A Christmas Carol

Of course I forgot my camera and only have phone pics from our annual viewing of Hale Center Theaters presentation of A Christmas Carol. It was an incredible night. The kids absolutely loved the play! (Sophie kept saying "Mom, this is a good movie!") And although there have been years where it wasn't quite as good, this year it was excellent!! The actors did a great job and I loved it! I love this family tradition and it was fun to have the Buchanans there.


















-posted from my iPhone

{ Christmas traditions }

Christmas Recital

We have a lot of Christmas traditions, which is what makes this time of year so special. Since Ayden started preschool at JDS back in 2007 we have attended a Christmas dance recital. Now granted, that first year was a pretty total bust when he freaked out and wouldn't go on stage after we had been sitting in the audience for almost 3 hours, but fortunately he has come a long way.

Our concert this year was short and sweet, which is a nice change from previous years. It was a benefit concert put on by 2 other studios in addition to ours. Fortunately we got to go first.

It is a pretty stressful night considering I am not only a teacher at the studio but I have 2 of my own kids performing as well. Sophie's team just did one dance this year but Ayden is on 3 different teams! Their dances went great and its always a joy to see them perform. Brammy came up to watch and we are thankful for her love and support.

{Camryn and Sophie }

{ Sophie's team . . . Mini Co }

(there are also 4 boys on her team, not in the picture)

{Ayden's team . . . Prodigy }

(he is also on Mini Jazz and DaGroove)

I'm so proud of my kids. I'm so happy that they love what I love and we get to share these great nights together. And I'm so grateful for a husband that is in full support of all the dancing that goes on in our lives.

Frontrunner and Lights

Last year we started a new tradition of riding the frontrunner downtown and going to see the lights at Temple Square with the Bott family. They are our good friends and will most likely be moving soon but this is a tradition we have vowed to keep as long as we can, even after they move. (tear)

{ on the way downtown }

( not sure why Ashlee is so unhappy )

We caught the frontrunner at 4:36 (barely) and it takes about 30 minutes to get to the station downtown. Last year we looked for somewhere to eat by the Temple but wander aimlessly for quite some time. This year we played it safe and went straight to The Gateway. We knew the kids would be thrilled with McDonalds at the food court and then at least we'd have some options.

{ dinner at the food court }

{ Some pretty bundled up kiddos }

The lights never cease to amaze me. How they can get that many lights on those trees is just unbelieveable to me. It's beautiful.

{ The Bott family. Lee, Ashlee, Brooke, Cami, Nicole and Daci }

{ The Hammer clan }

{ Best friends }

{ inside getting warmed up }

{ Waiting to catch Trax back to the station }

Riding Trax back to the station:

We missed the earlier train home and ended up sitting on the next train for about 40 minutes waiting for it to leave. We figured that way we would be sure not to miss it and the kids had a blast playing hide and seek on the empty train.

I love this tradition and I really hope we can find time each December to see the lights with the Botts.

Christmas Pajamas

We love the tradition of Christmas Pjs and we decided to give the kids their new pajamas a little early this year. We had a nice dinner and for family night Logan talked to the kids about why we give/get presents for Christmas. He explained that it is because Christ gave us the gift of the Atonement and continues to give us gifts in the form of blessings, and thats what we should remember when we give or receive gifts this Christmas.

They were so excited to open their presents and very excited about their new pajamas and slippers!

{ seriously, that face. }

{ Ayden 7, Myla 21 months, Sophie 5 }

For some reason the kids were serious about taking a picture with Mom. The girls were fighting over sitting on my lap for a picture. Even Boston got in on the action, silly dog.

They are all snug in their beds in their new jams right now. Good night my babies.

Merry Christmas.

{ Twas the night . . . }

. . . we went to the annual Kurt Bestor Christmas Concert. This is one of my favorite traditions my family has and I am so thankful to my parents for making it all possible. There is no better way to get into the Christmas spirit than listening to that beautiful music.

{We were trying to get a picture of us with the sea anemone that decorates Abravanel Hall . . }

The music was beautiful as usual, just like the company.

{ Jenny and Trevor . . . Todd and Kirsten }

This wasn't like any other concert, though. This time the boys in the family were determined to get my Dad up on stage to read Twas the night before Christmas, Kurt Bestor style. He pulls someone up from the audience each year and Dad usually jokes that he really wants to do it.

So as they started to get the stage ready Grandpa started hollering at Kurt to look over our way. Then Brian started in and finally Logan yelled "We've got your guy over here!!" And what do ya know . . . he said "Well, send him up!"

Next thing you know, there's my Dad on the stage with Kurt Bestor!! It was awesome!

Dad was incredible. One of his good friends, Michael Dowdle, is in the band that plays with Kurt each Christmas and when they were talking after the show Kurt said my Dad was one of the best he's ever had. He was such a natural up there, reading the story and even dancing a little. It was such a memorable night. I'm sad that Mikey missed it but I tried to record as much as I could until my memory card was full. The video was too large to load though.

It was an incredible night!

{ The Tree }

We always keep the tradition of getting all of our Christmas decorations out the day after Thanksgiving. Our kids so look forward to it as do Logan and I. We finish off the day by setting up the tree and decorating it.

Well this year we decided to get a real tree. I had a real tree a few times growing up that I can remember, but Logan has very fond memories of always having a real Christmas tree. So Saturday afternoon we went to a tree lot and found the perfect tree.

It doesn't look like much strapped to the top of our car, but she's a beauty! We had quite the adventure setting it up but once we did we were so excited to decorate! Logan and Ayden started with the lights.

As you can see, Ayden thought this was the greatest job. They had a system all worked out and he was a great helper.

Then I came in with the ribbon and bows. This is how Logan and I would love to leave the tree, just classy. But the kids get such a thrill out of seeing all their old ornaments on the tree.

Next up the kids divided up the ornaments and went to town. They did a really great job! (I only had to move a few of Sophie's spatially challenged ornaments)

And last but not least, they always love to help Daddy put the star on top. This tree is so huge that they couldn't reach the top.

Myla was asleep while we decorated but when she woke up she was thrilled with the new additions to the tree. We love having our Christmas tree up. It creates such a wonderful feeling in our home. Logan loves to get the kids hot cocoa and sit in the dark room with only the lights from the tree. I hope that having a Christmas tree up will always be a fond memory for our kids as they grow up just like it was for us.

{ Big day for Lew }

Sophie has had a loose tooth giving her grief for a few weeks now. I thought she would be like Ayden and have no problem pulling her loose teeth out because she's so tough. Man was I wrong! Even when she realized that the permanent tooth was coming in behind it she wouldn't let me anywhere near it!

So finally she decided to go for it herself. Logan told her to just grab it and crank it down as hard and fast as she could. Well, it worked! Our Lewis girl lost her first tooth!

I think she looks so cute and so grown up. She does not agree. I can't even count the number of times she has said to me "Mom, I look weird with my tooth out. I don't like it." Who knew a 5 year old could be so vain! Silly girl. I can't believe my baby girl is so big! Way to go Lew!