three weeks of christmas.

well, it's over already. last i posted, we were just so excited for christmas to be coming, and now, it's not coming again for another year. boo. we took down all our decorations and our house looks so barren now. more organized, but barren. 

when levi finally finished finals, he spent the next few days studying for his national board exams and then we were free to enjoy our three weeks of freedom! to start, we went with some friends down to san carlos to see candy cane lane. some of the money people invest in their christmas lights is incredible. 

these are some of zaky's girl friends. he's quite the ladies man in our mother's club. 

of course, this was zak's favorite part. the train lights. 

zak and penelope. "his favorite" according to him. 

zak got the sweetest deal and had two christmases this year because we didn't want to haul all his presents up north. 

we spent the wednesday before christmas eating a delicious breakfast, drinking hot chocolate and opening presents. zak got a bagillion trains. and a train table from his grandparents. his parents got him a cash register and food, which we thought was cool, but let's be honest how can that compete with trains? 

greysen got clothes because his parents don't think he needs any more toys. and he really didn't care. 

zak also enjoyed opening greysen's presents, like this giant train from his aunt and uncle. unfortunately, he thinks any train related presents are his. 

we spent our christmas in the canadian arctic and had a great time. zak has been stoked for weeks to go to canada and go on the airplane. 

don't judge his pink suitcase. his parents need to buy him another one. but alas, we're too cheap. plus, his favorite color is pink anyways. 

this was the first time zak has seen snow and remembers it, so that was an adventure. he loved it for about 10 minutes, being that the temperature never got above 0 degrees Fahrenheit, and again, his parents are too cheap to buy him real snow boots for the one time every other year he's in the snow so he was using his cousins rain boots with 10 pairs of socks, i imagine his feet got a wee bit chilly. 

we got to do a temple session with levi's parents and siblings, so that was kinda fun. plus, it started snowing while we were in there, and i was loving it. it was fabulous, i forgot how much i love the snow and my scarves/boots etc. 

we got family pictures done while we were up there, with all the boys, it was an adventure. but they're so cute so i hope they turn out somewhat decent. 

our matching pj's. and the boys robes. so so cute. 

christmas eve we did fondue and it was delish. 

 we started greysen on solids while we were up there via baby led weaning and he has been loving it. he's eaten/gnawed cucumbers, squash, broccoli, oatmeal, bananas, apple, rice cakes, taco soup, sweet potatoes and much more. he's been loving it so much and is obsessed with being able to eat by himself. 

zak did not care for the fondue at all. he was rather obsessed with playing with his cousins, and not worried at all about eating. 

christmas morning came and of course, someone got some more trains. lucky dog. santa didn't know that he was going to get so many trains, otherwise he wouldn't have brought him so many. 

christmas day, we spent outside for a bit, because it was beautiful. look at that freshly fallen snow. 

it's boggling my mind that the next time we will be in canada, we will be moving there. cu-razy. we are officially 1/2 done dental school. i can't believe it's gone so fast! 

sickies.

today we stayed home from church because the men/boys all got sick. it was quite unfortunate, but somehow they all were well enough for some of this goodness: 

except for zak would not touch my masterpiece, he had to have a different pancake. i say that proves how awesome we are. ;) 

we then continued the day with this:

 costco sells pre-built gingerbread houses. best. invention. ever. because who really wants to put the house together? all that matters is the candy that goes on it. 

he was quite proud of his accomplishment. i'm pretty sure he's been counting down until we could do the gingerbread house every day this week. 

then we watched zak's newest favorite movie: the polar express. to say he was excited was an understatement. conka {our elf. don't ask where he got his name from. zak just whipped it out} brought zak a polar express train and candy canes from the north pole to help him watch the movie. 

 greysen also thoroughly enjoyed the movie. it brought back memories of me playing the soundtrack in the philharmonic in high school. ohhh the good ol' days. 

later, we went through the toys r' us magazine to pick out what he wanted to ask santa for. just guess what was at the top of the list? 

 trains. duh. 

 i don't know how to make this not side-ways, but it basically says he wants trains. 

and of course, you can't write letters to santa without some hot cocoa with marshmallows and whip cream. 

in zak's prayers tonight, he said "please bless the polar express" like six times. and "i'm thankful for the polar express and trains" like 4. so basically, it was the best. day. ever. 

i'm so glad my grinch of a child has become more excited for christmas, i've been putting in a lot of effort to make him want to do something! 

holiday cheer.

so. i finally added our child to the blog. some people, who shall remain nameless, kept mentioning how i needed to update our pictures/name to include greysen so after much arguing with my computer and blogger {ummm, has anyone else had to pay google to post stuff on their blog now because they suddenly have too many pictures? super lame.} i have finally given it a new look. i know, you love it, don't lie. 

speaking of which, i'm a little bit obsessed with our family pictures. they're so cute eh? i know, i'm biased. but considering levi's shirt was an extra small instead of a large, it was pouring rain, and zak got motion sick and barfed all over in the car on the way there {apparently reading train magazines is too much of a distraction for him}, they turned out pretty good. if you live here and want some great family pics, this fabulous woman took ours, and is very reasonably priced. 

anyways, i meant to post about our christmas decorating quite some time ago but alas, i did not. i love christmas. if it wasn't for my husband refusing to decorate and/or help with anything, we would have stuff up before thanksgiving. {good thing in canada thanksgiving is in october eh? mwhahaha}

this was the first year we actually have room to put a christmas tree some place. usually, we end up cramming it in between couches, or right in the middle of the room, but besides the fact that i can't see what zak is doing behind the tree, when sitting on the couch, it worked out great here. i love our house.  

i have no idea why zak is shirtless. he's actually probably totally naked but i can't remember. but yes, we take self timer family pictures quite well.

i googled how to take pictures of christmas trees. this was the best i could do. it's kinda cool, but i don't know how you would get anyone's faces in it because it's so dark. oh well.

i don't really decorate for any other holiday, so christmas is my ultimate favorite. plus, my grandma hooked me up with several new home decor pieces such as the tree below, so i had an even better time finding some place to stick them 

i'm a little bit obsessed with my sequin tree skirt. anything sparkly that i can put in my house is an instant win. plus, my wrapping paper is totally cute.

every day, zak wakes up from his nap and we drink hot chocolate with tons of marshmallows and watch a christmas movie. so far, it's been the grinch everyday for the last week, but who doesn't love the grinch?

i also have plans for us to make clay ornaments because pinterest rules, as well as try our hand at making delicious sugar cookies to give to friends. 

it is also my goal to watch every single abc family original christmas movie made within the last several years. older than that, and they just get plain ridiculous. so far, netflix has helped me out quite nicely {side note: i do watch these when i'm on the treadmill, so you don't think i sit at home and watch tv all day, i swear we do stuff}. i highly recommend desperately seeking santa aka sexy santa as my friend delainey and i call it. its been voted the best out of the several christmas movies we've watched {i will not tell you how many we've really watched, it's a little embarrassing}. besides, when it's nicknamed sexy santa, you know you really want to watch it. do it. right now. 

hurrah for christmas! 9 days until levi's done with finals, and 13 days until he's done with his boards so that he can finally enjoy what we do all day! ;)