Pirate Day

 Today was Pirate Day at SLC...ARGH, Matey!

Judson was SO EXCITED to dress up as an "Umpirate!"

You know...the cross between an umpire and a Pirate!

Sports are never too far from this kid's brain!

Reality Football

Judson was playing with his football men before bed the other night. When I came back downstairs, I looked at the field and discovered the scene still set up. Paul thought it was hilarious! Poor LSU guy got hurt. Thank goodness the paramedics and ambulance were close at hand! Somebody's seen a few football games:)

Mustaches are Cool!

Foster is super into Luigi from Mario Brothers. Luigi has a mustache...so the other night, they all got in on the mustache fun!

I mustache you another question...

Zoo Day

Last Thursday, we bundled up and headed to the zoo. I wanted to take the boys while Paul David was out on Christmas break, and we were running out of days. Mimi, Justin, Gena, Lily and Foster were game too! It turned out to be a fantastic day for the zoo!!!

Happy New Years!!!

 For the last 8 years, we've been celebrating New Year's Eve with Scott and Amanda!

Such a fun tradition!

 For many years, it was the only time we ever got to see them, but now that they live so close to us, and Amanda and I have become really good friends, we've moved past just the once a year friendship.  I'm very thankful for that this year!

 Welcome 2013 and Happy New Year to all our Friends and Family!!!

Elfie

 The boys had the best time finding Elfie this year!

And Elfie remembered to find a new spot each night:)

Just for our records, here are some of Elfie's favorite places in our house!

Please note that if it looks creative, it was probably Daddy who put Elfie there.

Mommy is all about Elfie being what he is...an Elf on a Shelf!

2012 Christmas Decorations

 Before they come down, I thought I'd share some of the decorations we had this year...

 Some of my plate with Paul David's first 3 Santa Pictures:

 Another Plate, plus Paul David's next 3 Santa pictures, then Judson's first 3, then under that, this year's Santa pictures with a little Subway Art I found on Pinterest!

 The Whole Snowman Tree...I loved how he turned out even though he cost a bit more than I anticipated:)

 The Entry Way with the rest of my plates and our Christmas Cards.

My parents got us the table for Christmas last year...just to hold my Willow Tree Nativity.  Is it Silly to have a table just for one month???  I do use it the rest of the year, too, but the main reason I wanted it was for the Nativity!  

I also LOVE the way I display our cards each year!  Not sure where I found this idea, but it's so simple.  Ribbon hung by a tack, then little clothespins to add the cards each day!  We ended up getting 78 cards this year!  I LOVE each and every one of them!!!

The bottom shelf has some really cute pictures of Christmas through the years!

One of my favorite spots!!!

Up close of the Nativity...Of course, now it has the Wise Men:)

 The Mantle is one of my favorite things to decorate!

I got the Santa Bucket this year, and the garland had to be replaced.  I just bought unlighted garland and added some of the LED lights we got after Christmas last year.  It turned out beautiful!

December in iPhone PIctures

 Here are some random phone pictures from December...

Paul made his own Croutons one night, so we had salad.  

Paul David wanted to try some of Daddy's Squares, so we made him a salad, too. 

He had to eat a piece of spinach with each square, and he ended up eating most of it!!!!

 After we went to see the Nutcracker, the boys found their own Football and Baseball Nutcrackers after a scavenger hunt!

 On December 10th, we were going to meet Allie and Amanda at the Zoo!

It was super cold that day, so we headed to the Children's Museum...it was closed. 

We tried to go to Wonder Wild...it was crazy crowded.

We ended up just going to Chick-Fil-A...it was PERFECT!!!!

I'm not sure it gets much cuter or sweeter than this...

 I took this one because, you can see on the far left, a Policeman!

OH MY STARS...Policemen love them some Chick Fil A about as much as I do!!!

And it makes for a uncomfortable lunch for Judson!

One morning while I was busy doing something upstairs, Judson was playing with his Zoo we'd made the day before.  I saw him go downstairs and come back up with something, but wasn't sure what it was.  After I took him to school, I went in the room and noticed the Football Men were all looking at the animals at the zoo!

That kid is so funny!!!

 Our Outside Display this year...

 On the 20th, Paul David's school had their Reindeer Romp where each class gets to race to see who can make it around the track the most times.  Before the racing, they did a 12 days of christmas.

