Idaho Wagners

Boise is about a 5 hour drive from my parents' house. 4 1/2 says mapquest, 5 1/2 says a nursing baby. We weren't planning on going there but we woke up Thursday morning with ideas "Dave, you want to go to Idaho?" "What, today? Sure!" We packed the kids up in Grandma's mini van and made the drive to visit the Idaho Wagners.
Ted and Leslie are good sports and didn't seem to mind our last minute crash at their house. We had such a great visit. It has been way too long. We got to see their beautiful new house and meet our beautiful new neice, Tessa. It was so good to see them we wished we could have seen the whole Wagner family too and met our 2 other new nieces.

Leslie cooked us a beautiful salmon dinner, the kids played great (here's a picture of some Wii tennis) and we love talking to Ted and Leslie late at night with Otis Spunkmeyer. And of course no visit is complete without a wild chicken ride.

Christmas trip

We're recuperating from our trip. We spent almost two weeks in WA with my family. We're tired from the travel and schedules are off....but it's always worth it. Now we get to sleep in our own beds and have first dibs on the computer...but we're already missing the Woodworths. First off, we want to thank everyone for putting up with our sleep deprived crankiness, fussy baby and independent toddler. And big thanks to Brinna for letting us take over her bedroom, bathroom and all. Thanks for all the helping hands, Gagey bouncing, Noah entertaining, mall runs, loud guns and big machines for the guys, late late nights playing games with my fiesty mom and the food food food. As usual I'm not a good picture taker when I'm enjoying myself so I never get as many pictures at Christmas time as I would like, but here are some highlights:
Christmas morning: Early wake-up, cookies for Santa, carrots for the reindeer, stockings filled, yes we would still do all of this even without the kids. So fun. I'm still trying to mentally burn the image of Noah running down the hall ...trot trot trot... after waking up the house, excited about what Santa may have brought. Everyone's gifts were so thoughtful and we had so much fun this year planning what we were giving.
Here's my sister Dana holding baby G. Gage was held and loved by all his aunts and Noah had many playmates. Dana was a patty cake pro, Erin the merp lady and Brinna bounced until her arms were jell-o.
Kate and Justin drove up from Rexburg. So fun to see them...even if Justin did get that metropolis... Miss you guys!
Great Grandma and Grandpa Brown. Four generations in one room. He says that never happened when he was growing up, no such thing as great grandparents...I'm so glad there is today! I've learned so much from these great people.
Long stay, long trip home, back to our little routine.

Merry Christmas

sNoW DaY

The other day we got dumped with snow. This did NOT put a smile on my face as I forecasted the hassle the snow would bring us. So we shoveled our car out and made it safely to church with only a couple brodys in the parking lot....I still have my suspicions on how necessary these were. I envied our fellow church goers who were clad in snow boots under their dresses and over their suit pants as that cold water jumped right into my black wedges. I chased the 2 year old (who refuses to wear a coat) but couldn't stop him in time from stomping into the big piles of snow the snowplow left us. Somehow we got in the building and made it through the 3 hours. It was the same story on the way home..."Momma, I'm SO cold"...wet wet feet....shovel shovel....stomp stomp...wet carpet....coat, gloves, hats, bags, boots strewn all over the entry way. Don't we love snow?

But the next day baby number two was asleep and I had a burst of energy. Noah and I bundled up (snowpants, gloves, hat, snowboots, and YES! a coat) and went outside. We rode the sled down to the mail box, fell backwards into untouched snow to make angels, made a snowman and even rode the sled down the little hill a few times. This time when we were done the story went like this.... "Momma, will you help me take off my coat please?"....wet wet feet...stomp stomp stomp...wet carpet...coat, gloves, hats, boots strewn all over the entry way. But this time WE LOVE SNOW! It always amazes me that when I embrace something instead of gloomily anticipate something...I find joy. The snow is still snow, but I can love it.

"There seems to be magic in the very name of Christmas" ~Charles Dickens

Busy busy week. Lots of Christmas. Here's a peek at our Christmas fun....

Christmas tradition #1 We love fresh cut Christmas trees.

Christmas tradition #2 Creme Brulee with Cherice. There is one more sitting in my fridge and I'm thinking if my husband isn't home by the time I finish this post its all mine...

Christmas tradition #3 Treats treats and more treats. Kate M. taught me how to make these little guys. Perfect to make with kids. (Step 1 Place caramel hershey kisses on baking sheet. Step 2 Place round pretzel over top of kisses. Step 3 Bake at 200 for 2 min. Step 4 Squish melty kiss down with m&m. Done!)

Christmas tradition #4 Oh the advent calendar.... There's a really fun one I want to make out of burlap, twine, some red paint... but during my unambitious days I borrowed this idea from Mrs. S. A muffin tin filled with candy and wrapped with wrapping paper. Every day until Christmas Noah gets to punch through the paper and eat a candy. Today was the first day, he says "I want to poke holes, eat the candy all gone, and then it will be Christmas!" We might need to work on this advent concept a little more.

Christmas tradition #5 More Treats! For neighbors and friends. My VTs helped me do the tags today (and my dishes).

Christmas tradition #6 24 chapters in Luke, one for every day until Christmas.

Christmas tradition #7 Play Nativity

There have been other things and there will be more things. But I'm trying not to make it about things. It's about LOVE. Love for my friends and family. Love with my Noah. Love of, for and from the Savior. Do you feel it?

PS Dave is eating his creme brulee. Lucky man. He did let me have a bite though :)

Gagey has found his toes

Traditions

Every time a holiday comes around, it's so fun to decide how we're going to do it. What do we want to do for Easter? What does Thanksgiving look like to you? Sometimes we're preserving classic traditions, sometimes we're renovating them. And sometimes we're building new ones from the ground. We have a handful that I think will stick with us and we have another handful that need that big wrecking ball.

This Thanksgiving we started the morning with a 5K run, Dave played some football, we wrote down things we were thankful for, we cooked and then we had a BEAUTIFUL dinner with our family away from family. Kim's homemade rolls, Rebecca's yummy yams and apples with caramel sauce, and of course the apple crumb pie were my favorites.

The 5 K was a new addition this year. We thought "Wouldn't this be a great Thanksgiving tradition to do as a whole family?" And it was great. My running Rebecca friend ran with me and Dave pushed the jogging stroller with the babies all bundled up. (And yes, he still beat us.) We felt great, we had fun. But then it started snowing wet wet snow, babies' hands were frozen and mascara was coming off in frozen clumps. As soon as those stroller wheels stopped, the kids were done. The freezing trek back to the car with the screaming babies pretty much decided against this tradition for the whole family....we'll just stick with the apple crumb pie.