Merry Christmas

We saw Santa Christmas Eve (weather made us wait). I was surprised the line wasn't too long-15 minutes.

Christopher asked for a train set and also wanted to know where Santa's reindeer were. Santa told him they were at the North Pole resting before their big trip.

We had our own little Nativity. I was Mary, Christopher was Joseph, and (hopefully this isn't sacreligious) Pablo was Baby Jesus on Christopher's request. Also on Christmas Eve we went sledding at Rock Canyon Park. Rob had Christopher on his lap and they went off a hidden jump. Rob stuck his leg out to keep them more secure and messed up his knee. Now he can hardly walk! He thinks he'll need surgery and has a dr's appt next week. Christopher loves sledding. Everytime he rolled off he said, "I did a backflip!" He went around telling everyone this.

Santa brought Christopher a marble set. Grandma and Grandpa Stephenson gave him the train set in the background.

Let it snow!

Rob came home 2 hours early yesterday because he was afraid he couldn't make it in our driveway (it is relatively flat) with the deep snow. Good thing he did...he had to try several times and it kept snowing! Rob shoveled behind the cars and made this snow cave with Christopher. We got about a foot on top of what was already there.

Christopher loves the snow, but has been disappointed we haven't been to see Santa yet because of the weather (I don't drive in the snow). He is really in the Christmas spirit this year, learning lots of Christmas songs. While I'm typing this Christopher is singing "Joy to the World" at the top of his lungs while banging on the window. Merry Christmas!

When good friends reunite

Mary Irene came to visit. She (and her family) were our neighbors for 2 years and had so much fun playing. We've missed them so much! We had a fun get together at Telisha's house with other old ward members. At the beginning there were 4 of us there and none of us had moved, but are all in different wards now. We thought that was funny.

Christopher told me on the way home he wants to move to New York because he wants to live by Elliott. They had fun crashing cars together.

Decorating for Christmas

Putting the tree together.

The candy canes are Christopher's favorite part. He kept trying to make up rules like, "If we want to eat a candy cane, it's ok."

For Family Home Evening Rob had the idea to make a chain for the Christmas tree. Rob's mom said that when Rob was little he made a tree that spanned his grandparent's house and was so excited when his grandpa hung it up outside. He thought it was the longest chain in the world.

Christopher keeps asking when Christmas is...maybe I should by one of those dollar advent calender things. We only have 5 presents under the tree so far...but that should change as it gets closer to Christmas.

When it rains it pours

Christopher now has glasses. Here he is happy to wear them.

Not so happy. They are a little big, but the smallest pair on the website I got them from. We knew he needed glasses because he was staring cross-eyed at things and couldn't move away from the TV because he couldn't see. He was happy that he could sit on the couch with us and see the TV.

I broke my left ring finger playing flag football. I was sacking the quarterback, but we still lost the game. The season is over now. I had this cast for a week. Christopher wanted his hand wrapped too.

Now I have this splint. I'm not sure if I'll be ok'd to take it off at my appointment next week. They'll do x-rays to determine that. Like my bruising? Pooling blood apparently.

My middle finger is pretty bruised too, even though it doesn't hurt. I haven't worn my wedding ring in 3 weeks. The doctor made a joke about Rob needing to get me a better ring for Christmas.

BYU football

Rob got us tickets to the last home game of the year. He knows a football player's (who doesn't even play) roommate and got tickets for free. When we picked them up from the special tent, someone asked us if we wanted to tour a box. We said yes and this is the view we got. Aparently these boxes are for sale...only $100,000.

Christopher loves his new BYU shirt from Grandpa Stephenson

Even though it was a great day (almost 60!), Christopher wouldn't take his hat off because it was his helmet. We had great seats, 9th row on the 20 yard line. It was fun. We missed the other games and are definately getting all-sports passes next year.

Halloween

At a family party. Rob was a crazy 60s guy. I was a 50s girl. Christopher was Thomas the tank engine.

Christopher helped Daddy carve a pumpkin.

Christopher's candy.

We went trick-or-treating at Helaman Halls. One girl said she ran out of candy but would do face painting. Christopher asked for a train. (This is 4 hrs later.)

Rob had a work Halloween party. Christopher made a friend (he was dressed as a baseball player) and joined a group for the competitions (I was breaking my finger at an intramural flag football game at the time-more on that next week). Christopher's group had him participate in the costume competition and he won. Everyone cheered "Thomas! Thomas!" Christopher loved it.

Some things we've been up to

Christopher specifically requested that I go get the camera and take a picture. He loves playing in the leaves! (We have to play outside everyday or our furniture becomes a playground).

He loves doing lightbrights. Daddy and Christopher made this beautiful picture.

For some reason he can play with just about anything...an upside down table and batteries, who knew? And he loves showing off how long his tongue is. He was trying to sing at church with his tongue sticking out.

Multiple times a day he wants to call uncles Taylor (my brother) or Thomas (Rob's brother). I like the excuse that they are at school and can't talk right then.

