Santa Hats

While we were in Utah we watched a Christmas movie with my parents. In it, Santa's hat was magical and helped him fly! Little did I know that was why Ryder has been begging me for a Santa hat...
We were out by the dollar store today so I went and picked one up for him and before he put it on he asked me if it would help him fly. He was disappointed to find out that it wouldn't.
The Santa hats have been pretty popular in our house today, though. Tenley kept hers on most of the afternoon.
I think we're finally finished decorating! Tenley and Ryder put on all of the ornaments on both of our trees. They had a blast together.
Brad got the Christmas lights up on the house! They're beautiful. I'll take pictures of that tomorrow.

Christmas Decorations

We’ve been trying all week to get Christmas decorations up, but there are always interruptions. Good and bad ones.

Today Ryder wanted to go to playgroup and he wanted to ride his bike there so we paused decorating for that. It was a chilly morning but the sun and the exercise kept us warm. I’m glad I let him convince me to walk there. We had fun! We lined up all the babies today and they’re all so cute!

I did finally get the tree up tonight and it’s always so satisfying to plug in the tree and see that all the lights work! Phew!

New Phones

Brad and I got new phones over the weekend and I have a way better camera. It takes portrait photos and my old one didn’t so I’ve been having fun with it! It’s hard to get a good picture of Keen though. He’s a busy puppy! He was outside most of the day and seemed happy and content. The weather was nice but we’ll see what happens when it gets cold again.

Ryder got tackled by Keena yesterday so he wasn’t as excited to play with him today. But Tenley still loves too! She got him to play fetch today. And then he cuddled on her lap. Luke has to fight for her attention now! Haha. Everyone loves Tenley!

Playtime

I’ve been getting a lot of puppy training advice from my sister in law Hailey. She has two dogs that she and Kyle have trained. I had dogs in high school but did not really participate in training them. So this puppy thing is new to me! But it all seems similar to training a child. Consistency is key! 

Trying to get in playtime with Ryder, Luke, AND the puppy kept me pretty busy today. Luckily Ryder helped me play with Keena a lot but Luke’s a little too young to get into that quite yet. We’ll get there! I’m just happy we made it through another day! Each day seems to get a little easier.

Keena

Keena is one sweet little puppy! He’s been pretty melancholy today. I think he misses his mom and the sweet farm he was born on. Hopefully he gets used to it here soon. 

A Puppy

For a really long time now Brad and I have wanted to get the kids a dog. But at the same time I've been nervous about it for several different reasons so I've found a lot of excuses to put it off! We found a cute little black lab/golden retriever mix in Utah and decided to bite the bullet and make him ours! It was a long car ride home but the puppy did great! Tenley is so excited and so in love with him! We named him Keena after my favorite BYU basketball player from way back in the day when Brad and I were dating. We always said we'd eventually name our dog after him. And we actually did!

Family

My whole family was together today under the same roof! It was awesome and so great to be with everyone. We even snuck in a family picture. The cousins had a great time together and I really enjoyed catching up with my sister and nieces. They are such great girls! It’s hard not see them more often but it sure makes me appreciate days like today even more.

Skiing

Our plan was to ski today at Alta for their opening day. Ryder was ready to try the bunny hill and everything! But when we got to the hill we saw that they only had one lift open and then we also realized that we had somehow forgotten to pack my ski boots. Plus there was a huge crowd there for just one lift. So we decided not to buy lift tickets. But since Ryder was so excited to try out his skis for the first time we found a little hill for him and Tenley to ski down a few times. Ryder had a lot of fun and did a great job! And it was fun to be up in the beautiful mountains. I love these Utah mountains!!

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with my family. We missed Tracie and her family but still had a great time. The kids loved playing with their cousins and Tenley was a really big helper when it came to cooking! I somehow forgot to take pictures of the cute table setups and yummy food so I tried to make up for it with lots of aftermaths pictures! It was a great day and I’m so glad I got to spend it with family!!

Rest

Brad had to work this morning so after the kids and I had packed up for our trip to Utah, we met some friends at the jump place to hopefully get the kids’ energy out in preparation for our long drive. They had a blast. We made it home just before Brad and then hopped in his truck for the road trip.

The kids did pretty well. Luke took a long nap, but after dinner he would not go back to sleep and was pretty fussy. 

When we finally made it to my parents home it was a welcome relief! They have a beautiful home and we are so excited to be here for the long weekend to spend time with them!