Paul David was really into it until he saw me...then he looked like he was having the worst day of his life!  UGH!

 You never know what you'll find at my parent's house...

 Judson loving the iPad and me loving the Headphones:)

 The Day after Christmas, we went to Sharky's by the Lake to use our sweet Groupon we'd gotten.

The tree was so pretty!

 Both Boys tried and ate a couple of pieces of Calamari...

 But only after we called it squid:)

December was a really fun month for sure!!!

A Sea World Christmas

 Since we were in San Antonio, Paul wanted to take the boys to Sea World.  We went ahead and got Season Passes this year because you basically have to just go twice to pay for it.  We're thinking we'll make a little mini vacation there this summer and enjoy the water park, too.  

Sea World was still having their Christmas Celebration, too, so that was really cool!

It was also very cold temperature wise.  I think it was in the 50's all day with overcast skies...brrr!

 Us with Shamu Claus

 Our first stop was Dolphin Cove.  We weren't sure if they still let you feed the dolphins, but Paul David was excited to find out they do!!!

 He was really into petting them this time, too:)

 Judson was cool with feeding them, but not touching them!

 I'm pretty sure he traumatized one of them by screaming in his face!

Then, we saw the fish and sharks in the Aquarium!

Sweet Brothers...

 We also saw the Sea Lion Show, which Paul David thought was HILARIOUS!!!!

 It was really cute and they decorated the place for Christmas and Santa came!

 Next up was the Shamu Coaster.  It was Judson's first time to ride anything like this since Disney World.  He was fine at first...

 Then, he lost it!

And I didn't know you couldn't have your electronic devices out during the ride...oops!

 He did ask to ride it again later, so he was finally cool with it!!!

Judson asked to ride the carousel next...

 Paul David went and sat on his usual bench, but last minute, he came over and wanted on a horse...

Then, he FREAKED!  Which made Judson FREAK!  It was crazy!  The ride started so I told him to just get over it!  He looked down the whole time!

 Carousels just aren't Paul David's thing for some reason.

Judson ended up liking it though!

 Paul David did want to ride this Fish Ride that is like those big boats that go back and forth, but this one went side to side, too.  I had to ride with him because Daddy doesn't do spinning things!!!

 He thought it was the COOLEST thing EVER!!!

We rode it again later, too!

 Judson did this while we rode...

 Next, we saw A Dolphin Christmas...

 And Elmo's Christmas Wish...

 And Judson got to meet Elmo and Big Bird, but it was a closed Photo Session and we didn't even look to see how much that would cost!  He was happy just to hug them, so I think we're good!

Then, we saw Shamu's Christmas Miracle...

 We got there really early, so we had great seats...

 And I think it would have been an amazing show, but the whales decided they didn't want to perform...ugh!  It was about half the show!

We headed over to the Penguin area where they had a Snowman Christmas Express Train.

It was right under the Steel Eel, so we got to watch it a million times.

Paul David screamed the whole time it went by, but he wouldn't get on it. Maybe this summer he said...HA...says the boy who freaked on the carousel!

 The boys picked the Caboose (thank goodness because Paul and I had to squeeze ourselves in that little train car...a sight to behold I'm sure!)

 Then, the Penguins. They're so cool...if they weren't so stinky!

They were nesting right now, so there were a ton of them sitting on perches!  

They said they have over 200 penguins and about 115 eggs right now!  Very cool!

 Shamu again...

 Judson rode with daddy and didn't cry!!

 The Candy Cane Forest was beautiful!

 During the day there was a group of 4 out there called the Peppermints that were singing Christmas Carols!  We went by one time, and they were singing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and Judson looked up and was so excited to hear it!  Too cute!

 We ran up on this and didn't know what it was, so we went in...

 It was this winding path all decorated with lights and candy canes and such.  

They had fake snow and bubbles blowing in places!

Then, they had some characters scattered through out...

The Penguin...

 A Walrus...

 An Otter...

 The Beluga Whale!

 We hit the Aquarium One more Time, and then headed to the front to watch the Christmas Tree Light Show.  It was awesome, too, and I looked over and Judson was asleep and Paul David was sitting like this:

  

Cracked Me UP!

It was such a fun family day for us, and we all needed that little bit of surprise fun for Christmas!!!