Christmas Day

I didn't take too many pictures on Christmas Day, since I was videotaping everything. I can only do so much! Christmas morning was great! The girls were SO excited to see what Santa brought them. Since Katelyn could read the tags on the gift, she took on the job of passing everything out to the right person-a job that I had every Christmas as a kid. The girls were the most excited about their wiggle cars-too bad they can't ride them outside because of all the snow! Taylor LOVED her nativity puzzle and was obsessed with it. I think she put it together about 50 times for an house straight! Santa was also nice to Chad and I...I got an ipod and a new cricut! Chad got Beatles Rock Band and lots of clothes. After we had our Christmas here, we headed to Chad's mom's house for more presents! Those girls were definitely spoiled!!! All of the kids had matching PJ's, which was fun. Patti of course went all out and made us breakfast. We spent the day together and ended it with a trip to the movies to see Alvin and the Chipmunks.

This is our first Christmas together as a family and it was perfect!

Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful white Christmas here in Utah. During the day on Christmas Eve, Katelyn and I went to see her cousin, McKenna perform in the Nutcracker. It was cute and McKenna was adorable! Then we headed to Chad's dad's house for the family gathering. Kathy made a wonderful dinner and read the kids a Christmas story. Of course Scott loved entertaining the kids, and Taylor couldn't get enough of his Donald Duck impersonation. All of the adults got Snuggies, and I think I was the most excited! And the kids all got craft stuff.

Then we headed home to get ready for Santa. The girls opened their PJ's and were so excited for Santa to come. We didn't think they would calm down and go to bed...ever! We managed to take a family photo in front of the tree. Katelyn wrote an adorable letter to Santa, by herself! Then we put out the milk and cookies, and water for the reindeer. The girls actually went to bed by 8:30, but Taylor had a rough night sleeping. Katelyn slept all night til 7am, which is sleeping in for her!

Host a Scentsy Party

Scentsy is running a January special...host a party and get a warmer FREE ($30 value) and DOUBLE your half price items! This is an awesome deal and you will get a ton of free stuff! AND you don't even have to have a formal party at your house! All you need is a basket with testers, order forms and catalogs. Then you have the testers for a week, and tell your friends about it. Then you just send me the order forms, and enjoy FREE stuff! If you are interested let me know:)

Christmas in CA

We headed down to CA for the week before Christmas. It has become a tradition for our family to celebrate the weekend before Christmas up at Aaron and Kim's cabin. We had a blast! It was kind of funny though that we left snowy, cold weather to go to CA and back into snowy, cold weather! We enjoyed a couple days of sunny, warm weather and enjoyed every minute of it! On Thursday we went to Disneyland and it was crowded! But we weren't complaining because it was 75 degrees outside! Marci and Julio and Luis and Katie joined us. Of course the kids loved it, and I love Disneyland this time of year. It was so much fun to get the cousins back together. It was hard to come back to Utah, and back to the snow.

Taylor and Chad are two peas in a pod...if he is around, she is with him. When she was in the stroller she HAD to hold his hand...and he loves every minute of it!

Katelyn and Taylor were exhausted after not getting good sleep 3 nights in a row and sledding. Katelyn fell asleep on Marci-that NEVER happens! Marci has the touch. And here is Taylor completely wasted...she is knocked out.

Christmas Party

Last week we all went to Grandpa Patti's for a Christmas Party. She bought all of the kids matching Christmas outfits and we had the cousin gift exchange. Grandma planned a fun evening of dinner, crafts for the kids, songs and a Christmas Story. The kids always have a crazy time when they are together and love being together. Then Santa decided to stop by! He came and brought the kids each a present and showed the kids all of his magic tricks and magic things he brought from the North Pole. The girls loved it and Taylor just stared at Santa with her big eyes and smiled the entire time. Oh, the magic of Christmas!

It's the most wonderful time...

