December 2013

 December was a busy month with Dave's finals and getting ready for Christmas. We had some fun parties too. And tried to do some local Christmas-themed activities.

 Marcus helping mommy make bread.

 Marcus at a winter village at Jordan's Furniture.

Look at that!

 My friend Lauren and her son at Jordan Furniture.

 My friend Christy and her boys.

Marcus and I at Jordan Furniture.

On the 18-31 Dec we went to Utah to visit family. We had a great time! We stayed with my sister Kirstin, my brother Will, my brother Nate and my sister Emily. We were horrible about taking pictures----but still got some good ones :)

 Marcus admiring my brother Will's turtle. He wanted to look at it all day, all the time.

 Marcus running around before bed time.

 Rolling around the floor, pure joy on his face :)

 Eating snow with his cousin, yummy!

 I pulled Marcus around on a sled---he didn't seem to enjoy it much though.

 He preferred "shoveling".

 Marcus and Daddy inside a tunnel at the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point.

 Check it out!

 They had a fun sand area for kids to play at the Dinosaur Museum. He was in heaven.

 They had some real reindeer at Thanksgiving Point too that we checked out.

 Marcus curious about my dad's ham radio equipment.

We spent Christmas morning with my parents. It was really nice. We slept in and got ready before even opening presents----luckily Marcus is still young enough to not quite know what's going on :)

 New train set for Christmas!

 New football (favorite for sure).

 And let's not forget this awesome baseball!

 The spread---his new toys :)

Our family is getting so large that we have trouble all fitting in anyone's house. So my mom was able to rent her works gym (elementary school). It was really nice to have more space---and the kids seemed to like all the runaround space.

  Here is our grandkid white elephant exchange. Very fun to watch :)

 And here is most of our family (Brian and Brooklyn and family couldn't make it). It was so fun to have so many of us there! We are definitely growing!!

We went with my brother Nate and his son to see the Golden Spike monument while we stayed with them. It was nice because they got the steam engines out. It was so fun---and we made it just in time thanks to Nate's speedy driving :)

 Marcus LOVES trains right now, so he really enjoyed this.

 Nate and Dave did ride this a few hundred feet down the track.

While staying with my sister Emily we went to the Fire Department to get a tour. My brother-in-law Jared is fireman :)

 Even though Marcus loves fire trucks, he seemed to enjoy them more from a distance :)

 Aunt Emily holding Marcus.

 Marcus, Dave and Jared.

And Emily was nice enough to give us all haircuts---including Marcus. He did better than last time thankfully---the fruits snacks helped I think!