Loving the Time Off -- Hitting the Park with the Kids

I have loved all of the time-off I took the last couple of weeks. I was able to spend so much more time with the family. Today, Carson, Tucker and walked to the park and played for a while. They are such cute kids!

We played frisbee, swung on the swings, and played on the slides.

Playing In The Snow

Seeing as this was Andrea's first White Christmas, we had to build a snowman. The snow didn't stick together very well, so it was a pretty skinny snowman. I also taught Carson how to build a snow fort, which he quickly toppled over. This is a picture of what I could salvage.

Christmas At Home With The Akslands

Angela's family was nice enough to come here for Christmas. Had they known about the weather that they would have to travel through to get here, it may not have happened, but we are grateful that they came. It was really nice to spend the holidays here and still be able to see them.

Christmas at the Knights

We spent Christmas morning at Grandma & Grandpa Knight's house. Scott, Lori and family were there along with Teresa and Rogan. It was nice to see some family that we rarely see and watch everyone open their gifts.

White Christmas

We awoke to a beautiful layer of fluffy snow. Perfect Christmas conditions (unless you have family driving over Donner Pass -- they eventually made it safe and sound).

Notice the garbage cans on the street? It was trash day -- on Christmas in the snow. They still came?!? Pretty amazing service.

Christmas Eve Party

We celebrated Christmas Eve with my family at Grandma & Grandpa Ross's house. It started off with socializing and a delicious dinner (helped by rolls and a homemade pumpkin pie that Angela made).

Carson was extremely excited for Christmas and loved seeing his cousins, but still gave Tucker plenty of attention.

Angela, Danielle, and Joanna (accompanied by their infants) sang a song about babies and handed a picture of all of their infants to Grandpa Ross.

Carson gave the pinata a few good hits. He didn't mind not breaking it since he collected a huge bag-full of toys and candy.

Grandpa-Claus paid us a visit and treated everyone to a large bag of candy. Neither Tucker nor Carson cried (although it took a fair amount of work to prepare Carson). Santa can be pretty freaky to toddlers.

It was wonderful seeing the family and spend this special time with them!

Excited for Christmas

Carson is so excited for Christmas. Everyday when I return home from work he drags me to his calendar to show me how close we are to Christmas.

I laughed as Carson asked, "Dad, does Santa bring tree toys or people toys?" Carson's descriptions of his world can be pretty funny -- I'm assuming that tree toys are ornaments.

When I told him that Santa surprises us, he continued, "Does he bring big toys (as he stretched out his arms) or little toys (putting his hands close together)?" Again, I just told him that it will be a surprise.

In his prayer this evening, he asked, "... bless that Christmas comes."

Furniture Nearing Completion

We ordered some semi-custom furniture back in April / May which was supposed to be complete in late June. Here it is December and it's still in progress. The factory just sent us some up-to-date pictures. The bed is looking good, the nightstands are still a little wrong.

Tucker Relaxing At Home

Knight Elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Carson's Newest Creation: Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies

Carson and I created a new dessert fom dinner at Grandma & Grandpa Knight's house tonight -- chocolate chip cookie brownies.

You scoop chocolate chip cookie dough on top of brownie dough (thanks Betty Crocker). It was really good.

Finger-Lickin' Good

We really want to get Tucker used to eating solids now, including ribs and pulled-pork sandwiches, so we started him out with some spoonfuls of KC Masterpiece bbq sauce. He loved it!

Just kidding.......but he does love the pureed prunes!

Wingfield Hills Ward Christmas Party

Decorations in the foyer......
The party committee really did a good job decorating the hall.

We were impressed with the decorations at our church Christmas party Friday night. You can see the tenting effect they created by putting up little christmas lights and hanging tulle across the entire hall. We had a family-style meal with food at each table so we wouldn't have to wait in a buffet line, which would have been difficult with kids. Carson got to see Santa at the end of the night. He was pretty wary of Santa at first, but warmed up to him after a few minutes.

On the road again...

I took the dirt-bike out for a ride today. This was the first time since I crashed. My shoulder still hasn't healed completely, but it was good enough.

It was fun, but tough to loosen up and not psych myself out about crashing.

Rolling All Around

Tucker can now roll from his stomach to his back and from his back to his stomach. So tonight, he started rolling across our living room. He seemed excited by his newfound mobility.

Asleep in Grandpa's Arms

Grandpa Knight took crying Tucker during dinner this evening and accomplished the impossible: Tucker fell asleep.

2008 Sparks Hometown Christmas Parade

Ok. I mixed up the start time with the end time, so we completely missed the parade. But we were in-time for the Reed High School Intermezzo choir. They were really good. On the drive to the parade, we were talking about how we weren't into the 'Christmas spirit' yet. Listening to the Christmas songs helped.

We stayed for the lighting of the town Christmas tree.

Welcome Brielle!

We had a good time visiting Danielle, Matt, and new baby Brielle in the hospital. She is such a beautiful little girl! Thanks for letting us visit.

Live Cashback -- 30% Cashback on eBay Purchases

We have been enjoying Microsoft's Live Search cashback. If you register for their free cashback program, when you search for things using live.com search, it gives you a 30% cashback link to eBay. If you follow that link, just about any Buy-It-Now purchase will give you 30% cashback (on top of the already discounted eBay price).

So we made some big purchases that we have been putting off. We bought gift cards and some expensive motorcycle gear (a new Arai XD3 helmet and a pair of Asterisk Cell knee braces).

What a deal!

Phil, Nicole and Family Visit

We had a great time visiting with Phil, Nicole and their kids and Grandma and Grandpa Knight this week. The kids played so well together (which is always a huge plus) and the adults visited and played several games.

Thanksgiving Dinner

We enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving dinner at home, featuring herb-roasted turkey, stuffing, homemade red mashed potatoes, homemade pumpkin pie, and an apple pie. It was nice to celebrate the holiday just by ourselves.

Tucker Playing Around

Landscaping, Day 3

Carson and I moved another six cubic yards of decomposed granite into our backyard today. Luckily, we were nearly done before it started pouring rain.