Christmas Eve 2008

Here we are in front of Chris' parents tree. This is Dylan a couple of nights ago. He has been so excited he actually fell asleep with one of his presents. The other day he woke up and said, "It's time to open presents." So I said,"it's not Christmas yet" and he said "yes it is look, it's morning!"

Here is all the stuff Hayley left out for Santa. Her gingerbread house, cookies and soymilk of course, a picture for Santa and Mrs. Clause, a letter to Santa and carrots for the reindeer. Her letter said, "Dear Santa, I hope I get the dance dance revolution because I heard it is really fun. From, Hayley" She is at such a fun age to enjoy Christmas!

Katie the sister of Sadie

So since Sadie died after only two days the Humane Society let us get her sister for free. They felt bad and didn't know what happened. We tried many different names. The first was Cali which was Hayley's idea. She just didn't seem like a Cali and that was also my cat's name when I was growing up. Next we tried Holly for Christmastime, but we kept calling her Sadie on accident. So now her official name is Katie, because it is close to Sadie. She is very hyper and likes to bite with her puppy teeth. It doesn't hurt yet, hopefully we will break this bad habit before it does. She likes to chase Dylan around the house and the pottytraining is going well. This is her in her dress. I always think it is lame when people dress up their animals but this dress was at the dollar store and I thought what the heck. My kids thought it was hilarious.

She doesn't hold still long enough to get a good pic. But when she is all worn out she still likes to cuddle. My kids are having fun with her. I think she is a good addition to our family!

Christmas FHE

So I decided I'm not a very good picture taker. Usually Chris does that job. We had about 30 of our friends and family over last night for a dessert social FHE. We made gingerbread houses. And the kids glued some foam shapes and made pictures.

We had lots of yummy desserts! Notice Enoch's mouth full of candy. Here is Brekka with her cute bows. She cried when she had to go home because she wanted to stay. She just likes me too much! It was fun to spend time with friends and celebrate this special time of year.

In Memory of Sadie

We decided to adopt a puppy from the Humane Society on Tuesday. She was so cute and snuglie. But all she wanted to do was sleep all day. We thought it was because she was so young and had been spayed the day before. But this morning when we woke up she wasn't breathing and had died in her sleep. It's crazy how attached you can get to an animal in only a couple of days. It has been tramatic for our little family. All of our fun memories with Sadie will last forever.

FIRST SNOW

Chris likes to joke with me a lot and many times this year he has said that there was snow outside. So when it finally did snow this morning I didn't really believe him until he started putting on his thermals. I think I shed a little tear. I really do not like snow. For some reason Dylan loves it. I couldn't get him to come in. He even brought a snow ball in with him and threw it on the kitchen floor. I do actually think it is pretty in the trees. It feels more like Christmas time now!

Thanksgiving

We had lots of fun in Utah for Thanksgiving. Baby Bryce is getting so big. It was fun to play with him and give him lots of kisses. We hung out at my parents a lot, went to the dinosaur museum of course. We are done taking pictures of that place. This time we watched the 3D movie and Dylan was actually pretty scared. This is my uncle Andy. Him and my Aunt Jill were visiting from Washington.

This is all of us eating. Jayme looks very full. We went around the table and said what each of us is thankful for. I always have to make a joke or else I will cry like my Grandma. I really am grateful for all of our many blessings. Especially my wonderful husband!

After dinner we had a special visitor. Dylan was still scared to sit on Santa's lap. Hayley was shy of course. Overall we had a good trip and it was fun to see everyone. Chris and the guys even went fishing while the girls did their shopping! Now its time to get ready for Christmas and all the parties!