Tis the Season

The holiday season is in full swing in the Bradley house and we are keeping both our UPS driver and Target cashier very busy! The kids also seem to have extra things going on at school adding to the already crazy month. Here are a few things that we have managed to get in during the first two weeks of the month:

Decorating

The kids were super excited to get the Christmas decorations up this  year. Abby seems to really enjoy them and I have to play clean up a couple time a day to put back together the Fisher Price Nativity and put a few decorations back on the tree. It is fun though and the kids had a great time doing all the decorating. 

Christkindlmart

Laine was asked to participate in this festival this year. It is a German Festival and we had fun walking around and seeing all the fun crafts and booths, hearing the accordion music, and sampling some of the treats.  The boys had fun finding answers to the scavenger hunt and we had a great night learning about another culture. 

It was really cold that day so we all bundled up. 

Laine as a snow angel

Eve with Krampus

Bradley family party

Christian's extended family gets together every year to celebrate Christmas together. This year we celebrated at the Classic Fun Center. We spent the morning with our family enjoying good food, good company and some roller skating. 

Matt and Christian helping each other skate. 

Cousin time!

Zoo Lights!

We love attending Zoo Lights each year. It was another very cold evening but having learned our lesson from a couple days earlier we bundled up even more. The zoo was just about empty and we had a fun time walking around and seeing the light displays and even getting to sere a few of the animals. 

The line for Santa was non-existent so we jumped in.
Matt was pretty happy about that. 

The light tunnel. I think my kids could spend
the entire time we are at the zoo on this bit. 

Ward Christmas Party

I tried having Abby sit with Santa when we went to the zoo and she freaked out. I was surprised because Santa is one of the words that she knows and she is quick to point him out on TV, in books, or in pictures. We tried again and the picture above was the result. She was traumatized and clung to me for about 15 mins after, she did however like the stick candy he gave her. 

Regular tasks

Okay I just included this picture because I thought it was cute.

Hope your holiday is fabulous! 

Grinning Ghosts Come Out to Socialize

Our family loves Halloween, costumes are picked out months in advance (Matt has planned his next two years worth of costumes) and Christian has even started planning some new yard decorations for next year. We love the fall weather and the traditions that come with the holiday..both old and new. 

This year we started our Halloween kick off with a new tradition- Boo Lights! 

We have gone to Zoo Lights at Christmas time for several years now so this was a fun change to do something to celebrate Halloween with our family and several thousand of our closest friends. We even lucked out and had a very pleasant night weather wise.

One of our favorite traditions is the Bradley Family Scary food party. It is fun to get together in costumes and enjoy Blood Soup, Witches Fingers, and several other spooky food.

The next week we went to the Bellamy Family Scary food party. This time we dined on monster loaf and mummy dogs. 

The best activity of the month (at least in the kids' opinion) is our neighborhood Trunk or Treat. This year they added a chili cook off to the party! The kids loved going to all the cars, some of them even got visited three times! 

We added a pumpkin patch into the traditions this year. The kids had fun catapulting apples and picking out the best pumpkins they could find.

On Halloween I we went to two Halloween Parades, I was just grateful they were at two different times!  James was a sneaky ninja and sneaked right past me. 

We saved our pumpkin carving for Halloween afternoon, not sure we are going to do that again it was a crazy. 

Then it was off for a fun night of Trick or Treating! 

So that was our Halloween, oh and if you are in need of any chocolate please let us know, we have an abundance. 

Eve is 12

Our sweet and caring Eve has now turned 12! I can't believe it. She is such a sweet and caring young woman who looks out for others and is so loving. Abby and Matt adore her and she makes up games to play with them. She is a fabulous artist and enjoys learning new crafts, this year she has picked up knitting and has knit us several dish cloths and is not working on an afghan. She also still has a crazy love for washi tape and has decorated her room to demonstrate her love. 

Eve decided to have a board game birthday party this year and since the best board games only allow for 4 people we had a pretty small party. They had fun though with pizza, pudding cups, marshmallows, cucumbers, and cupcakes...all Eve's favorites. 

The girls had a fun night, lots of giggling and lots of fun. It was a fun night. 

Eve decided to skip the cake this year and chose instead a homemade French Silk pie. We were still able to get 12 candles on there so that was fine with us! 

On our recent trip to St. George, Eve started learning how to play the ukulele, she loved it so much she asked for one for her birthday. It is fun to hear the strumming come from her room as she learns more. She is just a talented girl. 

We love you Evie! Thanks for being such a wonderful girl. 

Fall Break 2016: The St. George Edition

Fall Break, you blessed four day weekend when the state of Utah either flees to Yellowstone, Disneyland, or (as we found out this weekend) St. George. We haven't ever done a Fall Break trip but Christian's family had planned a trip to St. George and we were happy to tag along. 

I took this picture while driving on I-15 between Beaver and Cedar City. I wish
it had been able to capture the true beauty of that sunset. 

Thursday morning we headed to Zions National Park with Christian's dad. I hadn't been to Zions since I was about three so I don't count that as ever being there. I was excited to go as this was the last of the five National Parks in Utah that I hadn't been too. We got up early as the park is usually pretty busy and evening arriving just before nine we still had to wait in line but we did find a parking spot inside the park so that was good. 

Ready to set out on our adventure.

 Because James is in the 4th grade right now we get access to a great program set up by the Federal Government. Basically James gets in to all the National Lands free until August and as long as he is with us we get in free too, Thanks Obama!!!


Our first hike was the lovely Riverside hike leading to the Narrows. It was beautiful, paved, and chilly! The kids had fun though and enjoyed exploring all the fun and interesting bits of nature they could see.

The girls were really the only ones who would stop to take a picture for me. 

I am not one for selfies but the girls told me I had to prove I was on the trip too.
Here you go, photographic proof that I visited Zions.

They all decided that they would take a picture for me. 

 The kids had fun playing around at the entrance to the narrows. James even decided that he wants to hike it one day.

Abby was a trooper being hauled around in either the carrier or on Dad's shoulders. She was very happy to get out though and move around when we stopped. 

Laine decided that she wanted to hike to the lower Emerald pool by then it was warmer and we had fun, even if we were super tired. Everyone enjoyed the snack break.

We stopped by the museum on the way back to the car. The kids had fun exploring and finding out some interesting facts about Zions. Plus Christian and Abby snapped this picture.

We also went up to Checkerboard Mesa, it was fun to see all the different colors and we even got to see a heard of Mountain Sheep

On Friday we had a busy day that included a visit to a park, the Sand dunes, a movie, and swimming. 

Matt having fun at the Sand Dunes

On Saturday we went hiking at Dixie Rock. Matt was trying to be very brave and hike with Laine, Laine was a fabulous big sister helping him up and down some of the rock formations.

The kids enjoyed finding rock caves they could explore. 

We even found a Matt sized one

They were also great because they provided some shade

Abby tried riding on my back for this one. It was odd not being able to see her
but she was a trooper. 

We did some swimming that afternoon. It was a great way to cool off and have fun. Abby is a mermaid, she loves the water and Matt worked hard to get some swimming lessons from Dad, he then was happy to relax in the hot tub.