Christmas 2014

We love Christmas at this house, but we were a bit late setting it up because Mr. Mitchell took a trip to Oregon and I stayed in Boise with my parents. We didn't want to get our Christmas tree and then have it die during the week we were gone.

The beginning of December was mild. Mild enough that we decided to rake up Grandma and Grandpa's copious leaves. Sprout was the king of finding doggie mines out in the mess.

I cannot get this child to leave his pants on.

One evening we went to a live nativity put on by LDS youth members. It was a very blustery night, but it was pleasant. Sprout LOVED playing with the goats.

And this picture is just because I thought it was funny that he fell asleep with a whisk.

Mr. Mitchell came back to us and we went back home and got ready for Christmas. We wrapped presents and finished decorating and got our tree.

Sprout got to open a present early on Christmas Sunday so that he could wear his fancy duds from his Dad and Grammy.

It was finally Christmas Eve and we went to look at Christmas lights with delicious hot chocolate. We came home and opened Sprout's Christmas Eve present and then watched White Christmas. I think our movie choice blessed the Pocatello area as it finally started to snow right before we went to bed. We woke up to a wonderful white Christmas.

Christmas morning he slept until 8am (which is a normal wake-up time for him), and I wondered how many more years we'll be that lucky. I imagine in a year or two more we'll be woken up at 5am. Santa brought Sprout a shopping cart, and he got spoiled by grandparents and aunts and uncles.

And then I attempted to take this picture so there could be at least one picture of  Mr. Mitchell and myself together. A flattering angle indeed.

The Christmas excitement wore our boy out. He hardly takes naps anymore, but he took a nap this day and had some downtime with Dad.

This last little treasure was the day after Christmas. He LOVED playing in the snow while it lasted. I had to include this video because of how hysterically Sprout laughed as he watched himself in it. Seriously. I should have taken a video of Sprout watching the video. 

Swore Farms Pumpkin Patch

I have probably said this a number of times on this blog already, but I love going to pumpkin patches, and it's not fall without one. We have one here in Pocatello/Chubbuck that fits the bill quite well. They take you on a wagon out to the patch where you can cut your pumpkin straight off of the vine, they have a great little play area for kids with tons of activities, and they have a pretty legitimate corn maze. We went there last year with Grammy and Grandpa Earls and had a blast, so I decided it would be great for this year, too.

We weren't able to go over the weekend as planned because my main man and my little man both came down with the flu, but Mr. Mitchell had work off on Monday (Columbus Day) so we could go then. It was dead. There was a preschool group taking off as we arrived, and that was it. We got the entire wagon to ourselves as we went to the pumpkin patch, and the farmer even let Sprout take the wheel of the tractor after the drive. It was a dream come true for the kid.

In the play area Sprout loved playing in the little house. Mom and Dad preferred the live version of Angry Birds.

Sprout was slightly obsessed with the tractor, and I was very glad that they took us out to the pumpkin patch with it even though we were the only ones there. 

"For some must push...

and some must pull."

He acted as though we cut off his foot when we got him down.

I couldn't resist the photo-op of my little pumpkin sitting with other pumpkins.

We wrapped up with the corn maze. It's pretty lengthy, but you can't really get lost since they use trivia to guide you throughout the maze. If you choose a wrong answer your path will dead-end. I would say it's foolproof, but I've seen some pretty big fools. It's fun, though.

I compiled all of the little videos into one found below. It's my first time trying to do anything edit-y with movies, so be kind.



I had a great time. I think Sprout had a great time. And Mr. Mitchell pretty much indulges me on most of my whims, but I'll go ahead and say he had a great time.