Do We Have to Go Back to School?

Kylie & Matthew go back to school this week, after being off-track since Christmas. Our time off-track always goes by too quickly. One of the places we visited during their break was the Hogle Zoo.

We've never been in the winter, and while it was cold, it was the perfect time to go because there was almost nobody there. We practically had the place to ourselves.

We spent most of the time playing peek-a-boo with this guy. There are 3 tigers that were born last summer, and they are adorable. Well, until you make eye contact and realize all they want is to have you as a snack.

K & M love the snake slide at the zoo. It is usually insanely crowded, but much to our surprise there was not another kid in sight. I think we'll be visiting the zoo more often in the winter.

Kylie spent some time at the orthodontist this week, and her mouth is now full of metal. She has jaw-widening retainers glued into both the top and bottom of her mouth. She'll wear them for about 6 months until she gets her first set of braces. Poor Ky-ky, braces before she's 8 to fix the mess she inherited from me. I will try to post a pic of her mouth later - she's asleep and I don't want to post it without her approval.

Matthew has developed a strange new habit. He insists on wearing his church clothes (isn't he handsome?) all day on Sundays now. The rest of us jump right into our sweats the second we get through the door. He says it helps him remember it's Sunday and to be good. I can't argue with that.

Speaking of Church, it has been a very church-filled week around here. I was asked to speak in church last week. It was my first time speaking in Sacrament, and I survived. Then Kylie was asked to sing in Sacrament, and we practiced all week. I've had "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus" in my head non-stop - it's a good song to have stuck in your head, I think I've probably been a little nicer this week ;) I had the chance to volunteer to clean the conference center in Salt Lake late Thursday night. That was actually pretty fun. We also had our ward Temple night Friday - and instead of only one of us going while the other stayed home with the kids, we actually got a sitter and went together. So nice.

Happy 2010

We rang in the New Year with hours of games with some good friends. That cute girl about to knock over the Jenga tower is one of my kids' favorite people in the world. She has been their only babysitter for several years, and we LOVE her.

Sadly, these are the only pics I have of New Years, and I only took them because I wanted to catch that tower falling over.

New Year's Day was spent playing in the snow. Is it just my kids, or do all kids think snow is the greatest and want to roll around in it for hours? They will be just as excited to play in it in April - they never get tired of it.

Yesterday we went to Build-a Bear. Mema sent Kylie & Matthew gift cards for Christmas because she knows it is one of their favorite places on earth.
Kylie took over 20 minutes just to decide which one to get. It came down to the dalmation and the polar bear. We already have a unicorn, a monkey, a dog, a panda and 2 other bears - they are slightly obsessed.

Matthew took about 5 seconds glancing at his choices and went straight for the black bear. That is how Matthew works - he always knows what he wants, no second guessing.

The bears had a very thorough bath.

Tada! All dressed and ready to go - Darth Bear and Polar Princess.

Thank you Mom - the kids had so much fun building their perfect bear, and they have been loving on them non-stop.

That's a Wrap!

We drove through the lights at Thanksgiving Point again this year.

It's so pretty and peaceful in the snow.

I love that they have the story of Christ's birth followed with a manger scene at the end to remind us what all the celebration is about.

Matthew was up and going again on Christmas Eve, so we went to visit Grandma.

Playing games with cousin Kitty, visiting from Washington.

Evidence that Santa was here! He ate all his cookies, and the reindeers gobbled up the carrots.

Daddy opening a wallet from Kylie. I'm not going to post any other pictures of the present opening frenzy because it looked like a toy store threw up. And I left it that way for 4 whole days - yikes. But, see the Wii sitting in the corner there? That was Santa's gift to Kylie & Matthew. I think I like it as much as they do - I'm loving bowling, boxing and baseball in my family room. That's saying a lot since I absolutely hate most video games.

Matthew checking out his stocking.

The day after Christmas, we went to see the lights at Temple Square with John's family. As you can see I am wearing approximately 16 layers of clothing under my coat, but it was 13 degrees!

The lights were beautiful as always.