Fake Snow at the Outlets

A new outlet mall opened not far from our house and they were having 'snow' falling for the first weekend in December. 

Aria in the 'snow' (which was made of little soap suds since it was about 85 degrees out):

Parker, who was refusing to enjoy himself:

Terra, just taking it in, she ended up loving it!

playing with the snow on the ground

They had a big old tree there and I tried to get a picture of the kids in front of it...

Well, it was worth a shot.

Ward Party!!

We only have couple pictures from our ward Christmas party.

Sharing the hot chocolate and cookies in our PJs:

We watched some videos, the kids made ornaments, sang a couple songs and then the kids didn't want to see Santa when he came in so we headed home and went to bed.

While we were there, Jason tried to convince the kids to take a picture by doing one himself:

The kids were still unwilling to get their picture, but now Jason will love me forever for posting this publicly!

Temple Lights

We went to see the Christmas lights down at the Mesa Temple.

We went early in the 'season' so it wasn't busy at all and it was an unusually warm night (Jason and I were just wearing t-shirts). Basically we picked an awesome night to go! 

We looked around and Aria kept squatting down to get a look at different lights/exhibits

The girls took a rest here:

And then we saw my parents, they were 'hosts' for the evening so they took some pictures for us:

Meteor Crater

As I've already said a few times, Parker LOVES space.

So on our way home, We took a detour as we left the cabin to visit Meteor Crater

Cool Stuff about Meteor Crater:

--It's the crater that Shumaker studied and used to prove that many craters on Earth were caused by meteors, and not just volcanoes. (from this also came the idea of a meteor causing the extinction of the dinosaurs)

--Since Meteor crater was in some ways similar to the surface of the moon the Apollo mission trained for their moon walks at Meteor Crater.

Aria wanted me to take a picture of her with this tree.

One of the Apollo test modules

Me and my babies with a view behind us:

There were all kinds of stuff inside the museum so you could learn about meteors and stuff. I'm sad (and so was Parker) that we kind of had to rush through this part since it was getting to be naptime, and the girls were making it known.

we also got to watch a short film about the history of Meteor Crater.

Aria is such a lightweight she has a hard time keeping theater seats flat.

And then we hiked down to the bottom of the crater, see:

Obviously not, but they had this display so it could look like you were down at the bottom.

Hanging out at a lookout point

Silly wiggly Aria

Taking a closer look:

how many 4 year olds do you know that would be excited about a view like this?

Parker liked it though, since it was caused by a meteor and meteors come from space.

Another successful family field trip!

Lowell Observatory

Since Parker is totally into all things 'space' right now we decided to visit Lowell Observatory while we were at the cabin.

It was a family activity and field trip put together. 

Field trips as a family instead on a bus full of crazy kids?

 Homeschool=Awesome!

Lowell is in Flagstaff and is actually where Pluto was discovered.

First, here's Terra looking so super cute and colorful and warm!

My favorite people in front of the telescope.

Daddy taking a look

And Parker's turn. This telescope was set to view the moon, so we were able to see all the craters up close

We got to see a set of stars through another telescope, and walked through a few exhibits.

Here we are in front of a piece of meteorite that is at Lowell from Meteor Crater

They had a 3D Mars area, so you could look at pictures and maps of Mars in 3D.

My kids are cute anyway, but then with goofy glasses they are irresistible.

Sweet boy, so excited to learn about space

Try and tell me you don't love that face!

My cute Alien baby, Terra!

And then my whole family rocking the super cool 3D glasses.

Overall the kids enjoyed it, especially Parker- he seriously loves learning about space

Hunting Christmas Trees

So Thanksgiving night we drove up north and met Jason's parents at the cabin.

The next morning we went out to play- even up north it was still nice out

I think Aria is enjoying this more than Terra is.

Then Parker said he found a tree we could take home and decorate

Silly boy

Then we went out and 'hunted' for a real Christmas tree.

Terra in the truck, getting all bundled up

Parker driving us around.

Don't worry, this was not on an actual road,

 but out in a field among the trees we were looking to cut down.

Here's the tree we picked out while she was still rooted in the ground

Jason cutting the tree down

Then that Sunday morning after we got back into town we decorated the tree

We also cut down a tree that was about 3' tall and the kids decorated that- other than the ball ornaments, every ornament on that tree was made by the kids.

Made out of glue and food dye, clay, paint, foam and glitter, paper, etc. It's super cute to me!

Thanksgiving

This year we had Thanksgiving at my parents house. 

We went over early and watched the Macy's parade and then ate, and we then drove up north to join Jason's parents at the cabin for the weekend.

Here are the few pics I got from our Turkey Day

More posts about the cabin coming soon.

But I just want to say that now that I have kids I really love Thanksgiving. It's a such a great chance to really focus on our blessings and teach our children more about gratitude and how good we really have it!