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My uncle invited us to the battle to end the year: New Year’s Nerf War 2010. My uncle has access to a grocery store that recently closed down. He also owns a very large collection of nerf guns. Combine the two and you have an awesome setting for a nerf war. We were the blue team and we rocked the house! After a brutal war, we reconvened at Grandma’s house for games and food. It was our intention to only stay for an hour and get the boys home to bed but they had other plans. Both Rowan and Davin lasted until midnight, the first time for both. They thought the party was a lot of fun (and then both fell quickly asleep in the car ride home)!

One advantage of visiting my family after Christmas is that we were able to extend our gift giving by a few days, and who doesn't need a little more Christmas? We arrived late on the 28th and as soon as the boys woke up the next morning, they knew they were due a second Christmas morning. Like the real Christmas morning a few days before, they were spoiled again.

On New Year's Day we drove to Park City to show the town to my parents' Argentine friends, the Baptistas. We walked around town a little then grabbed lunch at a resort. After parting ways with our friends, we found a hill outside of Park City for the boys to sled. The scenery was pristine- clear blue skies, deep snow blanketing everything in crystal whiteness. The boys had a great time playing in the snow, though it was so deep (up to their waists in some places) that it was a little hard to maneuverer in. I have definitely grown soft a little living on the East coast and I was reminded as to how tough Utahans are. It snows an inch here and the city shuts down for three days. Park City was blistering cold; at one point we had to change Rowan's diaper and realized that our only packet of wipes were frozen. I had to hold the wipes in front of the heat vent in the car so that they weren't solid ice on poor Rowan's bum! I was also reminded as to how breathtakingly beaut...

We were honored to participate in my sister Tiffani's marriage to Johnathan Lloyd at the end of December. They were married in the Bountiful Temple and then had a family dinner and reception at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City. It was such a beautiful event and we had a great time celebrating their union. We are so excited to welcome John into our family! Bountiful Temple The night before the wedding, there was a crazy snow storm, so we were a little worried about getting to the wedding. However, nearly everyone was able to make the ceremony and it was a beautiful event. Family Dinner Tiff and John's dinner was in the Empire room at the JSMB, my favorite room in the building. They did an amazing job with decorations, menu, etc., but I really enjoyed the video they put together. It was a montage of pictures paired with them talking about the relationship and how things came to be. We took a break in between the dinner and reception to show the boys the famous...

Davin’s favorite song this season is “Stars Were Gleaming” from the Children’s Songbook and he sings it all the time, especially at bed time. “Silent Night” is a close second, followed by “Pop Goes the Weasel.” Fun times in the Rees household! We were all excited to see Christmas “brought” to our house. The boys were out of school the week leading up to Christmas and so I planned some adventures to keep them occupied, including a trip to visit friends in Winston-Salem and visit Old Salem. We also celebrated my birthday; Chris spoiled me by taking me to the new Mint Craft and Design museum and to George’s for dinner. It was a fun week but we were ready for Christmas to come. On Christmas Eve we made the traditional Rees family German dinner complete with bratwurst, red cabbage, and potato salad. We told the Christmas story through our own nativity, and then lit our German pyramid, told stories, and sang carols. The boys were excited about their costumes and had a great time being shep...

Chris and I have been a little cautious about pushing Santa on our kids. We have never taken the boys to the mall to sit on his lap (maybe it is the trauma of watching “The Christmas Story” too many times) and I don’t really emphasize the “naughty or nice” element because Davin can get anxious about things like that. Last year, Davin sat on Santa’s lap at a church party and decided it was a good thing to do; he told Santa that he wanted a bus and sure enough, he got a bus. This year he asked to visit Santa, so when we learned he was visiting a local specialty toy store, we decided that would be a good place to visit with him. Fortunately there wasn’t a line and so the boys had plenty of access to the jolly man. Rowan walked right up to Santa and sat on his lap without hesitation. He had a good conversation with him, “talking” non-stop while Santa patiently listened. Davin went next and recited a well-practiced list of things he wanted for Christmas. The boys had a great experience and ...

Davin’s school class put on a nativity production for their parents and Davin was one of the shepherds along with his friends Boden and Conner. He isn’t a huge fan of being in front of people and so he was a little shy during the actual production. However, I got to attend a private showing the next day and he did a great job! It was a fun experience for him and really helped him to understand the Christmas story better. He was so excited to be a shepherd again for our family nativity on Christmas Eve. Davin is having a great year at school. His teacher is doing a great job helping him to improve while making him part of the class, just one of the kids. He is making friends and he is learning a lot! Davin’s class was even happy to have Rowan join them for the day when we visited to watch the nativity performance.