Christmas Tree Decorating . 2013

I  love having our Christmas tree up for as long as possible.  And because I also like to take it down Christmas afternoon, to help maximize the time, we set it up the day after Thanksgiving.

Following tradition, we put our Christmas tree up the Friday following Thanksgiving.  The boys all enjoyed helping hang the ornaments, carefully placing each one.  To help make things more festive we enjoyed hot chocolate as we decorated.

Following the tree's completion, we set up the Christmas train from Grandma Jody and Ann.  Each night, after reading a bedtime story, the boys would lay on the ground to watch the train go around.

The weekend prior Patrick decorated our house in white lights.  When Ryder finished his quiet time that afternoon he joined Patrick outside to finish wrapping the tree in more lights.

Thanksgiving . 2013

Our Thanksgiving adventures...minus pictures at lunch...

On Thanksgiving we followed the tradition started last year, and attended Hogle Zoo's Feast with the Beast.  As predicted, the boys enjoyed the elephant show the most!  We walked around several exhibits prior to the show, and then Jarrett and I reserved space for all of us for the elephant show, while everyone else watched the bears.  This year Nana and Papa were able to join us.  We followed the zoo with lunch at Golden Coral.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday Grandma Jody's sister came to visit.  We enjoyed dinner at the Hansen Great Grandparents House.

While I already posted the November Brothers picture, I thought I'd include a shot of the outtakes as well:

Brothers . November 2013

Park City . Day 6

October 16, 2013   |   Thursday we took the boys to the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake.  It was the perfect time to go - the zoo was rather empty, the weather was cool, and the animals were quite active!  As with EVERY visit we make to the zoo, we headed to see the elephants first.  We spent some time at the new "Lighthouse Point Splash Zone" - the water has been turned off, but the slide is still open!  The boys loved going down it, over and over and over again (to the right, Jarrett decided to try different ways of coming down, and thought that "falling" out was hilarious!).  We ended our visit with a ride on the carousel - where Ryder continued his long standing tradition of riding the elephant.

 We enjoyed dinner at Cafe Zupas in Salt Lake before heading back to Park City.  Once back that the resort, the boys all wanted to take another bath in the jetted tub.

Painting!

The boys enjoy painting, and I enjoy having new art to hang in our house!

Shirtless watercolor painting! The boys painted a new piece of art to hang (framed) in our Family Room.  Each boy had a very specific style - Ryder painted multiple shapes, Harvick painted circles, and Jarrett enjoyed a combination of techniques!

The boys helped to create their leaf tags for their teacher's Thanksgiving gifts.  We rolled out a long sheet of butcher paper on top of a tarp in the kitchen, and let the boys paint with their hands!  They loved getting messy, and had fun covering most of the white space.  The teachers definitely appreciated the sweet treat, and adorable tag.

Treehouse Museum . November 2013

We made a few trips to the Treehouse Museum in November!

We do our best to make the most of our membership at the Treehouse Museum!  The boys know their way around each of the exhibits, but still find new things to explore each visit!

The Treehouse Museum has "Alphabet Soup" every Friday night.  We finally were able to attend in November - for the letter "c".  We went to the presentation to learn all about the letter, sang songs, read books, and completed a "c" craft - making paper crowns.

Park City . Day 5

October 15, 2013   |   After a late night on Monday, we decided to have a very relaxed day on Tuesday.  That morning, we watched Monsters, Inc, while enjoying a movie snack - one that Harvick and Jarrett insisted they share with Patrick, despite him politely declining.  After eating lunch in our room, we headed to Downtown Park City to walk Main Street.  On our way there, the boys fell asleep, so we took a scenic detour.  There were snow flurries off and on, but the view was beautiful!  We stopped a few times for a few self portraits.

We walked the full length of the shops (each side of the street), and stopped in a few shops.  After eating dinner at Main Street Pizza & Pasta, we picked up a treat (Mint Chocolate covered Oreos) at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, and headed back to the resort.

That evening, the boys enjoyed a very long bath in the huge jetted tub, while also enjoying their treat!  They all enjoyed being sprayed with the handheld sprayer, and found the jets very intriguing (their first experience outside of a swimming pool).

Park City . Day 4

October 14, 2013   |    With a fun activity planned that evening, we thought it would be best to stay "low-key" during the day.  We took the boys back to the resort's indoor/outdoor pool, despite the snow storm!

Most days we were on vacation the boys each got a new small toy.  We decided not to take any toys with us, just so that the boys had something new to play with each day.  This day, the boys received 3 train bath "squirters" - a perfect gift for a morning at the pool, and an evening spent on a train!

