Temple Lights

       I love the lights at Christmas time!  The lights at our DC temple rival those at Temple Square.  They have lights on every tree!  Bridger seemed to like the colorful lighted trees too.

     We remember that Christ is the real meaning of the season.  He was born under extremely humble circumstances.  He had a manger for his crib and cows to keep his company.  Even though he was extremely poor he was royalty.  The son of God.  He lived a perfect life and through his atonement provided the way for us to return to live forever with him in the mansions of Heaven forever.  The importance of his birth was the life he would lead.  

      "We solemnly testify that His life, which is central to all human history, neither began in Bethlehem nor concluded on Calvary. He was the Firstborn of the Father, the Only Begotten Son in the flesh, the Redeemer of the world." The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles.

      This is my favorite song from the Christmas devotional.  I've listened to it over and over again and I still love it.

Christmas Adam

     We went to a Christmas party with some friends in the ward called Christmas Adam on the eve of Christmas Eve.  They had costumes for all the little kids to act out the nativity.

 Bridger was the cutest little wiseman!

     Such a fun idea to let the kids participate... However, carrying out the idea proved to be a chaotic event.  Little kids have sooo much energy!  This was about the only moment they were all holding mostly still at the same time!  

Whistling

     This is how Bridger whistles.  It's pretty funny.  I think he can scream higher than Devin can whistle.

Temple Square

     We also got to join in on the fun Sorensen Christmas party.  We spent the night on temple square.  It was so fun to catch up with my cousins!

Continuing the Utah Party

     One of the highlights of the trip were the fun games we played.  The first one was the Whip-Cream game.  We played it with our families on both sides.  It produced some good belly-laughs.  The game goes as such: Squirt a little ball of whip cream into the palm of your hand, start to toss that hand into the air, and hit that wrist with the other hand to launch the whip cream, then CATCH the whip cream in your MOUTH.  Too much fun!

Sometimes it got stuck on the ceiling.

Awesome action shot.

How it's done.

It takes some practice.

     Another game we played is the Stephens game.  "HaHahaha" is what we should call it because that is how it goes.  The Stephens game has four different rounds that combine Catch Phrase, Charades, and Posing.  It is awesome.  We learned both these games from the Guymons.  They are going on my favorites list.

 Love this.

 

Bear Lake Cabin

     We were able to make a trip to my grandpa's cabin in Bear Lake.  I love the cabin in the winter!  When the beautiful  pines are topped in snow and the lake is frosted over, I know Christmas is on its way.  The snow played out perfectly for us.  We had about a foot of base and then it snowed lightly the morning we went up. 

      The boys spent all day Saturday on their snowmobiles.  Devin loved tracking up the newly fallen snow. 

     Bill (Devin's brother) got to come up for a morning snowmobile ride too.  The guys were all excited about the snow, the hills, and the open bowls they found and Devin was excited that his snowmobile fired right up for its first use of the season.  They loved spinning cookies and getting themselves in squeezy predicaments.  Devin started teaching Amy and I how to spin some cookies on the snowmobile.  It was really fun when I started getting it (and tiring), I need a few more trips to practice. 

     (Landon is in the back cutting a cookie with Amy on board, and my dad and mom are in front.)

     (My dad doing some cookie-cutting)

 Amy, Bridger and I went on a morning snowshoe outing. It was a great work-out snowshoeing up a hill while holding Bridger!

Bridger is so cute in his little snowsuit! 

     We also hiked up a found ourselves a Christmas tree!  This is one of my favorite Christmas traditions.  Hiking up the mountain, examining every tree on the mountain until my dad picks out the perfect tree, singing "Oh Christmas Tree" as we cut it down, and dragging the tree back down the mountain while we get into snowball fights. 

     Bridger was so tired, he slept the whole time we were climbing up the mountain.

      He woke up when Katelyn ran by screaming, running from a snowball. :)

      Here is the whole family with our Christmas tree!

 Our little family.

10 Months and Walking!!

• Bridger is walking!  He took his first step on his own December 4th.  Devin and I love playing the game with Bridger walking back and forth between us.  Monday (6th) he took 19 steps on his own.  Now he can walk almost the entire length of our apartment. 
• He loves to play Peek-a-Boo
• Loves Peaches!
• Loves to play with his football and small dodgeball.  He kicks it around like a soccer ball and will throw it to me and play catch.
• Loves to play in the dishwasher
• Loves to unroll our toilet paper roll
• Can crawl up stairs all on his own!  Still working on coming back down.
• We sure love him!

and again...

