Scrumptious December Treats!

My good friend Cassie celebrated her birthday this month. She loves carrot cake, but her family doesn't. It was a great excuse to try out a new recipe from Our Best Bites! The cake was sooo good, and I love the Starburst carrots!

I'm kind of weird...sometimes I think my little ones are so cute that I want to devour them! I kiss them all over and tell them I'm going to eat them for dessert - hence the "scrumptious" label!

My adorable little Blazer brought home this adorable little gingerbread man from school. I love the face he made while trying to open the package. He ate all of the limbs and left the head...I told him that was really cruel! So, of course, he quickly shoved the head into his mouth to put the little man out of his misery :_

Sunday Pictures...

Visit with the Williamson Grandparents!

 The Williamson grandparents were in town for Thanksgiving, so they came to hang out with us for a day. We went to the Natural History Museum in Salt Lake, up by Butte Gardens. I have heard Luke rave about it, so we had to go check it out. The architecture is amazing, and there was never a dull moment for the kids. When we first got there they had some hawks and owls from the Utah Wildlife rescue program with some guides talking about them. The kids were thoroughly enthralled.

There were a few models of cells with removable puzzle pieces that would light up upon successfully completing the model. Blaze worked on this one about 10 times and still didn't want to leave! At his school there aren't any time limits, and so he is used to playing with whatever he wants for as long as he wants :)

There was a kids room with costumes and a river for fishing and catching bugs. Grandpa Joe was trying to scare Grandma Leslie...I'm sure she just thought this spider was too cute to run away from!

Blaze is pretty obsessed about playing in the water any chance he can get!

Alanna loves soaking up attention from her grandparents!

 

We ate dinner at Blue Lemon, which we absolutely LOVE, but it was packed that night! It was still worth the wait, and they brought out sugar cookies from the bakery for our kids. I feel comfortable saying that these were the BEST sugar cookies I have ever eaten! Sugar cookies aren't my favorite because they usually aren't made to my liking, but I'm going to get one next time we are there! Their bakery is amazing. After dinner we headed over to Temple Square to see the lights and watch some videos of the account of our Savior's birth. It was the perfect way to kick of the Christmas season! I'm so glad we went that weekend too because the weather was nice (for December). It's gotten MUCH colder since then! We also enjoyed the lights at City Creek Center, and seeing the decorations at Deseret Books where we got a free candy stick!

 

 

 Blaze did this all on his own one evening while I was fixing dinner. He was so excited to show me his "S"! I love how creative he is with his play!

 

 

Alanna's Class Christmas Party...

Alanna got to have a Christmas party and a Polar Express/pj day in Kindergarten! I went in to help with the Christmas party and we make reindeer cookies and Reese's Christmas Trees at our station. These kindergartners are too cute! They are so eager to try new things and are so easily excited/entertained! It was interesting that some of the kids sort of slopped their treats together because they couldn't wait to gobble them up. Some of the kids took so much time making their creations perfect, and they weren't about to eat them yet. We carefully wrapped their cookies up in napkins so they could show them to their family! They also listened to a story, played Bingo, and make a snowman craft.

Our Thanksgiving Feast...

Alanna is really into holding the babies!

It looks like Cache wanted to be included... enough of that baby food!

We feasted at Tucanos this year! It's a Brazilian grill/buffet where they have an incredibly delicious food bar, and they also bring different grilled meats, pineapple, and veggies right to your table. It was SOOOO nice to not have to prepare food or clean. And I'm not thrilled about the normal home-style fare of Thanksgiving, so I really enjoyed all of the flavorful choices there. We had a long table full of family including two new additions, and the babies did so well. It's not something that we will do every year, but it was a fun change for this year!

Feast with the Beasts!

 

We tried something new for Thanksgiving morning...the Hogle Zoo! It was a beautiful sun shining day and not too cold to be outside. We met up with Luke and family, and it was fun to watch Peter enjoying his familiar "turf". They are zoo regulars. There were animal feedings about every 1/2 hour, but the main event was the elephants eating/smashing pumpkins. We had a front row seat for the action, and we were not disappointed. The elephants seemed to know they were getting a treat, and they were pretty vocal about their excitement. We especially enjoyed watching an adult (maybe mom or dad) and baby fighting over pumpkin pieces. First, the baby would try to snatch pieces of food right out of the adult's mouth. The adult would turn away and gently nudge the baby elsewhere. After a while, the adult was taking food from the baby though! I would love to know what they were thinking...were they playing or really irritated with each other? 

My Thanksgiving Turkeys!!!

I grew up making these candy turkeys, and my kids love to make them too. They really LOVE chocolate covered cherries...and this is why they have had them :) Blaze is my #1 turkey lately! I gave each of the kids a plate with all of the turkey makings laid out. I turned back around and Blaze had already started eating his! Needless to say, he never created a turkey!

They all had fun playing with the frosting tube and creatively adorning their turkeys with a Mohawk, curly hair, facial hair, etc. 

I LOVE these little turkeys SO much! I'm so lucky to be their mom!