Today

Today 2 great things happened:
1. I found out about a free "garage sale" and found lots of toys and old Disney VHS movies.
2. I realized that I really really like chocolate pudding. Almost as much as I like ice cream. Almost. And there's a story behind it. I was babysitting a long time ago. 3 kids, Nickelodeon, and TV dinners. It was the highlife. Problem: Heating up TV dinners in microwave (including pudding). Result: nasty warm pudding. Effect: I couldn't stand pudding for a long time. The idea made me gag. So now I'm thrilled and want some in my stocking for Christmas (packaged well of course. I like my stocking). Someone tell R...Santa. He doesn't read our blog.

Oregon Trip 2008 - Wednesday- The Coast

This is my favorite picture of the whole trip. If I had a fair or contest to enter it into, I would.
We stopped by Depoe Bay. We thought about going on a boat to see some whales, but then we saw this whale watching center. We went inside a nice warm building and a professional showed us where the whales were. I only saw the whales blowing out water, but Rob saw one whale's back.
Classic....if only Christopher didn't have such a long name. "Leah" looked so much cuter in the sand.
Besides playing in the water, Christopher enjoyed making sand angels. We had a nice picnic on the beach.
Wednesday night, as we were driving to Florence to surprise some of Rob's relatives, we saw a sign for a lighthouse and a turn-off for a scenic view. It was windy and getting dark, so I was the only one that got out of the car. As I was taking a picture of the light house (it didn't really turn out), I heard sea lions barking. I couldn't see anything because it was so dark. We passed a sign for the sea lion caves, but could tell you could only go down there by paying money (locked staircase). When we talked to Rob's uncle in Florence (we surprised him by going to the gym he owns), he said that on nice days you can see the sea lions from that scenic view. The next morning, on our way back to my parents to do laundry and rest up before our long drive back to Utah, we looked down and saw the above picture. Hundreds of sea lions lying on the rocks and in the water. It was fun to watch them slither on rocks and over each other to get to the water. All in all it was a fun vacation. I'm glad we had a portable dvd player for the longer rides. And, we only went to McDonald's once, 2 1/2 hrs from home...Christopher needed a playland (and it was half time for the Utah State/BYU game we were listening to on the radio).

Oregon trip 2008- Tuesday (Part 4)

Tuesday we left camp around 11:30 am. Christopher wet his pillow the night before. Our plan was to drive to the coast. 15 miles away we saw a turn-off for a hike we wanted to do (Drift Creek falls.) We didn't know where it was exactly, so it was nice to see a sign! After a mile and a half we came to this suspension bridge. Christopher and I are about 1/2 way across.
Christopher called it the "Kung Fu Panda Bridge."
Here's the waterfall which you can see on the other side of the bridge.
Then we drove to Lincoln City and went to the outlet malls. I got these new running shoes at Reebok. $40 (then Rob got a pair for 1/2 off, so that makes them each $30, right?) They are soo light and comfortable!!! We also went to the beach (Christopher loved it!), but because it was overcast, just looked in some tide pools and ran around on the sand. The campground was right off the freeway, so around 8am the next morning we heard sirens. Christopher was disappointed we couldn't see them because of the trees.

Oregon trip 2008-Part 3 Silver Falls

Christopher's first experience at Silver Falls, with me and my mom, July 2005.

Every year my family came to Silver Falls for the Loftus family reunion. I was so excited to finally show Rob! The trail goes behind the waterfall, see the people there? (It's the same water fall (South Falls) in both pictures).
Rob and Christopher playing on the dead tree. Christopher just walked through it.
Lower South Falls. There are 10 waterfalls at Silver Falls state park. I thought there were 1 or 2. I had only seen one. So this trip we saw all 10. I'm not posting pics of all 10 of them here...maybe I will on facebook. Usually there is a ton more water coming down all the falls. Even the swimming hole was only ankle deep.
See, the trail goes behind the waterfall in 4 or 5 of the 10. You can walk the 10 mile trail and see all 10 of them, or jump in a certain parts and only walk 6-8 miles. That's what we did. 3 different sections. (2 beginning, 6 middle, 2 end.)

Oregon trip 2008- Part 3 Silver Falls (Monday)

We had a fruit snack stop here. I was carrying Christopher and the camera, walking on the logs (probably normally submerged in water). Rob warned me that they were slippery. Well...
Don't worry, this is an after picture. I couldn't stop laughing. Christopher is safely on shore. I slipped and managed to keep him and the camera dry. My right foot was not so lucky. Luckily I didn't get a blister from finishing the hike with a sopping foot.
Apparently blackberries are weeds in Oregon and line the freeway. I wouldn't let Rob stop, so he was excited when we found some in our campground. Christopher was a big helper and warned us to be careful to not get poked from the thorns. We ate blackberries on our oatmeal every morning of our trip. We brought home 2 powerade bottles full to freeze and put in smoothies.
All stumps and fallen trees along the trails were made into little seats.
This was the 2nd to the last waterfall that we hiked to. Christopher is on Rob's shoulders.

Oregon trip 2008- Part 2 Sunday

Christopher and his great-grandpa Jule.
Four generations. Man, it's bright.
Grandpa Jule, Rob, my dad, Christopher, me, my brother Taylor, and sisters Calais and Gabrielle. (Cambrai was at BYU and Danielle was on her mission in Texas.) My mom was taking the picture.