I love and hate, but mostly love December...

Is it just me or was December the most exciting month of the year as a kid? Seriously every day was a day closer to Christmas, and we had so many traditions leading up to Christmas that it was just a month long celebration. Unfortunately, when you grow up you realize that someone was doing all the work to create that feeling and those experiences and you figure out pretty quickly that if you want the same thing for your kids you have to do all the work. Don't get me wrong, I love the Christmas season and making it wonderful for my kids, it's just that it never stops! From the day after Thanksgiving you have to go into hyper mode to get everything done. This is why I have been the worst blogging slacker ever the last couple weeks. So to make myself feel a little better and focus on the things we have gotten done and not the things we haven't gotten done, here is a little update on what we've been up to.

A couple of weeks ago, Garrett surprised me with an early Christmas present and bought us Sarah Brightman tickets! He got a way good deal if we bought four tickets so we were able to go with the our bishop and his wife to an amazing concert! This is something that Garrett and I have always wanted to do together. When we were dating a lot of her songs were "our songs" so we always said that we would love to go to one of her concerts someday. Ben and Molly watched our babies which was so nice of them!! We had a great time and Sarah was amazing in concert! We kept commenting that we needed to take Rylynn to one of her concerts because the whole thing was like being in a fairy land. Her costumes were so fancy and girly and the set designs were so magical looking. Rylynn would have told us that she wanted every dress that she wore. The funny thing is that the day after the concert Garrett played some of her songs for Rylynn and she loved them! She now asks for certain ones by name.

I know I look really tired in this picture, it's December!!

This guy sang a couple or duets with Sarah and he was such a power house! He was amazing!

Seriously her set designs were more like a musical than a concert, I loved them! Thanks honey for such a fun date!

Next on the list is that we took the kids to the Annual Christmas Lights event at the Farmpark. We went last year and had so much fun. This year unfortunately our camera was acting up so we didn't get that many pictures.

Rylynn loved sitting on Santa's lap and telling him that she wants Fancy Nancy clothes for Christmas. Carter on the other hand was terrified of Santa and just cried and reached for me.

Carter however was thrilled when we got to the barn because he is obsessed with animals right now. They had a horse show the night we went and Carter loves horses right now (he calls them neighs) so he was one happy boy. Then we got to see baby pigs, sheep (baas), chickens, and ducks (quacks). The kids even got to take a pony ride which they both loved but thought it was way too short. So did we actually since it was three bucks per ride and they took three laps around the tiny ring. Oh well, they loved it. Carter also loved the giant train set. He loves trains right now and he could have watched it go around all night if we would have let him.

Next we got to go to Santa's toy shop and make toys with the elves. Rylynn's creation was vastly improved over last years:) She choose a gingerbread house this time and painted the whole thing purple, of course, with glitter all over the roof. Carter made a bus, and with Daddy's help it actually looks like a bus.

We had a great time, the only sad part was that we bought the tickets a month in advance (they sell out quick) and we didn't know that the night we had tickets for was the same night as the ward Christmas party which Ben and Molly were in charge of. We were sad to have missed it and we heard it was amazing!

So aside from that, we do have lots of Christmas decorations up which the kids love! Rylynn usually thanks Heavenly Father for "our pretty Christmas decorations" in her prayers at night! We also have the Christmas card list updated and the Christmas cards printed! I have most of the kids presents purchased and all the family presents purchased although none of them are wrapped. So we are making progress. The reason I am so stressed though is that we are leaving on Tuesday and Garrett's last final is on Monday so he can't help out as much as he or I would like. Oh well, tis the season! One more happy note is that my little sister comes home from her mission tomorrow!!!!! I can't wait to see her and hug her and tackle her again:)