Christmas Eve

This year I spend Christmas with Emily's family and Dad and Mom in Carson City. Emily and Russ went all out to make the holiday fabulous. My favorite part of the holidays are spending time with family and traditions. For Christmas Eve we had appetizers including a fancy fondue.

Emily making Spritz Cookies for Santa and the chocolate fondue. Parker loves helping Emily in the kitchen. What a cute Mom!
After dinner Parker and Hannah opened one gift...PJ's. They were so cute and excited to open a present. They loved their PJ's. Parker also got some new car slippers that he wore faithfully!
After the kids got all snugly in their PJs we went and looked at Christmas lights. We found some pretty fancy lights. At one house in was a Christmas Extravaganza, you pulled up and tuned into a certain radio station which corresponded with a spectacular light show and movie presentation.
Russ read the Christmas story from the Bible and then the kids put cookies out for Santa!
Hannah has quite a sweet tooth, it was hilarious because Parker was serious about Santa getting his cookies and Hannah snagged one as soon as Parker walked away. A girl after my own heart :)

After the kids went to bed we had a yummy chocolate fondue.

White Christmas

We woke up to a White Christmas! It was so beautiful. It was so much fun to see Parker and Hannah's excitement on Christmas morning to see what Santa had brought them. This picture of Hannah by the Christmas tree is one of my favorite pictures...she is adorable.

Oh I forgot to mention that we woke up to Emily's homemade cinnamon rolls, which were delish!

Emily was very sweet and not only did stockings for her family but also for Dad, Mom, and I. Thanks Em!!!! One of my favorite parts of Christmas morning when I was younger was opening the presents out of my stocking.
After stockings we opened presents. It was so much fun to see the kids so excited with each gift that they opened. The adults had fun opening presents also!

Dad sang "Oh Holy Night!" I got teary as usual!!!

It was so relaxing to hear Emily play Christmas songs!

It was a very Merry Christmas.

Snow Day

The day after Christmas we got up and built a snowman. Parker had fun playing in the snow and eating a little also. The finished product (Mom was a little nervous about being out in the snow but adjusted fast)!

Hannah making friends with the snowman!

Lucy hanging out in the snow!
Mom and Parker sure had fun with the dogs. Lily and Lucy kinda got along and had fun chasing each other. We took a walk in the snow. I thought Parker was adorable walking Lily!

Christmas Weekend

What a cute couple Em and Russ are!

We had so much fun playing games. We played two nights in a row. It was fun to see Mom and Dad's "game personalities" they were hilarious. We all laughed and had a good time. A few times we laughed so hard a few of us almost wet our pants.

We were eating breakfast one morning and after Hannah was pretty much done with her cereal, she pulled this maneuver. She is so little and it totally cracked me up. It is just her normal routine, she eats her cereal and then drinks her milk. She is an expert at it.

How cute is she???? Emily dressed her so cute and did her hair in a fancy different style every day. She is quite the fashion baby! Hannah is very cuddly, which I loved. Mom had the magic touch, and rocked her to sleep at night.

Parker is soooooo good, sweet and snugly. I gave him so many hugs. He loves playing with his trains.

It was really hard to say goodbye. I wanted to pack Hannah and Parker in my suitcase and take them home with me!

What a cute Mom and Dad!

Emily and Russ' tree was so pretty. I couldn't believe how big it was. It was so festive at their house. I had so much fun with everyone. Thanks Emily and Russ for such a fun Christmas!

Holidays

I was planning to do something festive to celebrate the holiday with Steve and Jaime's family before I left for Emily's house. Unfortunately they all got sick, I felt so bad for them. It stinks to be sick any time but especially around the holidays. I was glad that I at least got to drop by and say Merry Christmas and give the kids their presents. Gracie, Ethan, and Elsa are so sweet, I love each of their individual personalities. Jaime decorated the house so cute for the holidays. We decided to plan something fun after Christmas....I can't wait. I miss you Gracie, Ethan, and Elsa!Adorable!!!!!!

I am Thankfull...

Dad teaching Steve how to carve the turkey!

Mom and Jaime cooked all morning and made a delicious Thanksgiving meal. I am thankful for my family!

Sweet Gracie enjoying Thanksgiving dinner!

It was so nice to spend time together as a family. It was especially fun having my Mom and Dad visit from California. The only thing missing was Alli, Becky, and Em and their families. I feel so blessed to be a part of such a close, supportive, and loving family.

Ashton's 1st Birthday

Melissa had a birthday for Ashton to celebrate is 1st Birthday! Ashton is such a good baby. He just chills out and takes everything in. Melissa is a fabulous mom and is so cute with Ashton. The party was a lot of fun. Melissa made homemade soup and served it in bread bowls. My favorite was the potato soup.

Singing "Happy Birthday to Ashton!"How cute is Ashton??? Adorable and messy!Mark was such a good dad helping Ashton open all of his presents. Ashton was so cute during the whole party. I just love that little guy and I can't believe he is one!

Utah vrs BYU

Steve and Jaime went to the big game. Since the rest of us are also Utah fans, we had our own party. Ethan reminds me sooo much of Steve, he knows the plays and was totally into the game. The kids were so adorable and we had so much fun together.

Ethan with his game face on!

Cheering for the Utes!!!!!!Yeah Utah won!!! Look for Steve and Jaime, they are out there on the field! The final score was Utah 48 BYU 24!

Digital Scrapbooking

I mentioned digital scrapbooking in one of my last entries. Becky was a little disappointed that I didn't post my pages. Here is the thing...I'm still learning so I'm not confident about my pages yet. But here are my first 3 pages.

Happy Birthday Becky!!

I went to Houston to celebrate Becky's birthday. To celebrate we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. What is a birthday without a big piece of chocolate cake? After dinner we went to the movie Madagascar 2

What a cute family!
Cater, Becky, Ed, and Callie Cat

Not only is Becky adorable, stylish, compassionate, sassy, fun, creative, an incredible mom and wife but she is also a fabulous sister and friend. Thank you for all the memories..."It's only a silly old rock", laughing until we wet our pants, Sister's Trips, scrapbooking, long chats, the hunt for the best chocolate cake, and the list goes on and on. I'm glad I got to spend your birthday with you and look forward to many more memories over the years!
I LOVE YOU!

Madonna Concert

One of the things Becky wanted to do for her birthday weekend was go to a Madonna Concert. When she called me and asked me if I wanted to come up for her birthday, I had a plane ticket booked right away!

I have been a Madonna fan since her debut in the 80's. I have ALWAYS wanted to see her live. I was beyond excited to see her in concert, especially with Becky. We went to the concert with Becky's friends Beth and Mel. They are awesome and made my Madonna experience even that more perfect!

I know I am a dork but I was so excited to see her, I got a little teary before she even came out.

Mel, Me, Becky, and Beth!
Beth waited an hour 1/2 in line to get me a Madonna sweatshirt so I wouldn't miss Madonna's grand entrance. How nice is that????Madonna was incredible. We all joked that she was like a Mexican Jumping Bean. She had nonstop energy, was in better shape than a 20 year old, and has a voice that is timeless. My Madonna experience was one I will always remember.