Grandpa and MeeMee come to town!

 Although when we moved here, my dad grouchily swore he would NEVER come visit us in the winter, we finally convinced him this year. Luckily the kids stayed cute, so we had some incentive there. Also luckily, the weather took a break from the sub-zero fun-fest we'd been having and stayed in the 20's and 30's during their trip.

First on the agenda was a dogsled ride. Kind of random, but there was a Groupon, and it seemed like one of those "only in Alaska" type of opportunities, so we went ahead with it. Here are Dad and Joanie all geared up!

Here we are waiting in the car for Dad and Joanie to finish. The kids were troopers this day. They got to tag along during the hour's ride out there, and then wait for both sets of grown-ups to take their ride, then drive home. They did get to go out to lunch twice though, so I guess that's a bonus!

 After that, James and I had a chance to take our turn on the sled!

Is it just me, or do I look like my mom in that pic? ^^

Beautiful Winter

So winter has been cold, but when it's really dry and cold, it is breathtaking. The frost covers the trees, making them all beautiful and white.

 I took these pics of the INSIDE of our front storm door. Note all the ice accumulated in the inside corner.

Adventures in the Freezing Cold!

As my Facebook friends know from my constant whining, we are having a record-setting winter here in Alaska. And not in the good way that everyone else is. Record-setting snowfall and much, MUCH colder than last year. Finally I just had to throw the kids outside, even though it was below zero. We just bundled them up really well!

They had so much fun that the next day they stayed out for a few hours! They went sledding, James built a snow fort, and they even jumped on the trampoline!

Here they are all bundled up and ready to go out. We got these fleece head covering things for Christmas from my sister-in-law and they are AWESOME!

First lost teeth!

Kenley finally lost her first teeth! Her two bottom teeth had been loose forEVER! She lost her first one at school, and her teacher sent her down to my classroom to show me. I look up from teaching and there's Kenley: bloody tooth and tissue in hand! It was so funny, and I was so glad her teacher thought to let me share that special moment. I got to take her down to the nurse and get the famous tooth necklace.

Then when I got home from work that night, I thought the hole in her mouth looked a little bigger. Sure enough, she had lost ANOTHER tooth! She said it was "mostly loose" so she just pulled it out all by herself!

Random Fun

 Claire playing dress up.

 Playing restaurant in the tub....

 Kenley got to go see Beauty and the Beast with my cousins Kelsey and Peter...

 Parker and his friends making good use of the boy dress-ups he got for Christmas.

 We never should have bought that new dining set last year. Apparently they prefer the floor!

New Year's Rockin' Eve

For New Year's we just had a little family get-together complete with....

Chocolate fondue

Dancing

Playing the Wii

Doing poppers out in the snow

And fireworks! Now this is the way to do fireworks in Anchorage - from the comfort of your own home!

Claire tells you about life

Here are two videos of Claire. Pretty boring, unless you're family, but they're cute to us! The first one is a little interview where she tells her name, favorite food, animal, toy, etc. She's a little hard to understand, so in the beginning, she first says her name is Star (going on 4 months of that now), and then her "other name" is Clairey Ding Dong. In case you can't understand her favorite foods, she says they are broccoli and peas. She is a silly girl. The second video is just a short one of her counting.

Christmas Day

We were sooooo excited this year to spend our first Christmas as our own little family! Each year of our marriage, James has had to work on Christmas, except for last year, when we were in San Diego for my sister's wedding. So this was our first experience having Christmas all together in our own home. Can you believe that? We've been married for SEVEN years!

We had the added adventure this year of having 9am church on Christmas Day. We told the kids that we'd do stockings in the morning, and everything else after church. We left Santa a note asking him to please wrap their presents so they wouldn't be distracted by seeing them in the morning. He was nice enough to do just that, and load them in Claire's Pack N Play with streamers over the top and a "Keep Out!" sign taped to it all. The kids were so good about leaving all the presents and going to church. We didn't hear one complaint, and they looked so cute!

After church they finally got to open their presents, and much joy was felt by all!

 ^^^Kenley LOVED her mp3 player. I think if James and I had realized how much it would reduce her constant jabbering, we would have bought one for her at the tender age of 3!

Then we headed over to my grandma's that night to enjoy some fun and family time!

 If you note that two of my children are still in their church clothes, don't think I forced them to out of respect for the Sabbath - they just really prefer to stay in them, and do it almost every week. Especially Parker - he LOVES his church clothes. Weirdo.

 My grandma, Gail, and Dave.

^^This is my Uncle Gary attempting to put some microscopic shoes on Claire's Polly Pocket. She's got a way of convincing anyone to do anything for her!

All in all, one of our very favorite Christmases! It was hard to be away from our families in California and Utah, but it was so nice to be together with James and our other extended family!