We have had a fun filled week...trying to do all the fun Christmas stuff here before we head to CA for a week. We have gone to look at lights, at 3 different places, one place was a drive thru light show-brilliant! Since it was 5 degrees outside! And then at the end they had reindeer that the girls could feed, and they loved that. Friday night Hayley took me to see the Christmas Mormon Tabernacle concert with Natalie Cole. It was fantastic! People who live here really take for granted all the great resources and experiences they have in Salt Lake. The prophet was there, and it's just a normal occurrence for them...I on the other hand think it's the coolest thing in the world!

Then yesterday we took the girls to see the Princess and the Frog and we all loved it! They finally used the same format that worked (like Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast)-hand drawn animation, great story, fun music and funny characters. Then we took the Trax train downtown to see the lights at Temple Square. Once again, another amazing opportunity that comes with living here. Temple Square is the perfect and most gorgeous place to see lights, in my opinion. The visitor center, nativity scenes all over the grounds and thousands of lights make it breathtaking. The pictures don't do it justice.

And this is the girls' favorite place lately...they like to lay right in front of the fireplace to get cozy. It's funny how even though it's 70 degree inside, you can never get warm because it's freezing outside!

Katelyn's little accident

A couple of nights ago, Katelyn came into our bed in the middle of the night, as she often tries to do. Every night when she goes to bed she says, "Can I go to bed with you?" I say no and then she says, "well then I will just come in the middle of the night." I send her back to her room, but this night I was too tired and let her sleep by me. She is a crazy sleeper and has fallen off the bed alot. I think she will have a guard on her bed her entire life! She rolled over, and I knew she was going to fall. I jumped to grab her but was too late. She fell between the bed and dresser and hit her head hard. It was not good and she was screaming. Here's a picture of her ear. It doesn't look as bad as it is in this picture. Now it's black. But thank goodness this is all that happened. I hope this is a lesson to her. I told her, "This is why you sleep in your bed-you have a guard so you can't fall off." But of course she is too smart and replied, "No mom I will just sleep in the middle of your bed so I can't fall off!!!" She sure is stubborn!

On another note...it just keeps snowing! We have about 8 inches and it is freezing! 10 degrees to be exact!

Let it Snow!

This is the view from our kitchen right now! The snow is really coming down. I must admit that snow at Christmas time is perfect. Having the fireplace on, with snow falling outside and Christmas music on is perfect. Today Katelyn and I had our special date, and went to lunch and got our nails painted. When we pulled in the driveway we just watched the snowflakes fall on the windshield and admired their gorgeous shapes. Snow is magical and every snowflake is beautiful. If only it didn't stick around til April!

We had our Ward party and the girls sat on Santa's lap. Katelyn was the nervous one and begged to not have to go and see him. Taylor was thrilled and had no problem chatting it up with him! After Katelyn came up to me and said, "I told Santa I wanted a puppy, so he is going to give me one!" How do you deal with that one!?

The mantel is done...I have been collecting this nativity set for 6 years and am thrilled that it is finally complete!Katelyn picked red nails with silver glitter on top and a reindeer and snowman on her fingernails! She loved our date! I asked her where she wanted lunch and she said, "I want to eat at a real restaurant!" She felt and acted so grown up-love that girl!

Deck the Halls!

I have been having fun making and buying decorations for Christmas! Here are a few of the things that I have done

I am loving these fabric banners! It is much cuter in real life and has an adorable gold star trim. The countdown was a kit I bought online for $10! My dear friend made me the gorgeous wreath. I have a current obsession with gold glitter! You can't tell, but I glittered the pine cones, and I bought clothespins at walmart for a buck and spray glittered them gold. I am using them to hang Christmas cards on a Christmas ribbon. I will show pics once you guys send me your cards:) The star is also way cuter in real life...I just bought one of those metal stars and mod podged it with cute Christmas paper. I have been a busy girl, but I LOVE it!

Letter from Santa

This is the cutest thing...and it's FREE! You put in your child's info and get a pdf file of a letter from Santa...the girls absolutely LOVED it and couldn't believe that Santa knew so much about them and that the elfs were working on a present they wanted. Click on the link and fill out to get your letter. Then you print it out...ENJOY!

Santa Letter