The past week has been full of Christmas-y goodness! On Saturday, we went up to my Uncle Mark and Aunt Debbie's house where we've our annual candy house making extravaganza for as long as I can remember. I haven't been in seven years, so it was a bit of trip to take the kids, but the good memories came flooding right back. I wish you could smell the wonderful smells of these pictures: wood-burning stoves, hot soup and rolls for lunch, and LOTS of treats!

This is a view from my left:


And from my right:


I expected Connor to go a little wild with his candy ingestion, but this kid never ceases to surprise me with his enthusiasm! After about 20 minutes of eating treats hand over fist (including licking the sugar "mortar" on his graham cracker house), I just had to get him down from the table and distract him while the others finished up.


Candy houses are always followed up with sledding. I can't remember a year up there where there wasn't sledding since Mark and Debbie's house is so close up to the mountains that they lose the sun completely from November to February.


On Sunday, we braved the elements to meet up with the Carliles for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert. It was absolutely wonderful, and both Anthony and I enjoyed every minute of it (well, except for the part where I found out that a DSLR's lens can hide bombs and lost my place in the security line, thus being separated temporarily from my party)! Thanks again, Carliles! By the time the concert let out, the rain had turned to wet snow and we had fun watching cars attempt to get up the hill out of the parking lot. Don't let this picture deceive you; it was dumping snow!


Merry Christmas! Only nine more days!

It's been bitterly cold here for the past week (according to weather.com, it now feels like 2 degrees) and Connor has been a bit under the weather, so we stayed home and indoors yesterday and today. Filling the time with two littluns who would rather be doing ANYTHING but staying put is a bit daunting to say the least!

Today was passed with cleaning, baths, a Thomas the Tank Engine dvd, play dough, coloring, playing cars, building block towers, watching videos of trains and family on YouTube, snacks, and lots of whining.

The bright spot of the evening came at Connor's bedtime. Not feeling well + refusing naps = one tired little boy. He fell asleep on me while I was rocking him (so rare) and about five minutes after he fell asleep, he sat straight up, looked at me with sleepy eyes, put his finger up his nose, then laid back down. Ahh, two year olds.

Our December is jam-packed with fun, festive activities. It's only the 9th and we've had our Broadhead Christmas party, seen the lights at Temple Square, and attended cousin Ava's birthday party. In the next ten days, we've got Candy Houses (it's capitalized because it's an all-encompassing term for an extended family get-together, making candy houses, lunch, and sledding in the mountains), the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert with Blake and Mary Ann, and a flight to Denver for a long Christmas vacation! Hooray!

On Monday we went downtown to see the lights at Temple Square. 29 degrees made for a bundled up Lainy.


We started the night with an ever-so-healthy stop at McDonald's. It's the only place where we can meet and ALL of our children will eat. Terrible. :)




Connor was way more interested in the fountains and pools than the lights.

Things have been quiet around here, which I have learned to appreciate! I've been working a lot, gearing up for the holidays. Anthony is chugging along in school and the kids are doing fine. Today was the first day that Connor was happy to try new words and he made huge progress! He said "shoes", "yes", "no", "baby", "moo", and "neigh" today for the first time. Up until today, he'd been acquiring a new word every three weeks or so, so you can imagine how happy we are for him!

Here's what we've been up to in the past week:

We took the kids to Backyard Adventures for open play! The swingsets weren't as thrilling to the children as we thought they would be, but the bounce house was a major hit! Nevermind the 160 pound weight limit. Our 390 pound family didn't pop it!






Baby basketball!


Marinda, Blake, and I took the kids to Cabela's. I think the adults were more amused with the stuffed animal displays than the kids were, but the littluns had fun feeding the fish! (Thanks for your quarters, Marinda!) In this picture, I had just whacked Alton in the head with my camera that was dangling around my neck (Best Aunt Award) and Connor felt very sympathetic for the poor guy. This is also Connor's "adoration of cute things" face and uses it frequently when holding my old Carebear and touching his cousin Maesa's cheeks.


There has been a lot of playing trains with Grandpa in the past week and Connor thinks he has hit the jackpot. It's too cute.


