december dailys--sled rides and heading out

Since I couldn't possibly bore everyone with my way fun day of doing laundry and packing today, I'll just show you what we did yesterday. In the afternoon Daren hooked up a sled to the back of his four-wheeler and away they went down our snowy, non-plowed roads in front of our house.

Daren thought of everything for the boys--its no wonder they think he's the fun dad!! Part of the rope he tied on they got to hold on to and pretend they were santa in his sleigh!

They all had such a great time! Since this might be the last post of the year, I thought I'd wish a safe and way fun New Year's Eve to everyone. We are leaving tomorrow morning for a full day's flight to New Orleans, Louisianna, via Atlanta, Georgia, followed by several days of trying to take it all in. I can't wait, but I'll have to cuz it's time for bed now, so GO UTES!!!!!!
Sugar Bowl, here we come!

(so much for) december dailys--one crazy week!

Ok, I'm not sure what I was thinking when I tried to do this every day, and even though I didn't write every day, it was always on my mind and so I was still thinking about all the things I am thankful for at this time of year. I realized there is so much more I wanted to write about but didn't, so perhaps I'll give it another go next year...we'll see.



family party
I left off last week, so I'll start with the annual Mortenson family get-together last Saturday. This year we ventured outside of the house to go bowling, which the boys were so excited about. They had a great time with all their cousins and the rest of the family.

Ben was hoping for a strike, but still he didn't do too bad for not having any bumpers up. Will loved watching the ball come back every time, and Jake needed a little extra help from Daddy and the bowling guider thingy (which was NOT a great help).

Mortenson family bowling fun!!

We did eat lunch before we went bowling (Robintino's pizza--yum!), so when we got back to Grandpa and Grandma Train's house, the kids got together for the annual nativity reinactment...Ben played the part of baby Jesus this year. I guess it's time for someone (not us!) to have another baby, just to play the baby Jesus part!!

Jake and Sydney checking out all the little goodies on Grandma's tree! There were plenty of presents to open, and Ben and Jake loved getting new cars from their cousins.

These are all the grandkids so far...It was a very fun day, and thanks to Gpa and Gma for being brave enough to have everyone over!

sledding

We had the wierdest storm hit us Monday morning. We got pounded with snow out here in Riverton, but when I talked to Daren later that day, they hadn't had any snow in Salt Lake at his fire station. We weren't complaining, though, because Riverton usually gets the short end of the stick when it comes to snow accumulation. There was plenty of snow to go sledding that afternoon.

Will "borrowed" sleds wherever he found them on the hill, while Jake just loved to sit and eat the snow.

Ben and Eli, who just moved in around the corner (it's a miracle--a boy in the neighborhood!) have become fast friends. They loved sledding together. In picture #2 Ben is getting a kick out of watching Jake going off a little jump on the hill. We lasted an hour at the hill (which is right by our house--it's the driving range at the golf course!), and probably would have stayed longer, but there was an awful wind that started and was bone chilling cold!

christmas eve

My day started at 5:00am on Christmas Eve. My half-marathon is coming up in 3 weeks, and I have needed to get my longer runs in, so this was the day. We didn't go Tuesday because we thought there was going to be a storm, so we waited until Wednesday...so we traded in the snowy day for a more clear, and terribly windy/cold day. My computer said that morning that it was 11 degrees, but felt like -3, and I'm here to tell you it felt every bit that cold that morning!! JoLee and Teri were stars to come running on such an awful morning when they didn't really need to, so I am grateful to them. The group of friends that I run with are amazing, and over the years we have all been there for each other through good times and the bad too, and they are all great supporters of each other. I'm very lucky to have them as my friends. Anyway, we finished the 10 miles, and then it took me at least 1/2 hour to thaw out in the tub when I got home...in fact, I think I'm still trying to thaw out cuz I seem to get colder easier lately, which isn't hard to do considering the fact that we have hardly gotten above 25 degrees lately!!

The rest of the day was crazy and good. It's been nice to have the boys home from school, and they were really good just before Christmas. Our little elf, Zach, was gone Christmas Eve morning, so the boys were hoping he was heading back to santa with good reports!;) I asked Ben how he thought he had been this past year, to which he replied, "Ummm, about as good as last year. *pause...pause* I think I'll get what I did last year--a lump of coal and a few presents." Last year Santa left him some coal with a note that he had been a good boy, but that he needed to try more new foods. That Santa...he knows!

This year Daren worked at the fire station on Christmas Eve. It's something we are used to, and it's even pretty fun to go up and see him whether it's Christmas Eve or Day. So after dinner we went up to see Daren and hang out for a bit.

Christmas Eve also means Christmas pajamas, and I found the cutest ones for the boys this year--fleecy skeletons with santa hats on them. So this is the annual pajama picture by the fire engine. It got me thinking of another picture from a couple years ago with Christmas pajamas...

...so I started going through my pictures, and surprisingly found plenty of other pictures from other years.

photo 1: Christmas Eve 2004: Ben-3 yrs, twins 9 months. photo 2: Christmas Eve 2005: Ben-4 yrs, twins 1 year. photo 3: Christmas Eve 2006: Ben-5 yrs, twins 2 years. Daren didn't work either one last year, and he won't work either next year, so it will be lots of fun. (If you are having a hard time seeing the pictures, just double click on them and they will get extra huge!)

We made chocolate chip cookies for Santa, so Ben helped me get them out when we got home from the station. By the next morning they were all gone, except a few crumbs--santa must like our cookies!! We put them on a Polar Express plate that Ben got from Grandma a few years ago. And then the real fun of the evening began--finishing up the final blanket I made and putting out presents, etc. all kept me up until 4am. I think I'm still tired from that...

christmas day

The boys already knew that we all had to wait until Daddy got home from work to open presents, and also that they couldn't come upstairs until 7am, and they complied well on both accounts. We woke up to a complete blizzard that morning, so it really was a "white christmas" for us. Apparently it was the same kind of storm we had on Monday where those of us at the south/west end of the Salt Lake valley got nailed, while everyone else didn't get a thing. Daren said that on his way home from the station, it didn't even start snowing until he reached our exit at 12300 South. It was a blizzard most of the day too.

The boys were so patient waiting for Daddy to get home. They would go over, check the presents out, find their names and get all excited, and then go off to play. We had some breakfast, and then finally around 9:15 Daren got home. It didn't take long to get through all their presents because they were all so excited. Santa brought the kids what they wanted: for Ben a Nintendo DS, for Jake some play food (I know, really that's what he wanted, and he got play pot n' pans too!), for Will he got the "Little Tikes Land" DVD cuz that's all he wanted for the longest time, and for Daren and I he brought Guitar Hero World Tour for our PS3, and it's a blast, I must say! At the end I sent all the boys on a scavenger hunt to find hidden treasure chests which contained their new blankets I made. Daren got me a sewing machine as an early present so I could make these blankets, and they all turned out so great, if I do say so myself. And that's without any sewing lessons, which is saying something for me! I made Daren one too, a "go-Utes" blanket, along with Ben's camo, Will's fire fighter, and Jake's pirate blankets.

The Indiana Jones potatoE head was another favorite (Will's), and Ben loved the pretend-to-teach school set he got. That's what he plans on using the playhouse out in the yard for next summer!!

For the past few years Daren and I have been buying some bigger gifts at Christmas which cover that and our birthdays, anniversary, flag day, etc. This year we got a new HDTV with a tv stand and a book case to go on the other side of the fire place. This picture is mainly so my mom can see it...so, since that is supposed to cover our gifts, we aren't really supposed to buy each other anything else, but Daren surprised me, or more like SHOCKED me this year. I opened his wrapped box to find a long sleeve t-shirt and sweatshirt, with a card underneath it, which held this inside...!!!!!

WE'RE GOING TO THE SUGAR BOWL BABY, YEA!! It's not very often I get completely surprised; in fact almost never. So for Daren to pull this one off when I didn't even have the slightest clue was pretty amazing. We have our flights, hotel, and he even had the babysitter arranged. Janae is going to come stay with the kids for five days. FIVE DAYS!!!! It was brilliant, and it was so fun to be shocked out of my socks. Isn't he the best?!

After presents Daren went out to shovel the snow--Will said he wanted to help, but he just climbed and climbed all over the big piles of snow around. I took the picture of the playhouse to show the icicles hanging from it!

We had part of Daren's family over for dinner later that afternoon. Daren made the stuffed turkey breasts, and Susan brought over lots of yummy food too. What a day!

I just had to mention that JoLee and I ran the next morning, and it was one of the most amazing runs I have ever been on. There was new fallen snow everywhere and we saw hardly any cars that morning, so it was so peaceful and quiet and beautiful. I wish I could have captured it in a picture, but I'll never forget what a great run that was.

