Bella, Gabe and Josiah

I should back up a little bit. We are in Phoenix for Christmas! We’ve been here almost a week and have all sorts of fun. There’s been a lot of reading and snuggling. Gabe’s birthday present was a trip to the skateboard shop with Dad, so he got a skateboard and has been doing a lot of practicing. Gram and I got pedicures. We went to Zoolights with all my cousins and their kids. We found this amazing bouncy house park. It was huge!! Josy got a Josy-sized house for Christmas. So we all moved in. We played at the park, which I think is a Christmas tradition down here. Gram and the boys got their PT in. Gramps and Josy put together his platypus. We went to the train park. And that catches us up on all of Phoenix. Today to drive up to Utah for more adventures…  

Merry Christmas!! Our Christmas morning in pictures…

Merry Christmas Eve! We went to the Christmas Eve Service with Gram and Gramps. I’m quite confident that we had the best dressed boys in the building. Josy opened his Christmas present from Gabe right before church: a cap just like Gabe and Dad. Unfortunately it didn’t fit right, so we had to exchange it. But we got a lot of compliments about our dapper little boys. Then we came home for Swedish pancakes and I’m choosing to blame Gram’s spatula for the fact that they refused to flip correctly.  Then we opened our new jammies and headed to bed…

We can’t have our oldest son turn 9 and not celebrate it… So we did. First, we had a big bowling party with a bunch of his friends. Unfortunately Pat got called into work that morning and had to miss it… But, Gabe and his friends still had a lot of fun.  Next year I’m going to have to make 2 cakes. I’m not excited about that. Also, I’m never using that frosting recipe again. It was way too sweet!! Then on his actual birthday we had a family party. He picked roast chicken, grilled potatoes and some sort of roasted veggies for his birthday dinner. Um, okay kid. I can get behind that. Your face when you get a note instead of a present… And when you realize that the note says that you and Dad get to go on a date in Phoenix to pick out a skateboard. Then fast forward a week and we have a very happy boy.