Happy New Year

We celebrated the approaching new year at the house of our good friends, Amber and Pete Goff. We ate some yummy food and played games. Amber and Matt Winward were there also. Matt entertained us and the kids there with some magic tricks and we all found out how little we know about music. We had a great time and it was fun to see everyone. We even stayed until midnight to ring in the New Year.

Merry Christmas!

Well, Christmas came again this year...much too quickly for the adults and much too slow for the kids. On Christmas Eve, the Stratton's ate dinner at our house (Blake made the turkey!). Then we braved the snow and drove to Susan's parents to open presents. The kids were so excited to see their cousin Abby and get to play with her. They wanted to open their Christmas jammies first so they could wear them while they opened their other presents. Afterwards, we packed up our loot and went home. In the morning the kids got up late and we only had time to look at what Santa brought us, then we had to hurry over to Blake's parents house for breakfast. We hung out there until after Christmas dinner then headed home to finish our Christmas. Ainsley got her monkey slippers she had longed for and Ty got a whole mess of animals that he asked Santa for. Ty wasn't feeling very good and fell asleep halfway through opening presents and Ainsley wanted to head out right away to ride her new bike. All in all it was a satisfying holiday. Blake even took the day after Christmas off to hang out.

The Lights at Temple Square

We met Susan's cousin, Laurie, and her family at Temple Square in Salt Lake to see the Christmas lights. It was a nice evening, the lights were beautiful and it was not crowded at all. We walked around and watched the Christmas Story out on the lawn. The kids had a good time looking at the lights on all the trees and going to see the Chritus statue in the visitors center. The loved seeing the temple all lit up. Ty kept calling it a castle. Afterward, we went to Laurie's house to eat and have what else...hot chocolate.