Good Gall He's Been Here!!

We started our Christmas Eve off with a visit from Santa. I was kind of hoping Lydia would cry, I love those photos, but she was into the Jolly Man.

Christmas Eve is my most favorite day of the year. My sisters came up with their kids and we had a kid nativity and then we all bundled up and trekked outside where my dad had shoveled a path in the snow and illuminated it with luminaries. We all went out to the shed where he had set up a large nativity scene and we sang some Christmas carols.

We then had the adult program which consisted of a "service" white elephant game, poetry reading, a spiritual message from my parents, and a Christmas trivia game. After the elf knock and the kids scrambled to bed we stayed up with the Petes and my parents for a mini marriage seminar and some games and more yummy food.

Christmas morning the kids were so good to sit tight while we got everything ready. One of my most favorite traditions is when my dad goes to check to see if Santa has come, and if he has then he yells "Good Gall He's Been Here!!" And that's the signal for the kids to come running.

Emma had a great Christmas this year with a reasonably generous amount of gifts, and yet her favorite gift was the play dough in her stocking, go figure.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

Christmas Season is in full swing! I am sad that I haven't taken pictures of all of our fun activities, but here are a few that I did make an effort to capture.

My friend Holly and I took our little girls to the Nutcracker ballet. They both LOVED wearing their Christmas dresses and dancing in our aisle as well. The best part was when Emma yelled out "Go Nutcracker!" after the Nutcracker defeated the rat. She got a good laugh out of the auditorium.

Sunday we were entirely snowed in. We spent the day playing in the snow, having multiple cups of hot chocolate and listening to Christmas music. It was the first day of the season that it finally felt like Christmas!

This season we have made batch upon batch of Christmas Wreaths. Ever since I was a kid these have been my favorite Holiday treat. They're similar to rice krispies but they seem to be yummier and more festive.

My dad is the all time best dad ever! He has made a couple books now for the grandkids that star them as the characters! This is another highlight that lasts the whole year through.

I'm sad I didn't take one picture of our Sherwood Hills Christmas party. We had yummy food, great games, indoor swimming, and a midnight game of sardines throughout the hotel. I recommend it for any large family and I look forward to it next year!!

Busy Busy Busy

So we have officially moved from our first home. I took Emma for one last walk to feed the ducks and I was trying to get her to be sentimental with me but she is just too happy of a girl to be sad. I was hoping to shed a few tears for our home, I thought I at least owed it that much, but no such luck. We were busy working away while squeezing in an anniversary, birthday and Thanksgiving. So although I was sad, I felt good about leaving the house and I consider us very blessed for how fast everything happened.

Ryan finds it sad, I find it amusing, that when the girls are in an emotional situation I manage to grab the camera and snap a photo before helping them with their problem. These photos of Emma are when we were trying to make cupcakes for the neighbors and she fell off the counter pulling the bowl down with her. I would have been mad at her carelessness, but seeing it through a camera lens helped me to find the humor in the situation.

This picture of Lydia is actually sad. She was SUCH a good girl the whole time we were moving. I had left her down stairs to watch her little baby Einstein movie and when I came to check on her she had wiggled off her car seat and was laying like this. She didn't cry until she saw me, and the camera just happened to be right there.

So by this point our seven year anniversary came along. Two days later I celebrated my 29th birthday with my friend Carrie at Cheesecake Factory and the Fashion Place mall and I had a great time. Thanks for coming out with me Carrie :) Thanksgiving was fun to have two meals up at my parent's house and we spent the whole day relaxing and not packing up one thing!

So now we are in and settled at my parent's house for the time being. They have been soo helpful and welcoming and I think I am the luckiest girl I know to have my parents. I am just so thankful that they are my closest friends and confidants.

My niece and nephew came up for a slumber party and Emma LOVED playing with them. I had a fun time getting to know them better and seeing them one on one. My mom bought cookies for them to decorate and they were all in heaven.

We celebrated the closing of our house by spending the night in SLC. My sister Sara and her family joined us and we had a yummy meal at Spaghetti Factory, then saw the Temple lights and then took the kids swimming at our Marriott hotel. The kids stayed up playing in one room while we visited and played cards in another room. It was so much fun and I hope a new tradition.

As we were walking around Temple Square we just happened to bump into some of my most favorite cousins who were doing the exact same "Family Fun Night" and they were down from Idaho. They just happened to be staying at our same hotel and so they joined us afterwards for cards and visiting. Ryan and I both just love my cousins and the friendships we have with them.