Good times in Dallas

We just got home from a fabulous trip to Dallas to visit Chad, Britt and Nolan. We did so many fun things - here are the highlights.

A fun plane ride. Rease got her own seat on a couple of the flights - yes we had 5 flights total which was a bummer, but we got cheap tickets so we weren't complaining too much.

Aunt Hayley taught Nolan and Rease a new computer game...and then she spent the rest of the weekend playing it herself. I have to admit, I got hooked on it too!

Wearing her new backpack. Which by the way, she loves this thing and doesn't want to take it off.

Taking bubble baths. Rease didn't know what to make of the bubbles, she kept trying to wipe them off her hands.
Shopping.

Going for rides with grandpa.
Reading with grandma.Visiting Chad's work. He works for Bain Consulting and they have a really cool building that has great Christmas decorations.
Plus, outside of their building there are some cool horse statues that are, according to some magazine, one of the top ten things to see in Dallas.


Playing in a toy train. I think this was more for decoration, but oh well.

Taking some crazy rides in the stroller with grandpa.
And visiting the best ice sculpture exhibit ever. It had 2 million pounds of ice made into houses, villages, slides, nativity scenes, you name it. We were all given parkas to wear because it was 9 degrees inside. The kids were bundled and we all had a great time.

We had such a fun time - it was hard to leave! Thanks Chad and Britt for having us crash at your house and showing us a great time!

Oscar

Last week we had the pleasure of having Rease's little friend Oscar stay overnight with us. They had such a great time playing together and it was so easy for me because they are on the same sleeping/playing/eating schedules. Rease loves playing with other kids and had a great two days with Oscar!

We put them in the bath together before they went to bed (they will be so embarrassed of these pictures when they are older - hee hee.) They splashed and played for a long time before I decided to get them ready for bed.

I love this of them and the towels - what cuties!

The next morning I got them both bundled up and we headed to the grocery store. I couldn't get a very good picture of them both sitting still, but they look so cute in their beanies and coats.

Having a good time in the shopping cart - so smart for stores to have things like this for kids to be entertained while mom shops!

We had such a great time with you Oscar - Please come play again!

Our girl

I love being a mom - especially to this crazy Rease. She is at such a fun age right now and I wanted to just post a few of her moments she's had lately.

Rease is in love with her boots. She wants to wear them all the time - including bedtime as you can see here. And yes, her pajamas are skin tight on her but that's what you get with a chubby kid like ours!

This is one of those times as a mom that you should be mad, but instead get out the camera for a quick picture. I don't know what she was thinking when she climbed into this drawer - she's never done it before and hasn't tried it since, I guess it was just a day for her to try something new.

Josh makes protein shakes every morning and night and Rease has recently been interested in trying it out. She of course loves it and now has to have a shake of her own when he makes one. It's too thick to come out of the holes in her sippy cup, so she has to drink it without the lid on - what a mess she makes, but look how happy she is because of it!

Thanks dad for the delicious shake!

I love my crazy girl!

Candy Making Day

We had our annual chocolate making day after Thanksgiving. We are getting down to only a few of us now that Chad and Britt and Garrett are gone. Plus somehow during the day dad and Justin find their way to the couches to watch football and sleep rather than help us much. Anyway, we had a great time of course and made lots of candy - the menu this year: peanut butter cups, peanut clusters, caramels, turtles, pretzels, toffee and cookies.

Josh invited one of his young men to come spend the day with us - he was a big help and mastered the art of twirling the caramel around the pretzels.

Hayley was our expert white chocolate drizzler...

and a day isn't a day without some sort of stunt from Josh. This is his "I am so distinguished with my chocolate mustache and beard" look.

This is part of the final product - we have a great time every year! Thanks everyone for enjoying the day with us!

Trax and Christmas Lights

I feel like I've been out of the blogging world for a couple of weeks and I am glad to be back. Two reasons for this - our computer had a little meltdown and it has taken us a little while to get it back up and running. Also, I have technically been out of a camera for the last little while and have had to rely on other people to take pictures of the things that we are doing. Anyway, Black Friday was good to us because we got a camera and now have a way to take pictures again (pictures and stories of our black friday adventures are soon coming.)

Friday after Thanksgiving we rode tracks to Salt Lake to see the Christmas lights on Temple Square. I haven't been on tracks forever and I believe it was Rease's first time. We had a blast and loved that we didn't have to find a parking spot! Josh carried Rease in the backpack and she was all bundled and ready to go.

For some reason, she has a fascination with airplaines and points to the sky whenever she hears one. It's so cute.

This is the best family shot we could get - trying to hold the camera ourselves and get all three of us in.
We had such a fun night and it wasn't too cold either. I love Christmas time and am so glad the season is officially here!