A spontaneous outing

Yesterday we woke up to Eli at around 6:45. That is actually really sleeping in for him. We decided instead of hanging around the house all day we would check out the Hot Air Balloon festival that was in Bluff(about 45 miles away). We had read about the festival in the newspaper and it said the balloons would take off at sunrise. We were afraid we might miss it since we were leaving at 7:00 and watching the sun come up as we started the journey. However we arrived with time to spare as many of the balloons were just being unpacked from the trailers.

We were pleasantly surprised with what we saw as we really didn’t know what to expect. We had never been close to hot air balloons and hadn’t talked to anyone who had been to this particular festival in a VERY VERY small town. As we were driving into town and didn’t see any balloons in the air I joked that the LONE balloon rider hadn’t showed up.

Enjoy these pictures from our little outing:

These are powered simply by two 40 gallon propane tanks that sit in the basket. Amazing! And kind of scary.

This is what the balloons look like packed in their case.

Micali and Eli really enjoyed themselves and were very entertained watching all of these balloons get ready for take-off. This might just become a yearly tradition while we live here.

Family

Here are a couple more pictures that were taken when everyone was home at Thanksgiving time. For those who haven’t seen them on facebook and for me I wanted to include them on my blog. I am so glad that everything worked out so we could all be together and make these pictures possible.

Thumbsucking update

Not going so well. She is definitely doing it less but still it is very much a comfort for her. Micali had a great week before Christmas and then with being bored in the car for so long and traveling all over she just went right back to it. Sometimes if I ask her about it she will pull it out but other times she just ignores me and keeps on sucking. I haven’t tried getting they yucky tasting stuff to put on there yet but am thinking about it. I wonder if it is too close to the new baby coming that I should let her wait and hopefully choose to stop by herself in the near future.

Grandma and Grandpa

We were also lucky enough to have Luke’s parents come share a week with us following Christmas. Micali and Eli were totally spoiled and so happy to have all the extra attention. Micali made us all way to many blueberries in the Kitchen her and Eli got from them. We played lots of games, laughed a lot, spent some time outside, and traveled to the Canyonlands National park that isn’t to far from home. Unfortunately looking back I did use my camera enough to capture all the fun but I have a few that will have to do.

 

Eli and Micali did a great job riding in the car through the Canyonlands. We didn’t get out of the car much. We let Daddy and Grandpa do that. Micali and Eli liked seeing the cows that were all over and IN the road because it is an open range.

Daddy made the kids a nice indoor play place by stripping the cushions off the couches and throwing the kids into the pillows and jumping around with them. Eli is pretty sure this should be an everyday occurrence now.

The only pictures of Grandma and Grandpa were taken as they were walking out the door but I am glad they were patient enough for me to grab the camera!

Micali is old enough now to realize she doesn’t want them to leave. She asked them 20 questions about why they were leaving before she let them get out the door. Now she watches for jets flying over head and asks if that is her Grandma and Grandpa.

Christmas Day

We started the day EARLY. Eli was up before 6 o’clock. We tried to keep him somewhat quiet so he didn’t wake the whole house but, we weren’t too successful. I think everyone was opening presents by 7:30. Micali and Eli’s Christmas lasted about two weeks because they opened a few presents the day of and then when we got back home we slowly got out the other presents for them that Santa left here in Monticello. You may notice that they don’t have wrapping paper on a lot of them. We decided not to bother with that here at our house. Maybe next year we will be stocked up with that stuff. Quietly waiting for everyone to wake up.

   

Cute cowboy hats from Kendra and Austin. Going with their stick ponies they got later when we got back home.  

 

Aunt Kendra and Uncle Austin opening presents was also fun to watch we were happy they invited us over Christmas night to share in the fun. They totally surprised each other. I missed getting a picture of the biggest surprise for Austin a  44 inch Flatscreen TV that Kendra hauled up the stairs and into the closet all by herself.

Micali “helping” Austin FIX the TV.

It was nice to be able to share this special day with family and to see the excitement on Micali’s face!

Cookies for Santa

Micali and her cousin Justin worked hard cutting out cookies and frosting them for Santa. Good thing Santa really likes sprinkles. They also put some sparkly oats on the front lawn for the reindeer.

Christmas Pajamas

We went up to Lehi to spend Christmas with Luke’s sister Beth and my sister Kendra. Here are the kids excited about opening their presents from Aunt Lois and Uncle Steve on Christmas Eve before going to bed. They were so excited to get PJs and couldn’t wait to try them on. Micali is totally in love with her Monkey jams. It is hard to get them off of her. They are totally cozy warm and adorable. Eli’s “Here comes trouble” pjs are absolutely fitting. It doesn’t take him long to find a way to cause trouble!