Merry Christmas to All

One of Serra's favorite phrases right now is, "Merry Christmas to all!" and she uses it as a sort of goodbye to people when we leave- instead of just "Merry Christmas!" It's really cute- but the cutest thing, I think, is when she sings "Mr. Grinch" which I have yet to get on tape. But anywho... I just wanted to take a minute to post some pictures we took with our Christmas tree- and to wish all of our loved ones a VERY merry Christmas- wherever you are! We love you, wish for you to enjoy your holidays, and hope to see you sometime next year!

November!

Now that it's halfway through December, I'm finally blogging about November- I promise I won't be this late for December's pictures!

Serra and Alex loved the train in the South Towne Center Mall- it's now Serra's favorite mall [they also have a carousel that we rode].

We went on a "date" with just Serra and were lucky enough to plan our date on a night that there were FREE carriage rides at the Riverwoods Shopping Center- Serra got to be a princess!

The kids and I have an annual membership at the Living Planet Aquarium- Serra took this picture of me by a penguin picture.

Here is Serra and Alex by penguin photos their size.

Early in November it snowed and the kids just HAD to put on their full winter gear- for about 1/2 inch of snow! :)

Enjoying Thanksgiving dinner.

The food!

Serra and Alex patiently waiting for their feast! [these pictures were a little out of order...]

On Thanksgiving morning the kids ran their first races- they're wearing their finishers medals [and they both look SO thrilled!]

And here we are all bundled up for Mommy & Daddy's Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot 5k- it was super fun!

HALLOWEEN - The Day

Halloween day was a busy one. First, Serra had a preschool Halloween party. She finally got to wear her REAL costume that Mommy stayed up until 1am the night before finishing: Tinkerbell!

Alex is still wondering what all the excitement is about.

Here is Serra's preschool class reciting some poems and performing some songs for all the moms.


Then we went trick-or-treating at the mall, had some dinner at one of my new favorite restaurants: Sweet Tomatoes, and finally we went trick-or-treating old-school style... door to door!



After all the Halloween activities were over, both kids got a LOAD of candy!

HALLOWEEN - Activities Before

We started off our Halloween celebrations on Friday with Count Spatula's Scary Face Pancakes for FREE at IHOP. Alex's is more of a Picasso-look and Serra's looks EXACTLY like the picture they provided [no deviations from that girl!]


Then Friday afternoon we went to a trunk or treat at a local car dealership and off to the Halloween party at the community center. They had trick or treating along their track and a bunch of kids games in the gym. The only picture Serra wanted was one with her and Snow White... but she wouldn't look at the camera... Serra was Aurora this day.
Saturday morning was started a LOT earlier by me... I ran my second half marathon- the Provo Halloween Half Marathon. I will NOT be doing this race ever again- it was the funnest running, but the worst organization ever! But here are some pictures of me before the race, during and after.




Then we went to the Central Utah Gardens for a pumpkin walk- they had a walkway filled with carved and decorated pumpkins from their pumpkin contest. Here we all are.
And we had to get a picture of Cinderella with her pumpkin carriage from the pumpkin walk!

HALLOWEEN - CornBelly's

There is a cool place in Lehi called Thanksgiving Point that always has different things going on. One of the things they are most known for is CornBelly's- their corn maze and Halloween activities. This is actually the first year we have gone- because it was free through my dentist's office! But here are some pictures of the kids having so much fun that I'm convinced we'll be going every year that we're here!

October Fun

I got a bunch of kids costumes for really cheap at a yard sale- here's Serra trying on a Darth Vader mask. Too bad that costume was too big for this year!

Alex is always making this face- I'm glad I finally caught it on camera. Fish Face!

Serra was SO excited that she helped make the pizzas for dinner.

I ran in another 5k- the Murray Moonlight Run where we decked out with glow-in-the-dark paint and flashing lights, etc. and ran in the pitch black. It was LOTS of fun!

Guess who sits at a big boy table now? Yup- I just put the highchair you see in the background in storage in the garage a couple of days ago!

I think it's funny that they're both playing with their fingers and their mouths while watching a movie- neither of them were eating...


Here's Serra with her preschool class on their first field trip- to the fire station. Serra is the ONLY one NOT wearing her hat. At least she sat there for the picture!
Here's poor Alex with his cast on. A couple of weeks ago he fell somehow and partially dislocated his elbow [nursemaid's elbow] and broke his wrist [buckle fracture]. Luckily he's not in pain anymore now that he has a cast! We get it taken off on Monday!!!

Lastly, here are the kids playing in their first "fort" with Daddy. We need to work on the fort-building a little bit, but they enjoyed it!

September In a Flash

We ran a 5k with my sister & her husband- they're first! And I pushed the kids this time so Ian could push himself and I could stay back with my sister, who was pushing her son also. The front wheel of my stroller popped out after maybe a 1/2 mile, but with some help we got it back on and finished around the 45 minute mark. I am so proud of Paige and hope we can do it again next summer- and beat our time!

I ran my first half marathon- downhill the entire way- through Mt. Nebo/Payson canyon. It was beautiful and I finished in about 2 1/2 hours with inadequate training, so I was very pleased. I had lost some of my motivation for running and just was too lazy to do the full training. I paid for it in pain after this half marathon, but it was SO worth it! And one of my best friends, Abby Hansen, ran it with me- but about 30 minutes faster...

Serra started preschool and LOVES it. This is her in her preschool's T-shirt [they wear them on field trips, etc.] on her first day. Miss Jeanna has preschool in her basement and there are 13 other kids in Serra's class. She goes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday but wishes it were every day- well worth the money!

This is just a fun photo of the kids when we went to an expo- they for whatever reason had this really huge rocking chair... still kind of confused by that.

Ian and I also went on a date [thanks to my aforementioned friend, Abby, who watched the kids!]

We went to see Weird Al Yankovic in concert at the Utah State Fair- it was SO fun!

And for just a couple of weeks the kids went to The Little Gym for some gymnastics classes. They really loved them and they learned a lot, but it's REALLY pricey and something we couldn't keep up long-term. Here is a picture of each of them struttin' their stuff!

September went by so quickly, if it weren't for my planner I wouldn't remember what happened! I can't believe fall- and the holidays- are here so quickly! I'm really excited for Halloween this year- it will be a lot of fun with the kids since they're both at different fun stages. I also have another half marathon that I'm inadequately trained for... apparently becoming a regular thing with me... And hopefully I keep up the blog a little better this month!