thanksgiving

The extended LeBaron family gathered together in St. George for Thanksgiving 2012.

Tuesday night the Kansas group arrived and we stopped in at Grandmamere and Grandaddio's to say hello. (Melanie, Andrew and Laura arrived later in the evening after our visit).

Will and Lauren enjoyed spending some time with their grandparents. Lauren explored their place and Will showed off. The rest of us enjoyed visiting and catching up.

On Wednesday Will got to hang out with Melanie &Andrew, and he quickly developed an uncle crush on Andrew that is still in effect today.

We spent a few more hours at G&G's house late Wednesday morning.

Lauren even took her first step, though she has yet to repeat that feat.

In the afternoon we went to the park and enjoyed the warm Southern Utah weather.

 

It's not every day you get to swing with your great-grandpa.

Wednesday night the rest of the group arrived (Jill, Emily & Matt) and we hit up Cafe Rio for dinner. It was tons of fun eating good food, laughing and hanging out with the family.

 

 

Some of us had more fun than others. :)

 

All the boys plus Laura were wearing plaid (Will's shorts).

Thursday morning we started Thanksgiving off right, by running the Touquerville Turkey Trot.

Of course we had to dress for the occasion.

To say the terrain was rough would be an understatement. The trail was basically an old river bed, so it was hilly, rocky and sandy. Plus it was quite windy. Our times were not impressive, but we made some great memories.

After the race we cleaned up and headed to Zion's for our delicious Thanksgiving feast.

 

A few group pics before dinner.

Lauren was very grouchy and cried almost the entire duration of the dinner trip--the drive there, picture taking, meal, and drive home. We tried so many different ways to please her and nothing seemed to work. Pepaw did get her fall asleep for a few minutes, but it was short lived. When we finally got her back to the hotel and were getting her ready for bed we saw that one of her toes was twisted in her shoe and had turned purple. I had blamed her behavior on teething and Anthony blamed it on messing up her schedule, so we were both wrong. I still feel bad about it.

Discussing thunderjets with Grandaddio.

 

Thanksgiving night we made a Thankful Turkey farm. Will's face in this picture cracks me up. He was loving staying up late with his aunts and uncles.

Friday we did some more visiting.
 

 

We visited my grandpa's peach orchard and took some family pictures.

And then that night we caught the Tuachan production of Plaid Tidings.

The show was good, but definitely targeted towards an older audience. It was suposed to be funny, but most of what made me laugh were the jokes that we (my sisters, parents and I) were making to each other. During the final act the fire alarm went off and we all had to exit, only to be given the go ahead to return to our seats a few minutes later. It kind of killed the play's momentum, but for some reason, it fit right in with the tone of the production. There was a lot of Christmas music, which made me feel excited that Christmas was just around the corner.

The next morning we packed up our things and headed home. I posted this picture before, but it best illustrates how we felt when we got home: exhausted.

 

All in all a pretty great trip.

 

weekly picture post

Will and Lauren looked pretty cute in the new winter clothes they wore to church on Sunday.
 

Monday was Will's birthday. He was much more interested in the presents sitting next to us than taking any pictures, so even though I don't love it, it's the only one we've got. 

Lauren loves computers, phones and remotes. Pretty much anything that lights up and her parents don't want her to touch.

Wednesday the kids and I ran some errands and I picked up some supplies to start a new cross-stitch project. I actually really enjoy cross-stitching and I spent the evening cross stitching while watching shows with TJ after the kids went to bed.

Lauren is going through a phase* where she seems to enjoy making her parents lives as difficult as possible.  On Thursday I planned on feeding her some spaghetti for lunch and feeling proactive I took her shirt off before she started eating since she tends to be messy. Apparently since I prevented her from staining her shirt she figured she'd do the next best thing and smear her dirty hands all through her recently cleaned hair.

*I am going to go ahead and call her sassy-ness a phase and hope, hope, hope that she mellows out as she gets older.

Friday was our first day of "vacation," (vacation because Tony is off work). After some early morning doctor's appointments and Christmas shopping, we went to Wonderscope for a few hours. We had a pretty fun time and our kids seem to be at a great age to enjoy the museum. Will really enjoyed the motion room where you used golf balls in various ways (roller coaster, loop the loop) to see how gravity works.

I said goodbye to a friend today and upgraded to a new phone. This baby is basically the same age as Will. It has some quirks. Like the fact that it always says my most recent call was to Anthony's work phone on January 5, 1980, despite the fact that neither of us were even born then. And it doesn't hold a charge for more than about 8 hours. But despite these quirks I will miss my old buddy, even though I am loving my new phone.

birthday festivities

 

Today we celebrated Will's birthday. He's three now, so if you hear him tell you he's "free" don't think he's talking about his availability. Still working to master the "th" sound.

 

He started off the day by making scrambled eggs with Dad. Pants are not required in our kitchen.

 

 

 Enjoying the fruits of his labor.

In the morning we headed over to HyVee to get the fixings for dinner. Will requested hot dogs, and I only really like to eat hot dogs outside, so we compramised and he got a hot dog while the rest of us had pulled pork. I feel like he made a poor choice, but on your birthday you are entitled to a few bad choices.

