Jonathan's parents trip to see us.

Jonathan's parents came out to visit us in AZ. Here are some of the trip highlights:

We went to Sedona, AZ where we saw amazing red rock mountains. Absolutely gorgeous.

There is a rock there that is shaped like snoopy that we had fun finding.

We had planned to go to a park called Out of Africa where they have animals you would find in Africa. Well, we got there and discovered it cost $32 per person. Too much for us. Dad tried to be very generous and insisted we still go. The rest of us decided it was too expensive and we would not let him pay that much. Jonah was not as easily swayed though.

Jonah: "I want to see the lions!"
Jonathan: "The animals are sick."
Leah: "Yea, they all called in sick today"
Jonah: "The animals are sick?"
Jonah bought the sick animal excuse.

We then went up the road to a old deserted indian town (Montezuma's Castle). This place was cool! They built their home is the side of a mountain - really high. There were 20 rooms. It was really neat as you could imagine people really living there.

The Game

Jonathan's parents brought a game called "Ticket to Ride". It was made for older people but the box had pictures of trains on the outside. Jonah saw that and was sure the game was for him. The game sat on the counter for a couple days before we played it. Jonah could not stand that! He brought the game up over and over and over saying he wanted to play the train game! We finally played the game on Sunday when we had some down time. It was fun! I won once (by a ton..ha) and Jonathan won two times. Jonah sat on the side playing with the extra piecsd that were shaped like trains.

The Desert Museum. We were all a little bummed because Dad was not feeling well so he stayed home. But the rest of us went and had a great time. There were lots of cool animals at the Museum. We would go to each animal and show Jonah. Do all the ooos and aaahhs. When we came to the wolves Jonah said, "They are going to blow the house down!" We all laughed. Kayla enjoyed the museum "Kayla style"!

We loved Jonathan's parents visiting us. We were sad to see them leave. It went too fast. But we sure have lots of fun memories!

More Christmas- Baby Bird

Jonah has been into baby eggs ever since we got the movie Milo and Otis. There is a part in the movie where Milo and Otis are watching a chicken egg and the egg hatches and out comes the chick.

Funny story while Jonah and Jonathan made cookies Christmas Eve.

Jonathan got everything needed to make the cookies out. Butter, eggs, chocolate chips.....you get the picture. Jonah was immediately drawn to the eggs.
Jonah says, "Mom I found the eggs! There is the baby bird inside! It come out?!"
Jonathan replies in a matter of fact manner, "Well, It is actully and unfertilized bird fetus".
Jonah says in a very sweet and yet confused way, "Bird Fetus?"
We all laughed.

Christmas 2007

I am going to give this Blog thing a try. I am not great at writing things down so maybe this will help me document the Carlson events.

We had a good Christmas this year. We are all healthy. We are all happy.
And yet being completely honest, we are in AZ far from family. Therefore, Christmas was not the BIG DEAL that I am used to. I was feeling a little sad Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as I knew there were MANY get togethers that we were missing. Christmas Eve at my Grandparents, spend the night at Jonathan's parents, Christmas morning at Jonathan's parents, Christmas afternoon at my parents, Christmas night with my other grandparents. Jonathan thinks it is too much and prefers it not so crazy. I like it a little crazy.

This year was slow. But that is not all bad. Jonathan and I tried to create our own traditions. Here are the highlights we will try to repeat.

Christmas Eve
*Jonathan and Jonah made cookies for Santa. They were good! Good job boys!
*We watched Christmas movies. Jonah loved The Grinch.
*Made a good dinner and ate way too many sweets.
Christmas Day
*Woke up early and opened gifts. Jonathan and I both jumped out of bed because we thought Jonah was opening the presents without us. But he wasn't. Jonah came in and informed us that Santa had come. It was fun because it was the first year that Jonah really understood the idea of Santa.
*We showed Jonah that Santa ate the cookies. Santa left a few uneaten pieces behind.
*We played with Jonah's new toys and games (Candy Land, Don't Break the Ice, and the 123 Game).
*We watched a new movie we got as a present.
*Jonathan made a wonderful steak dinner. Yummy!

I look back and I realize that Christmas this year was great. We spent a lot of time together. We have memories we will cherish. And now I do not feel sad that we missed some Christmas parties. We had our own party!

Funny Story
We got a lot of Christmas cards this year. Jonah was pretending one of the cards was a skate board as he had it on the floor and was sliding one foot across the carpet. When he was done he propped it up against the side of the wall and said something along the lines of "there you go friend".
I said, "Jonah the card is your friend?"
Jonah said, "Santa is my best friend".
And then I realized that the card had a picture of Santa on it. He was skate boarding on Santa's face.