...christmas eve...

My mom, my step-dad Kriag, and younger brother 

Jacob drove out to Utah to spend Christmas with us - 

YAY!!!

We spent Christmas eve in Kamas with my grandparents,

my Aunt Kristy, and a few cousins.

The love that Mabel has for her Uncle Jacob

is the sweetest thing. She has always had a special bond with

him and I love watching them interact. 

He would go downstairs to get a drink, or go to the bathroom

and Mabel would come running to me asking where

he went. I'm hoping Jacob wants to move to Utah 

and become our nanny. Please Jacob, I'm begging you,

at least for the winter!

When I was a kid my grandma would always makes

pounds of sugar cookie dough for me and my cousins

so we could cut out cookies and decorate them.  

We are carrying on that tradition...

but instead of quadrupling the recipe we just made

one batch for Mabel and Jack.

(Santa doesn't need the extra sugar cookie calories!)

Just a FEW sprinkles:

Mabel got some new doctor stuff

that she was very excited about.  She 

has been pretty obsessed with playing doctor

for a few months now since she had

her last vaccines.  She pretends she

is "Marci" our pediatrician's nurse.

(The one who gave her the shots.)

She helped everyone open their gifts:

  Grandma & Grandpa tried to stump

us again this year with a tricky plastic maze

with money inside that had to be solved 

in order to get the money out.

Nate got it first and I was second!

(Usually I am always last at figuring

out Grandma's clever puzzles.)

On the drive home we 

experienced a Christmas 

miracle....something

that hasn't happened for over 

two looooooong years...

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Mabel fell asleep

in her carseat!!!!!

Poor thing was exhausted from waking up at 

the crack of dawn, refusing to take a nap, and being

part of all the Christmas festivities. Instead of 

tap dancing in the backseat while yelling at the

top of her lungs - like she normally does when 

she is tired in the car - she just shut her eyes

and fell asleep.  Nate and I were in shock 

and I kept turning around to see if it was 

really true or if maybe she was just faking it

and her eyes would pop open and she would yell,

"Gotcha Ya Suckers!" 

But she didn't. She slept all the way home and

Nate and I got a glimpse into what life is 

like for most parents whose children

sleep in the car.

Heaven.

Merry Christmas 2013!

we wish you a 

MERRY

CHRISTMAS

and a 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

xoxo,

the tew family

Baby It's Cold Outside

Lately it's been COLD and SNOWY and we have been 

trying to keep busy as winter sets in.

Extreme Play Doh Creations:

I rolled the balls for our blueberry "suckers"

but she decided to make a "big big ice cream cone!"

She also loves to mix all the colors together.

There should be a law against that.

Taking both babies to Harmons & Target...

the two stores she recognizes and 

names when we pull up.

(and they both give stickers at the checkout!)

Painting.

This girl loves arts and crafts and painting is 

about as cool as it gets right now.

The cats have been hanging out inside a lot more

now since they can't do much out in the snow and 

Mabel loves to play with Fritz.

She is getting a lot softer, and Fritz is getting 

more needy for attention so it's a win win.

She wanted me to take a picture of her tiger on

his back. "Silly Fritz" she said.

She likes to "write notes" to people and then read them.

The other day I found her on the couch reading a note to

her baby. I love how she is holding baby's head to

make sure she is paying attention. :)

She is still a bookworm and has started to want to read the books 

to me now.  They always start with "Once Upon a Time" and 

it's cute to hear what she picks up and remembers from a book.

This is her just being silly.

My favorite part is, "Say cheese turtle!"

Turtle is her best friend.

Storytime at the library has been on break for almost two months and we really

miss it each week! However, we found a few new TV shows on Netflix 

so that has been a nice break for mama. She loves Daniel Tiger's 

Neighborhood and Super Why.

She loves looking at the Christmas tree and will

sit in the green chair next to it and just talk about the ornaments.

She also thinks it's hilarious that Fritz sleeps underneath.

She has been wanting to build a snowman so bad so 

the other day we got all dressed in our snow clothes and

went out to build one.

Unfortunately the snow was too 

powdery and dry and wouldn't really stick

together so we built a snow lump

and put the face on it.

Then she was entertained by sticking the

turkey baster in the snow which I thought was pretty 

funny!

We are looking forward to the new aquarium opening in Draper!

Hopefully it will open soon. (hurry up!)

We also have plans to go to the children's museum down at the 

Gateway, and also the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving

Point. Winter activities so we (I) don't go crazy!

Back to Bethlehem

{12.13.13}

I am on the activities committee at church and we have been planning 

for this Christmas event for months! So many people contributed their time 

and talents and really made this night a success.

