3 FANTASTIC YEARS!!!

Yesterday was our 3 year anniversary! It's amazing that 3 years have already flown by, but we've loved every minute of it. This time last year we were thinking about how the next anniversary we would have an addition to our family. We admit this has been the best year so far because of Carter, but we know that the trend will continue and life will just keep getting better and better.

We are so blessed to have such great friends, Kelly & Wade, that for Mike's birthday gave him a free night of babysitting for a date night and a gift card to the theater. We took them up on their offer last night and we enjoyed our second real date night since Carter has been born. We started off the night with a fabulous dinner at Orchid which is Thai food. Then we headed to Jordan Commons for the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. That movie was intriguing, but it really made us miss Carter. :-) We really enjoyed celebrating our anniversary and we are so lucky to have each other for all eternity.

Happy Birthday Mikey!!!

We're a few days late posting this, but Mike turned 26 on Friday, December 26th! He started off the day with a McGriddle (his favorite) and lots of loves from his wife and little boy. Then we met some friends at the theater to watch Yes Man and afterward we headed over to the parents' house for pizza, salad, cake and ice cream. It was a super fun time with everyone. (pictures to come)

Usually we do the movie and food at night, but this time Christina had a big surprise for Mikey at night so we did the party thing earlier. Around 5:30 Christina drove Mike to an abandoned parking lot around 2100 S. Main Street in SLC. He had absolutely no idea what was in store for him, until he looked over and saw a helicopter!

Our brother-in-law is in flight school right now, so he helped hook us up with a good price for a helicopter ride over downtown Salt Lake. Mike was blown away with this surprise, and he absolutely loved every minute of it.

Watching a take off

He got to sit in front and saw everything first hand as we flew over the lights at Temple Square and up by the capitol. We were only in the air for like 10-15 minutes, but it felt like a good amount of time to look all over the valley. The day started off foggy and snowy so we wouldn't have been able to go, but it cleared up and gave us a perfect and clear view.

We mostly just took videos of the flight, which doesn't do the actual feeling of flying in a helicopter justice, but it made for an unforgettable night.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

We had such a fantastic Christmas, especially with our cute little boy, even though he didn't quite get the excitement of the day. :-) Just a warning, this post is going to be long, but it will mostly be pictures and videos. Anyway, we started off Christmas at our apartment. Carter work up around 7 so we went and got him to see what Santa brought.

What Santa brought us! :-)
So far our traditions for Christmas Day are to open our presents at our home and then go over to Mike's parents' house for more Christmas presents and food with all of his siblings. What we decided to start this year and for all the years to come is on Christmas Eve we are going to give our kids an ornament that is specifically for them. They can then put the ornament on the tree and the plan is whenever they leave the nest, they will have a good collection ornaments to start their "new" lives on their own. We hope that this will be a special experience for them, and that they will cherish the ornaments that their parents give them. With all the said, since we were busy partying on Christmas Eve we just gave Carter his ornament on Christmas morning. We choose this ornament to represent his "First Christmas".

Carter wasn't too interested in his presents, but he did love the tags on his pajamas and the tissue paper that wrapped his toy. Of course we loved watching every little thing and expression that he made. It was definitely an extra special Christmas morning at our little home with Carter. Here are some pictures of all the goods that we got for each other. By the end Carter was done with Christmas, at least until he got a nap. :-)

After our little Christmas we hurried and got ready so that we could be at the parents' at 9:30. We love opening presents with everyone there. This year we decided to draw names for Secret Santa between the siblings and spouses. Mike had Andy and Christina had Dan this year. Angela had Mike and Dan had Christina. It's always hard to find the right present for everyone, but it's totally worth the effort when their faces light up with surprise and excitement. Of course every year "Santa" goes overboard, but we love and appreciate all that they do for us. They always make Christmas an extra special day.


Carter was super cute with opening his presents. He totally loves the play book that Grandma gave him. He also was very curious about the laser light that Steve kept flashing around him. Carter kept trying to catch it with his little hand. It was priceless!



After a fun day with the Jensons we headed over to Christina's Aunt Cindy & Uncle Colin's house for a beautiful Christmas dinner. Christina's sister Jana had her husband's sister and husband in town so it was nice to see them again and catch up. A tradition at the Tope home on Christmas is the English tradition of the firecracker. You pull on the ends and then inside is a crown, a toy, and a joke. The jokes were worse than Laffy Taffy ones, but it was fun to wear the crown. Carter even got into it.

We have so many things to be grateful for this season, outside of presents. We are blessed with a beautiful family, good health, a comfortable life, and most importantly, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Happy Holidays!

Every year we look forward to going to the Jenson Christmas Eve Party. This year it was held at Aunt Elaine's house. There is always way yummy food and lots of fun and joy as we get to see the extended family. Of course this was Carter's first party, and he was a little overwhelmed at first by the onslaught of people and loud kids, but he adjusted quickly.

The younger cousins did a fantastic job with the Christmas program. Acting out the birth of Christ has been a Jenson tradition for decades. We can't wait until Carter gets to participate next year.


After the play then we have a talent show. There is some amazing musical talents in this family! It's a fun experience for everyone to watch. Elaine's youngest boy, Skylar's talent was that he is a dare devil. Skylar was given 3 options, and out of the 3 he choose the worst - sticking his head in the toilet! Here are the pictures to prove that he is no chicken. :-)


Maybe when Carter is older he'll be crazy like Skylar, but for now we decided to get Carter in on the action early. So for his talent we had him show everyone how he could walk and sit up. Needless to say, everyone loved it. :-)

Then after all the talent has been performed Santa Claus comes to visit!!! Everyone, even the adults, get to sit on Santa's lap (poor guy) and tell them what they wanted for Christmas. Christina wanted a new crock pot (which got and then returned). Mike wanted snow goggles (which he got from his parents.) And Carter wanted new pajamas (which he got of course.) Carter didn't quite know what to think about the whole experience, but he handled it well. Next time he'll know exactly what to do since he'll be a year and a half! Crazy!