December - Part II

It seems like the last week or two in December gets extra busy - lots of family, parties, food, shopping, wrapping, etc.  This year for us was no different, we seem to have packed a lot of memories into a few short days.  

On their way home from Ogden, Tim and the boys took a detour through downtown Salt Lake City to see the lights.  While passing through, they decided to have dinner at Siegfrieds - I think that may have been the plan all along.  Sadly, there were not any leftovers to bring home.  

Tim and Taylor decided to tempt the weather and try to get in one last hike to the hot pots for the year.  It snowed lightly for most of the hike, but they still had  great time.

The Sunday before Christmas is our traditional Broadbent-Hancock Christmas party.  We are always guaranteed to see each other on Labor Day and for Christmas, any other time throughout the year is a bonus.  When we were little, we used to take a picture of the cousins on the couch at Grandma Horrocks house.  This year we recreated the photo with everyone who was in town - just three cousins missing. 

Dinner was a fiesta mix, enchiladas, tamales, quesadillas, lime rice, and amazing chips and salsa. Cory was in charge of drinks and got double bonus points for bringing Mexican Coke.

After dinner everyone headed out to the garage for another round of snowman building.  

One of the best traditions from our childhood parties was a pinata - always hung in the carport of my grandma's house.  For the last several years when the party has been at our house, we have done a pinata and the kids love it.  This year the pinata was extra durable so all the kids got plenty of chances to swing.  Miraculously, no one got hit except the pinata.

 

I put everything in bags for the kids, but they still pounce, excited for the surprises.

Luke loved checking out his loot.

Plenty of silliness for the photo booth.

For the past few years Grandma and Grandpa have taken the grandkids for a Christmas adventure. This yeas Luke was so excited that he was old enough to go.  We told him about it too early and for a few days leading up to the big day, he woke up every morning asking to go to McDonalds with grandma and grandpa.  Finally, the big day arrived.  They went to McDonalds, had lunch, and played in the playland.  They then went over to the mall where they saw Santa, rode the animal movers, the carousel, and other vehicles.  We are so lucky that Grandma and Grandpa take the time and energy to play with the grandkids and make these memories.