Festival of Trees 2012

This year we went up to the Festival of Trees.  It's beautiful there.  I must admit, I might enjoy it even more if I didn't have to help a 4 & 2-year-old be happy.  It's the last place (besides Chuck-E-Cheese) that you'd want to be if you had a migraine.  Luckily, I didn't have one, so we really did enjoy ourselves.  

Basically, it's a fundraiser for the Children's Hospital.  People decorate trees in honor of those who have passed on or who are fighting illnesses. It's a tear-jerker.  Other people buy the trees to raise money.  And we pay a small fee to come and look at the gorgeous trees.  

Here's Whitney in front of a Tangled Tree.  There were a few of these, but this was the first one she spotted.  

 Here's another Tangled-Themed tree.

 Bubba probably had the hardest time.  Here he is on Bart's shoulders so he'll stay out of all the Christmas decorations.

Bart would love one like this someday:

So cute:

Quite the display:

There were lots of dance groups putting on shows. Whitney LOVED watching them.  In fact, that was all she wanted to do.  

Now, I snapped this picture, because I couldn't get enough of this baby's bow.  

Yes, that large thing on her head is a bow.  T.U.  T.U. T.U.  

We stopped to look at the gingerbread houses.  Here is one that looks like the Provo Tabernacle. 

Love it.

And then it was time to go:  

See how you sometimes have to strap in a two-year old so they won't go grabbing all of the things?

In other news:  MacKay went through a stage where he was obsessed with the toilets.  Flushing, sitting-on, putting toilet paper into, etc, etc.  Here he is after his first poop (and his only poop) in the toilet.  

Tiny Dancer

 My little girl loves to dance.  She has always looked forward to this day each week.  This year she is taking dance with Miss Hillary.  She takes with two of her friends, Ruthie and Taylei.  

This is at one of her practices:

They dance, dress up, tumble and learn routines.

This also happened to be the week they were able to pick up their dance recital tu-tus.  Whitney begged to try it on.  (I only let her try it on for size so we could keep it nice for the recitals.)

Then, MacKay wanted to try it on.  That's when I pulled out the camera.  Hilarious, boy!  

He looks like his Mama in this one:

A couple of weeks later, Whitney had an in-house recital at her dance studio.  It was low-key, but she was a little Dolly.  Looked SOOOO cute!

Nervous fingers..

 Tiny toes:

Here is Taylei, Whitney & Ruthie after their class:

Whitney & Miss Hillary who is due any day now..

I love you, Tiny Dancer.

Gingy Houses 2012

One of the first Paxton-Traditions I did with Bart's family was Gingerbread houses.  That was back in the day, when Bart and I were first dating... 2002.  Ten years ago.  We were up in Park City.  Bart's dad set up this giant light to take pictures and was being rather silly, and goofy.  It was fun.  

Nice to see he's upgraded the video camera:

This year we were at Laura's house in her garage.  Big long tables were set up and everyone had a great time.  

Like usual, I do most of the detail work.  Whitney was a big helper.  Bubba wandered and Bart took pictures.  

Oh, MacKay... never lose this smile.

After we made the houses, the little cars came out.  This was very serious for MacKay.  He LOVED this thing and was cracking me up with the serious looks on his face while he was driving it.  

 Whitney thought it would be a great idea if Santa brought her one of these.  I think it would be too.. when we have a bigger backyard and a garage.  

Thanksgiving 2012

This is Bart and Bubba as we set up our Christmas tree the day before Thanksgiving.  The kids had a LOT of fun setting out the decorations... especially Miss Whitney.   

Here she is digging into the stocking bag, trying to figure out which one(s) she wants.  Hair is all wet after a bath.

Looking at the tree with the lights for the first time:

The following day, we had Thanksgiving Dinner with Bart's parents.  In the morning we watched the parade and hung out at our house.  Then we went out to dinner.

Here's me and the kids at the restaurant:

Bubba got into the salt:

Steve & Marsha

Back at our house with our (almost) totally decorated tree.  

And it wouldn't be 'almost' Christmas if Marsha wasn't handing out gifts!!  Here is a beautiful blanket/quilt she made for baby boy.  

Grandma & Grandpa with the kids.  

Getting crazy

After dinner we watched a movie, and then I started getting excited about Black Friday.  I went out (*by myself) to Toys R Us and got some pretty awesome deals.  Love getting deals.  Love the rush of the Christmas shopping.  Some people are against Black Friday starting on Thursday night, but I LOVE it!  

This year I was especially Thankful for my family.  And especially Thankful we hadn't just moved across the USA, like we did in 2011.  I am grateful that MacKay has tubes in his ears so he doesn't have to constantly be on antibiotic.  I love that he is learning so much and is still such a sweetie.    I am grateful Whitney has a zillion friends and so many live a few doors down.   I am grateful she loves preschool and is excited about learning and taking on new challenges.  I am grateful Bart is more confident in his position as a dentist and our future seems a bit more clear (at times)... I am also so grateful that we are going to have a healthy baby boy in 2013.  What wonderful blessings I have.