The boys enjoyed watching the snow fall outside their bedroom window.  It snowed all morning, but it hadn't been cold enough for it to stick for very long.  It was pretty while it lasted!

On Monday evening we headed to Heber Valley Railroad to board their Monday Night Family Train.  We stopped at a local place for a Mexican dinner (the boys' request) before boarding the 7:00pm train.  The train car was a bit cramped, but the boys loved it.  Each of them took turns looking out the window, until it was too dark outside to watch the passing view.  The train actually had to make two stops due to some issues, but the boys never realized it wasn't part of the ride - they just enjoyed their time on the train.  Patrick took Ryder to the middle car, where concessions were available.  Predictably, when given the chance to pick candy, Ryder picked to share a bag of M&Ms.  Before leaving I tried to capture one last shot of them in front of the train (even thought it was dark), but they weren't too interested in my idea!

We will definitely plan a return trip to the Heber Valley Railroad!  The only thing I would change is the time of day - it would be fun to see out the view out the window for the whole ride.

Random . November 2013

The majority of the family scrapbook pages are for events, activities, or projects.  Sometimes I can't help including some of the random photos we take.  It's part of our real life too!

Random pictures from November.  Puzzles, playing in the basement, trains, getting water, removing pumpkin seeds, stealing cashews, eating Frostys, and MORE trains!

Some weekends we have busy, full schedules.  But some weekends we take time to just have a lazy day.  Ryder has started to call these days "Pajama Days", and looks forward to them.  On this particular Saturday we just played together in our Family Room.  I pulled out the camera to take pictures of the boys, and each of them wanted a turn of their own.  These pictures are just a random sampling of our morning.  As much fun as are adventures are together, days like this are just as fun!

For dinner Ryder helped Patrick made pizza balls.  And, after dinner, all of the boys helped make cookies for dessert!

Sometimes when someone is being too wild or loud, or when they just request it, they will sit on the counter while we get things done in the kitchen.  On this occasion Jarrett is keeping us entertained by roaring!

Harvick fell on the tile, leaving a rather noticeable goose egg on his forehead - in order to keep the ice pack on it we wrapped his head.  He didn't even mind!

Park City . Day 3

More Park City!

Sunday, October 13, 2013   |   Grandma Jody and Ann joined us in Park City for the day.  Due to weather, or original plan (the Alpine Slide) wouldn't work out, so we switched to bowling at Jupiter Bowl.  This was the boys' first bowling experience, and they all did great!  Ryder totally understood the game within the first frame, and really loved watching his ball roll down the isle.  Harvick enjoyed taking turns, and was eager to carry his own ball.  Jarrett loved it at first, decided he hated it in the middle, but by the end of the second game, was loving it again!  After bowling, we picked up Subway sandwiches on our way back to the resort where the boys all napped. Grandma Jody and Ann took us out for dinner at the Silver Star Cafe before they headed back home.

The boys' bowling shoes were so cute!  Why can't they make cute adult ones too?!

We ended our evening with ice cream, and a movie in our room!

Days 1 & 2

Park City . Days 1 & 2

Finally!  A post about our vacation!  Life has been busy the past few weeks, and I thought that with foot surgery last weekend, I would have time to update the blog while resting...but...I was too worn out for even that.

More to come soon (hopefully!)...

After considering our options, Patrick and I decided the best use of our timeshare "use or lose" week this year was to redeem it in Park City - it was far enough away to feel like a vacation, but close enough to home to not be overwhelming!  We chose October because we were able to miss less preschool (UEA) and work (Columbus Day), and the weather would be perfect!  When we booked our week we invited our parents to join us for any day(s) they would like.  We planned a handful of activities, but purposefully kept most of our time open - time to just relax, and be together.

Friday, October 11, 2013   |   Patrick & took the day off of work to get things done at home.  We packed our car (very full!) with everything we needed for the week, and picked up the boys.  After arriving at our resort, and unloading everything we brought with us, we took the boys to Loco Lizard, one of Patrick and my favorite restaurants.  That evening the boys shared the king size bed - we brought their blankets and favorite stuffed animals to help them feel comfortable.  They did amazing with sharing a bed - they all thought it was quite fun, and everyone fell asleep easily!

Saturday, October 12, 2013   |   We ate breakfast in our room, and later met Papa & Nana at the Outlet Mall where we walked around the shops for the morning.  We picked up Cafe Rio take-out on the way back to our hotel room.  After the boy napped, we headed to the resort' indoor/outdoor pool for a little swimming.  Our night ended with pizza delivered to our room!