Shenandoah Valley cabin

After Christmas we got a cabin up in Shenandoah Valley with a few friends. The house was old but so nice and on the most beautiful property! We went with the Longs, and the Smiths. It was fun for Carson to be around Afton and Vaeda! They had so much fun pulling out puzzles, jumping on beds and running around. The girls one night were dancing with their dolls and so Carson grabbed a potato in the kitchen and started dancing with them ha ha!

We went to the Luray Caverns one of the days. Carson loved them and kept saying we were in the Realm of Monsters and kept trying to find Tomatoa. He is still lovin his Moana.... 

This was our favorite part of the cavern! It is a mirror refection in a little lake that was only 18 ins deep. But the reflection made it look so deep.  It was amazing. 

This was the wishing well at the end.  There were soooo many coins!  It looked like something off a movie.  They said there is over 1.8 million dollars worth of coins in it. 

The owner of the house was nice enough to take us out to his farm to see all the cows.  He has over 300 cows. His land was breathtaking.. I can't even imagine how pretty it is in the summer with the leaves. 

Before leaving I had to get a picture of the bridge to the house! It was a private bridge that was part of the driveway to the place. When we first drove up it was nighttime and it seriously felt like we were driving into a serial killer movie ha ha! Much better during the day though:) 

On the way home we stopped for Mexican food in a random tiny town. We only stayed at the cabin for a few days but it was great! 

Christmas time 2016!

Carson asked me for a Maui tattoo of the lasso the sun (his fav part of the song). For him only staying still for about 2 seconds and then me following him around the room trying to finish it turned out alright ha ha! He was so mad when his shirt rubbed it off and it still wasn't there that night. 

He asked us if we could go "eat somewhere else" but when we got there he was asleep in the car and literally didn't wake up until we were pulling into our house and then started crying because we didn't go eat. 

We had heard all about the Bass Pro Shops awesome Santa village and that they do free picture prints for you so we decided to try it out.  Unfortunately we didn't know how it worked and when we got there they give you a ticket for a time. Ours was 3 hours from the time we were there. We stuck around and played for awhile but eventually just decided to go home. 

Christmas Eve pajamas! I'm realizing I did not do good with picture taking this year :( For Christmas Eve we just got together with the Weimers and made a prime rib dinner with them. It was delish! We then just watched some of the church Christmas youtube videos. 

Christmas morning! I think me and Jordan were more excited about Christmas than the boys ha ha. Carson seems to just get overwhelmed and shy.  Brooks was not shy he went right over to everything trying to rip it open. We got Carson a giant hulk and I made Brooks a giant airplane (not a whale...). 

I thought it was so nice having church on Christmas! We opened a few presents, went to church and then came home and opened the rest. It was so relaxing! Well as relaxing life can be with a 3 year old and almost 1 year old.

Later on we had dinner at the church with a bunch of the other families that stuck around for Christmas. It was a blast and we had soooo much food! The kids just played in the gym after and the guys played spike ball. Overall for not being able to be with our families it was a really good Christmas! 

All things pre Christmas

Another stocking added to the collection! Brooks is official now. Carson was obsessed with his stocking for some reason this year.  He wouldn't go to bed without it with him.

The ward Christmas party this year was a breakfast.  It was so much fun as usual and Carson didn't cry with Santa so that was a win! He was very upset though when he asked for Avengers and they gave him a finger puppet nativity. 

Play date with Boston and Benny.  We made little Christmas trees. Pretty much they just ate a ton of frosting and candy.  Brooks and Benny loved waffle cones.

We went out taking a few neighbors some cookie dough and Carson insisted on wearing his Santa hat and taking his wagon around.  It took about triple the amount of time to get around to everyone ha ha. At every house Carson would yell "HO HO HO Merry Christmas and then say oooh I want to come in and play."

More messes from Carson. The picture just doesn't do it justice.  He went through an entire bottle of hand soap and was "cleaning" the bathroom. At least it was yummy smelling soap.

While Jordan was gone doing interviews I got a gingerbread house to try to waste some of the days. Sadly it didn't turn out to be much fun because both boys got the flu or something and were sick and fevering. I got Carson to eat some frosting but pretty much he didn't want to do anything so I made it alone.

During the few days Jordan was home he surprised us with a ticket to go see a light show.  You drive through with a radio station on and the lights go to the music. The boys loved it and it was so much fun. Brooks had his head out the window the entire time. 

Randoms and Richmond Christmas Parade

Carson has been obsessed with Moana.  It's all hes been talking about and he always wants to listen to the music. One day he put the bucket on his bum so he could have a "crab shell" like Tamatoa. 

Brooks loved the fake deer at the mall. Every time Carson sees something he wants now he says "mom I wish I had that" followed by "lets ask Santa."  I think he's caught on to the whole Santa thing.

After searching for Parades on the 4th of July every year and never finding one we finally found out that there is a Richmond Christmas parade.  Of course we would find out on the last year we are here. It was a huge parade and lots of fun.

I don't know why but Brooks is always so dang cute when he is eating.  I just can't help taking a thousand eating pictures of him.  It's probably because he loves food ha.  The boys play so much together now.  Carson can get Brooks laughing harder than anyone else and he doesn't even have to do anything but look at him. Brooks also decided to start trying to walk a little bit! A few steps here and there. I can't believe how big he is getting!