December

December came and went in nothing short of a whirlwind! We had a wonderful month. Instead of attempting to catch up on all that I didn't quite get around to posting then, I figured I'd just do a quick summary.
At the beginning of the month, Steve's dad came to Utah to visit. Since it's been about a gajillion years since we've gone anywhere, we decided to have a little mini-vacation and spend several days in Salt Lake with him. It was so good to spend time with Grandpa - we had a fantastic time.
One afternoon we went to the Children's Museum at the Gateway. I guess it's now called Discovery Gateway. (I'm old school and think about the old one off Beck Street. My brother was an "exhibit explainer" there, afterall.) The kids had a ball!

The kids made frame-by-frame movies, pretended to broadcast the news, checked out a Life Flight helicopter, did plays, and played in the little child-sized town.

We only wish that Steve's dad had been able to stay longer! The time flew by too fast, and before we knew it, we were dropping him at the airport. Come back soon, Grandpa!

Every year I overwhelm myself with plans of everything I'm going to do for Christmas. This year we tried to be realistic and enjoy the whole season more. Steve then ended up getting pneumonia about a week and a half before Christmas, so we did end up cutting some less important things out and it actually ended up being kind of a good thing. - Cutting out the unnecessary, not the pneumonia.

Matt and Rachel were so excited to make cookies for Santa. Funny though, they always peter out after a batch or two. It generally ends up that the kids are flitting around the house playing and I am in the kitchen making cookies for the big red guy. (You're welcome, Santa :))

The Fosters have a wonderful tradition of eating a big feast of Mexican food on Christmas Eve. We've been doing it also since Steve and I were newlyweds. For the last few years my sister and her family have joined us for dinner. I wish I'd have taken some shots of the food. YUM!

Christmas day was wonderful. We just stayed home all day, hung out in our jammies, played, and ate a great dinner. Matthew became the proud owner of his 5th or 6th Monopoly game. The boy is obsessed with Monopoly and has been since he was 4. He has many different versions of it as a board game and on CD rom. This new one is the World Edition and has electronic banking. So, we all played a rousing game that afternoon. Matthew won.

Bailey got some cute toys, but the Sesame Street pop up toy was her favorite. She couldn't quit giggling. Funny stuff.

Santa Claus brought Rachel a beauty salon and she loves it. She spent the day doing her hair and trying to convince Matt to play with her. (Not with a whole lot of luck.)

One of the absolute favorites of the day was the enormous dollhouse that Daddy built for his girls. Rachel adores it and has played with it every day since Christmas.

We had a wonderful holiday and hope for great things in this new year.