Merry Christmas!

I never knew Christmas could be so much fun with kids. In fact, it is a lot more fun. Canyon was so cute when he opened his presents on Christmas morning. Except the first one he opened he wanted to play with and wasn't really interested in the remaining presents. He got the most excited about the yogurt bites that were in his stocking:) By the end of the day and two grandparents' houses later, Canyon had had it and he was done with trying to open presents. Daniel got rock band 2 and Canyon decided that he liked to play with the drums more than any other present that Santa had brought him. Isn't he cute in his Santa shirt!

Here Comes Santa

We have taken to Canyon to see Santa three times this year, although we didn't mean to. The first time he saw Santa with his cousins and it ended up being a tramatic experience for him. The second time Daniel and I dressed him up in a cute outfit, waited in line forever, and when it was finally our turn, my camera had a breakdown. I was mad. So we were out Christmas shopping at the Provo mall and there was no line for Santa. Third times the charm because Canyon sat on Santa's lap very nicely and we finally got some good pictures of him. Canyon loved the bells on Santa's outfit and he got a coloring book at the end that he was very excited about.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Today we woke up to about a foot of snow on the ground. We were so excited because it is the first snow that has stuck to the ground this year! We all bundled up and went outside to play in the snow. Poor Canyon was like the little boy on Christmas Story who was so bundled up he couldn't move his arms. And finally Aspen had something good happen to her. She ran around the yard probably 20 times while jumping and rolling in the snow. Canyon laughed and laughed as he watched Aspen play in the snow. Canyon didn't quite know what to think about the snow. He ate some and thought it was pretty good. Canyon even went on a four wheeler ride with Daniel and they plowed the sidewalks for the neighbors. It finally felt like Christmas today.

O Christmas Tree

We got our Christmas about a week ago and finally got to decorate it. We got a real tree this year and it is beautiful and smells sooo good. Canyon absolutely loves the tree and all the other Christmas decorations that light up. He starts breathing heavy when he sees it and gets a big smile on his face. He pulls off the lights and the decorations several times a day which comes with the territory of having a baby. Canyon is so proud of himself when he gets a decoration off (we made sure to put the non-breakable ones on the bottom). We also recently had our ward christmas party. Daniel played his guitar and sang Jack Johnson's version of rudolph the red nosed reindeer. I was going to post his performance on the blog but Daniel would not let me:( But just so every knows, it sounded awesome! As you can see from the picture below, Canyon was very excited about the tree.

Poor, Poor Aspen:(

We have had our dog Aspen now for almost 4 years. In that time she has been on many backpacking trips with Daniel and I. Whenever we take her we worry about two things: Aspen running away with a pack of wolves and living in the wild and getting caught in an animal trap. Well, Daniel had to go do backup down in Escalante, UT this weekend for a trek that out there. While he was hiking into their camp, Aspen's leg was caught in a coyote trap!!! She started yelping like crazy and Daniel ran over to see what was the matter and our worst fear had come true. It took Daniel almost 5 minutes to get her leg out of the dang trap all the while with Aspen freaking out. Miraculously, her leg was not broken. The trap didn't even break the skin! It was also a miracle that Daniel was able to get the trap open by himself. It is crazy that Heavenly Father will even watch after his animals and we are so thankful that He did! As soon as her leg was free, Aspen walked away. She has a little limp and again some hurt pride but other than that she is fine. What a blessing! Daniel was ticked so he dismantled the trap and brought it home. The owner of the trap left his name on it. Daniel did some investigating once he was back in town and found out that it is illegal to trap in that area. The guy has a heard of cattle so he leaves coyote traps out there anyway. If anybody knows L.H. Hall he had better watch out because there might be a few of his cattle that have coyote traps wrapped around their legs! Canyon has been very concerned about Aspen's sad sad attitude and has been hanging out with her. It has been a very traumatic experience for both Daniel and Aspen.

Thanksgiving!

Canyon had a lot of excitement on his first Thanksgiving. Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Laurel came to visit along with his cousins Hayley, Clara, and Zack. We had family pictures taken, a ride up in the mountains, and fun filled nights of rock band. Canyon loved to play with the big boy cousins, Zack and Miles. He also loved trying to pull the glasses off of Clara's face. Canyon is now old enough to eat real food. He didn't like the turkey or mashed potatoes so much, but he loved the cranberry sauce. I had to lay him on the floor so I could take picture of his thanksgiving shirt. He is so active I could only snap one before he rolled over and crawled away.