Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Santa came and left us all sorts of goodies. The girls slept in until around 9:30 which was nice but Aniela woke up crying complaining that her ear hurt. We gave her some Tylenol and when she calmed down enough we went into see what Santa left.

Areya got a horse like she wanted but was a bit disappointed it wasn't a real one.

Aniela got a fur real puppy that walks and barks, but she was to excited about the candy that she didn't care to open any of her other presents. As you can see the sucker in her hand and the unopened gift in front of her.

Damian & I got the girls a Wii. Areya loves that thing and could play all day.

Damian got a razor and I helped the girls make him pictures of them that say what they like most about daddy.

I got a Kindle, which I love!!

After we got finished opening presents Damian had to get ready and leave for work. They girls and I hung out for a few more hours playing with all the fun gifts then we headed over to a friends house to enjoy a yummy Christmas dinner. Thank you Shylo and Carli for inviting us. It was nice spending time with you and your families.

After that we came home and spent the next few hours on Skype with my family. It was fun to be able to see them open gifts and to talk to each of them. We love and miss you guys so much!!

Christmas Eve

This year for Christmas eve we were invited to meet up with a few other families in our ward who moved from other states and were not able to go home for the holidays. We enjoyed a really yummy dinner and then had gift exchange.

For the kids we did a book exchange and for the adults we did white elephant. Here is Aniela opening her book.

Areya with her best friend Maggie, who is moving back to Utah and which Areya will miss so so so so so much!

Next came the white elephant exchange. I have to say that I love doing white elephant gift exchanges they are so much fun. Here are a few pictures of the spoils. Keli got this lovely bird cage complete with 2 turtle doves and a bag of chocolate, which later she got taken from her and she ended up with condoms. Lucky girl.

Tina got a new toilet seat. Which she we fortunate enough to hold on to the rest of the game.

Other fun and exciting gifts were a pregnancy test, (who went to a 14 yr old) a bottle of beer, a basket ball case to carry your MP3 player in, fake mustaches on sticks and a Spice Girls CD which I was luck enough to bring home.

We had a great time, Thanks Tina for inviting us and getting the whole thing set up. You're amazing!!!

I do have a bit of sad news to report about that night. I LOST my wedding ring some where. I am one of those strange few who, during pregnancy, loose weight and it slipped right off my finger. The bad part about the whole thing is that I have no clue where it fell off at. I put it on just before I left the house to go but the car battery was dead so I had to get out the battery charger/ jump starter and get the car going. (Damian had to work so I had to do this all on my own, maybe next time I will pay more attention when he does some thing so I will have a small clue of what to do) Next we made it to the church where it could have fallen off at anytime. I am thinking it might have happened when I was helping clean up and went into the trash. Then we headed home and I di

d some laundry, that is when I noticed it was mi

ssing. I searched the whole house several time but haven't had any luck finding it. I also called the bishop to see if everyone could keep an eye o

ut for it. I can't believe I lost it!

I almost forgot but the girls got to open their one Christmas eve gift which is always jammies. Here they are in their new jammies from Grandma Great. Thanks grandma Great they love them!!

The big freeze, snow storm and sledding

We had an storm that brought freezing rain several days before Christmas. If you look close to the first picture you can see that the tree is completely covered in ice. Damian said that he had to kick a layer of ice off his car just to get into it after work. Crazy weather!

The next few days rained and rained and rained then the day after Christmas it snowed. We got about a foot. It was crazy!!!
We also went sledding with some friends and then had them over for hot chocolate. It was so much fun and they finally got to meet Damian. (Not many people from my ward have met him yet and so I finally got a witness that he does exist) Sorry there aren't any pictures of sledding, I took my camera but ended up forgetting in the car. Oh well. Thanks Keli and family for inviting us to go alone with you, we had a blast.

Sure do love those Christmas cookies!

One of our Christmas traditions is to make Christmas cookies to share and enjoy. The girls had tons of fun decorating them and did a fabulous job. They were super yummy!!!

Baby update (18 weeks)

18 weeks and counting!!

I went to the doctor on Monday and they said that everything looked good. They checked the baby's heart beat which was 155 bpm. My next visit will be in 3 weeks and will be the visit I get my ultrasound, so if I am going to find out what were having then that would be the visit to do it at. I am still up in the air about finding out the sex but Damian and the girls really, really want to know. He is planing to go with me to the doctors appointment and if I decide not to find out then he will have me leave the room while he does. I guess he does not like surprises as much as I do.

I'll let you know what happens in 3 weeks.

Wow Grandma Great!

My Grandma made the girls the most beautiful princess dresses. The are so pretty and the girls love to spin and dance when ever the have them on. She is really an amazing seamstress and make some of the cutes outfits for my girls. We love getting outfits from Grandma Great.

Of course the girls wanted their pictures taken in the dresses so we did a little photo shot in front of the fire place. I didn't take the time to do their hair so just ignore the mess, just focus on the dresses.

I had the hardest time getting them to smile but they do look really pretty.

Again ignore the crazy hair!

Thank you, thank you, thank you Grandma Great for the adorable dresses and all the hard work that went into making them. The girls love them so much!!!

Christmas dresses

Every year since Aniela was born we have got the girls matching Christmas dresses. They love to match and love all the attention they get from it. Sad new though, this will probably be the last year we get to do this because Areya has graduated to the little girls section and so it will be really hard to find ones that match next year.

Here they are sitting in front of the Christmas tree.

Areya

Aniela

Christmas 2009

Gingerbread house

One of the things we like to do this time of year is make a gingerbread house. The girls have so much fun and enjoy picking it a part for weeks after.

See how proud they are of all their hard work.

Areya working hard.

Aniela trying to get the icing out.

Th girls enjoying a job well done by eating the cookies they decorated

.

Sewing project

My mom got me a sewing machine a few years ago and I am attempting to sew. I'm not very good and need all the practice I can get so I made bean bags for the girls. I think they turned out pretty well. I still have a hard time sewing a straight line but I guess that comes with practice. Here are the girls trying out their new bean bags. They are having a great time with them and did a great job helping me fill them with beans.

Now to decide what project to attempt next. Any ideas?

Bowling with the Clayton's

The Clayton's (a family in our ward) invited us to go bowling with them. The have 3 girls the youngest two are the same ages as my girls. Areya and Maggie are best friends and always have a great time together. What a good big sister Areya is to Aniela. She is so willing to help her when needed. ( or in this case bowl for her)At any rate the girls had a great time. Thanks Keli for the invite, we should do it again some time.

Thanksgiving 2009

Damian had to work again this Thanksgiving so we had our family Thanksgiving early. Here they are enjoying all the yummy food. It was really nice to spend time together as a family. I love them so much and am extremely grateful to have each of them in my life.

Here is the food that we made for the special day.

On Thursday we were invited over to a friends house. It was nice to have someone to share Thanksgiving with. Thanks Keli and Sean for having us over, we had a great time!