Christmas Happenings!

I can't believe Christmas has come and gone already. I love the Christmas season and this year has been one of my favorites. Watching the anticipation in a 4 year old is quite exciting! Thank goodness for countdowns and fun activities leading up to Christmas. Here are some pictures of our festivities from this month.

Morgan had 2 dance recitals this month, 1 at the Festival of trees (see video on post below) and another one with her the school of dance that she attends. She did a great job and I was surprised that she wasn't shy or scared about dancing in front of people.

For one of our F.H.E. activities we rode TRAX downtown Salt Lake to look at the lights on Temple square. It sure beats finding a place to park.

Morgan's awesome pre-school teacher had a Christmas program. All the kids in the class were cute little elves, they sang songs and memorized parts for the program. Morgan said her part loud and clear (unlike last year, when she was so incredibly shy and didn't mouth a word the whole night).

cute little props for the songs

Christmas Eve was spent at my sisters house. We ate A LOT of yummy food and had the kids act out the nativity.

Morgan and Seth as Mary & Joseph - Clare was a sheep and Grey was a Shepard, Ian was our narrator. We also sang a few songs afterwards despite my VERY rusty piano fingers.

This year I decided not to get the kids new jammies, because they have so many, but instead I bought "The night before Christmas" for the kids to open up on Christmas Eve. We read a few books and the kids were so excited about the next morning that they were in bed by 9:00. Ian slept on Morgan's floor and they laughed and giggled for a while. Jeff and I were able to enjoy watching a Movie together before Santa came.

Santa left a lot of loot for the kids - Morgan got her much wanted Lala Loopsy doll, Barbies and Make-up. Ian got a new watch, a skateboard and a wallet - he also left them Lion King and Cars 2.

After going to church and opening our other presents we drove down to Provo to be with Great Grandma Shane and Aunt Mary. We had a delicious Ham dinner together. Morgan is showing Grandma Shane her new barbies.

I'm already looking forward to next years Christmas with more new memories made.

Dance Recital

This is from Morgan's first dance recital with her class. She performed at the Festival of Trees earlier this month. She did an awesome job!

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was different for us this year. Usually it's just the 4 of us, but we were delighted to spend time with Jeff's Grandma Shane in her house in Provo. She lives in a really cool famous house (a few scenes from footloose were filmed there). She is nearly 90 years old and had 19 of us over for Thanksgiving day. We saw some of Jeff's Aunts, Uncles, and cousins that we rarely get to see, and Jeff's Mom and Dad were there too. I made A LOT of rolls and a chocolate pie for the occasion. Here are a few pictures. I wish I would have taken more, but I got too busy helping with dinner and visiting with family.

Morgan and Grandma Jo

Enjoying Football before Dinner

One of the beautiful tables

Place Setting that Ian and Grandma Jo Made

Halloween

Morgan dressed as a witch for Halloween this year. She wanted to be a mean witch with a green face but this costume was bought last year after Halloween and was more of a whimsical witch than a mean witch. Ian dressed as a skater dude, but I didn't get any pictures of him this year. Morgan's preschool went to Gardner Village to find all the cool witches. My favorite witch was the one on the "eye" phone, it was awesome, it was super chilly that day and I didn't take too many pictures.

Morgan with one of her very good friends!

Dancing

Morgan has been wanting to start dance class since she was 3. She loves music, dancing and singing. She'll sing along to radio songs in the car, she'll dance to music whenever and wherever she has the chance. So, this fall she started dance class at Becky's school of Dance. She is in the 3-5 year old combo class. The first 30 minuets they do ballet and the last 15 minuets they do tap. She absolutely LOVES it and has been a fast learner. Right now the class is getting ready for their Christmas recital. She loves to practice at home and last week she insisted that her daddy come watch her dance.

Another Birthday in the Shane Household

Jeff turned 41 last Friday. He is not big into celebrating too big, and Birthday's are just another day for him. He did take the day off of work and spent most of the day in the garage working on his Halloween project. We celebrated with the kids on Thursday night. I made a cake (it was SO incredibly hard for me not to have some) and he opened his presents. Jeff is really hard to buy for, but this year he mentioned that he would like to have the Star Wars Saga on Blu Ray, and that is what he got. We stayed up that night to watch Episode 1. On Friday night Jeff and I went to one of his favorite places Tucanos at the Gateway and then we went to see a Laser/light show at the Planetarium. Only 1 word came to my mind the whole time watching it "trippy", It was to Led Zeplin music (jeff is a fan), and honestly it was just weird to me. You must have to be high on something to understand it fully. We had a great time together though and I just love spending time alone with Jeff. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to an amazing husband & father.

It's been tradition that Jeff gets chocolate with his gifts

Powdered Sugar Flew everywhere :)!

Mars & The Moon

Last Friday I took the kids on TRAX. Ian had been once or twice when he was a lot younger, and Morgan had never been. Morgan was pretty quiet the whole way until we got into Salt Lake, she was so amazed that the train could be on the street and I explained that we were still on the train tracks, but in the middle of the street. We took TRAX downtown to the Gateway Mall and spent sometime in the Planitarium. We were too early to see any of the IMAX movies so we just hung out and I gave them each $5 to spend in the gift shop.

Here are a few pictures from our day!