Christmas 2010

I can't believe that Christmas is already over.....
it seemed like it came so quick this year!!!
According to Dakota, this was the
"Best Christmas Ever!"

Surprisingly Dakota was able to go to bed with out much effort and actually had to be woken up at 9 am! Once awake, he flew through the presents. Unwrapping was definitely the best part for Dakota. This worked out well because Bridger could care less about
the opening part and just wanted to play.

It is amazing how quick all the presents were opened.
Weeks of work over in a flash!!!
Because I had to work from noon to 6 pm, we had a nice relaxing morning at home together. After I was done with work, we headed up to my parents for more presents.
The best present for me and Scott is still yet to come.
We got each other a few things,
but our big present is 4 days in Jackson Hole....
just the 2 of us!

Here are a few pics from Christmas Morning....

Even though our big tree is up stairs,
we have always done Christmas morning down stairs.
There is more room and it just feels more cozy!

For Bridger we put together Dakota's old train table and got new tracks.
Scott and I spent hours gluing and drilling the tracks down to the table,
and I think that it was worth it.... it still looks great!

Dakota waiting to head down stairs....

According to Dakota this sled was his favorite present!

Dakota showing off his presents which he organized by size!

The first fight of the morning!

Scott's favorite Christmas Tradition.... a big breakfast!!!

This is how I left Scott at 11:30 am when I headed off to work :)

Hope Everyone had a very, Merry Christmas!!!!

Natvity

Every year Scott's mom has a live nativity with the Grand kids.
Last year was the first year that Dakota participated a little bit...
this year he agreed to play Joseph!
Bridger was happy to just run around and play... maybe in a few years.

the Joy of Giving

This year I decided to start a gift exchange between the boys.
I just felt that Dakota needed to learn about and enjoy the giving aspect of Christmas.
I let him pick out a present for Bridger and wrap it. In return he got a present for Bridger.
My plan must have worked, because Dakota was really excited for Bridger to open his present.
It was so, so cute!

Family Portrait

Who needs to get family pictures when you have
a cute little boy that can illustrate your family so well.
Dakota brought this picture to me a few nights ago
and could not have been prouder!!!
This is the first time that I have seen him draw our family....
and I love it!!!

Temple Square

Christmas Countdown

Dakota loves LEGOS and Dakota loves Christmas....
so this Lego Advent Christmas Calendar st perfect for him!!!
Everyday he gets to open a little box and put together a piece of the
Christmas City!
At first he was really mad that he couldn't open all of the pieces at once,
but he caught on quick and every day he tells me,
"almost to 25 mom!!!"
only 10 more days to go...

Christmas Program

Dakota had his Preschool Christmas Program on Friday.

Last year I remember he just sat there and kind of bobbed his head.
This year he has been so excited about the program...
talking about it constantly and always singing the songs.
I thought for sure that this year he was going to be the star of the show!!!

Sadly.... instead of sitting there bobbing his head, this year he looked like at any minute he was going to burst into tears.
His teacher even had him move over by here because she thought he was crying.

But if you ask him, he was not sad and he sang all of the songs perfectly.
As long as he thought that it went great, I guess is all that really matters!

Santa & the Boys

I knew that there was no way that
Bridger was going to sit on Santa's lap this year...
he is just at that age, but I did not expect him to freak out about even going into the area where Santa was. I thought that he was going to tip the stroller over and bust out of there!
He finally settled on riding the rocking horse
about 3 feet in front of Santa, with a sucker.
He is already huge,
and being so far forward in the picture isn't really flattering for the poor boy.
It looks like it is a picture of Bridger....
with Dakota and Santa in the background!!!
I have to admit though, I was still pleased with the picture!

Up on the Roof Top

Last Saturday I finally got Scott to put up our Christmas lights!!!
I think that there is only one, real prerequisite for
marring into the Patterson Family....
how good are you at putting up Christmas Lights???
Lucky for Scott, he is really good at it:)

Until this year I have never really thought about how hard and scary doing lights on your roof can be. Scott always just jumps up there and does them. Then on Sunday a bunch of women in the ward were talking about how scary it is for their husbands and about how some won't even do them. My favorite was one husband that made his wife put a mattress under the roof just in case he fell. :)

For some reason Scott really wasn't too excited about doing our lights this year.
Maybe it is due to the many years of doing lights for my dad, but I guess I should feel lucky that our lights go up with out too much drama! They turned out great!

Real Meaning of Christmas

I thought this video was so so cute. I found it on a blog that I sometimes follow. This couple had a little girl just a couple weeks older than Bridger who drowned this past summer. Thier blog is always so uplifting and inspirational. It is patrickandashley.blogspot.com .... take a look.

Anual Gingerbread House Decorating

I am pretty sure that Bridger ate a piece of candy
for each that he put on our house :)

It is a Patterson Family tradition every year get together
and decorate Gingerbread Houses.
Everyone is very serious about their houses....
sadly, mine just hasn't been the same now that I have little helpers!
But it is still fun and I still leave feeling sick from eating so much candy and frosting.

Noah's Baptism

On Saturday Noah got baptized.
It was really nice because he was the only one in my parents ward
so our family got to do the entire program.
Scott gave a talk on the Holy Ghost.
He compared it to Noah's blanket because it is a comforter.
I am not sure that Noah wanted everyone to know about his beloved blanket :)

Happy Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving started with The Annual Turkey Trot....
and boy was it cold!!!
Like always, we still had fun and
it helps with the guilt of eating all of that food.

A couple of weeks ago my mom and me went to a
cooking class taught by the owner of the "Chefs Table".
It was all about making the perfect Thanksgiving dinner.
So this year me and my mom did the whole dinner completely from scratch.
I am going to put all of the recipes on theskilletsisters.blogspot.com My favorite part was the mashed potatoes and stuffing. The Cranberry and White Chocolate Bread Pudding was also super good, and not too terribly difficult.

The boys ended the day with a football game,
leaving Scott claiming that he had a dislocated RIB!!!