Christmas Day!

Christmas morning was the best yet! We slept in, got up, got dressed and opened presents.

I think McKay was a little star struck by his new friend. Although, he expected him to stand up on his own:

McKay had to try the new spin toothbrush out right away!



Now we don't need to spend a half-hour in the bike section at Walmart anymore!

We spent the latter part of Christmas Day and the next day in Cedar City with our families. We had a reindeer join us for the ride:



We were lucky to have a little snow fall while we were in Cedar. Nathan and McKay went out to catch some flakes:

Pre-Christmas Activities

We had a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus! McKay was surprised to see the jolly couple show up at our house. He was much more friendly with Santa this year than last, or even this year at the Jubilee of Trees. We are so lucky!



We decorated a gingerbread house:

(Is that a guilty face or what?)

We spent Christmas Eve with the Benson family. We had a delicious dinner and played some beautiful music with chimes and bells. Here are McKay and Sydney during "Jingle Bells":



McKay was trying hard to contain his excitement for our traditional Christmas Eve tree picture:


Here's another cute picture of Sydney and McKay:

Christmastime at Disneyland

I've never been to Disneyland during the holiday season and so I decided that for my birthday we were going for a day. The Chamberlain family came along....it's ALWAYS the more the merrier. Here's McKay with his cute cousins:

(Ariel, McKay, Grant, Harmony and Bridget)

Disneyland was even more magical with the splendid decorations, like this tree for instance:

(It was tall....aren't you impressed with my panoramic skills?)

The lights were so beautiful. I really didn't want to leave!

We were able to spend a few hours at Newport Beach. Although windy and cold, playing in the sand is always a must.

Whiling away the hours...

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

One of the my favorite Christmas activities is attending the Live Nativity at Tuacahn. We went with the Wrigley family the day after Thanksgiving. Despite the cold, this is my favorite way to start off the Christmas season. It brings back special memories of when Nathan and I had the chance to be Joseph and Mary there six years ago when our ward did it. It was an awesome experience for me then and I get teary-eyed every time we go. McKay was in awe of the live camel and of all the lights. His favorite part was definitely the little train ride. He also had so much fun playing with his cousins, Logan and Ethan.

A Jolly Good Time

McKay had his first experience sitting on Santa's lap at The Jubilee of Trees. He wasn't very excited...but at least he didn't scream.


McKay also tried his best to stand tall and still like a toy soldier:

Mover McKay

Did you know the group Imagination Movers has a fifth member?



You didn't know? Well, now you do. His name is Mover McKay and he likes to get down, jump up and turn around, turn around, turn around.



After I was almost done sewing his costume, McKay told me he wanted to be a witch with a big hat for Halloween instead. He was super mad and fought me when I tried it on him the first time....he fought even harder the second time (right before these pictures were taken so he wasn't very cooperative). There's still hope he'll like it for Halloween.

Projects, Projects and More Projects!

The last few weeks have been quite busy gearing up for our ward's version of Super Saturday. It actually is over a month away, but the hard part of coming up with and making fun projects is over. Check it out and let me know what you like (or don't like).

Check out the projects by clicking on the link:

http://rc8thsupertuesday.blogspot.com/

Picking Peaches

The church orchard had a surplus of peaches, so they opened
the orchard to the public.

We took a little drive to Hurricane to glean some.
I packed the camera to document McKay's first peach picking experience.
He was a great helper!

Honesty

Mom: "Does Mommy look pretty?"
McKay: "Katie's pretty!"

Katie is McKay's cousin on whom he has a major crush. He's been in love with her since she played soccer with him at our family reunion. Whenever we talk about her, he gets a big grin and a twinkle in his eye. It's true, Katie is very pretty.


Mom: "What's going on here? What are you in to?"
McKay: "Trouble."

That's often the case.


Mom: "Why is your hair sticky?"
McKay: "I make handsome."

If I call him by anything other than his name, he'll say, "No, I handsome."


We were out for a ride when McKay shouted out, "OH MY GOSH! A water fountain! Dad, pull over! Let me out!"

I'm not thrilled he's picked up on certain phrases. We've tried to change it to "Oh, dear!" or "I can't believe it!".


If McKay feels wronged or is upset with me, he'll say, "I tell Dad!" The same thing goes if he's upset with Nathan, "I tell Mom!" The other day he was upset with both of us and thought he was being mistreated so he yelled, "I tell Joe!"

Joe is our neighbor/friend and is a dog trainer. McKay often asks to go to "Joe's house". Joe is a pretty cool guy. McKay likes to pretend he's "Joe" and trains his stuffed animals to "sit".

Two to Teenager?

Lately, when McKay is bored he'll walk around the house, shrug his left shoulder, kick the floor with his right foot and say, "Nuffin' (nothing) to do, nuffin' to do."

Seriously?


A frequently occurring conversation with McKay:

Mom: "McKay, please take that (toy, wrapper, pencil, etc.) out of your mouth."
McKay: "Cows eat it!"
Mom: "No, cows don't eat it."
McKay: "Pigs eat it!"
Mom: "Nope, pigs don't eat it either."
McKay: "Roosters eat it?"
Mom: "No one should eat it. It's not food."
McKay: "HA HA HA HA HA!"

He always includes cows and pigs, but the other animals change. How has he already learned the "everyone else is doing it" justification?


Nathan came home from work the other day and said he needed to go mow the lawn. McKay responded, "Do it later...do it tomorrow!"

McKay already knows about procrastination. Has he learned that from me?!?!?


Playing the guitar and drums are still McKay's favorite pastimes. He picked up the following phrase from a song in the parade at Disneyland's California: "I don't wanna work, I wanna bang on the drum all day!"


McKay still reminds us that he's two. Last week, he stuck a pencil eraser up his nose and pushed it up even farther trying to get it out. He was quite alarmed, as were his parents. Nathan held him down as I pulled the eraser out with tweezers. We were all traumatized for quite some time after. I'm 98% sure he won't do that again.

Hairy Situation

McKay decided to style his own hair while I was in the shower and used lotion for hair gel. He was quite proud of himself until he got worried about the mess he made. After I started taking pictures he realized he wasn't in as much trouble as he thought he was.

The Land of Disney

Disneyland was more fun this year than ever!!! We'll let the pictures speak for themselves: