Christmas Morning!
The kids were all excited to get what they had asked Santa for.
What a sweet old man!
Mom and dad got them puppets and mom made a puppet theater for them to put on shows for us and any willing victims ;)
Tyson got a train table
and Taylor and Tanner got a lego table (2 for one deal!)
The top flips over and the other side seconds as a place for putting together all their legos.
The aftermath
The puppet theater in action.
Jess got lots of stuff for her doll. Her Aunt Mindy gave her a super neat set of hair dressing needs (extra fun since Mindy is a hairdresser), and Santa gave her the chair. We have had so much fun doing 'Kelsey's' hair! Cosmetology school here we come!
The day after Christmas we headed down to the Church History Museum. We needed a distraction for a couple of hours as we were surprising the kids by staying over downtown at the Shilo Inn, seeing the lights, and getting in some swim time!
Tyson took matters into his own hands and drove with both steering wheels.
The kids loved the new exhibit "A Book of Mormon Fiesta: A Latin–American Celebration"
Their favorite was learning to dance. They had videos of Latin dancers and clothes for them to wear.
Taylor looks almost authentic...just picture a sombrero instead of his Tony Hawk hat!
We then headed to the hotel where we parked around back so the kids had no idea where we were. Phil ran inside to get us all checked in and came back with a luggage cart. The kids were slightly confused as to why he was pushing one of those. We then explained that we were staying over night and they started freaking out...with excitement, and then concerned that they didn't have any clothes, or their swimsuits. They were overjoyed when they discovered the back of the van packed with all their needs!
After a delicious dinner at Olive Garden we walked the four blocks to Temple Square to see the lights. I was over the moon that "my" red tree was lit up this year, so we had to get pictures!
The sleeping arrangements.
They all looked so cute snuggled up together.
Tyson did not appreciate that he didn't get to join them.
They all fell right to sleep and we swam the day away the next day until check-out time.
It was so much fun to have a little stay-cation and be together with our little family.
I think it will become a tradition!
For New Years the Stotts were down to celebrate. After dinner and games at my mom's we rang in the New Year about 8:30pm with a count down Phil found on the computer.
Then we set off some fireworks...
and called it a night ;)
We took one last family picture of 2011 (thank you, self-timer).
Phil and I...okay Phil watched a movie and I slept ;)
Thankfully our neighbors set off several large fireworks so I woke up in time to ring in the New Year with a smooch from my sweetheart!
2011 was a wonderful year, but I'm looking forward to the adventures of 2012,
whatever they may be!
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