Kaitlyn's 4th Birthday

I told Kaitlyn she could have her first birthday party for her 4th birthday. She wanted a "Princess Party" and so I took down the names of the girls she wanted there and she was so excited to take the invitations up to each girl's door. In fact, she was very concerned and almost started crying when a few of them weren't home and she thought they wouldn't be able to come to the party. All the girls came in their princess dresses, then we made some bracelets, opened presents, played with magic wands (now I have gold glitter all over) and ate cake and ice cream. The princess cake... Uncle Mike and aunt Natalie were here to share Kaitlyn's birthday. We told Kaitlyn she could choose somewhere to go for dinner...so we headed to McDonalds and played on the playplace.Yeah, she thinks he's wierd too :)The excitement...Kaitlyn got a new princess doll...pretty much exactly like the one she already has but CLEAN with no dreads! Hmmm...which one do you think she likes better though? We told her that the new one was so much better because it's clean, her hair is soft, she doesn't have pen on her face (what else can we think of ?)...but when Kate went to bed with her "new" princess doll and woke up in the morning she had a couple little tears in her eyes as she said, "I know that my other princess doll is dirty but I just love her." Talk about tearing at the heart strings! Needless to say we gave in and she's sleeping with both dolls now.We had to laugh as Kaitlyn got three of the exact same little doll for Christmas this year...one from me, one from my mom, one from Lori. What are the chances? Kaitlyn loves her new triplets, though!

Christmas Day

Christmas morning was so much fun watching the kids come downstairs and see all the presents under the tree. Kaitlyn got her barbie that she'd asked Santa for, and Michael his ball.

Some other fun gifts to remember...

doll house and furniture

big kid desk

tool set

Bosu

Coke

black socks (this is all Steve would ask for)

marble track (homemade by Steve on Christmas Eve)

After playing with all our fun new toys for a while (and watching Steve try to transform his transformer) we headed to the Terry Grandparents for a Christmas brunch. Steve's mom had gone all out making every kind of breakfast food imaginable! It was fun to see all the Terrys and we even got to play a game of Ticket to Ride --the European version.

Later that afternoon my parents, Natalie, Mike, Jon & his girlfriend Emily came over for Christmas dinner. We exchanged all our gifts and had fun playing Emily's Wii. My mom and I even tried out my new steam mop--it's amazing!

Kaitlyn actually ended up getting 3 of these exact same dolls for Christmas. She was very excited about it!black socks for Christmas...so exciting!Handy Steve decided on Christmas Eve that he wanted to make a marble track (patterned after Grandma Chamberlain's). I think this was Mike's favorite toy!My mom made this super cute apron for Kate...to match the one she gave me for my birthday.

2009 Christmas Card

I won't be sending out a Christmas card in the mail this year so consider this your Christmas card from the Terry family! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was celebrated at the Dahl's. The evening began with a Mexican Food meal complete with enchiladas, spanish rice, beans, guacamole, and sour cream. We gave my mom a hard time for her email she sent us a few days prior that told us the menu...and included sour cream on the menu. I'm glad she didn't leave anything out :) . After dinner my dad read the story of Jesus' birth and the kids and adults acted out the whole event. Kaitlyn took her role as Mary pretty seriously and rode the donkey (uncle Mike) with the baby doll under her shirt. I had to smile as I noticed Kaitlyn looking adoringly at the baby Jesus in the manger.

My dad continued the annual tradition of the Christmas Treasure Hunt. This was the first year we did it on Christmas Eve (instead of Christmas Day). We always laugh at the funny rhymes and clues he comes up with. There were even gifts at most of the clue spots including BYU beanies for Michael and Kaitlyn and an emergency kit for us older kids.

Steve and I had fun getting all the Christmas preparations ready when we got home. I have to say I was really excited for the kids to wake up on Christmas morning.

My Sweet Hubby & A Clean Fridge!

After we had been gone all day we got home and Steve started cleaning out the fridge. I think it started with just trying to clean up a small section and turned into deep cleaning every inch of the fridge and freezer. I just had to take a picture of the end result...and had to laugh when there was about 4 times as many condiments as real food in the fridge. I need to go grocery shopping!

Fun Filled Day...Cont'd

Our fun-filled day continued the next day when we went to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. The best part of the museum was the water and sand making place. I think Steve, Michael and Kaitlyn could've stayed there all day long making rivers and tunnels.

Fun Filled Day

We had a fun-filled day in Salt Lake using some "connect passes" I got online a few months ago.

We started our day by going to the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum. We had never been here before and we all loved it! From water tunnels to a little grocery store to building blocks, air tunnels, helicopters, and much more it was a great place for kids and adults!

After Discovery Gateway we headed to the Lion House Pantry where we each got a $10 meal with our Connect Passes. We enjoyed turkey, chicken, potatoes, lion house rolls, and pie. Yummy!! Michael had a really good time too...until he fell down outside as we were leaving (thus the crying in picture).Our next stop was at the Clark Planetarium. We looked around the museum and stared at the huge marble track FOREVER and watched two movies--a Holiday Music show in the dome and "Santa vs. the Snowman" in IMAX 3D. Kaitlyn and Michael sat so still through both of the movies and even kept their 3D glasses on!The lights on Temple Square was where we made our last stop of the day. It was really cold, but we had a good time seeing all the lights and nativities from different countries. We even saw the Japanese nativity which is just like the one on our piano!