We're Going for a Sleigh Ride...

...Everybody outside! Sleigh ride...WOO!

You will only understand my intro if you grew up listening to the Osmond Family Christmas album, as my family did.


So while in NH, we all went on a sleigh ride! Actually, because there wasn't enough snow at the time, it was really a wagon ride, but it was still fun. And COLD! Trevor wouldn't wear gloves, so his poor little hands were frozen. At the end of the ride, we got out and SANTA was there! He even had one of his reindeer with him! There were also a bunch of giant characters, like Rudolph and Frosty. Charlotte blew us a way, willingly giving hugs to every single one. This is the same girl who was terrified of Minnie at Disneyland and asked for month afterwards if Minnie would "hit her". Uh, not sure where that came from. Anyway, here is the evidence of Charlotte's new friends:






After our visit in the village, we roasted some gigantic marshmallows, then headed home. So much fun!

Our First NH Snow "Storm"

It is catching up time... Our Christmas trip to NH is just going to have to be a bunch of posts. So here goes!

The first day we were there, it snowed! Scott and Charlotte have played in snow, but have never actually seen FALLING snow. I was upstairs getting ready, and Charlotte came running in with her snow hat, gloves and underwear. At the first sign of flakes, Scott and Charlotte stripped off their clothes and came tearing upstairs to get their full snow gear on...



We definitely made the most out of that 1/4 inch of snow! We asked Cindy if she thought her neighbors would mind if we shoveled the snow off their driveways to get a little more for our sweet snowman. I'm sure the entire neighborhood was laughing at the crazy California relatives... Fortunately that was not the last we saw of snow! (more to come later)

CostCo Christmas 2010

This subject deserves it's own post. I have too many friends who ask, "So what was the haul at CostCo this year?" To catch some of you up if you don't know what I'm taking about, my dad established a male-bonding tradition that happens ever Christmas. Every year all of the males 3 and older go to CostCo and anything they see that they want that is edible, Dad buys. See this past post from 2008 for Scott's first trip with the boys.

So fortunately there is a CostCo close to Cindy's house. Rather than list all the things they bought, I'll just let you look at the pictures. Do ya think Scott is pleased with his choices?

By the way, more catching-up posts from the holidays to come soon!

Christmas Wrap-up, Part 1

We did lots of fun things this year to get ready for Christmas.We went to a couple of Christmas parties and saw Santa TWICE!





We decorated (and quickly ate) the gingerbread house.

We decorated the Christmas tree. With the tree on a table and Scott and Charlotte hanging most of the ornaments, 90% of them were on the very bottom branches. Good thing Trevor can't reach them yet!

We went to see the Christmas lights in Rocklin (great job decorating, Biggs!). We watched lots of Christmas shows, including our new favorite: Disney's Prep and Landing. If you didn't see it this year, definitely look out for it next year! Here's a preview and introduction to two new very important elves in our house named Wayne and Lanny. They are responsible for going into homes ahead of Santa, scoping out the place to make sure it is ready, and then setting up a landing strip on the roof for the reindeer.



Scott and Charlotte were probably more excited this year that Wayne and Lanny were coming than Santa. And even though we had an early Christmas with 13168 Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Michael before we headed to St. George, somehow Wayne, Lanny AND Santa managed to find us! Scott got a green razor scooter and Charlotte got a "purple Sleeping Beauty princess bike" - just what they both wanted! Although for a moment Charlotte was more excited about the bottle that came with the bike... Check out the video to see the reaction.

Stay tuned for the next post about our Christmas in Utah...

Scott's Christmas Notes

Here is a sampling of what happens when you put together Scott's love for typing notes and his new understanding of Santa... These 4 notes are just a sample of the MANY notes written to either me or Santa before Chrstimas:

Getting ready for Christmas!

Yes, this post is SO old, but I'm documenting it for posterity... There will be more Christmas posts to come!

This was an Evers year for Christmas, so Cindy and Ryan came in from New Hampshire and Jeff, Kelly and Elle made the trip from Colorado. It was SO fun this year having little kids that were incredibly pumped about Christmas! So besides the annual CostCo bonanza, here were some of the other activities getting ready for the big day...

Decorating the tree at 13168 Grandma and Grandpa's house:

Decorating the gingerbread candy house:

Charlotte and Elle looking adorable in their Christmas dresses:

Charlotte having her nails painted by Aunt Kelly:

Scott wanting in on the nail painting... Fortunately he scraped it all off after an hour:

Reading with Grandma:

Early Christmas Miracle!

I really hate having pictures taken of the kids... Wait, that isn't quite accurate. I love having the pictures of them, but I hate the process of actally getting the portraits taken. The last time we went to get photos taken of all the Evers cousins, Charlotte had a major meltdown and the pictures were not the adorable vision I had of 3 smiling children. So I got up my nerve to try again for Christmas pictures. I had low expectations and just hoped that Charlotte wouldn't throw a tantrum (which is rare for her) and that both kids would at least LOOK at the camera - smiling was optional. But I was pleasantly surprised with the result! The kids weren't ecstatic to have the pictures taken, but at least there were no tears! The In-and-Out bribe did the trick:

The Next Generation's Choir Director

Watch out Aunt Allison and Grandma D! Scott is ready to take over as the next Syphi Family choir director... When Baby Santa finishes, they play the Hallelujah Chorus during the credits. Scott has to stop whatever he is doing, look at the TV and bounce his hand to the beat. And be sure to watch his grand finale: