December

we had a SNOWY december! (and january...and february...) I wasn't particularly fond of the snow because I am training for the phoenix half marathon and it is hard to run in a bunch of snow... Millie and Josh built a nice igloo, which stuck around for almost a month. 

 Logan LOVED the snow too. it's so funny how kids just don't even notice how cold it is outside.

 

 We have a horse pasture in our back yard.  There was a herd of elk (i think there were 19 of them) who came and stuck around for a few days.  The horse didn't seem to fond of them.

 

We headed out to utah for christmas.  It was fun to see both our families, and to see Josh's brother who just came home from his mission the week of christmas.  The riverwoods mall always puts on a great show for the christmas season.  There are concerts each night, lights, fires to stand around to warm yourself etc.  We went there to see Santa.  Logan isn't as friendly and easy going as millie was so we were surprised that he was ok with Santa!

 

There is a perfect kids sledding hill at the park by my parents house.  We were glad to have a white christmas and be able to go sledding.

 

Millie and her little cousin Ollie don't always get along super well, but they did have a good time working on a gingerbread house together.  I love making gingerbread men, and houses! It just seems so cozy

Josh thinks it would be a good idea to let our kids choose a christmas lawn ornament each year (I however do NOT share this idea)  but this year they picked out a shivering polar bear.  After Logan got over his fear of it, he LOVED it!  every day we would have several fits where logan was hitting on the front door (or kicking and screaming on the ground) yelling "Po' bear, Po'bear" on days that it was warm enough he would spend 15 or so minutes just looking at the polar bear, hugging it, and punching it.