Yesterday was a big day. We went to go buy shoes for Peter because he currently has one pair and they were wet. So at the store, he got his feet measured and we were looking at size eight shoes and I suddenly realized I had about four pairs of hand me down size eight shoes. Glad the trip to the store resulted in more shoes for absolutely nothing.

We went to the library and than the  Springville Art Museum and saw their current display of religious art. It was a great display. Then it was a trip up to Salt Lake, to see the lights at temple square. And more museums. Too many museums for one day. But…it was all pretty awesome as well. Peter enjoyed the lights and did pretty well at the museums. His favorite part were the bunks at the church history museum he could climb into. He would have probably stayed there for a good hour.

Today was much lazier. We went to the store. That’s about it. But it is Christmas Eve tomorrow! Tonight, after Peter took his nap from 6-7 (that boy’s nap schedule is all sorts of weird) we were sitting on the couch. I was eating crackers and dipping them in a batch of hummus. So Peter handed me the package of crackers. I gave two to him, one for each hand, and then he dipped them in the container with the hummus (even though he didn’t get any dip) and than ate the cracker. He is adorable.

Here is one Christmas tradition I remember enjoying every year:

Countdown chains. Just take kiss-ish candy, hot glue onto ribbon, put bow on top. Hanging them has often been a challenge: this year I used strong magnets on my refrigerator. Which meant no nail holes in the wall, and no duct tape to prevent them pulling through the nail holes. And they are very short right now, because Christmas is coming up quick!

We had tons of snow today. Appropriate with the first day of winter tomorrow. It was pretty wet snow. Peter and I went outside exploring in it. He liked the sled a lot, but I’m disappointed in the lack of hills around my current house: I had to pull the sled around. There was also this time where he turned around to go down a hill, and continued to crawl backwards when he realized he could slide on the snow. He went for a good ten feet before stopping. Kids are funny. I hope the snow lasts, it is pretty warm. It would be nice to have snow around when Joe’s on break (he’s taking finals this week) so we can go somewhere with small hills and sled.

And I’ve already had my Christmas Eve party with my family. My sister took off to Florida so we had it early. My family got a toddler basketball hoop and poinsettia (I love having a poinsettia and almost didn’t get one). Peter already knows how to dunk it. It helps that everyone would cheer quite loudly when he did it. It was so much fun to spend time with all my family. That’s one of the best things about Christmas.

I did not send out formal Christmas card, but always enjoy reading recaps of peoples’ lives over the year. So here is what happened to my little family this year:

Joe graduated a year ago, worked at Icon for a month, got laid off,  then found a job at APX Alarm doing tech support. So we moved from Logan to a new apartment in Springville in March. He started physical therapy school in May, which he very much enjoys. It is fun working towards a career. He has done very well, and maintained a good balance between work, school, and his family.

Peter is growing, and growing. He is large for his age and also adorable. His favorite things right now are reading stories, eating fig newtons, bouncing, and most of all going exploring outside. This year he has learned to sit, crawl, gained almost 16 teeth, walk, and started learning to talk. And he turned a year old.

Liz started out the year teaching the free gardening class for the extension office again. Most of her time has been spent taking care of Peter. She also spends lots of time cooking, cleaning,  sewing, and even had a small patio garden out back. Liz is also attempting to start her own horticulture business. Only a few clients so far, but high hopes for next season.

Fun things our family did this year included:

• Hiking, trails include: Stewart Falls, Wadsworth Canyon, Diamond Fork Hot Springs, Day’s Canyon, the Y, and several other unnamed trails. We discovered a wonderful new canyon, Hobble Creek, after leaving Logan Canyon behind.
• Played disk golf on courses in Utah County. One time included ending up up to my chest in mud.
• We went on vacation to the Grand Tetons, and camped there a couple nights. We also had an overnight family reunion in July up in Heber. And Peter got to go to Disneyland for his first birthday with his mommy and grandparents.
• Moved, and started to make lots of new friends. We all love where we live.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I am happy to be able to post today. This blog/site has undergone some big changes. Okay, so there’s nothing different you can see, but I recently changed web hosts. I thought I had it, but my computer lied to me and then I spent a couple hours finding and fixing what was wrong. Quite exciting. I actually loving solving computer problems, provided I have nothing else to do, and it doesn’t take me forever.

