Still trying to catch up December

We got to see Santa a few times in December... although Noah really wasn't thrilled that we had to see him at all.  Nate on the other hand has all kinds of questions about Santa's home, his ability to visit before Christmas day, his schedule, his likes, dislikes.  Really, he just asks too many questions and I am not ready to let his joy and excitement slip away yet, so I came up with rational, reasonable answers that gave him more to think about... and more questions to ask!!!

Our ward party was a brunch again with food, singing and then the annual visit from the jolly guy himself.  Gabe came with  us too, but he was about as thrilled with Santa as Noah... meaning they really didn't even want to get close! 

Santa found some helpers out in the hall....

Some of the family... who is naughty?  And who is nice?

We also heard Santa was going to be making an appearance at the pizza place the kids work at, which meant that was a great excuse for me to not have to cook and us to go get pizza.  Nate was very  excited, but worried that the reindeer weren't going to be able to land in the parking lot and would there be enough room.  We told him it would be fine and it's all about the magic of Christmas anyway.  He was absolutely certain that he saw hoof prints outside on our way to the truck.

Ho Ho Ho...here comes Santa Claus.

Noah was looking over his dad's shoulder but had no intention of leaving his arms to get anywhere near this guy!

Kami got to visit with Santa for a few minutes....

So did Nate...

We are going... and we are GOING to have fun!

We really wanted to get over to Salt Lake to see the lights on Temple Square and decided to take the kids to a Jazz game.  Sounds fun right?  Well, I am just going to say that it became quite the chore to get the kids rounded up and schedule days off and then, I get children that are mad that we are 'dragging' them out of school for part of a day and forcing them to go stay at a nice hotel, eat out, shop at the malls and go to a professional basketball game and then hit Temple Square to see the lights.  No seriously... I heard that this was a stupid idea and would be no fun at all!!!  Ha!  Some days teen attitudes make me a little crazy.  We 'forced' them anyway, because we are the parents and we get to torture the children we brought into this world!  In the end, they all seemed to have fun... I think!  And well... even if they didn't, one day they will look back and think it was!!!  It's one of those times when you tell your kids we are going to go, and we are going to have fun whether we like it or not!!!

We headed to City Creek Center earlier in the day.  Got some shopping done.  Ran into a couple of old missionaries that had served in our area and mostly enjoyed the day....

The kids were pretty excited to head to the game (except said child mad that we were dragging her...um, I mean them... to a stupid basketball game because basketball is stupid!  

Jace and Cait came too... although we were sitting in the nose bleed section and they got to sit a little closer. The funny thing was that Kassi started scanning the crowd clear on the other side of the stadium to find them and sure enough... here they are!  Gotta love the zoom feature on her camera!

Mostly the whole crew... just missing a few!

We traded Noah for Gabe.  Tiffany and Garrett took Isaac and Noah to dinner and we took Gabe with us.  He thought the game was pretty awesome and like the Jazz bear a lot!

Noah loved hanging out with his nephew!

If you look really close you might be able to tell which one doesn't really want to be here!

The sisters, however, do all they can to torment and/or tease her into laughing!

These two were happy to be there, and willing to cheese for the camera!

Charging cell phones in the lobby of the hotel, because, you know, we can't do without our cell phones!

I love this place!