The Break . . .

Farewell Christmas break, we barely knew ye . . .It really is incredible how quickly two weeks of Christmas vacation can pass by. We had a wonderful time spending so much time with our friends and family. The fun started with chocolate dipping with the family in Payson . . .

The table was covered with lots of tasty treats, and the Christmas music got Ainslie in the mood to dance. It was all lots of fun. Josh was pretty excited to see that some of the souvenirs he bought on his mission had found their way out of storage. His favorite was this one:

The parties continued with Ainslie's friends at Cindy's. Ainslie always has lots of fun with her friends there, and Janae had fun that day when she joined Ainslie for the party.

Before we knew it, Christmas Eve was here. We had fun with the family in Spanish Fork while we waited for Joe and Karrie's plane to come in, and we decided to open all of our presents that night, rather than wait for the next morning. Ainslie loved the doll she got from Johnson and Cory, and we were happy to get some great things for our emergency preparation stuff.

We were pretty excited to see how Ainslie would react to presents and all of the fun on Christmas morning. It didn't take her long at all to figure everything out.

After opening our presents at home, we headed down to Spanish Fork for some delicious Christmas breakfast and a chance to say hello to Joe and Karrie. As always, Ainslie had a great time playing with Jay Jay, and Janae wowed us all with her Christmas carols on the piano.

Then it was off to Payson where we came face to face with a giant blow-up octopus. Ainslie loved it, and she spent a long time crawling on, wrestling with, and lounging in the "spider."

But that wasn't the only present . . . there were lots of other great presents waiting for us.

It was lots of fun to see everyone, eat a delicious dinner, and spend time together on Christmas.

The next morning we cautiously ventured off to New Mexico for Jordan and Alyssa's wedding. After seeing several cars slide off the road, and suriving a brief choking incident in the back seat, we were very grateful for the offer to have Ainslie stay with Josh's family in Payson. We knew the drive to Albuquerque would be long, but when the roads got bad we were even more grateful that Ainslie didn't have to endure the long drive with us.

The weather was pretty rough at times, but this meant that there wasn't a lot of traffic on the roads. That made it nice and easy to just stop in the road and snap a few pictures along the way. The scenery was pretty nice (when the snow let up enough for us to see it).

The wedding was beautiful, and it was great to spend time with family in Albuquerque and on the drive home. We were very happy that we made the drive.

After we got home from New Mexico we got together with more of Josh's family for even more Christmas presents.

Once again, Ainslie got some very fun new presents. The giant Elmo book and blocks have been especially popular around here.









Lots and lots of fun. Unfortunately, its back to school tomorrow. We think we've got our schedules all figured out, and this semester promises to be a good one. If nothing else, it should be the last one, and that's pretty exciting.

Candy Windows

On Tuesday evening we found ourselves with a little bit of time and an intense desire to get out of the house, so we decided to check out the decorations downtown. Each year, some of the businesses along center street create window displays made entirely from candy. We're not sure if Ainslie realized that they were all candy, but she seemed to think they were cool.

After seeing all the windows, we ventured a little further - waving at cars and enjoying the Christmas decorations.

Ainslie was excited to touch every tree that we passed . . .

And she insisted that she be the one to push the button for the cross walk.

By the time we got back to the car we were all pretty frozen. Ainslie wasn't very good at keeping her mittens on, and she loved walking in the crunchy snow (getting her feet wet).

But when we got home we warmed up quickly with some delicious hot cocoa.

It may have been really cold, but it was lots of fun.

Christmas Activities

On Monday, Josh took his last final of this semester. Janae still has more work to do, but the end is in sight. On Saturday, we decided to go do something "Christmas-y" for a little break from the studying, so we headed down to Spanish Fork for the Festival of Lights.
If you've never been, the Festival of Lights is a fun way see some good ol' fashioned Christmas scenes illuminated in thousands of small, twikinling lights (some of them are even animated!).









They've got everything. Even Santa's there, staring at cars as they drive by.
There were also a few unique displays as well. Not sure what Rams butting heads and cowboys mid-rodeo have to do with Christmas, but they did have a certain charm.









There were also a few reminders of what Christmas is really about.
Ainslie loves the lights.
But, you don't have to go all the way to Spanish Fork for great Christmas lights. Just like last year, we have been scouting out some of the impressive houses in Provo. On our way home Saturday we stopped by a house in the river bottoms that has the brightest trees we've ever seen.
The pictures can't quite do it justice. The trees look like they've been dusted with candy canes. They're incredible.
So, if you're looking for something fun to do or just a way to entertain your toddler, we recommend the lights.

Pea Candy

When Josh was little, his mom successfully convinced him that frozen peas were a special treat - pea candy. Even now, eating peas right out of the freezer is something Josh loves. These days Ainslie is getting to be a pretty picky eater, and "candy" is becoming a new favorite word. Inspired by Josh's mom, Janae has successfully convinced Ainslie that frozen peas are really just little, green popsicles. It's great. Ainslie loves to eat candy, and we love it when peas are candy.

Curlers . . .

On Friday, we were invited to the annual Christmas party at the firm where Josh will be working next year. While Janae was getting ready, Ainslie wanted to get in on the fun. As you can see, Josh isn't too experienced with putting curlers in, but Ainslie didn't seem to mind the haphazard placement. They definitely had the desired effect . . .
Curlers are fun!