Christmas Activities While Mama's in Town!!

My sweet, sweet mama realized what a hard summer and fall I've had with my dad's cancer, and with his passing in November, my mom decided to surprise me and fly out to be with me for a few days. Life is always better when you're mama is around right? Right!!! Having her here distracted me from sadness and it was so much fun hanging out with her during the holiday season and since it had been years since we we've done that, it made it all the more special! So here's what we did last week while she was here!!!

Festival of Trees

Lydia's dance company performs at FoT's every year and this year was no exception. It was fun to kill two birds with one stone; walking around and admiring all the trees, then seeing Lyd's perform on stage!!
There were so many cool trees this year and of course we had to hit the kid's corner. Lydia loved being inside the bubble and fishing for a treat!

Here's Lydia and Lizzy before their performance of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer!

Once again, Lydia killed it and did awesome! She practiced a lot at home so she had most of it memorized! I just love how much my girl loves to dance! It makes me so happy! Way to go Lyd's. You did amazing!!!

2010 Visit With Santa @ Flip's

For the past two years Lydia has gone to see Santa at Flip's (where Lydia's dance class is) and we love it! Nate got to participate this year and I have to say, it was the cutest thing ever! Lydia walked up to Santa and Jake said, "Lydia wants to tell you what she wants for Christmas." And before Santa could say anything, Lydia just blurted out while holding 5 fingers, "5 dolls and a dollhouse!" Precious!

Nate was a champion with Santa! He sat on his lap and wouldn't stop smiling. It was awesome. Mo's husband Matt said it was the best...he didn't even have to work for a smile! As you can see in the pic, Nate liked Santa so much, he even gave the 'ol Thumb's Up!!! I guess he liked Santa! Hilarious!

We did a craft and were then on our way!

Christmas Tree Hunting

We headed to our favorite place to find our Charlie Brown tree and find it we did! We bought our 9ish foot tree for $13!!!! We love it! Lydia really got involved this year and helped rummage through the trees with us!

Nate was cold, possibly miserable, but ALWAYS has a smile on his face!

Tree Decorating

Before we went to meet Santa Mom and I had gone shopping all morning and afternoon until our feet were killing us..literally! So after we dropped the tree off at home, we went shopping some more then came home about 9pm to decorate! Oh how I love real trees! I love this one; it fits perfectly in our front room!

A Christmas Carol

Hale Theater

Mom and I headed out on Saturday afternoon to see A Christmas Carol. It was awesome...did not disappoint! I love going to plays with my mom! If she lived in the same town, we would for sure have a TON of girls' nights!

Lights at Temple Square

Of all the years that my mom has flown out to Utah, she has never been to Temple Square when the lights are out so we made it a priority to go this trip! It wasn't really that cold and the fog made for some pretty cool pictures! And since the devotional was going on across the street, we pretty much had TS all to ourselves!

I just love all the different nativities they have all over!

Nate stayed like this the whole time; all bundled up and warm!

We had so much fun with my mama for those 5 short days! Thanks mom for flying out and knowing exactly what I needed! You're the best!!!! I love you!!!

After my mama left, I tried to keep our holiday activities going. My Aunt Susan told me about this live nativity that they do in SLC so we invited our friends the Newell's to come check it out with us.

It was pretty cool. They had people dressed up as Shepard's and had live animals! They were even passing out free hot chocolate, bagels and Lion House rolls with honey butter! Heck Yeah!

The manger scene was awesome! I loved it! It really was a cool idea. There were lit paths and you'd come to different sections and they'd have a little scene set up! The only problem was how crowded it was...too many people! But it didn't ruin the experience for me!

They had a real baby playing Jesus! It seemed so much more real to me actually seeing Joseph and Mary in a lowly manger while holding Jesus Christ, our Lord! It was awesome!

Lately, I've felt so much more love and respect for the Savior! I thought I couldn't feel any more love for Him than I already do but every time someone has talked about Christ lately, I cry. Knowing that he gave up His life for me, experienced every sadness that each of us has felt and knowing that He endured the exact pain that my father felt has really helped me grieve my father's death! My dad wasn't alone in his pain and that's comforting to me to know that Christ loved us all so much that He would go through that for each of us! What an amazing sacrifice to carry the sins of the world!

On this Earth I'll never understand the magnitude of what He did for us but as of late my heart has been so full of gratitude for my Savior that I'm beginning to comprehend the magnitude of His love for each of us! And for that, I am grateful!