Ok, sorry for the loooooooooong entry. That's what happens when I let myself get a bit behind and I can't help but to write a ton of details!

december dailys--children's christmas concerts

Will's Christmas Concert
This week has been insane to the max, so it has taken me days to get to working on this blog. In the meantime, plenty has been going on around here. Wednesday morning was Will's pre-school Christmas concert, held at the old Draper Theater. I think it was pretty fun for the kids to sit up on the stage and have so many family members sitting out in the audience. For Will, there was never a dull moment...

Will can be very animated--in the picture above where he has his hands on his hips and looking up, that is his version of "...He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake!" Seriously, if you put anything to music, Will can pick up on it. Ben is sitting next to Sam, and we were by Sam's parents at the concert. His mom told me that Sam came home one day last week saying that Will said the funniest thing at school--Will told Sam that for dinner that night he was going to eat "Chicken Little soup." (chicken noodle soup)

Miss Jeri trying to lead a class full of boys in singing.

Will got to be one of the drummer boys for this song (can't remember which one it was). It was all fun and games until one who will remain nameless smacked his hand with his drum stick!

It was a very cute program, and we all sure love Miss Jeri!

Ben's Christmas Concert

Ben's Christmas concert at school was amazing again this year. Mr. Beck is the music teacher, and he does such a great job with all the kids. My favorite song they sang was, "In Winter When the Hills Were Bare." I have never heard it before, but it was beautiful. I love to hear children's choirs sing. This concert was on Thursday morning. We woke up that day to a snow storm (which, by the way, was NOT in the forecast), and we were late to school, so I drove Ben straight to the concert hall. Because of our miscommunication, he didn't realize I had given his teacher his bag of snow clothes, so it got left there after the concert. Today when I picked up Jake from school we started searching all the lost and founds, and I'll be danged if we not only found the snow bag, but also the pirate hoodie Ben lost several weeks ago! Good thing we looked, cuz they were clearing it all out since it was the last day of school before the break.

december dailys--polar express

It's hard to put into words what an impact the Polar Express has had at our house over the years. We first took Ben to see it when the twins were just babies. He loved it so much that I think the last time I counted he had seen it in the theater somewhere around 11 times. We still have most of the ticket stubs hanging on his cork board in his room. That Christmas Grandma Train found all kinds of Polar Express stuff for him, including these little train ornaments from Hallmark. (Will has taken over that love for the ornaments, and was recently playing with them)

And then came the music. Once we got the soundtrack, I couldn't listen to anything else in the car!! That went on for months, and now I feel like I've come full circle because the twins LOVE the music and that's all they want to listen to in the car. Will's favorite song is "the one at the top," the Polar Express song, and Jake's favorite is, "I'm wishing on a star," aka "That's All I Want When Christmas Comes to Town." They have watched the movie several times already since we pulled it out a month ago, so we figured it was finally time to ride the Polar Express.

Luckily I scanned this ticket onto my computer a couple years ago (because it we can't find it now). We bought tickets to go on the Polar Express in Heber on Tuesday, but the real tickets were too boring, so I copied off this ticket, one for each boy and one for Gpa and Gma Train, who came with us. They opened up their ticket on the way up to Heber, but it wasn't until we passed the Park City exit that Ben realized what we were doing.

We made it just in time to take a picture and board the train. I was a little worried about this train ride, because I knew the expectations were going to be very high--Will even mentioned several times that he wanted to jump from train car to train car "on the top," just like the movie.

You can see the excitement in Ben's eyes as he holds out his golden ticket.

"Hot hot, oooh we got it. Hot hot, hey we got it. Hot hot, say we got it.....HOT CHOCOLATE!"

I loved this picture of Jake sitting with Grandpa Train, both of them with their hats perched on top of their heads.

They passed out copies of the book to follow along as they were reading, and then Mrs. Claus came through, passing out her special cookie recipe, which included an elf's laugh.

This was the boys suprised look as they saw Santa coming in the door. Santa passed out bells to everyone.

And finally the ride ended with all the kids singing Christmas songs with the crazy elves. So it probably wasn't exactly what they boys had in mind for the Polar Express, but they did have the best time. We wrapped up our excursion with dinner at Magelby's in Orem--YUM! It was very late for a school night by the time we got home, but it was worth it.