Merry Christmas!

     We put up our beautiful Christmas tree!  I love it!  I do every year.  There is something about having a Christmas tree that just makes it feel like Christmas time even without snow.  Devin and I did a team effort, meaning Devin put it up and added the lights and the star and I decorated it with the ribbon and ornaments.  Now I spend all day teaching Bridger to play with his toys instead of the tree.

Michael Buble

     Devin always gets me the best presents!  Somehow he always knows what I would like best even without asking me.  This year for my birthday he got me tickets to Michael Buble!  My mom to came out for the event and we had such an awesome time!

     Michael puts on an incredible concert!  He made his entrance with fireworks, big screens and bright lights.  He does a huge performance and he also has a way of drawing the audience in.  He joked and chatted with us (the audience) and by the end I felt like we were pretty good friends. 
     He read off some of the signs in the audience, one said "All I want for Christmas is a Hug from Michael".  He was so cute, he invited this little girl up and gave her a hug.  Then he was feeling the love and started a group hug until he got scared (people were running down the aisles).

     He is engaged (Sorry Nat), I'm sure when he sang "Haven't Met You Yet" his Argentine woman flew in saying she had to meet him and it was love at first sight.  He is a great performer.  He is so awesome live, I wish my IPod could make him sound that amazing.

     We had great seats!  We were looking straight on to the stage and in the section just behind the floor seats.  It couldn't get any better!

     There was a couple one row in front and a couple seats down from us that I spied on all night.  During the opening performance the girl was so stiff and a little stand-offish to her date.  So I kept watching them because I knew Michael would get to her and she would fall in love.  He (her date) was giving all the cues (ie. hand on the knee) and she was taking a long time to respond.  However, she started loosening up, swaying to the songs, and on a song when everyone was standing he wrapped his arm around her.  After the song they sat back down and that was the only move he put on her, but I will have to say, the date was not in vain.  I think there is some potential there, thanks to Michael. 

     I wish I could follow Michael on his tour.  One lady in the audience has been to 101 of his concerts!  I bet she is in love.  I think Michael puts some kind of spell over the audience because I know every single woman there left with their hearts all pitter-pattery.  I wish I could capture on my camera how incredible it really was!  I did get some video.  It's a little hint of how truly incredible he is and how much fun I had.  I just couldn't help myself from swaying and singing along. 

     I missed my honey too and wished I had his arm to hold when I was feeling all romantic.  Then I pictured Devin rolling his eyes and I was glad to have my mom with me.  We loved it and I wore a huge smile all night!

Bridgeport

     Katelyn styled Bridger's hair into a fro-hawk. 

His hair is growing, YAY!

  Can you see his new tooth?

Give Thanks for Thanksgiving

     Thanksgiving started with the famous Turkey Bowl!  The men had a great time, not sure who won, they all came home smiling.  Our guys loved making an entrance on these scooters.  They belong to Devin's friend Sam.  He said if Devin could fix them he would let him ride them around.  He did and they did.

    He is so happy!

     We celebrated our Thanksgiving with our Virginia friends who, like us, live too far away from family.  We are so very blessed to have such great friends here in Virginia.  We are thankful every day for the friends we have and the way they seem like family while we live so far away from our own.

      Thanksgiving originated with the Pilgrims as a day of fasting and prayer.  However, there was no fasting going on at our party!  We had turkey, stuffing, rolls, pies... and all the yummy, traditional Thanksgiving foods.  Everything was so delicious!

(Devin made the apple and peach-berry pies...YUMMY!) 

      I want to cast my vote in for a new tradition... A new Thanksgiving Trading Spaces edition... Put the men in the kitchen and the women... out of the kitchen.  Devin really did most of the cooking for our family.  He and Ricky had turkey duty and he also made two incredibly delicious pies.  (I lucked out with the easy job of making a jello and a vegetable tray.)  All in favor of the men in charge say "I"!

(Mindy was our fabulous decorator!)

     Thanks to Nicolina who let us invade her house when she has a brand-new newborn. We had such a good time stuffing ourselves full and lounging all day. Thanks!