In November Pete took the kids to the Puppy Store like he always does when they are at the mall, but this time he gave in and let them “visit with” a Yellow Lab puppy. He sent me all kinds of pictures of Kayli and “her dog” in this little 5×5 room with titles such as “Please Mom” and “Isnt he Cute?”. I knew where this was going so I told him he needed to get her out of there because she thought this dog was going home with her. Well the puppies at this store are totally overpriced and we were leaving for our Thanksgiving trip in 2 days so I told him he was crazy, no dog.

So he promised Kayli she could visit with Santa in order to get her out of the store. So when Santa asked her what she wanted she of course told him she wanted “her white puppy”. And boy was she convinced that that was what she was getting. I thought (hoped) she would move on to something else, but she never gave up! So I decided I better start looking for her white (yellow really) puppy. I was really against getting a puppy puppy since they are so much work and I already feel like I have enough going on. So I searched and searched for days and really wanted to get one between 1 and 5 years old from a local rescue, but they make it so hard to adopt that I was discouraged and decided craigslist was my best bet. I basically “stalked” the pet section until I found Charlie. I called about him just minutes after his owner listed him and we went and saw him a few hours later and picked him up the next day!

Charlie is 7 months old, half Labrador/half Golden Retriever. He is completely housebroken, crate trained, knows his name, comes when he is called, and knows all the basic commands. He is soo good with the kids even with Caiden who “abuses him” a bit. His owner really loved him and took good care of him, he is neutered and up to date on all his shots. He has to move to Italy for work and couldn’t take Charlie with him. I thought he was going to cry when we picked Charlie up and took him home.

The kids LOVE him and Kayli says that Santa can just bring her some dog food, treats, and toys for Charlie for Christmas! He is exactly what I was looking for, a dog the kids could enjoy and one that I didnt have to train!!

Caiden playing in Charlie’s crate

The dance company that Kayli takes dance at was asked to perform at the Queen Creek Holiday Festival. It was so much fun and the girls were so darn cute. Kayli is so funny she smiles the entire time, but gets distracted and you will notice her loosing focus and watching kids off to the side instead of her dance teacher. The videos are too cute so be sure to watch them! I know I cant get enough of them!!

Kayli and her cousin Savannah all ready to perform

My sister-in-law did the impossible and got her hair in a bun, well some it anyways!

I taped the Rehearsal since there was not many people around.

The Real Deal. Kayli’s FIRST Dance Performance!! She is on the far left!

This year we spent 6 days in Utah with Pete’s family for Thanksgiving. His parents and all but one sibling and her family were able to come and we had a BLAST!! We stayed with Beth and Jeff (THANKS!!) which was so much fun for the kids, they got to spend tons of time with their cousins that they really dont see often enough. It was fun to watch them interact and play together. They actually all got along really well!!

Caiden learned how to go down the stairs on his butt and on his tummy. Since no one we spend much time with in AZ has stairs and since he is a curious boy he fell down the stairs within minutes of our arrival. I know I win Mommy of the year award for that one, I should have closed the gate!

I was so excited to spend some time with my “Utah Family” the Hoggs. They were my home away from home when I was at school at the U and its been way too long since we have seen them. The kids were thrilled that they still had snow on the ground, since Kayli was very disappointed that there was no snow at Lindsay’s house. We had been telling her we were going to Lindsay and Logan’s house and that she would get to see some snow.

We mostly hung out around the house and relaxed and let the kids play, which is my kind of holiday! We did visit the cemetery and went and saw the lights at Temple Square the day after Thanksgiving, but other than that it was a pretty quiet holiday.

Well except for Saturday morning when we discovered that the lights had been left on in the car and the battery was dead. So Jeff jumped the van and to our delight it triggered the alarm which we could not get to turn off. So Pete drove around the neighborhood trying to get it to turn off, boy did the neighbors love us. Thankfully it only goes off for 2 minutes (even while driving down the street) and then resets itself so we didnt have to honk all the way to Orem! Once the battery was charged and we turned the car off we were able to turn the alarm off thankfully! Kayli still talks about all the honking! =)

Playing in the snow!

They loved the swing!

Caiden LOVED this thing (He is getting one for Christmas). He even tried riding it down the stairs…it doesnt work so dont try it!

All bundled up for the Temple lights

Riding the Trax to Temple Square. The train ride put Caiden to sleep and he slept the entire time we were there, he woke up just in time to enjoy the train ride back to Sandy for dinner.

Cute Girls Kayli LOVED seeing all the lights. Im excited to take her to the lights at the Mesa temple next week.

“You jump in first!”

Headed back to Trax and he is still asleep

Riding with Grandpa on the train

Thanks for all the fun Madsens and Sniders!! =)