Merry Christmas to You!

Merry Christmas to all! I started a Christmas letter, but we are hitting the road soon, and I'm not ready yet! So the letter might not get sent until New Years. We love you all, anyway, and hope you have a Happy Holiday!!

We love Christmas!

Lights, nativities, and a live choir performance at the Mesa LDS Temple. Fun, fun, fun!

Live Nativity

Earlier this month, we got to go to a live outdoor Nativity again this year. It was the perfect start to our Christmas season! We breathed a sigh of relief when Jaden didn't do any shout outs to baby Jesus this year, like he did last year. We all really enjoyed the Nativity, and the kids were able to pet the animals and talk to the cast afterward. It was forty something degrees and we were freezing . We let the kids go in their jammies, because it was in the evening, and we figured that's how they would be the warmest. Daniel and I pulled out our Winter coats, something we have not done since we moved here. I think we are starting to acclimate if we are freezing at that temperature. Sad :)

We've been busy..

We're so excited for Christmas. Over the past couple of weeks we have been doing some fun things! We put the lights up with our wobbly old scary ladder (well, mom did it while dad was at work:). Our nice neighbor let us borrow her deer to put in our yard since my kids loved them so much! They make sure to go pet them everytime we are outside. Zoee tries to knock them over, but luckily, the stakes have held so far!

We also got the nativities out, got the tree up and decorated (no glass balls for us this year), and wrapped the presents. (Though we are really having a hard time keeping Zoee out of them. She has unwrapped several now, so they are patched back up with packing tape!) The kids think the tree skirt is a blanket and love rolling around on it. They also think that our three nativities need to visit each other, so they are never in the right place. Funny little monkeys! I sure am glad they are around to keep things interesting!

Next comes the baking and treat delivery to our neighbors and friends. We love this part! Merry Christmas!!

The Dentist...

Jaden had his first official dental cleaning this last week. He was such a brave boy! He opened his mouth so big and held so still! He's still talking about how "Mr. Thirsty" was cleaning his teeth (the dentist's spit sucker thing :).  Jaden and Zoee both love brushing their teeth, and the great brushing is paying off - no cavities! :) I got a picture, but it's on the phone. I'll post it when I figure out how to get it on here!

Interesting "Snuggie-like" Deal

Check out this deal HERE on a snuggie-like blanket. ONLY 5.99 with free shipping!

My Little Joys

Teach 'er Young!

I set Zo up to the table with some Cheerios the other day. I came back to find her searching the ads for some great deals!

Team Dixon

We survived our first 10K! We had an interesting time. Daniel played a faculty football game 2 days before the race and was extremely stiff and sore. But to avoid disappointing me, he lathered up with Bengay and a knee brace and toughed out the pain.  Now that's love :).

We got to the race area about 20 minutes before start time. Unfortunately, we didn't realize what a big event it was. There were 2,691 racers for the 10k alone, and then everyone else that was there for the 1 mile, 2 mile, and wheelchair races. There were so many cars that we had to park about a half mile away from the starting line and then jog there. I had been drinking water all morning and had to take a potty break before race time. Unfortunately, there were 30 people ahead of me in line and the race started before I got finished with my turn! We did have individual timing chips, though, so we still got an accurate time, luckily! We were unfamiliar with the course, which included about a mile and a half of uphill running! We are also used to running at night, so the blazing sun was not so fun for us! This is the only picture we had time to take! :)

Though there were several obstacles we hadn't expected, overall, the race was a great experience and we were happy with our finishing times! I came in 1,828th place with a time of 1:05:39. Daniel led me all the way until the last half mile. He did so well with his poor injured, sore body and came in 1,900th with a time of 1:06:27.

We were considering working on a half marathon for January, but after the way we felt following the race, we think we'll try at least one more 10k before moving on! :) Training as a family and racing as a couple has been a lot of fun for us! Jaden always talks about going running. He loves it, even though he has to stroller it until we let him and Zoee out at the end of our run. He wants to know when he gets to do a race. We may have to take the stroller on our next 10k!