of him, but stayed a good distance away.

White Elephants

We act out the nativity scene while my dad reads the story of Christ being born.

Leilani was supposed to be an angel but she would not take off her pretty dress and wanted to wear a crown so I guess she was one of the wise women.

Sweet little Angle Annie

Then of course we have to open Pajamas!

Prying the "pretty dress" off to put her jamies on was quite a feat, but she cooperated as long as she got to keep the crown.

You gotta pick your battles.

"Leilani, what's on your shirt?"

She had no idea what she was in for the next morning:)