December and the Holidays

We have been incredibly spoiled this month and I am afraid of coming back down to earth. David's and my 10 year anniversary is on January 16th so we thought we might go see a show to celebrate during the Christmas break. We were trying to decided between Wicked and The Nutcracker and we determined we could get better seats, and cheaper, if we went to see the Nutcracker. I have been trying to stick to a budget and didn't want to spend a lot. I had never seen Wicked, but it seemed a bit out of our reach this year. About a week after I bought the tickets, a friend of mine called us up and offered us two seats to go see Wicked with them. Well, I was feeling totally guilty about getting to see both shows so I tried to return the Nutcracker seats, but, alas, they were nonrefundable! Needless to say, I wasn't too disappointed. Both shows were fabulous and we had a great time being out together, just the two of us. It has been a while since we have done a date at night and we are so grateful to the wonderful friend who came and took care of the kids for us so we could have this once-in-a-lifetime date! To top it off, Emmy slept until six in the morning for the first time ever!!

Wicked was absolutely incredible. We were able to sit in the luxury box seats and had a great view of the stage. They had waiters and waitresses that brought out basically whatever you wanted and we  parked in the parking lot right behind the theater and came in through the "Club" entrance. It was pretty posh and a lot of fun for one night.

The show itself was so much fun to watch. The actors and actresses did a really good job and I loved, loved, loved, the music. It was an amazing experience for my first trip to the Fabulous Fox Theater!

The Nutcracker was fun and they had a few really good dancers. I felt like the rest of it was kind of like watching a dance recital, but we had a good time anyway. I could listen to the music all day. It brings back such fond memories of going to see The Nutcracker with my Grandma Tregaskis and all of my sisters and girl cousins. I think my favorite part of the show was watching all of the little girls come in to the theater. They were all in their best dresses and had their hair done and you could just feel their excitement. I cannot wait to take Emeline when she is older and share that experience with her.
 
David also surprised me with an early anniversary present. He told me he wanted to get me a ring, since "10 years is a big deal". I didn't argue and found a few rings online that I liked and he bought which one he wanted to give me. I am pretty picky and he wanted to get me something that I would wear. Well, he chose my absolute favorite one and I am so happy with it. He is an amazing husband, which I will have to expound on when I do a "tribute to David" post in a few weeks. Ü He is the best!

This year we headed up to the Las Posadas night in Old St. Charles. It's a neat idea. Everyone brings a candle and they follow Mary and Joseph along their journey of finding a room in the inn. After you walk a few blocks they end at a pavilion and do a Nativity with songs and a short program. It was a little too crowded to be reverent and the speakers didn't work for the program but we know what we need to do next year in order to see everything and not get crushed by the throng on people. I am totally in love with this little Christmas town.

We joined a cute family in our ward in their tradition of decorating graham cracker houses. It was a blast and they are such great people. Thanks for the picture Laura!

We also decorated a gingerbread house, just one of those premade ones, but the boys had a good time despite my lack of creative ambition. Emmy wanted to eat all the candy and was pretty upset when we wouldn't let her.


We had one day of snow flurries and this was Emeline's response to seeing the snowflakes out the window. Jacob keeps telling me it's not winter because it hasn't really snowed yet. I am inclined to agree with him. These snow-less winters are hard on my Utah roots.

Jacob has traded his Batman cape to become a Ninja. It's all about Ninjago these days.

Emeline is 18 months now and went to nursery for the first time last Sunday. I think it was harder for me than for her and for that, I am grateful. She seemed to do well and didn't hit any other children. She is going through a hitting phase and I have no idea what to do about it. Any ideas? It was fun dressing her up for Christmas. David actually got Jacob to wear a bow tie to church but I wasn't able to get a picture of it. David's Barbershop group, now officially know as Harmony Soup, performed in sacrament meeting  and did a great job.

Our friends, the Deppongs, resumed their tradition (they just returned home from a mission in Nepal)of Kazoo Caroling and graced us with a few numbers. It was hysterical! It was definitely the highlight of my day.

On Christmas Eve, we went for the third year in a row to the City Museum. It was fun to see each kid getting braver and braver as they tried new things. Caleb did the 10 story slide all by himself and Jacob crawled throughout most of the caves and enjoyed it! Emeline was thrilled with everything and loved climbing all the stairs. It's always fun to play with our ward family and this year we even got to stay for the magic show, where Caleb was one of the "lovely assistants".


After the museum, we found a new spot for lunch. It's called Bailey's Range and it was delicious! We love trying new spots and experiencing different types of food and the Range did not disappoint. This place served hamburgers and homemade ice cream. Everything was "free-range" and "grass-fed-only" so if you are into organic or gluten free, this is the place for you. We sat by the window, upstairs, and the kids had fun looking at the city from two stories up.

Afterwards, we went home and had our traditional Shepherds dinner in our living room tent and then off to sugarplum fairy land for the kids. Caleb put signs up all the around the house so Santa would know that the tree was in the basement this year. Luckily, Santa was able to find us and the kids had a fun morning opening up all their presents.


Following are the Grandparent present pictures! Thanks to all of you who sent presents. We are so grateful to have such a generous and loving family. Grandma and Grandpa Anson sent gift cards to ToysRus so the first three pictures of the kids are what they spent their cards on. Emmy also got a doll stroller and a little bottle for her doll.


I am so grateful for this time of year and for all of the time we were able to spend together as a family. I am so grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ. I love him and know he is truly the "reason for the season".