The Polar Express

There is a place in Lindon that does kind of their own version of the polar express. I don't think me trying to explain it will do it justice, but I'll try anyway. There is a family that owns a ton of land and all built their houses on it. They built a little train track going around all of their properties. Then they built a train that holds around 15-20 people. While you wait for your train you sit in this huge work garage and watch the Polar Express. Then you load on the train and it takes you on a little ride with lots of christmas lights playing music from the polar express. You arrive at Santa's Workshop and get to go in and sit on Santa's lap. He then gives all the kids a bell and you sing a couple carols with him. Then, and this is why I love it so much, Santa talks briefly about the real meaning of Christmas. You then reboard the train and go on a ride to beautiful Christ centered christmas Hymns while passing huge beautiful paintings depicting Christs' birth. It is very touching. This family does this as a service. It is completely free. They usually have some kind of charity at the end if you want to donate. Anyway, the kids loved it and so did Kalun and I. What an awesome thing it is to have santa talk about the real meaning of Christmas. And what truely amazing people to donate all their time to this wonderful thing every Christmas.

Sugar Cookies

I have really wanted to try harder this year, now that Tate is getting bigger, to be better at making holiday memories and traditions. Letting Tate decorate his tree was one of my ideas. Last night we decided to make and frost sugar cookies with our friends and their kids. The whole time I had to keep reminding myself that I'm trying to be a good mom and create memories, because wow was that a messy idea!! The kids however had a blast.

Putting up the Christmas Trees

I love Christmas decorations. It's the only time of year I feel like my house is decorated cute. I also very much love Christmas trees. Since having Tate I have learned that I have to have at least two. One for me, that no is allowed to touch or mess up, and one for the kids that they can put crazy decorations all over. However this year we went above and beyond and did three. My tree is in our living room, then there is a tree up in the playroom, and then Tate really wanted one in his room. Thankfully from Kalun's Target days we have a lot of trees that he would get on clearance. Next year we might have to have four trees because it's my goal to add one to the basement. I know, it's a little much, but what can I say, I love Christmas trees! Tate was so cute, he got really excited this year to put ornaments on the tree.

Family Pictures

So the time has come to take family pictures. I used to be so good about getting our pictures done. I think they are so important for memories and history etc. However, since all the Kyli stuff, I haven't been very good at it. It just feels odd doing pics without her, it feels like we are missing a family member. So, I have slacked on our pictures. But I feel like I am doing Tate and Haylie an injustice by not keeping up with our pictures. Anyway so we finally went and did some. It's funny that we took over 50 pictures and none of them of very good. My kids did not want to smile.

Bed Head

Haylie's hair has kind of been out of control lately. Some days she lets me put elastics in and some days she refuses. But the back of her head is especially of out control. It has a little curl in it, that makes it go kind of frowy. Anyway, she woke up from her nap the other day having a particularly bad hair day.

Disney on Ice

We donated food and got free tickets for disney on ice, talk about a good deal. The kids loved it. Tate was glued. His favorite characters were Woody and Buzz Lightyear. Haylie did good the first half, but the second half she had more fun climbing on the seats and eating popcorn.

Snow Day

I love Snow!!! I was so excited to wake up to snow and then it just kept snowing. Tate also loves the snow, he begged me the second he woke up to go outside and play in it.
Haylie was terrified of the snow. Apparently she doesn't share me and Tate's love for the cold stuff. She didn't want to even put her foot in it.

We built this beauty of a snowman. Tate thought it was so cool. I love that he's still young enough, that simple things like building a snowman makes me the coolest mom in the world.

Of course, Tate being all boy decided that right after we finished frosty that we should knock him down so we could body slam him.

Haylie had the most fun when I shoveled all the snow off the tramp so she could jump without any possibility of the yucky white cold stuff touching her.

Halloween

I love Halloween! Haylie was so funny, after the first couple of houses (which were the grandparent houses) she figured out that all you have to do is knock on people's doors and smile and they give you candy. She thought that was about the coolest thing ever. I also happen to think that my kids were stinkin adorable in their costumes!

