December!

We've had a fun December trying to pretend that it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas here in Phoenix. It definetly does not feel very christmasy here but at least we are not freezing!  

 We started out the month making our annual Christmas lists for Santa. We always go to Toys R Us and pick up some of their "big toy books" and then the boys spend DAYS cutting out all the things they want and pasting them on paper to send to Santa. They had a friend over helping them this year and they couldn't stop talking about all the "cool" things there were going to get.

 We also had our annual ward Christmas party. The theme this year was the Polar Express so all the kids came in their jammies. The kids were all excited and Santa even made an appearance. Here is Logan shyly telling Santa that he would like a Mickey Mouse and a Big Gun for Christmas. I don't know what Santa thought when this little three year old asked for a Big Gun, but when I asked Logan why he wanted a gun he said so that he can shoot bears. I think he has been playing this hunting game on his dads iphone a little too much!

 Here is Tyler making sure Santa has his list right.

Buzz, Batman, and Optimus Prime. Can't think of a better trio than this!

 We eventually put a Christmas tree up. I can't believe how expensive a christmas tree is? Sheesh, the bigger you get the more expensive it is. That is why ours is more of a bush instead of a tree.

 Just chillin' on the couch watching himself some cartooons. I thought he looked so cute crossing his legs and wearing his hat. 

 Logan and Carson can be the best of brothers sometimes and this morning they were having fun playing together.

My birthday was on the 19th and we had tickets to go up to Williams, AZ and ride the real Polar Express. There is a great big train and all the kids wear their jammies and we go on a train ride that takes us through a magic tunnel that brings us to the North Pole. They serve us cookies and hot chocolate and the whole train sings Christmas songs. Then when we get to the North Pole Santa is there waving on his sleigh and then he climbs on board the train. It is very fun!

 Before we boarded the train we ran into Mrs. Clause. Here are the boys talking things over with her making sure all last minute preparations are in order

 All Aboard! Getting ready for our adventure.

 We made it to the North Pole! Santa got on board and handed each kid the first gift of christmas (A bell from his sleigh)

 Hugging good ol' Saint Nick. You could tell by the look on Logans face that he thought it was magical.

 Carson wasn't sure what to think of the Jolly old guy.

 Another tradition of ours is to go to see the christmas lights at the Mesa temple. They were great as always

Another picture at the lights!

 We also got a new van! (New to us) We love it. Our last one's transmission went out and the van wasn't worth what it was going to cost to fix it. We loved our old van but we are not going to miss having to dump a whole bottle of power steering fluid in it every THREE days and we are not going to miss trying to pretend that we are not sweating from every pore because it's 115 degrees outside and the ac in our van decided not the work that day. (In fact, it didn't work most days.) The new van has no warning lights on in the dash and everything works how it is supposed to. It is a lot more reliable and dependable and now I don't have to wonder in the back of my mind if the van is even going to start every time I get in it. It's great!

Keep scrolling down to see a couple more posts. I was trying to get all caught up!