It is winter and snowy. Actually today we had rain on top of snow, so everything is slush. Not horrible for Christmas–maybe some of the snow/slush will stick around until then. I also was given a poinsettia for a Christmas present that is now brightening up my house. It got a little tattered in the several car rides it took to get it here, but I just need it to last for a week. I’m actually more worried about the over-watering (a perpetual problem of retail store plants) for long term survival.

The question is, do I want to keep it after Christmas? Many people have it as a year-round houseplant. But poinsettias need long day length to form the lovely red leaves (they are not flowers, so you know). That means around 12 hrs or so of uninterrupted darkness. A single bulb on can ruin the flowering process. I used to know a bunch of sciency details about this all. I don’t want to look it all up, the results are all that is important anyway.

I might keep it, if its doing well and not giving me too many problems. But I’m planning on throwing it out. After all, a trip to nursery in the winter is something to look forward too.

We didn’t go on a hike this week. Instead we went Christmas shopping and watched Harry Potter. I was happy to find some very good deals shopping, along with using e-bay. Plus I found 4 new shirts for $10 and Joe found a pair of shoe for $6. That was at DI, that is kind of a hit and miss store, but is often very useful to stay under budget. So most of the presents are wrapped under the tree.

Last week I also celebrated Hanukkah for the first time, with my neighbor who has Jewish heritage. Besides eating wonderful traditional food like latkes, we made and lighted menorahs with clay and birthday candles. It was quite fun. And for the first time in my life I saw a birthday candle melt all the way down. It doesn’t take very long. When we were first invited, I wondered why we would celebrate Hanukkah because we are not Jewish. But it’s a fun tradition that I think wouldn’t mind doing every year. So thanks to my neighbor for introducing me!

Another fun happening was watching my little brother play jr. high basketball. It’s entertaining. And not stressful. Sometimes with sporting events its easy to care a lot who wins, but Junior High its not as big a deal. Plus my brothers team did blow out the other team. Peter really enjoyed it as well. I’m disappointed my brother isn’t playing college ball this year (he just had back surgery)–last year we did go to a few of his games and had lots of fun.  But the little brother’s games are fun too.

It came and went and was pretty uneventful. I went to my parents. It was small. My four grandparents (all alive and well, which is neat), parents, Riss and Daniel, and my little family were all there. One of the smallest thanksgivings I’ve had, but I enjoyed it. It was nice to be able to fit at one table and have leftover turkey. My mom is an excellent cook too, so all the food was wonderful. I poured rainbow jell-o again this year. Delicious–certainly the dish that makes thanksgiving thanksgiving. More so than turkey. We played apples to apples with everyone. I lost, didn’t get a single card. 😦 My grandparents even did better than me. Family is wonderful, and I’m lucky to have so much around.

We went to the Scarlet Pimpernal the night before. There was a guy in our ward that was in the play, but not performing that night because he switched. Should have checked. It was still good. The great thing was apparently Peter cried when we left, calmed down played for about twenty minutes and then he laid down and went to sleep on the floor. I love it when kids are good for babysitters. And I don’t think you can get much better.

I babysat a bunch of kids a couple weeks ago. It’s lots of fun. More kids aren’t that much harder either. They help entertain one another. I have a bunch of cute neighbor kids close in age to Peter. I like where I live because of that.

Heather was also able to stop by and take some family pictures for us on her way home from her in-laws thanksgiving. Peter was very tired, so we might try again when he’s not. But here are some of the ones I liked. (Heather wanted to edit them a bit, but I took them anyway. Because I don’t think they need it.)

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