Saturday, December 31, 2011

New Year's Eve

We spent New Year’s Eve at Rara & Papa’s house. Marc & Frances went out to celebrate not only New Year’s Eve, but Frances’ birthday, so we helped tend Alice & Claire.

We had fun playing games…

Spraying Silly String all over the driveway…


And blowing horns and other various noise-making…
Alice hopped on Ryan for a round of “Smash the Baby.” Ryan took the opportunity to show off his developing upper body strength by doing push-ups with Alice on his back!

All of the grandkids then enjoyed a sleepover with Rara & Papa.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Christmas!

I love that Christmas fell on a Sunday this year. Ryan and I had our gift exchange ourselves, and then went to church, where we had the opportunity to remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Here are a couple of pictures from our morning. Ryan received (from me) a Star Wars lunchbox, a giant Lego Anakin alarm clock, a Bazinga shirt, some Skull Candy headphones, his SDAT swim team deck coat, and an 11-in-one game table that he and Papa spent the next two days putting together.






After church, we went to Rara & Papa’s to exchange presents with the rest of the family. Marc & Frances gave me a set of cake pop pans, which I’m sure we’ll have fun using. The highlight was Claire and Alice getting princess jewelry sets (complete with crowns) and little stuffed dogs that walked. We joked that they looked like the stereotypical princesses with their jewelry and little dogs!




I love this picture of Rara reading with the girls.
Christmas evening, we went to our annual Jensen family party. We’ve reinstated the piñata tradition the past few years, now that the cousins all have kids who are old enough to enjoy it.



We always have to keep an eye on the kids. As soon as the first piece of candy falls, they fight their way to get it. The kid with the bat is usually the last one to realize, so they often keep swinging! Luckily there were no injuries this year.
After the traditional piñata breaking comes the traditional “burn the piñata remnants in the fireplace with Uncle Randy” tradition.
The girls (and Gage) decided that parts of the piñata looked like Princess crowns.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Christmas Eve on Temple Square

Frances was on call on Christmas Eve, and, unfortunately, got called in to work…more than once. We had plans for dinner together, and then going to see the lights on Temple Square. She got called as we were getting ready to eat dinner.

We missed her at Temple Square! Here are a few pictures of our evening…











Friday, December 23, 2011

Candlelight Christmas at This is the Place State Park

On Friday, December 23, our whole family went to the Candlelight Christmas at This is the Place State Park. It was pretty cold, and almost everything was outside (and dark), so we bundled up!

We loved looking at real reindeer (apparently having a territory battle)…

We enjoyed listening to traditional Christmas stories by the hearth…
Made some crafts...

Watched a puppet show…

Danced…


LOVED the live nativity…


Had fun on the train…
And warmed up with hot chocolate at the hotel…
What a fun addition to our Christmas season!