THE NIELSONS: Whitney: A Holiday Trip

Whitney came back to inhabit her basement space at our house for one whole week. We jam-packed her visit with Christmas cheer. It started the moment we picked her up from the airport with Elf playing in the car. When we got home I put the kids to bed and Whitney got to work wrapping Christmas presents.

The next day we put up the felt tree Whitney made for the girls. It works out perfectly because they can pull them off and replace them by themselves. Later on Sadie took a bunch of close-ups of her felt tree.

That afternoon we dragged Whitney to gymnastics so Sadie could show off all her moves at her last gymnastics class.

Look at that form! She is, indeed, holding herself up with no help. I am very proud of the progress Sadie made in this class and we'll probably return to gymnastics class in the summer. The other milestone recorded in this photo is Sadie's french braids.

Pike jump

Anxiously watching Sadie- wanting to play too

Obediently sitting criss-cross applesauce on her purple square

After gymnastics we put on warmer clothes and rushed over to the Riverwoods to see Santa.

Sadie was very excited and told me many times that she was going to ask him for a princess castle with lots of princesses.

She got a little shy when it came time to tell him, but she actually did it and told him her favorite princess was Cinderella.

Elise's interaction with Santa was not so positive. But that's pretty much her reaction when anyone holds her if her parents are around, never mind the strange clothes and facial hair, so overall, a smashing success.

The Riverwoods does a great job at Christmas time. The lights are beautiful, a visit and photo with Santa is free (take your own photo), heaters are set up outside, and it is close to our house.

Sadie took photos of everything she could find as I was finishing up dinner preparations. I deleted most of them, but I enjoyed this one of Whit.

And this one of Daniel reading one of Elise's favorite books, Charlie the Ranch Dog.

Thursday was another busy day, but with less pictures. I got home from work and we took the girls up to IKEA because I needed to get a Christmas present for Elise and IKEA is always fun with kids. Not. The girls were both fairly well-behaved and we made it out of store alive. Unfortunately, I realized when I got home that I stole a bunch of table legs. I thought I needed 4 boxes to go with the table top. Nope, just one. Oops. My only defense is that an IKEA employee watched me check out and didn't say a word.

The girls both took naps so we went to Daniel's game that night.

The girls lasted about 2/3 of the game until they started playing on the stairs and running around the courts up behind the arena. It confirmed my choice to not attend night games this year as correct. They weren't terrible, but by myself it would have been.

Both girls were rewarded after the game (a tough loss for UVU) with running around on the big court. They could care less who won. Although, for the first time ever Sadie realized that she actually knew the people playing in the game. She shouted, "It's Casey! Hi Casey! Mom! It's Casey!" Funny that it took her 3 years to realize that. I just assumed she recognized the players last year.

On Friday morning we went to open gym at Sadie's gymnastics place. We spent the whole time playing in areas Sadie doesn't get to go to during class: the big foam pit and the trampolines.

Elise was excited to be participating instead of spectating.

*it's really hard to get out of a foam pit while holding a 1 1/2 year old.

We came home and Sadie helped/hindered Whitney in wrapping more presents.

I want to mention how proud of myself I am for taking apart/putting together a new frame on our stroller. I waited 4 months for Daniel to put it together until I got a surge of girl power and realized it really wasn't very tough- just required non-laziness and someone who is actually home more than 2 hours a day.

Whit got roped into making a gingerbread house with Sadie.

Nielson square heads unite.

That night Whitney and I put the girls to bed and had some Cafe Rio as we watched Elf.

Saturday Whitney and I went to the new outlets in Lehi while Hillary watched the girls at home.

I am so happy I can now get to outlets in 15 minutes.

We also returned the stolen IKEA table legs. We waited at customer service for a while, but the line was very long. So we just walked over to where the table legs were and put them back. We figured no harm done. It had only been a day and a half since I accidentally stole them and they were totally unopened. Maybe I shouldn't be admitting this on my blog. Can I be prosecuted for that?

We also visited Hobby Lobby for some Christmas season needs, namely, wrapping paper. They have the best in-store prices on wrapping paper (non-ugly wrapping paper) I have seen.

Sunday was a generally quiet day with church and dinner at the Blood's.

Sadie had a great time with second-cousin Jack and slept well that night after running, jumping, screaming with him.

The next day it actually snowed a decent amount in the afternoon. Whitney generously played outside with Sadie as I watched from inside.

Whitney made snowballs and Sadie threw them.

That night we went to Temple Square to see the lights.

Sadie was distraught that we couldn't actually go inside the temple. And she didn't believe me that we were in the temple when we went to the visitor's center. Too smart for her own good.