December Fun...Including a Zoo Safari Trip with VanHorns

The second weekend of December Brandon Dodgen got married to the lovely Julie! Matt went to their wedding in VERY frigid Bemidji, Minnesota, while the boys and I held down the fort here. For some reason, Friday night felt really tough.   Matt flew out Friday morning from Denver with Cactus & Nicole.  And he joined up with Clayton in Minneapolis.  I am so thankful for quality friends like Clayton in my husband's life.

Thankfully, Ashley joined us Saturday night for dinner and a drive thru light show! Here they boys are in the car driving through all of the pretty lights and attractions at Nazarene church in town. Jen told me about it!




Ashley brought Christmas gifts for all of us!  Josh loves his "puppy", and Nathan was thrilled about getting play dough and bath crayons!  I liked my earrings too :)  


Sunday was a great day too because Nathan had his new "toys" to play with and we knew daddy would be home that evening!




And thankfully, that Sunday was pretty nice out too!


Josh had just started taking steps about a week before this.  Matt couldn't believe how much better he was walking from when he left Friday morning, to Sunday night!  Now it's tough for me to get a picture of them together :)


I figured Matt would love this video of the boys in their Eagles jerseys being "dancing princesses". HA HA!!!

Bath crayon time!


These crayons are actually quite awesome.





All freshly bathed for Daddy...and Aunt Cole and Uncle Cactus :)

That Tuesday (after Daddy came home) was nice too!  Great to get some outdoor playtime during the winter!












Still a little tipsy!  ha ha! :)


On Wednesday we went to the Zoo with the VanHorns for their Safari.  It's cool all lit up with lights!  The giraffes are indoors.  Too cold outside!


Josh was not entirely sure about this :)




Landin had NO fear!! :)






The elephant barn!  The other day when Nathan went potty, I heard him say, "it smells like an elephant barn!"  ha ha.












These two (Kyle & Jen) are naturals.  They will have no problem with THREE!  Did I mention Jen is pregnant???  Due early July! If you think of it, please pray for her.  Pregnancies are not kind to her. 


Jamin and Nathan wanted to ride the carousel.  Nathan's first time on one.  He loved it!  (Thought he looks scared here!)

Love how much these boys adore each other.  They are going to be great men.  They both have awesome daddies.
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I think they were looking at a porcupine?


It's Saturday!  Kisses for mommy.  Weekends are the best :)


Making a "winter scene" craft.


Ta-da! 




Their new thing.  Wrestling!  I think this was the first time I saw them do it.   A month later (January) I see it quite a bit :)






Watching something with daddy.

This was the Saturday before Christmas, and I think we went to Jim & Karla's that night for some delicious enchiladas!  I snagged that recipe and it was what we had for our own Christmas dinner :)

Well that was a good start at catching up, right? Gotta go get my kiddos out of bed (from their naps). I think we need to run get shredded cheese from the grocery store for the chicken tacos in the crock pot! Next post up is Christmas Eve, I think!