Santa made his STOP!

I am not sure who was more excited for Christmas morning this year....the parents or the kids! Zach is old enough to understand what a wrapped present is and this is the first year he understands the concept of Santa. Logan surprisingly is interested wrapping paper and actually tries to tear it off....something Zach didn't do at one year of age. So who do you think woke up FIRST this Christmas morning? The parents! Zach slept in until 8:30am and Logan finally woke up about 9:15am.

Once Zach woke up we quickly showed him the present stash under the tree...and the present Santa left him by the fireplace...

Our Tree....
Zach's Santa gift - a huge remote controlled JEEP!

Then we decided to make breakfast. By this time Logan was awake with a full tummy and was super excited to see his Santa gift - a Lightning McQueen car!

Now Zach and Logan were really getting into it. They helped Dustin open our adult Santa gift - another PS3! I say another because we actually already have one.....Santa knew we were looking for another blu-ray player for upstairs...and being able to stream netflix was an added plus! I guess we were extra "good" this past year!

Then we made our way to the presents under the tree. We learned that with small kids you don't ever actually unwrap all your presents under the tree. The kids would open one gift and then want to get it out of the package to play with it...and could care less about the other ten left to unwrap. So we actually didn't open all our gifts on Christmas day...why force your kids to unwrap gifts when they don't want to?

The hit gifts for the day were the yellow submarine for Zach and the loving Elmo for Logan:

The rest of Christmas day was spent like this.....PERFECT!

fishy time - AGAIN!

We realized our 1 year membership to the Living Planet Aquarium was going to expire 12/27/2010 - so we decided to hit the place up right before Christmas to make sure we got in one last visit with those passes. We have been coming to this place in Sandy, Utah for about 2.5 years now and they have expanded and upgraded the place so much in those 2.5 years. The latest addition is about ten penguins. Every time we have visited, those penguins have so much energy and are swimming around and jumping about. I think the parents enjoy it just as much as the kids. This was the first visit Logan was really getting into it too...her really enjoyed all the hands on exhibits!

The kids enjoy playing on this big frog every visit:

And finally the snail....this is the snail our kids are always trying to EAT! We have a picture of Zach when he was a baby trying to eat the ears of the snail...now Logan wants to do the same thing! Wonder how many other kids have partaken of the snail since it was last cleaned....

Happy Birthday JEN!

Last night Dustin came home with some "things" to help celebrate Jen's birthday! First was two dozen roses....one rose for year since Jen's birth (hah hah hah!!)

Some balloons (okay so these are for more for the enjoyment of the kids...but Jen did love the kitty mylar!)
and lastly....something YUMMY from the Cheesecake Factory!

Both Dustin and Jen took the day of work. We all slept in, even the kids until 8:30am! Then we had breakfast got ready and then hit the road. The kids were still going to the babysitters so mom and dad could enjoy a day on the town. We had planned to finally go see the 7th Harry Potter movie but they changed the movie schedule on us today due to new movie releases and we had massages scheduled later in the afternoon so we couldn't see Harry Potter because it started too late and we would have missed our massage appointment. So the next best movie? Little Fockers! We actually enjoyed the movie...nothing better than sneaking in your own soda and candy bars to the movie theater. Then later we did enjoy those massages....Jen had a 1.5 hour hot stone massage. Next, time to pick up the kids and a take and bake pizza (Papa Murphy's Stuffed Chicago is Jen's favorite). We enjoyed the company of Grandpa Gray and his sister Sally and her husband Phil (they just returned from an LDS mission in Vermont) for dinner. Later in the evening, sadly after Logan had already fallen asleep, we busted out that Red Velvet Cheesecake!

...and opened some PRESENTS!

Happy Birthday JEN!

Visit from Grandpa Gray

Today Dustin's dad came to town for a visit. We had just given the kids a bath and got them dressed in their pajamas and explained to Zach that Grandpa Gray was coming to visit. Then there was a knock at the door...Zach sprinted as fast as he could to see who it was...and it was Grandpa Gray! He was soooooooo excited...

Here was a picture we took of the boys with Grandpa Gray - Zach wasn't cooperating very well for this Kodak moment....

Funny story to share with the world though....while Grandpa Gray was visiting Zach wouldn't leave his side. When Grandpa would go downstairs to take a nap, Zach would follow him and lay down and try to take a nap with him. Most the time they ended up playing a game instead of taking a nap. One day while they were down in Grandpa's room, Grandma had called for him. So Grandpa Gray went upstairs to talk to Grandma on the phone and left Zach in his bedroom. Ten minutes or so passed and still no Zach - he was still downstairs and it was quiet in the house. Jen goes downstairs to investigate and finds Zach in Grandpa's closet going through his dirty laundry finding things to wear. Check this out....

Zach had put on Grandpa's socks, shoes and t-shirt! He was SO PROUD OF HIMSELF!