Connor has wisened up a bit and instead of playing tug-o-war with Alaina over toys, he just hoards them to prevent any issues. Smart kid. :)

"Take a look! It's in a book!"

I took the kids to the Salt Lake City Library today. I am going to need a lot of indoor activity ideas for the cold winter months ahead!

The guilt is weighing on me; I have to confess. This is the first time my children have set foot in a library. The thought of bringing two small children into a place where silence is revered is enough to paralyze me with fear. The SLC Library is a perfect environment for kids, though - it's absolutely gargantuan and it has an entire floor dedicated to children's books.

I didn't realize that there was a parking garage, so we parked out on the metered street, but I only had enough change for 35 minutes. Thus, sadly, we didn't have time to explore the ice cave or treehouse reading rooms, but the kids thoroughly enjoyed it and all monkey business aside (see following door picture), they were angels.

I love the architecture here...it's probably my favorite building in the city.





I think it's funny that Alaina usually has crazy hair in my "outing" pictures. It's because her hair is normally in pigtails but Connor sits behind her in the double stroller and pulls them out without fail.


(Behind the scene: "Connor! Smile and show me your book!")


For some reason they both *REALLY* wanted to get inside this empty conference room. Sorry, kiddos. Maybe next time.

Last Saturday, my side of the family got together to have a long-overdue family portrait taken. The last time we had one was in 2005, so there have been lots of little additions to the family, bringing our Broadhead grand total to TWENTY TWO people. I was a little nostalgic over the whole thing since I distinctly remember having the pivotal conversation to decide to start a family moments after we walked out from having the '05 one done. I guess Connor and Alaina can should thank Tori and Kimball for being such cute squishy babies back then!


Let me tell you, it is no small feat to get ten grandchildren dressed up and keep them all from crying right before a picture!


Despite the lack of tears, Little Miss was not in a smiling mood.


Connor absolutely adores his cousin Wes. He's like the big brother Connor will never have, and he is so good with kids! Can I have some of your patience and knack for fun, Wes?


Here are the parents either trying to make the grandkids smile while taking the photo with Grandma and Grandpa or just pensively looking on. Sorry for the blurriness...I can only imagine how irked a professional photographer would be if I had been using my flash!


Long days tire this one out. I can't believe how much he looks like a KID now instead of a toddler!

...And a quick one from today:
Since we are flying to Colorado for Christmas, Anthony convinced me to let the kids have their big Christmas presents early. I figured that they're young enough that it would be okay and they'd be happy with their smaller gifts on the big day. Even though they each got a little motorized car, Connor likes to drive Alaina around on his.

Halloween 2009

Our Halloween was such a busy day! I hadn't gotten home from work until about 1 AM the night before, and Alaina was up at 5, so it was a rough start! We got up, went to buy pumpkins, dropped our car off to get new tires, and pick up some doughnuts since most of my family came up to carve pumpkins and enjoy the day. The weather was fabulous - in the low sixties and sunny.

First on the agenda: taking care of those pumpkins!


The kids didn't last long, so outdoors we went! My dad had been saving all the leaves that have fallen over the past couple of weeks for the kids to play in.



The Eyrings


The Whites


The Carliles


Maesa


Mom and Dad


Our little fam


I love how my parents have flowers planted to bloom in every season.


It wouldn't be a complete day outside without an appearance from phantom kitty...


Or a ride with grandpa on the "tractor".




My sister made hand-popped cinnamon kettle corn. Do you think Connor liked it?

By the time trick-or-treating came around, we were all less than game. My napless children were ready to wind down, and I didn't feel like getting them dressed in their costumes since they don't make much sense unless Anthony and I dress up, too. I know, I know, Halloween Scrooges. My mom convinced us to throw an Elvis wig on Connor and dress Alaina as a pumpkin.


Dada and his hunka hunka burnin' love


Both kids got the hang of trick or treating after just the first house. Alaina standing at doors begging for candy at only a year old killed me.



Has the suspense killed you yet?

This is Anthony's masterpiece. It'sa me! Mario!


And his more festive offering.

I, on the other hand, am a sucker for tradition.


Happy Halloween!