Review of our Christmas...

Here are our boys following the tradition of new Christmas PJs on Christmas eve. We spent Christmas eve with the Hemmert side of our family. We had a great meal, begrudging program, and opened some great gifts. We, then, hurried home to get ready for a visit from the 'big man.'

These are all of the Hemmert cousins that were in town for the holidays. Mason (Matt and Julie's son, Preston, Chandler, and Tyson (Heidi and Devin's son).
Christmas eve had a unique challenge for us. We had been telling Preston that he had to leave his binkies for Santa so that Santa would bring gifts. He did and we are now 3 1/2 days binky-free! Santa even left a thank you note saying that he give the binkies to the babies who needed them. He has been a restless sleeper for several days, but I think the worst is behind us.

Chandler with his new leapster and remote control dinosaur-thing (regularly $100, but $30 at 4:30am on Black Friday :) sorry I just had to add that).

This is Preston standing on the coffee table at Grandma Joyce's while we were trying to have a program. He has a hard time sitting still for stuff like that. What do you expect? He's a two year old boy.
All in all, it was a great Christmas. I am looking forward to trying out my new tennis racket in St. George this weekend. (Thanks, Jared!) We hope everyone else had a great holiday as well.

Happy Birthday, Chandler!

In honor of Chandler turning 5, I thought it would be fun to see how far he has come. Chandler was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada weighing in at a whopping 6 lbs. 9 oz. and 20 inches long. He was very alert right from the beginning. That was one of the most common comments I got from people.

At two months, he was already nearly 14 lbs. and had filled out a lot. He was a very happy, easy baby.

This picture (three months old) is in honor of Jared and the Utes narrow victory at the Poinsettia bowl last night.

Chandler has really grown up a lot and is a wonderful asset to our family. He is very smart, happy and curious about everything. He loves to play with his brother, friends and cousins whenever he gets the chance. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHANDLER! We love you.

Chandler's preschool Christmas Program

Chandler's program was yesterday. He goes to Learning Dynamics Academic preschool in Orem. He did such a great job singing. He was a little distracted by something behind him for part of the program, but overall did great. This is a picture of the whole gang who came to support Chandler. His little cousin, Tyson Spann, watched from the back and was conducting all of the songs with both hands. According to witnesses (Grandma Joyce), he was even on beat! Jared, sadly, could not put off his patients that morning, so he had to miss the program. He was there last year (it's the same program) so he has a pretty good idea of what went on.

This is Chandler as one of the elves. The night before I went to plug in my camcorder to charge the battery, and could not find the cord ANYWHERE. I literally tore apart the whole house looking. I went to Best Buy to buy a new battery charger and was horrified to discover they wanted $70 for it! What a rip off! I eventually found a replacement cord on ebay so that I can use the camera for Christmas, but video of the program is nonexistent this year. To add to my misery, my digital camera broke on the Polar Express and the new one I have ordered will not be here until the 28th. So to make a long story short (too late!) these pictures are courtesy of my parent's camera. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Polar Express and weekend in Midway

This past weekend, we went on the Polar Express train at the Heber Valley Railroad in Heber City, UT. Jared's parents came up to join us for the train ride. Unfortunately, we were slow getting in line to board the train and didn't get to sit by them on the train. We sampled Mrs. Claus' magic cookies, drank hot chocolate and read together the story of the Polar Express on our way to 'the North Pole.' When we 'arrived' at the North Pole we got to visit with the man in red himself and he even gave the boys a bell from his sleigh.

On the way back from the North pole we sang Christmas carols. This was our second year riding the Polar Express (PolEx to our family), and it is a fun Christmas tradition. This year we took the later train so that Wynn & Joyce could be with us and it may have been a little late for some of us.
Jared's impression was that it was definitely for the kids. (He was a little bored, but a good sport). We spent the night at my family's condo in Midway. There is a large hill behind the condo that the boys had a blast sledding down. Jared even went on the sled with the kids. They got a little too much momentum and ended up in a tree once, but everyone had fun. (Make sure you look at the top of Jared's head next time you see him for evidence). Jared wouldn't be Jared without at least a minor injury, right? We also made the requisite stop for lunch at 'Dairy Keen.' This is the boys' favorite place to eat. It is a train-themed fast food restaurant that has train tables to play with and lots of train displays to look at. We had a great weekend away from the hussle and bustle of the season, now we're right back at it!