While Grandpa was in town he helped us with a project. We added extra insulation in the storage room on the ceiling and then covered it with plastic. Zach didn't want to be left out of this fun....he brought his stool down to the storage room and made sure he had his tools handy to help out the best he could!

Stud

Dustin was the proud recipient of these lovely "HD Sunglasses" (as seen on TV!) from a white elephant gift exchange at work. Zach LOVES them....he thinks he is a STUD.

Logan and Daddy TIME!

Sharing?

Could it be? Have our children mastered the art of sharing? We thought so with this today....

...uh, maybe NOT....

Dasher and Dancer, Prancer and Vixon

Tonight we visited a couple of Santa's reindeer at Thanksgiving Point! Hey swing by to see the locals every year around this time - the kids always like to say hello!

Afterwards we hit up the ice cream parlor. Kids 2 and under get a free soft serve ice cream....that was our plan...until we got to the front of the line and Zach heard some other kid say "bubblegum ice cream"...and that is all Zach wanted....BUBBLEGUM ICE CREAM!

Logan had to take a taste too!

Dustin's little helper

This year while Dustin was up on the ladder putting up the last strand of lights on the house Zach decided it was time he stepped up and started helping Dad out with the family tradition. He found a bag of extra lights and said "Dad I'm bringing you lights!".. And he proceeded to climb up the other side of our 10' ladder.

Dustin had his cell phone on him and took these pictures.. probably a good thing too, because Jen would have never taken these pictures.. she would have made him come down the very second she saw him. Dustin was proud of his little helper.

A trip to see Santa

We have been talking up Santa quite a bit the past couple of days in hopes of a tear free visit to the big guy. Last year Zach absolutely REFUSED to get anywhere near Santa for a picture. So this year we watched some movies with Santa in them, we showed him pictures of Santa on google, we even made it a point to talk about Santa with other kids and friends so Zach got the idea Santa was cool. Today was the big test.....we headed to the mall for the picture with Santa.

Of course there was a bit of a line, I think we waited about 30 minutes total. The kids were good as they could play with the other kids in line and watch what was going on.

Zach was being Mr. Shy. He would hide behind his dad and would not crack a single smile.

Logan on the other hand decided to flirt with Sophia....

It final came our turn and Zach did sit on Santa's lap but wouldn't say a WORD, he wouldn't smile either. Logan on the other had starting screaming and CRYING the second he was put on Santa's lap. We were so worried about how Zach would react to a visit with Santa we never imaged that Logan would have issues. Needless to say...this was the best we got:

...if you closely you can see a tear streaming down the side of Logan's face.

Our BIG night out

Today we decided to try Logan out in a "big boy" car seat....forward facing.....for a drive to see Christmas lights in the area. Logan felt very special and loved being in the same kind of car seat as his big brother.


We hit up the lights at Thanksgiving Point...Logan fell asleep at the end of it. That is something he will have to get use to - falling asleep sitting up!

Cooking with Daddy

Zach and Dustin made cookies tonight! Zach had soooooo much fun....

More snow...

Today we received another 4-6 inches of snow. What better thing to do on a Sunday than PLAY IN IT! Jen and Zach decided to go on the back deck and clear off the snow with our shovels.

Zach LOVES using his snow shovel...must be a guy thing...

Of course there were frequent breaks for snow tasting...

Zach would stay outside and play in the snow for HOURS...this is how we know when it is time to go in - super RED cheeks:

Mission accomplished - snow cleared off the back deck and play time for Zach!

...time for some hot chocolate!

Deck our halls

It is decorating time! We pulled all the Christmas stuff out of our storage room today and started gearing up for Christmas. The kids had fun going through the storage tubs to see what was inside. These reindeer antlers are a big hit every year:


We also found this giant stocking that was given to us at the hospital last year when Logan was born. Logan fits in the stocking NOW....eleven months later!


...and now for the tree! Zach was our big helper this year. He handed Dustin every single ornament that went on the tree. It was killing him that he couldn't go on the ladder with his father.

This was our new ornament for this year....we had it made at Apple Hill when we were in California in November.


This was our finished product on the Christmas tree.
Jen then decided Zach's car needed some holiday decor....

Logan is 11 months old!

Yup - that handsome fellow is Logan Alden Gray! He is eleven months old today. Logan continues to be very active and has decided this month he no longer wants "baby" food...he wants what everyone else is eating! He also has decided he no longer wants to be in his infant car seat carrier...so we will most likely be switching him to the next size up this upcoming week - we can no longer handle the screaming tantrum that occurs every time we leave our house. Logan can stand and balance himself without holding on to anything for about five seconds. Zach and Logan have started to become quite good pals and play with each other all the time (when Zach is in his "nice" mood of course). Logan also has his bottom two front teeth...and it looks like the top two front teeth will be making an appearance shortly.