Everything turned out even better than I expected!  

Shannon Heward, my friend and neighbor, was our committee

leader and she is just the type of person you want in charge.

She thinks of everything, delegates well, cares about the little details,

and works so hard behind the scenes.  She created and printed all the

invites & signage, coordinated the props and Nativity costumes,

and basically kept tabs on everyone to make sure we were following

through on our assignments.

Well done my friend!!!

So our theme was "Back to Bethlehem" and we encouraged

everyone to dress in biblical attire.  When they came into the building

they had to sign the census and pay their taxes.

(canned food to donate to the local food pantry was the tax!)

We even had our own Roman soldiers

making sure there was no funny business!

:)

 Bethlehem style GPS 

All of the pictures I am posting were taken by my friend Jocelyn 

who should definitely start a little side photography business - 

doesn't she do a great job?

Right before the party started....facing the stage.

City of Bethlehem... 

Lots of women from church saved their cans for a

few weeks so we could use them as centerpieces.

They had holes punched in the sides and had 

a flickering candle in the center.

Our crowning jewel - the Nativity Stable and Manger.

Shannon was in contact with a man from Perry, Utah

who built this from reclaimed barn wood and let us 

borrow it for FREE!

He even came down and helped set it up and 

take it down. It was beautiful.

Almost everyone that came dressed up and it was so 

fun to see everyone and their creative "Bethlehem" 

costumes!

 Jocelyn pulls off a pretend Bethlehem

pregnancy pretty well!

Mabel was our cute little shepherd girl.

Dinner was a buffet style and it was 

GOOOOOOOOOD!

So many people signed up to bring food, and one

 of our neighbors who is a chef said he would prepare

and donate the main chicken dish, the orzo pasta

and let us use all of his chafing dishes.

So generous!

After we had eaten dinner we had our Nativity program. 

Mary and Joseph (our cute neighbors the Birds)

looked lovingly at their sweet baby Jesus

(their 3 month old Oliver)

as the narrator read from Luke 2. 

We sang several Christmas songs throughout the program 

and each of the Nativity cast did a great job playing 

their parts. 

Recognize that wise man?

The night couldn't have gone any better and it was a wonderful

reminder of the reason we celebrate this holiday - the birth

of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Keyrenter Company Party

We had Nate's company party on December 6th 

at Cantina Southwestern Grill in Jordan Commons.  

Kristy came over to babysit Mabel and 

we had a fun night out!

We had the party here last year too and really

loved the experience. The food is tasty, 

(their chips and salsa are awesome!)

we have a large room upstairs all to ourselves,

and it was cheaper (and easier) than we had the

party catered at our house several years back!

We played a few games,  

 including everyone's favorite:

The White Elephant Gift Exchange.

Chia Willie and a cermaic baked potato set.

Once Aaron really checked out the

baked potato set he kind of wanted his own gift back.

After food and fun Nate said a few words

of thanks and appreciation to his team.  I love listening to this guy

speak - he always says just the right things and 

never seems nervous.  It's been a year full of changes...which 

brought along different challenges.  Seeing Nate lead this awesome 

group of people as they have worked through difficult growing pains

has been a humbling and inspiring experience.

Nate and Aaron presented several awards:

We had a great night and are so thankful for all the hardwork

the Keyrenter team puts into making this business a success!

Peep, Dot, & Bo

The week before Thanksgiving Nate's oldest brother Bryan 

and his wife Jenna invited us over to come see their horses

and have dinner at their house.

The have one regular size horse (Bo), 
one pony (Dot), 

and one miniature horse (Peep).

Feeding Dot...

Not so sure about this whole horse-riding idea...

...it was a just a little too scary.

We think Brenna makes a pretty cute cowgirl! 

Mabel and I watched them ride around 

and I think it made her want to try again. 

She started out by helping Uncle Dave walk Peep around.

Then with a little coaxing, she tried

sitting on Peep. 

She realized Peep wasn't so 

scary afterall!

"He's a little nice horse!"

Then there was no stopping her!

She wanted to ride Dot next and rode her all around 

the arena even without me walking next to her.

Morgan takes after her mama and is so great 

with the horses and kids.

Littlest cowgirl needed a snack and a kiss from daddy.

We were so proud of her for trying to ride

again even though it really scared her at first.

Mabel even got really brave and rode on 

Bo with Uncle Dave!

And finally, jumping over horse poop.

I think she liked this activity even

better than riding the horses.

Thanks Bryan and Jenna (and the kids),

we had a great time!