Christmas at the Molyneuxs, part two

On Christmas morning the kids woke up and we ate pancakes together. After we cleaned up breakfast the kids opened their gifts from Santa and a few from mom and dad.

She received a Flynn Rider doll (from the movie Tangled) and was a little disappointed that Rapunzel was not in her group of toys. But she got a note from Santa that he didn't have enough room in his sleigh for her other toys and we were going to be visiting Logan's dad (Grandpa) that afternoon and he got them some more gifts. So she was okay with that explanation.

Leah opening Flynn Rider



Cameron opening his sharks (they haven't left his side since Christmas)













































So we quickly got dressed and ready to drive up to Logan's dad's house in Salt Lake. Logan's siblings were all meeting us there too to celebrate Christmas.

This is one of Logan's favorite holiday traditions and kept him busy throughout the afternoon.

























Leah got an adorable Rudolf toy attached to a blanket and a little book from David's (Logan's dad) fiance Leigh. She was visiting from Texas for Christmas.








This was the infamous unwrapping of her Rapunzel doll, the most prized gift she received.




































Cameron received the Abominable Snowman from the Rudolf movie from Leigh as well. He loved the teeth on it.



















Cameron also got a car track that you turn on and the car goes up through a loop and around and around. We bought some batteries for it on Monday and the kids love playing it.











As you can see, Leah had a very great Christmas and can't wait for it to come again. She doesn't really understand that she has to wait a whole other year. Maybe we should put down all the decorations. But I kind of like keeping them for a week after.

Christmas Eve

This was the day after we had Logan's family over to open presents so the kids were in heaven all morning playing with their new games and with their new toys. Logan also had Christmas Eve off from work so we just pretty much played around the house in our pajamas all day. It was so nice and relaxing for all of us, especially Logan.


This is a game called Cootie that Braden got us, and Leah loves to play it. She likes to pick the same face for her cootie.









Logan's mom gave Leah these cards that you put together to make three letter words with the picture on it. She loved putting them all together.


















Leah missed out on graham cracker houses because of bed time, so the next morning she wanted to make a tower with Rapunzel and Flynn Rider (from the movie Tangled) with his horse at the bottom. She was so excited to make it. It was such a fun day. I even took the kids out to play in the big snow banks at our church. There was a huge one with a tunnel and a couple of slides.








She was making silly faces pretending to eat the candy.

Christmas at the Molyneuxs, part one

Christmas is such a special time of year with so many memorable traditions of gathering together with family, giving gifts, singing songs and thinking of the reason of the season. It was so wonderful to see the kids so happy and keeping busy with their new toys. It is so joyous to hear Leah wanting us to tell her the story of baby Jesus at bedtime and singing Christmas songs with her and Cameron. The Christmas season is so much more beautiful when you get to spend it with your own children and watch the magic in their eyes.

We got to celebrate Christmas with all of Logan's immediate family, and the kids were thoroughly spoiled (though Leah keeps saying that Christmas is still coming - she just can't get enough of it). Thursday of last week we had Logan's mom and her husband Mark over to celebrate along with Logan's siblings.

We made Leah wait all evening until after dinner to open up her gifts, and she was just in a tizzy about opening them. But she finally got her way, and ripped into her gifts along with everyone else.

I actually remembered to take pictures this time. Even though we get together often, I don't always remember to snap some shots.

We're all looking at the camera but Logan's eyes are almost shut.



















































Logan's sis Kelcy and husband Nathan (the











Logan's sis Jenna, mom Carolyn holding our adorable niece Sophia, and her husband Mark with the Santa hat


















Logan's identical twin (I mean brother) Braden and his cute wife Haley. As you can see, Braden and Logan are both growing out their Christmas beards in between the BYU semesters. It's been a tradition between them for the last 5 years.


















Since our kids had to go to bed after gift opening, we decided to put them to sleep and then make the traditional graham crackers houses with everyone. It was much easier to make intricate towers and buildings without the kids' distraction.

Logan's brother Braden even made a skinny tower and asked me to add a little Rapunzel at the top with cascading hair made of gumdrops and Lemonheads. Leah was so excited to see the tower in the morning that she wanted to make another tower just like it (more pictures to come of Leah and her tower). Here is the group and our completed creations.

Snowman making and Christmas songs

The Christmas weather came a little too early this week.