 

For lunch we hit up McDonald's with Laura and shared some nuggets and fries. Will was more interested in playing I-Spy than eating.

 

In the afternoon he watched a show and then took a nap. He doesn't nap every day, so it was a real treat to have him willingly lay down and then stay down for almost two hours. Happy birthday to me.

 

In the evening my parents and Laura came over and we opened presents and ate dinner. Apparently Will only likes to smile with his mouth closed now.

 

 Taking a call during dinner.

We had some green cupcakes per his request. It took him a few tries, but he finally was able to blow all three candles out with help from his dad.

Will is a smart, silly, creative kid. I'm so glad we got to celebrate him today. Love, love, love this little boy. :)

happy 3rd birthday, will!

weekly picture post

Tina (Anthony's mom) sent us a Finnish Christmas Advent that we've been doing this month. We've enjoyed it and look forward to making it a tradition in years to come. Each Sunday in December has a theme (hope, peace, joy and love) and you light a candle and read scriptures and sing a Christmas hymn that focuses on that topic. This Sunday was the Sunday of peace and we read scriptures about the messages of peace the angles brought foretelling Christ's birth. Here Anthony is accompanying us as we sing "Angels We Have Heard on High."

No, Anthony doesn't have two wives. A few months back he lost his wedding ring. We looked for it all over the place, but couldn't find it. Eventually we decided to buy a new ring. Then a few weeks ago that ring went missing. Again, we looked and looked, and hadn't been able to find it. It had been missing long enough that we were starting to talk about getting him a second replacement ring, but hadn't gotten around to actually doing it yet. Monday evening while we were cleaning up dinner Will walks in to the kitchen with one of the rings he found in the couch and within a few minutes Anthony finds the other ring in a pocket of his jeans.

December 11--I admit. I forgot to take a picture this day. The biggest event of this day would have to be that Will fell asleep on the way home from Costco at 5pm and we could not get him to wake up. While it was nice to have the extra quiet in the evening, he was up, energetic and very hungry at 6:30 the next morning. I did not go to bed early enough to feel good about this wake up time.

 

We are currently in the market for more efficient storage, and my friend Stephanie recommended this bench/storage unit, so we bought one. TJ put it together for me while we watched Friday Night Lights. He even had to go rogue (stray from the instructions) and sand down one side because the pieces didn't match up perfectly.

Thursday was book club and the book we read this month was called 7. The author identified seven areas of excess in her life, and over the course of seven months tried to cut back in each area for one month. While I had a few issues with the book, I was especially moved (for lack of a better word) by her chapter on waste. Reading that chapter brought things I had already been thinking to the front of my mind. I hope I can have the discipline to follow through with the changes I want to make in my life.

On Friday our friends the Zysks were in town so we spent the morning with them at Crown Center. We did everything--Union Station Holiday Express, Santa, Kaliedescope, Hallmark Visitor's Center, and lunch at the Crayola Cafe. We had a great time, but were so tired some of the kids barely made it to the car when we were done.

Saturday morning we took the kids to the aquarium for an early birthday treat. Of all the many things we saw, the scuba Santa and elf were what stuck out to Will the most. Makes me feel really good about forking over a lot of money for Will to see a variety of sea life when all he talks about is the Santa that blows bubbles and wears a mask.

weekly picture post

While the weather was still relatively warm we were trying to take nightly walks with the kids. We each push a kid--usually Will in the umbrella stroller and Lauren in the bigger stroller. Sometimes we have to spice up the walks for the kids, so we race (the stroller Tony's pushing always wins). Lately it has taken less effort from the parentals to keep the walks exciting because our neighbors are putting up Christmas lights. This house is one of our faves.

On Monday night we got to join with the rest of the John family as Uncle Matt opened his mission call. He is headed to Boise, Idaho, in January and we couldn't be more excited for him!

Tuesday night was our annual relief society progressive dinner. Because I am on the activities committee I got to make lots of desserts. This is what our counter looked like about fifteen minutes before I had to leave. Good thing I make wise decisions like taking a picture of my precious baked goods instead of feeding my dear children. For the record, I did prepare a meal for them, but  the babysitter (my mom) had to feed them.

Wednesday we spent some time at Crown Center. We played at the Crayola Christmas Land, glanced at Santa from afar, checked out the gingerbread houses and trains, climbed in and out of the huge wooden toys by the mayor's Christmas tree, ate at Fritz's, and saw a crazy donkey.

Reading books before bed. Will and TJ are reading a book my grandpa gave Will about F-84 Thunderjets. Lauren is reading a Caillou.

Continuing with the book loving, this is Will's favorite page from our Jingle Bell book. It is one of our many Christmas books that we keep in a special chest and only get out this time of year. Will loves that the one horse pulling the open sleigh runs right into a snowman. Loves it. We have to stop singing the song and acknowledge the horse/snowman every time we read it.

Our ward held a Christmas brunch on Saturday and you better believe the Johns made an appearance. Will had pancakes with lots of syrup. He learned the hard way that dry napkins aren't the best tool to use to clean your hands when you are dealing with something as sticky as syrup.