Haylie the Ladybug

Tate the Bat

Pumpkin Carving

We carved pumpkins as part of family night on Monday. Tate wanted a nice pumpkin this year. Kyli told us last time we talked to her that she wanted a scary pumpkin with fangs so in her honor Kalun carved one for her. And of course Haylie's had a bow carved in hers to make it a girl pumpkin.

Itty Bitty Football

We signed Tate up for football. It is for ages 3-5. It is so funny, hardly anyone gets what is going on. It has been good for Tate because he is very shy and it has helped him come out of box a little in public places.



This is Kalun trying to teach Tate how to do a football pose.

Cornbelly's

Kbull 93 was having 93 cent night at cornbelly's at Thanksgiving point. That's a steal considering it is usually $10.50/person. (It is still going on today if anyone's interested you go to kbull's website and print off a coupon) It was fun except I had to go to work so we didn't get to stay long, maybe we'll go back today.

Elder Harper Comes Home!

My youngest brother returned home from his mission in Hondurus Thursday night. I was so excited to have him home. It was nice to have him finally meet Haylie for the first time. He and Tate already started having wrestling matches.

Merrill Family Time

Kalun's brother Jason came out here to visit from North Carolina. He brought his adorable daughter Chase who most of us haven't gotten to meet yet because they live so far away. Chase is 2 months younger than Haylie. It was so fun to watch the two of them together. We did a ton of activities while they were here and were able to get almost all of the family together which rarely happens because of distance. Here are a few pics from our adventures.....

Aren't I pretty?

I don't know how I ended up with such a girly girl, I have always been more the tomboy type. Haylie is very girly. She's always putting on pretty shoes and playing with her hair (the tiny amount that she has :)) and carrying a purse. So, we bought her some play purses, however, those are not good enough she knows they are fakes. She has to have one of my purses. Then the other day she apparently found some very old lipstick (I don't think I've worn lipstick for a least a year, probably longer) and decided to put it on. It is always funny to watch her be a little lady.


Tate didn't want to be outdone. He gets jealous when I take Haylie's picture and not his so he hurried to grab some purses and told me to take his picture too.

A moment to brag...

In my life I'm often very proud and excited about things my kids and husband are doing and accomplishing, however sometimes I find it hard to be excited about things I accomplish. I mean really, it's hard to brag about changing 10 diapers a day and doing laundry. It's hard as a mom for me to take time for activities that are just for me and that I enjoy. Anyway, this last month I did two things that I am really proud of, so I thought I'd take a moment to brag about two things I did I'm proud of.
The first one was that I ran a 5k. Even though I've been working out a lot, I haven't ran on a treadmill or other since high school. So, my goal was to at least jog half of it. However, I jogged the whole way without walking and finished with a fairly descent time for my first 5k. The second thing was that I actually used my sewing skills I haven't used since like jr. high. A girl in our ward works for Adoption Exchange, which is a place that places foster kids for permanent adoption. They had just placed a family of 8 children with the same couple which is remarkable. But, of course the financial burden of taking on 8 kids was stressful for the young couple so she decided to make quilts for them. The catch was that we ended up making 8 quilts in 24 hours, tieing and binding them and everyting. For anyone who knows anything about quilting, that is crazy. But we did it, and they turned out so cute. A super nice lady donated all the fabric. And then we worked like crazy. I can't believe we got them all done. It was a super gratifying experience. Well, I'm done bragging about myself, but here is a picture of all the quilts wrapped and ready to be delivered to the family.

Uncle Kalun

All of our nieces and nephews have always loved Kalun. He is the fun uncle that will wrestle with them, play with them, and teach them things their parents don't want them to know, but they love. Anyway, we babysat our nieces the other day and as usual Kalun was their source of entertainment....

Discovery Park

The kids and I went to discovery park the other day, I forgot how much fun that place is. We were there for over 2 hours, Tate and Haylie had a lot of fun. It was a good reminder that sometimes the cheapest and simplest things are the things the kids enjoy the most.

Lunch with Haylie

I thought I'd share what a typical lunch at our house looks like. Haylie is very stubborn and independent. She won't let anyone feed her, she has to do it herself or she won't eat. And of course her favorite foods are the messy ones. This day, she wanted yogurt. She also refuses to wear a bib. She rips off any kind you put on her. So I now just strip her down to her diaper for most meals.