Temple Square Christmas Lights

We've never taken the kids to see the lights at Temple Square before - so we decided to give it a go this year. It was SO busy. If we go again, it'll need to be way earlier in December. Little kids + crowds = frazzled Mom. The parking was awful, and everywhere was super crowded. But, the lights were beautiful and it was fun to get together with my sister's family. Here are a few of our pictures:

Christmas dresses

I attempted to take pictures of the kids after church in their Christmas dresses yesterday. Why can't they just cooperate? And really, should Abby be the hardest one to get good pictures of? She can't seem to look at the camera most of the time.

Sophie's party

We had Sophie's "friend" party on Monday. Which was just cousins this year, since she doesn't get out much to make any other kinds of friends yet. We went to Chuck E Cheese and let the kids roam around for an hour and a half attempting to get as many tickets as possible so they could spend them on really lame toys. They had a blast and Sophie seemed to think it was pretty great. She was scared of the big mouse, so I didn't get a picture of her trying to give him a hug or anything. (She told me she was just shy.) The mom of one of the kids having a birthday had Chuck E bring out a crown for Sophie as well. She really liked it and I think it helped her not notice the fact that I went the cheapie route and didn't pay for the official birthday package.

We were especially excited that JoAnna, Jared, and Ember could join us since they are here from Texas for an extended visit. Yay!!! We just wish AJ could be here in Utah for the whole time too. I guess a month is a little bit more vacation than he should ask for at this point. (He's worked at his job since March.)

Here are some pictures of the event:

Ember is getting SO big!! And I'm jealous that she has so much more hair than Alice.

Alice had fun on some of the rides and generally just wandering around the building.

Sophie and Alice both freaked out and got scared on this ride. Wimps!

Sophie was VERY serious while we were singing to her.

Alice decided to cut out the middle man and just skip using her hands altogether.

I think the cupcakes were a hit.

Here's the party crew. At least Abby was looking in the right direction and smiling at the same time for once!

Chopped

Abby got a haircut. She LOVES it! I think it's pretty cute too. :)

Christmas cards

So, I've never really been one to send Christmas cards. I think about doing it every year - but somehow I haven't ever gotten around to it. Wait - I take that back. I think I sent Christmas cards one year before I was married, and that was just because I found some funny cards about snowmen and yellow snow. Funny, right?? I think I might have a couple floating around here somewhere. Maybe I could use those somehow . . .

Since I have three adorable girls, I need to start sending out cards or a letter or something to brag about how awesome they are. I at least need to reciprocate all the cards that get sent to us so we don't seem like such slackers. Shutterfly is having a promotion where I could get some Christmas photo cards to send. (these cards, these other cards, or maybe these) They look super easy to make and wouldn't require too much actual creativity on my part. It can't be as much work as thinking of and buying Christmas presents, right?

Anyway, maybe Shutterfly can actually pull me out of my Christmas card slump and I can send some sweet pictures of my little family around for everyone to see. Of course, then I'd have to choose from all of their cute layouts. Too much work for me? I guess we'll find out!

Here are some of the cute layouts they have - now I just need to find a great picture of my kids where they are ALL looking in the same direction!

I wish we were photogenic (models) like THESE people!

Happy Birthday Sophie!!

My little Sophie is 4 years old today!! She is such a little blessing to our home. Sophie is adorable, funny, kind, smart, loving, sassy, snuggly, and naughty - all rolled into one. Sometimes she is more diva than I want to handle, but I just love her to pieces. She comes up with the best phrases sometimes. Her most used one is "You hurt my heart." So sad, even when it's totally unjustified. I was telling her to be quiet or share or something in church and she looked at me and said "Don't even think about it!" Little stinker!!

Anyway, Sophie is a blessing to all of us and I'm so glad to have a day to celebrate her. She woke up to breakfast in bed - pink pancakes with chocolate chips / blueberries and syrup and whipped cream on top. She was pretty excited to be old enough to get to participate in this little tradition. Sophie got to open a few presents this morning and has had a pretty great day so far. We're going to see Tangled together as a family later and she is really looking forward to it. Thanks for being a part of our family Sophie!!

Shopping with kids

I just got back from shopping at Walmart with Sophie and Alice. I am feeling SO frazzled!!! I can't stand it. I think just Sophie would have been fine - but Alice is such a nightmare to shop with. Now I feel like I need a nap. And some chocolate. Bleh. I don't know how this is supposed to NOT be difficult.