Moving on Up!

We finally felt that the time was right for Finley to graduate from his toddler bed to a big boy bed. 

This change involved him moving from his nursery room into the office/play room to make room for his big Christmas present: big boy bunk beds! 

Here are some before pictures of the office/playroom: 

The closet in that room housed all of our office supplies and our food storage. We decided to move all the food storage to the kitchen and convert our coat closet into another pantry. 

This was no small feat as we had to add a whole new shelving system, but I am very happy with my organized food storage! And now we have not one, but two pantries! 

Finley's old nursery room: 

 His old closet was so small and very cramped. It was also filled with a lot of his baby items. He could never find anything in it! After putting together the bunk beds (piece by piece) it was time to make the swap on Christmas Eve.

I am really happy with the bunk beds we purchased! 

They even have storage drawers underneath them. 

And now Finley has a huge closet with lots of room for all his toys. He has really enjoyed having a bigger room with lots of room to play. And so far, (knock on wood) he hasn't fallen out of the bunk beds. 

Christmas Programs & Recitals!

This past week was filled with performances and recitals!

First up was Finley's preschool Christmas program.

Finley got to be a sheep in the program.

He was such a little cutie. And here are his preschool teachers: Mrs. Appelberg

and Mrs. Adams. 

The next night was Finley's dance recital. 

His little class danced to Frosty the Snowman. Aren't they adorable?

He got to be pulled onto stage on a sled (his favorite part).

They put together a snowman.

And then begun their dance!

They did a great job!

A curtain call of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was performed.

And Finley was given a rose at the end of the show by his teacher Miss Shelley.

It was a great week of performances by our shinning star!

Celebrating the Season

 

A few weeks ago Finley and I made a day trip to Chapel Hill to have some holiday fun with Mimi and Pop Pop. First we headed over to the Carolina Inn to see the decorations.

 

They had some awesome gingerbread houses on display.

 

 

I think they were all made by local bakeries.

 

Of course the bell tower was my favorite.

 

At the Inn they also had the twelve days of Christmas on display. Several NC artists each created a piece of art for each different day. The seven swans of swimming were made out of paper.

 

There were two real turtle doves. And my favorite was the piece that represented the twelve lords of leaping.

 

Finley got a kick out of the eight maids a milking.

 

And of course my mom loved the glass nine ladies dancing.

 

This was our first time checking it out and it was a big hit!

 

Well after seeing all those yummy looking gingerbread houses, it was time to go and make our own!

 

I must admit this was our best one yet!

 

For dinner we headed over to my parent's church for their ward Christmas party. A special visitor stopped by after the program.

 

Finley was so excited to meet Pop Pop, I mean Santa. Finley was also impressed that the Santa in Chapel Hill knew his name! (little did he know that his name was the only child's name that Santa knew that night)

 

We had a great time visiting with Mimi and Pop Pop and getting into the spirit of Christmas!

Thanksgiving in Utah!

It has been four years to the date since we had been out west to visit the Beans (David's sister and her family) so it was finally time to make another trip to the promised land. Finley couldn't wait to spend a whole week with his only cousin Gabi. 

Heading out west is a little tricky with the time change. We were all up early on the first day so David wanted to take us on a sunrise hike. We had some trouble finding the trail we were suppose to, so we just made our own path and found a good spot to see the mountains and take some pictures even though it was freezing cold and super early. 

While Gabi was in school one day we ventured over to this cool store called Scheels. It is kind of like a big outdoor store. They had a huge indoor Ferris wheel we got to ride on. 

This cool arch/tank with fish in it. 

And lots of stuffed animals that you can pose with. 

These pictures kind of make me wish we would have waited to order our Christmas cards. 

Can't you just see one of these gems as our Christmas cards!?

When Gabi got out of school we headed over to the Dinosaur (Or ancient life) museum. The kids had a great time in the tinkering section building things and finding out how things work. 

And of course we found lots of bones to look at! 

The next day while Gabi was at school we headed up into the mountains near a few of the ski resorts to play in the snow! We had a nice little snowball fight and even built our own snowlady frostine. 

It is so picturesque out there! I love looking at all the mountains. 

David finally did get some good colorful sunrise shots! 

At last Gabi was done with school for the week! 

We headed over to Wheeler park/farm. The kids really enjoyed feeding the ducks and playing on their awesome playground. 

We also saw some livestock and a real life turkey! I am guessing he was spared for this Thanksgiving. 

Back at the house the kids had a blast playing together and decorating the basement for their party/performance. 

At last Turkey Day had arrived! We made sure to get a few family Thanksgiving photos.  

This year we cooked our own Thanksgiving meal and it was fabulous! So much good food. 

After eating it was time for the performance that the kids had been working on. 

I really got a kick out of their show. It was part dance party, part retelling of the Nutcracker story. I used to put on shows all the time when I was a kid too. 

This was their backstage area. 

But they eventually broke through it for a dramatic finale! 

And volunteers were even needed to reenact the fight scene between the nutcracker and the mouse king. 

They were so adorable! Bravo Gab and Fin! We can't wait until your next show! 

Our final day in Utah we headed up near Park City to do some tubing. 

We had a really good time sledding down these huge, fast hills. 

I was surprised at how brave Finley and Gabi both were. 

It was pretty crowded because they had just opened for the season, but we still got several good runs in. 

Our week in Utah flew by so fast! Some other highlights that we did not get pictures of include eating at Cafe Rio, seeing four different temples from a distance, eating at the Red Iguana, visiting Temple Square and seeing all the lights and nativities (I am so mad I forgot my camera for this one!), and having a double date night with Greg and Tami by going to dinner and a movie (The Hunger Games!). 

It was such a great week with the Harris/Bean clan! We can't wait to see them again at the beach next summer. Happy Thanksgiving!