On Monday before Christmas, Britt and I went on an adventure with the kids while Mom was away for the day. Even though the weather wasn't the best, we braved it and visited Gardner Village. We love seeing the elves and doing the scavenger hunt to get a cookie at the bakery. I love how cute and colorful they are in this pic.
We fed the ducks, or ate the food if you're Lexi. :)
After the village, we drove to Sweet's Candy Company on the west side, and enjoyed a virtual factory tour with yummy samples!
The kids did a trivia page where they had to find answers to trivia on this wall, and they got a piece of taffy for each correct answer. Britt looks so pretty against that taffy wall. :)
Crazy kids on a sugar high!
Can you believe we still had 2 more stops to go on this adventure? You know me....I love to plan and execute that plan. Britt was up for it, since we were trying to make up for lost time since they've moved to CA! We went to the Discovery Gateway Museum downtown next, which the kids had fun with. I love when Lexi wants to be all different kinds of things.
And tries to climb the wall like her big sister! They both do really well with climbing.
Haha Bryan was a little old for most things, but liked the science wing. Britt went to get the car, and then drove us to...
The Grand America Hotel! :) LAST stop of the day. Sorry, Mom, for making you miss out on all these adventures! The kids had fun looking at the windows and doing the search, and getting a sugar cookie at the end. Everything there is just so elegant and beautiful.
The gingerbread house this year was a giant rustic cabin. Pretty awesome.
Whew! That was one busy fun-filled day! The kids were pooped! Ari slept with Cami in her bunk bed top bunk, and they looked so cute and peaceful sleeping! And Lexi was bundled up with all kinds of blankets!
Tuesday was a bit more chill. We girls went shopping at Kohl's, and then to the Jordan River Temple (for the last time for 2 years while it's being renovated!) and did a session. I love being all together- we just missed Allison!
Later that day, Grandma came with us to the library and did Cami's favorite thing- sit on the couch and read books! :)
Mom helped me put together and deliver my neighbor gifts- stove top potpourri! Yum, so colorful and it smells amazing!
That night, Jake and I took Bryan and Matt out on a date! Cami and Lexi were at Grandma Yospe's cookie decorating sleepover with their Yospe cousins, and Ari and Owen were babysat while Britt and David took out Mom and Dad. Jake and I were happy to hang out with these lil studs! I showed them Grandpa Yospe's leg lamp when we dropped off the girls. In their front window and everything! :)
We went to eat at In 'n Out, and then saw Star Wars at the Gateway Theater. It was an awesome movie! Although I felt really bad for Bryan when he was disappointed over it and some sad things that happened. Bless his sweet sensitive heart!
Finally, Christmas Eve rolled around, and the kids woke up and immediately got on Santa Tracker to find out where Santa was in the world right then! They kept track throughout the day.
We decided to take advantage of what snow was left and go sledding! Dad bought some sleds at Scheels, which was super nice of him, and we found a popular sledding hill in Sandy. Unfortunately, it faces the sun, so all the snow was melted! Bummerrrr.
The kids still slid down the muddy ice chunks, but the sleds took a beating.
The other, shorter side was in the shade and much better for sledding. There's Bree and Lex about to race against Britt! Go girls!
Little snow bunnies
The kids hadn't had enough- they wanted to play in the snow in our yard, too! These California kids miss the snow! (I dunno, they have a pretty good trade off with ocean and palm trees)
In keeping with Yospe tradition, we got together at Joy Luck Chinese for Christmas Eve dinner. Yum! Mom and Dad, Bree, and Grandma Willes joined the party, and we all had a lovely feast. I loved this sight of Grandma looking at the giant fish tank on her tippy toes.
Me and Lex waiting to eat
Mae wiggling Cam's loose tooth...haha. Abe and his family, Clark, Emma and ours and Kate and Jordan's kiddos!
Awww love my Schmee.
Lexi loves sauces. Apparently, she couldn't get enough of this sweet n' sour sauce with her won tons, so she started eating it with a spoon! Crazy girl.
Dinner was delicious. I got a little contaminated or something, because I was bloated and miserable most of the night, but that didn't stop me from having an awesome Christmas! We went home from dinner and lit a fire in the fireplace, read some Luke 2, sang some Christmas hymns, and felt the Christmas spirit as a family.
Ohhh the anticipation!
Singing and loving seeing three of my favorite people across from me.
Bree on guitar makes any hymn better!
Super cozy
Lexi following along in her little Book of Mormon :) in her Christmas jammies.
Santa, please come! All ready for bed and visions of sugar plums to dance in their head. Oh how I love the magic of Christmas.
2 comments:
I agree Heather- nothing quite like the magic of Christmas! And yes- your living room looked super cozy, and it was all so much fun! (except for that scary picture of me on the couch!) I love the Santa tracker picture! And it's so cute that every kid was paying attention to the video at Sweet's - wish I could've been there! Next year! Yay for yummy Chinese on Christmas Eve, and Clark's leg lamp. So fun!
Cute little Lex and her Book of Mormon. :) And I sure loved our adventure day in SLC! That was so much fun!
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