December: That's a wrap, 2014!.......

I love December.  I feel like it was the culmination of such a fabulous year!  2014 has been so fun, filled with so many great memories, milestones, and learning experiences.  Looking back, I am overcome with gratitude for the many blessings that we received.

 We went to Plymouth Creek Park one Saturday early in December.  There, we got to see Santa's sleigh, his reindeer, and even the jolly old elf himself!  This was a very good idea on our part, because Mckay told Santa he wanted a "spider-man costume" and Logan wanted a "Thomas costume."  This was news to us, so we were grateful to get a little heads up!

 We went to Pump it Up in Plymouth a few times, and the boys loved the giant slides and the bouncy houses.  Claire loved the toddler toys.  It's times like these that I realize she's not so little anymore. . .

Another Christmas tradition we've adopted since moving to Minnesota is visiting the 8th floor of the Macy's department store in downtown Minneapolis.  There they have a fabulous Christmas village that you can walk through.  It made for a great FHE one Monday night.

Mckay has loved his preschool at Crossroads Pre-K, a Christian preschool in our neighborhood.  This year they did a Christmas pageant that the parents were invited to watch.  Our flamboyant Mckay did all of his parts with such great energy and enthusiasm!

Logan also had a Christmas program to perform.  Our little co-op went to a nursing home in Plymouth.  There, the kids sang songs, played bells, and basically looked absolutely adorable for the residents there.  Logan did a great job of singing and playing the bells, and looked so adorable in his reindeer hat.

On Christmas Eve we had a huge feast that took me waaaayyy to long to prepare, but it was worth it in the end.  Here we are all doing  a "fancy" pose.  This is because a few weeks prior to this, Mckay started posing for all my pictures like this, saying, "I'm FANCY!"  I'm not sure where he came up with this, but it's become a family joke now.

Christmas morning on the stairs!

As you can see from these pictures, we had a wonderful Christmas morning, and made out like bandits.

One my favorite parts of Christmas time is talking to our missionaries.  Clayton and Anne are both doing well, and are so faithful and cheerful.  They're a great example, and we appreciate their sacrifice!  They've both grown and matured so much through serving missions, and have been a great blessing to us.

We ended the holidays by celebrating Logan's birthday and flying to California to spend a week with our England side.  I was going to post pictures of these events, but I feel like this post is already so long and filled with pictures, that I will save that adventure for my January post.
2014 was good to us, and we are filled with optimism, excitement, and gratitude as we face forward to a bright year ahead of us.

November

 The first week of November we were hit with a storm and a week-long cold spell.  I have to admit, it was a pretty rough transition going from beautiful, colorful fall, to degrees in the single digits and the snow.  Fortunately, it became more mild after that first week.  The boys were thrilled with the snow, however, and were more than happy to break out the snow gear and go play.

 Claire has enough hair now to put in a clip.  I love her scrunched-up-nose grin.  This little girl is a delight!

 Claire and I got to go on the England Family Girl Trip in November to California.  It was so much fun to see Jeannette, Courtney, Chelsey, Cassidy, Kelsey, and my nephews.  We did lots of shopping, we ate out a few times, and we spent time talking and catching up.

 The last day of the girl trip we went to the Getty Museum in Malibu.  There,  Seth, Julie, and their family joined the party for a few hours.  It was fun to see them as well, and enjoy the beautiful outdoors together.

 I returned home from California just in time to celebrate this sweet girl's 1-year-old birthday.  I can hardly believe she's already 1 year old.  Time has flown by.  I am the luckiest mom in the world to have this little sweetheart Claire as my daughter.

 Many Fridays we go to lunch at Chase's work.  He used to work at the Target headquarters in downtown Minneapolis, but he's recently moved to the new campus in Brooklyn Center.  I am grateful that his commute went from a 45 minutes bus ride to a 15 minute commute going opposite traffic.  We get him an extra hour every day now!  The boys love this picture of Bullseye the dog at Chase's work.  You can't tell from this picture, but the entire work is made of gum balls.

 For Thanksgiving we got to go to St. George with our England side of the family.  We had such a wonderful time with our family.  I think St. George may be one of my most favorite places on earth.  I was so excited to be there that I dragged all my family out on an early morning hike the first day we were there.  Red rocks and blue sky are beautiful.

 I thought this was too funny not to share.  Sorry Mckay!

 I also dragged our entire extended family to Snow Canyon one evening.  I just love this place, and thought it was very kid-friendly and safe.  It turned out to be a bit scarier than I remembered, but we still had lots of fun!  Thanks everyone who was a good sport and went with me!

 We visited the new Children's Museum in St. George.  I'd never been before, and thought it was absolutely fabulous!  While there, the rest of our England side came to St. George, and for a few brief but wonderful hours, everyone but Clayton (serving his mission) was together.

 The grandkids all got matching Christmas pajamas this year.  Aren't they cute!  (The pajamas and the kids;)

 My side of the family spent Thanksgiving in Phoenix with Matt and Jaime.  On the way home, they stopped by for an hour to say hello.  It was fun to touch base with them, even if it was just for a few minutes.

Mckay, Logan, and Claire at the "short and scary hike".  Mckay is showing us his "fancy" pose, Logan is picking his nose, and Claire doesn't want to be there.  Gotta love those candid shots.

