Daddy's bday

Lucky for him, Thunder's birthday fell on a Saturday this year.  The kids took advantage of the school-free time and made plans to "kidnap" Thunder and "make" him go on a clue hunt to find his presents.

The little bandits woke him up and demanded that he get out of bed and follow the clues they made all by themselves.

After several clues upstairs, he was finally led downstairs...

... to a royal spot to open presents!  We've talked forever about getting a giant beanbag, and this was finally the year that one came our home.  It is moved, jumped on and slept on constantly every day and the kids love it.  Oh, and Thunder gets to occasionally use it,too.

The kids and I also found a fun gourmet popcorn shop down in Orem.  Thunder enjoyed sampling our finds.

We made a fun cake together in the shape of a basketball, since we went to a BYU game all together as a family.  I did have a big fancy cake made and served at our company party this year.

Cake and ice cream from Arctic Circle, just Dad's style!

Here we are before the game started.  It was a great game. Happy birthday Thunder, you deserve it!

It's time...

...Christmas time, that is!  Our tree is up, the boxes are finally put away and only 8 ornaments have been smashed (we're on pace for one every two days or so).

And our dear elf, Alex, has returned.  The kids were informed that Alex would return on December 1, and Sunshine was up promptly at 5:30 AM to go find his hiding spot.  And then he woke everyone else up to tell them the happy news.  Ah, what a lovely time of day to wake up.  Alex goes to the North Pole each night, and returns each morning in a different spot.