O Holy Night, the lights were brightly shining...

Last night we got to go see the Mesa Temple Christmas lights! This is definitely a family favorite as it offers all the fun of the Temple Square lights, but with only half the freezing! (It was about 60 degrees last night, so we didn't have to bundle up too much) As soon as we got there, Allie wanted to run around and see everything (when I asked what was going on, she said "I am just so excited for Christmas").  It was great to see all the amazing lights, but also remember why Christmas is so important.

All the girls trying to focus for a picture (Hadley couldn't ignore the pretty lights for a few seconds). 

More lights. Miles is in there somewhere too (look under the giant mass of blankets).

This year they had some new statues, and the girls stood and looked at this one for quite a while.

Watching the Nativity narration. The girls were so focused on watching and listening to the stories of the Savior's birth.

On a less serious note, here is a bum shot of everyone walking through the lights (I made is a small picture instead of extra large just for you Rach).

The end of the night. Everyone had a great time seeing the lights, the Nativity, and listening to some great Christmas music.

What really happens when I am at work...

Rachel always tells me that she works really hard at home all day. Up to this point I actually believed her. Whenever I have to stay home with the kids I am exhausted after a long stretch (usually about 5 minutes). However, today the true secret came out. This is what I captured happening in our house when I got home.

You're eyes are not devcieving you, that is our children rubbing lotion on Rachels feet while she looks at instagram or pintrest, or Facebook. I only wish the first picture would have come out better, Rachel was even eating candy (Bon bons)!

Rach tells me this was a rare occurrence, but now my whole understanding of this stay at home thing is in question. Is life just a big salon day?

Post Script by Rachel:  We all know this doesn't really happen all day long, but when the girls offer to fix your cracked feet with lotion, who is going to refuse?  Also, this was the day the laptop died....sad day.  I might have spilled a whole cup of water into it.  Whoops.  Luckily we had backed up the photos in August and blogged more recent ones so we at least have some of the photos.  

On the first day of Christmas...

When Rachel decided to decorate for Christmas last week (before Thanksgiving even! I know, it is a shocker) we realized that the old Christmas tree we have been using had seen better days (think Charlie Brown style). So we decided (and by we I mean Rachel decided I should go) to go out on magic Saturday (there isn't really a name for this day, but it seemed deserving of some great title) to compete with the rest of the crazies for a Christmas tree deal! No worries, I walk faster than the 7 other old people waiting outside Target at 7:30 in the morning, so I got what we wanted!

After I brought home this magnificent tree, Rachel and Allie helped spread the branches.

The girls were very helpful (and by helpful, I really mean stressful) in hanging the ornaments. We now have a slightly boy themed tree with lots of soccer balls, trucks, and Santas.

(On a side note: thanks mom and dad for getting me an ornament each year. Those are the ones the girls like the most and without them our tree would be quite bare.)

If decorating a tree was not fun enough, we also went down to Bass Pro Shop to visit Santa!

They have tons of fun stuff there for the holidays and it is just the right price (FREE!!). The girls particularly enjoyed the carousel ride. 

Dad enjoyed the Great Pyrenees Dogs in front of the store 

(My what large dogs they have...the better for petting my dear).

The capstone moment of the day was the visit with the big guy himself. Allie had no problems going to see Santa (and in staying true to her 4 year old self, she started to immediately ask questions), but Hadley was not as sure about everything. Miles did great (or as great as a 2 month old can do). So the girls requested scooters and Ariel dolls. We will have to see if they have been good this year.

Merry Christmas!

It's electric ...

Here in Arizona there are tons of family activities to get ready for Christmas, and they all start the day after Thanksgiving. So after a long hard day at work (for both Rachel and me) we took the family down to the Tempe Light Parade. This is the first time we went to this event so we were not sure what to expect. It turned out to be a great little parade. Everyone was dressed in lights (including the bands and dance groups) and the highlight of the parade was Santa coming to town.

This was a miniature semi-truck. The girls loved all the floats and Allie especially loved seeing her dance teacher prancing down the street (something to look forward to next year I guess).

We don't have a ton of pictures because the camera was acting up for us. However this was a huge tractor driving down the street in lights. We are starting to get lots of bottled up Christmas energy (which is stored in two tiny little bodies) which will erupt in a giant explosion of fun in a few weeks. This is only the beginning, we look forward to many more fun days and nights to come.

"Aunt Jenny!"

We were lucky enough to have my sister Jenny come for a visit with little Caleb just for fun!  She arrived on the Ogden to Mesa flight Friday until Monday and we had so much fun getting to know Caleb and playing with Jen!

We had to get a picture of the sisters with their babies who are about 3 months apart.

Look at those cute smiling boys in their matching church outfits!  Yes, Miles is pretty close to the same size as Caleb, even though he is 3 months younger!

The girls getting their post-church toe-dipping on.  Jenny thought we were wimps for not swimming in November, but now she believes us in how cold the water is.

Brooke (our cousin who lives right by us) was nice enough to have us over for Sunday dinner while Jen was here and it was so fun to all get together and have 3 of the 5 Shaw babies born this year together.  Yet again, Miles is HUGE!

This was the shot Jenny had while we were on our way to go hiking.  2 cute babies in front and surrounded by 2 talkative girls in the back.  Thanks Jen for answering all of their questions and playing with them.  The girls now ask for "Aunt Jenny" all the time.  We can't wait until Christmas to see you all!  (I was driving because Mike had taken a muscle relaxant due to being rear-ended on the freeway that week.  When Mike takes one, he is out of it and can't drive!)