October

What is it about October that is so magical?  Whatever it may be, I feel like this month is one long flurry of activities.  I know this post has a zillion pictures, but trust me, I really only posted about 1/4 of what I wanted to.  It's that kind of a month, I guess.  And how lucky we are to have such a fun month filled with visits, harvest celebrations, Halloween, and our attempts to soak up as much warmish weather as possible before winter sets in.

 The first week of October we were paid a visit by Grandma and Grandpa Sainsbury!  We loved having them come visit us.  In addition to spending time playing and sight-seeing, they also helped us install laminate flooring in our kitchen.   The above picture is of Claire and her grandpa at Rolling Hills Park, a beautiful, intimate little park no more than a five minute walk from our house.

 We visited the Minnesota Zoo while the grandparents as well.  They may not thank me for it later, but I love putting Mckay and Logan in matching outfits.

 While at the zoo, we visited the Wells Fargo Farm, a section of the zoo I'd never been to.  It made me miss my parents' farm in Payson.

 No harvest time is complete without a visit to Minnetonka Orchards.  They have a hayride, apple cider donuts, a playground, and lots of beautiful orchards to walk around in.

 Here we are again at Rolling Hills park.  Aren't the fall leaves just beautiful?

 We have a beautiful maple tree in our back yard.  I've loved the shade it's given us, and now we love the beautiful pile of leaves we can jump in!

 Colder weather means cute hats!

 Our ward Halloween party is always a huge hit in our house.  The kids enjoyed the haunted galley, donuts on a string, the fish-pond, and finding their soul-mates (Mickey found his Minnie!)

 Poor Logan got the worst case of pink-eye I've ever seen.  This poor boy was out of commission for a week. I blame the severity on his super-long, thick eyelashes.

 We went to a friend's Halloween party (minus our sick Logan).  It was so fun.  We are so lucky to have such great friends here in Minnesota.

 Logan's preschool had a Halloween party, where he found another Minnie Mouse to hang out with!

 On Halloween morning we went to the Chaska Arboretum.  I'd never been there before, and I absolutely loved it!  It was a combination of Thanksgiving Point and Gardner Village (for all my Utah relatives), and I think I'll make a tradition of visiting every year.

Here we are Halloween night.  I know I'm biased, but I think I have the cutest dinosaur, Mickey Mouse, and Tiger in the entire world!  We went trick-or-treating around our neighborhood.  It was so much fun, our neighborhood pulls out all the stops and makes it a really great experience for the kiddos.  Chase and I are happy to take them out, but we do demand a candy "parent tax" . . .

September is a fresh start

January may be the start of a new year, but September is the beginning of an all new routine, and seems to carry with it a fresh start.

On Labor Day, our ward had our annual ward party at West Medicine Lake.  Some of Mckay and Logan's friends built a huge sand castle with the boys.  They loved the sand castle, but loved knocking it down even more.

September is Chase's favorite month of the year, because it's the start of college football!  Even though we don't always cheer for the same team, his excitement is contagious.  He works hard on indoctrinating our children to cheer for the U, and I do the same thing with BYU.  As of right now, none of them really know or care, but that doesn't stop us.

 Mckay started preschool this year at Crossroads Pre-K.  He absolutely loves it there, and it has been fun for me to watch him learn and grow.  His teacher has told me that his eyes "dance", and that he is always busy.

This year I also participated with Logan in a neighborhood preschool co-op with the same group of moms as I did last year with Mckay.  Because Logan is only two, I put him once a week instead of twice a week like the other kids who are three, but I knew that he would love the chance to be in a preschool like his older brother, and he has had so much fun.
 

 One thing that the boys were really into this September was playing "boats".  They would spend hours outside in lid of our turtle sandbox with their toys and their imaginations.  One of my favorite things about being a mother is watching my children be imaginative and creative.

Because of one o'clock church and our callings, it has been more difficult this year to to to Medicine Lake as a family after church, but we made it happen when we could.  Because the weather is starting to turn, this is the time of year that I start feeling like we have to live outside every possible moment before winter descends, and I really looked forward to this time each week.  We live in such a beautiful place, it's easy to love it here in Plymouth.

Our new house is next to Rolling Hills Park, which is not only a playground and a large, grassy field, but also a series of trails, forest, and wetlands.  I took the kids on many an afternoon walk through the park and to the playground.  By the end of our outing, I usually had three kids on my two-person stroller.  It was a good work-out for me!

One September weekend we went to Apple Jack's Orchards.   We did this last year and had such a great time that we decided to make it a tradition.  While there, we rode a little tractor ride, played in a corn pit, ate apple cider donuts, and visited a petting zoo.  

Claire is finally old enough to really appreciate being outdoors.  She loves to crawl around, eat the leaves, and play in the dirt.  

Mckay started soccer this fall, and Chase got to be his coach!  He had a lot of fun running around with the other kids, and even occasionally paid attention to the game;)

One Saturday we went with some friends to visit a farmer in Iowa who, in a "Field of Dreams" fashion, built a tennis court that was a perfect replica of a Wimbledon tennis court.  It was kind of random, but so much fun, and we are glad we had the chance to go.