12 days of Christmas

We've been having a "Secret Pixie" delivering fun treats and gifts to us for the 12 days of Christmas! It has been so fun for us all to open our door and find a little treat there waiting for us. We do not know who it is, we were hoping they would reveal themselves on the 12th day but they have already left the gift today. (They are SERIOUSLY sneaky, dropping off the items in the middle of the night, even in the snow!) So, if it happens to be any of the few people who might see this blog, or if someone who sees this blog and knows who it is and could pass it along, we want to send out a huge THANK YOU - for thinking of us and making us feel so special! We loved each little gift and while the treats are not helping me lose baby weight, they are delicious! We love your creativity and thoughtfulness! We hope you have a very Merry Christmas!

Snow, sleep, and stuff

It seems that a lot of things have happened in the last week, so this is a post about it all!

It has been so fun getting ready for Christmas. My favorite things this year have been 1) having Thomas. He makes it so that I have to slow down a bit and not worry about doing every little thing that goes through my head. He is growing fast and he is doing great! (more on that later). And 2) I am loving how Travis and Makenna are understanding the story of Christ's birth more this year. We acted out the story during a FHE early in the month and they asked questions and they will play and act it out themselves. We also have a Little People nativity set that they can play with to their hearts content and they love to play with it. (I also love that we put it away until next Christmas so that they will still love it then!)





What kind of blogger would I be if I didn't write about the SNOW?!? It was fun, for sure! The day it came down, the kids and I pulled out our cold weather bucket and bundled up to go out in it as it was coming down. We built our little snowman that we thought for sure would get us on the 6:00 news, but whatever. Makenna stuck out her tongue to catch snowflakes and said "mmm, tastes like sugar." (She couldn't truly be our kid unless she quoted movies!) Then later when Derek got home the kids went out in it again. I guess the frost bitten fingers were still numb, so why not? I love our Holiday house all covered in snow!

The kids having hot chocolate after round 1 of playing!

Our little man of snow! The thing I can't believe is we still actually have snow- a little in the front yard and some in the back- in the areas that don't get lots of sun. It was very fun to get the snow but I am so grateful that we had it and now it's gone. I remember shoveling a long driveway and sidewalks of our home in Salt Lake when we were trying to sell it. It snowed every night it seemed like and I had to shovel every morning. I got tired of that real quick!

Another crazy little thing that happened a few days ago - we had this little visitor IN THE HOUSE! Makenna went to her room and let out a shriek saying there was a lizard on her bed. Derek and I thought she was just messing around, that it was a toy or something. But sure enough, when Derek went back there to see, it was a real lizard on top of her comforter. GROSS! It took a minute for Derek to catch him but here he is in the cup he was caught in. We let him back out into the back yard to eat other bugs for us! (this was before the snow- we probably sent him back out to his frozen death!) There has been no shortage of critters in the house lately. About 2 weeks after Thomas was born, we had a scorpion right in the middle of our family room. It was on the wood floor so he met his maker before any photos were snapped.

And for the best news of all, it has been 3 nights in a row that Thomas has slept from 11:30 pm to 6:30 am. (knock on wood) and he is in bed right now as well! That is a full night of rest for me! I love it when my babies start getting into their little routines and sleeping in their beds all night. It is great!

Good night cutie pie!

Disco Allen's

So, in the video post below, I have to give all the credit to Collette! We totally copied her! The video of her family had my kids laughing so hard, so we had to do our own and share it on our blog, too! We love Thomas' face dancing!

Disco Christmas

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Thanksgiving Day

Since we just had the baby, we stayed home this year for Thanksgiving and let the family come to us! It was so great to have my mom and my brother Steve and his wife Ashley here for the week. Travis and Makenna made good use of an aunt and uncle who are super fun playmates and my mom made an awesome Thanksgiving meal. I am grateful to them for putting up with me as a very sleep deprived cranky lady. I thought it was a great Thanksgiving and I hope they did too. Then on Saturday, my other brother John and his family came down to be here for the blessing that weekend. It was so great to see them, even if it was for just a short time. They all have to travel so far to come here, so I know it is a great sacrifice on their part. We love all of our family so much and love it when we can get together!



The whole family- starving but trying to smile!

Thomas' first Thanksgiving!

The line up- carving the turkey and getting the fixin's!

Thomas' Blessing

Last Sunday we had Thomas blessed in our Sacrament meeting. We did it on this Thanksgiving weekend as many of our family were in town or nearby so they could be here with us for this special day. It was a really great day! Derek gave Thomas a wonderful blessing and it was so great to have my two brothers (John and Steve), Derek's dad (Gylan), Derek's brother in law (Kirk), my cousin (Reed), and our good friend (Roger) stand in the circle to be a part of that blessing. It is very powerful to see these worthy men who hold the priesthood as they take a little baby in their arms to give a name and a blessing. We are so grateful to all of our loved ones who were with us that day. Thomas was an angel and he slept as he was passed around to many people who wanted to see him. He is a wonderful baby and we love having him in our family!