New things I've found that are cool...

Here are just a few great things that I have recently discovered that maybe not everyone has heard of.
Let me introduce you to the Flip Video camera. These come in several cool colors (I'm getting pink for Christmas) and come in a 60 or 30 minute version. You record your movies (very simple to use) and then you simply pull out the attached USB 'arm' on the side of it and plug it into your computer. You can then edit and upload movies. You should plan on seeing some serious video action on this blog after Christmas (I'm being good and not opening it early). They are very reasonably priced (around $120 for the 30 minute version and $175 for the 60 minute), small, and easy take wherever you go.

The next thing is not really a product, but a service. It is called read the scriptures.com. You can sign up for free and they will email your scripture reading assignment each day. You can choose any of the standard works and pick your schedule (chapter-a-day, finish by a certain date, etc.) For someone like me, who is on the computer a lot, it is ideal.

The last thing I want to mention is a yummy treat that my boys and I have fallen in love with, and I'm afraid it is only going to be available for a limited time. It is the new Candy Cane flavored Hershey's Kisses. They are made of white chocolate that is red/white striped and has bits of candy cane in it. They are truly heavenly. Preston, especially, is smitten with them. Pick some up the next time you are at the store!

If you know of some new, cool things, post them in comments!

Seasonal going ons...

Yesterday we went to Breakfast with Santa at Thanksgiving point with most of my family. We had a good meal, made MORE requests of the man in red, crafts, and the boys got their faces painted. All in all it was a good time. When I was growing up, it was a tradition to do breakfast with Santa at the Tiffin room at ZCMI (did I just reveal how old I am?), so we decided to continue the tradition with our own kids. It was a lot of fun. Next weekend is the "Polar Express" and spending the weekend in Midway, so watch for more exciting pictures and adventures!
We bought our first sled this past week. This was days before the big snowstorm yesterday. Poor Chandler has been spending the whole week trying to sled in our front yard on scraps and patches of snow. Our front yard does not have much slope to it to begin with, and without snow is pretty much hopeless. He kept coming in crying with frustration, asking me to push him on the sled down the "hill." I hated to laugh, but it was pretty funny. We got several inches of snow yesterday, so I'm sure there are better sledding days ahead.

Calgon, take me away!

Yesterday, we had stake conference. We were lucky enough to have Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, of the Twelve apostles come speak to us. Since we have 2 young boys, we decided to watch the meeting from the overflow building (they have a carpetted gym floor--aka less disruptive). We ended up sitting toward the back of the gym. We quickly went through the Spiderman fruit snacks, and Preston was restless. Jared and I had agreed that one of us would take him the first hour and the other the second hour, so that we could both get something out of the meeting. I spent the first hour, in a room off to the side of the building. I could still hear the speakers, but Preston could climb on chairs and tables and (hopefully) extinguish some of his energy. When it was my turn to go back into the meeting, I was to be with Chandler. He was starting to get pretty restless himself. A Two-hour sacrament meeting is pretty rough on most children, I think. There was just the 2 visiting general authorities to speak, so I told him just 2 more talks and then we could go home. What I failed to mention was that these 2 talks would take another hour. For the next hour I was bombarded with "I want to go home," "Mom, this is the longest talk in the whole, wide world," "This talk is a zillion minutes," and "Can I please go out with Dad?" All of these, of course, were uttered loudly enough for the entire gym to hear. There were also uttered from a nearly five year old sprawled out on the floor under the chairs. I have seen kids at church quietly looking at books or coloring, so I know it is possible for kids to behave during these meetings. Somehow no matter what I do, mine seem to be the most disruptive in any congregation we find ourselves. Don't get me wrong, I love that they are both energetic and active kids, but not during this hour of the week. Am I just noticing my kids more than any others or are mine really this bad? I guess I'll just chalk it up to "This, too, shall pass." and "You'll miss this stage when they are grown." :)