On Monday and Tuesday of this week we had a great big snow storm where it snowed on and off for two days and ended up dumping about 10 inches of snow (it's pretty melted by now).

So while we had the snow we had fun playing and building a snowman. Logan built the snowman, and Leah and I decorated it. She said the snowman's name was Frosty, even though he didn't have a magic hat.


It's fun to experience the season with my kids this year. Even Cameron is saying "Santa" and "Ho ho ho."

Merry Christmas to you all! Hope you have a wonderful holiday season!




























































Here she is with the snowman (sorry it's turned to the side):



Here she is playing in the snow:



Here is Leah singing "Christmas Bells are ringing":



Leah and Cam singing "Santa Clause is coming to Town":

Happy 6th!

It was our anniversary yesterday, and I thought I'd do a little looking back at our dating and wedding photos and post them for you. I just looked at my friend Sarah's blog who shares our anniversary with her husband Ben. They are our good friends in our old Chicago ward. I'm just a day late posting these.

You can just skim through these:
We met in the same ward and same Family Home Evening group in May 2004. Logan was dating some one at the time, and I had just broken up with someone when he decided to ask me out. But soon after our first date, we were spending all of our time together, and we realized we only wanted to date each other.

We had a picnic up at South Fork Park up Provo Canyon.

Here's a photo from our hike up to Stewart Falls. We went with a group of friends from church, but didn't leave each other's side.

It's a funny picture because it looks like Logan is sticking his stomach out.








Logan's brother Braden moved in with Logan that summer we were dating, and it was fun hanging out together.












I think this was the first time Logan met my mom who came out by herself. She liked him a lot, and we were starting to think about marriage at that point.










Watching a BYU football game with my family. This must have been taken before it started since it looks like hardly any one is there.











On our first date we went bowling as well as on the night Logan proposed to me. We also joined a student bowling league and bowled a lot together. But we don't go very often anymore since our kids have been born.









Dec. 14 when I went to the temple to take out my endowments. I was so excited and so nervous.













Coming out of the Salt Lake Temple after just getting married. It was such an awesome sealing!


















Between the two of us, we had a lot of family and friends there to support us.




















We were in our own little world, and Yes, Logan had braces on when we got married. He had to get them put on after his mission.



















The sun was going down after our ceremony (and getting really cold by then) but we were still out there getting the wedding shots that you always want at the Salt Lake Temple.



















And we even came out outside to take pictures with the Christmas lights. We were freezing but I think it was worth being uncomfortable.


It was such a wonderful day, though exhausting, to be marrying my best friend and the man of my dreams.
We have many great memories since this day, and I can't wait for many more to come. Happy Anniversary, honey!

Going to get a PhD

Logan wrote this script for this video. The conversation is between him and his little brother Braden. They are both applying to get a PhD right now.

'Tis the season..

..for another blog post. I'm so behind. Here are some activities we've been doing lately:

Putting up the Christmas tree with the kids (mainly Leah). She was so excited to help that she took an afternoon nap so she could stay up late to help. Cameron was less helpful just getting into stuff and whacking the tree branches.















The finished product! So far Cameron hasn't bothered the tree too much. He has taken a few ornaments off just to show us that he likes them. But just yesterday one string of lights went out. So we will probably need to some how replace them.



















Writing letters to Santa. I helped her write it but it is so cute to see her letters.












Can you tell what has been on Leah's mind lately? She has a new favorite Disney movie that we saw at Thanksgiving (Tangled - if you couldn't guess).























We went to the Festival of Trees last Saturday with Logan's sister Kelcy and met up with Logan's mom Carolyn. We also met up with Carolyn's cute little friend (I don't really know how to spell it) Geviya. She and Leah had so much fun looking at all the trees, watching the dancing companies perform, making crafts and getting their nails painted. By the end Leah said, "I think I'm getting attached to Geviya."






Here's the kids all dressed up for church. Cameron is wearing the new outfit my mom got him for his birthday. And Leah is wearing the pretty dress my mom got for her last Christmas, and it still fits. This is the only picture I got of them both smiling.












Hanging with out with this handsome man. He has been very busy this time of year, so they love any time they get to see him. Here they all are in their matching red shirts.

I took the kids back to the mall to get a better picture with Santa, but they are now posting a sign that says, "No cameras or phone cameras allowed." So frustrating! I'm not paying $20 to have a picture taken with Santa. It's a good thing I was able to take a pic of them with Santa before Thanksgiving.