We had a wonderful Christmas. This was the first year we have stayed home and not gone to Utah. It was fun to do our own Christmas Eve and let the boys wake up and have a quiet Christmas Day.

Christmas Eve I made a ham and potaotes dinner. After dinner they boys opened the gifts they had bought each other. It was great to see how excited they were to exchange gifts. I wanted to go drive around and look at Christmas lights, but there was a HUGE snow storm. We stayed home for 3 days while it snowed. We were grateful for a wonderful neighbor who kept our drvieway cleared with his snowblower.

Christmas morning we were up at about 7:00 am to open presents. Andrew came in our room at 1:00 am to see if we could get up, but to his dismay, we sent him back to bed. Then at 1:30 a.m. he came back in our room to tell us that he had tried to go to sleep, but couldn't. Once again he was sent to bed. Jacob woke him up when he got up.

(Looking at this picture, I can't believe how big my boys are getting. When did Danny change from a baby to a little boys. SAD MOM!)
This past summer while we were in Utah, my Dad took the grandsons to the golf course. After that Jacob wanted REAL golf clubs. Then in the fall Doug bought new club's, so Jacob decided he wanted clubs "like Dad's" for Christmas. I gave Jacob a magazine with lots of toys in it and told him to circle the things he wanted Santa to bring him. He handed back the magazine and said he only wanted golf clubs like Dad's. Santa was kind to Jacob and Andrew and brought both of them clubs. I must admit they are SO cute. They each have a bag and 3 clubs. Too bad there is over a foot of snow on the ground.
The boys also got nerf guns, light sabers and new p.j. (as you can see Andrew could use some), and the family got a Wii. The day after Christmas our new neighbors invited us over to their house to go sledding in their backyard and then have hot chocolate and taco soup. We are so excited to have another LDS family move out by us. That makes 4 families that live in the town we live in. What a blessing!
I didn't think Danny would really like the snow, but he loved it! He had a hard time moving in all his clothes, but had lots of fun. Look at that happy face!

This isn't the best movie, but that is Danny going down the hill.



When I uploaded my pictures I found this one. What cute boys!

Merry Christmas to all. I will post pictures of the day another time when I'm not so tired. Here is our Christmas card for those who have not seen it. http://hobbsholidaycard.blogspot.com/

Funny Conversations

My little sister, Karen, called me the other day to tell me about her daughter, Loralee, who had put a kernel of corn up her nose. That night Doug and I were laughing that Karen should just get her to sneeze and it would come out. The next day I called my Mom and was making a joke about the corn and told her that Karen needed to get Loralee to sneeze. My mom thought that was a good idea and called Karen to tell her to put pepper up her nose so the corn would come out. Karen did this and it really worked.

I was telling my boys about all that had happened and Andrew asked if the corn had gone so far up her nose to where the thing is that bites your finger. I asked him what he was talking about and he said if you put your finger up your nose too far, there is something up there that will bite your finger. I laughed and told him that there isn't anything up in your nose that will bite your finger. I guess when Andrew was little and picked his nose, Doug told him not to put his finger up too far or it would get bitten. Andrew never forgot this...Funny little boy!

n n n n

The other day we were all riding in the van and Doug and I were talking about Christmas. Doug asked me what Andrew wanted for Christmas. I said I wasn't really sure what he wanted. Doug asked Andrew what was the ONE thing he really wanted for Christmas. Andrew thought for a moment and then said, " Dad, I want a Nerf gun or an easy bake oven. " The look on Doug's face was priceless. I wish I would have had a camera to take a picture. Doug was shocked that his son wanted an easy bake oven. I was laughing so hard I started to cry. Andrew could tell his answer wasn't what we expected, so he asked what was so funny. Doug said, "you don't really want an easy bake oven." Andrew told us that he wanted to be able to make cookies whenever he wanted. Doug let Andrew know that he wouldn't be getting an easy bake for Christmas. I tried to convince Doug that it would be great to have a chief in the family, but he didn't agree.

Today I was looking at pictures and realized I had never posted about the fun time we had with Doug's sister Kristin and her husband Bryan and daughter Tasha. They came to visit us in September for a week. Bryan served his mission here in Minnesota, so it was fun to take him around to the places he served. We drove up to Duluth and spent a night there. This is a picture of Lake Superior. It was VERY windy and cold while we where there...I guess we do live in Minnesota.

We were very lucky to see this ship go under this bridge. The bridge is really cool because the bottom part goes up and down. It obvously is down for cars to drive over and then when a ship goes through the road goes up. There were only 2 ships leaving that day, so we were excited that we got to see it.

Cute cousins!

After this, the kids were ready to go swim at the pool in the hotel. We were surprised that even Danny loved to swim in the pool.
The hotel we stayed in was round. The top part of the hotel is a restaurant that spins around in a circle. I think we timed it perfect. We were able to see the city as the sun was going down and then when it was dark with all the lights. While we ate, we made a complete circle.

The next day we went to Gooseberry State Park to see the falls. I love to be along the North Shore, even if it did rain on us. It is the most beautiful place!
Andrew and Tasha had fun playing and hiking together. It always makes me so happy when we get together with family and the kids get along.
We also hike the cascades along the Baptism River. They are always so amazing to see the water rush down the rocks.

On our way back to Duluth, we saw two guys SURFING on Lake Supier. Doug wasn't able to get a picture of them actually surfing, but they did. It was super windy that day so the waves were big enough to serf on. I guess you find lots of things to do when you live in such a cold place.

We had to take a trip to The Mall of America. Tasha and Jacob had a great time at the amuzement park inside. Danny loved to be able to walk around and watch them on the rides. We also went to the Underwater Adventure in the Mall. It has been a while since we have done that, so Jacob loved seeing the sharks so close up.