A Very Merry Christmas!!!

We had such a great Christmas. We got to spend almost a week in Moab, and it was fun to celebrate Kynlee's first Christmas with everyone.

Grandma Sue reading "The Night Before Christmas"

 Carson opening a present on Christmas Eve. I got new Pjs for all of us, and though these are mine, Carson really thought they were for him, hence the cheesy smile in the picture. It was a classic "Christmas Story" moment. (We should have made him put them on)

 Hanging with Grandpa Dan

 Kynlee showing off  her new shades

Dad sporting Kynlee's new shades

 Christmas at Papa Joe's

Sporting our new Pjs and our loot with our new pillowcases

  

Christmas at home, it took her a while, but Kynlee really did open that present mostly by herself

 She looks pretty happy with all her new stuff.

It was a bittersweet Christmas. We were so excited for Kynlee's first Christmas, but sad for the first Christmas without my Mom. Some sweet angels pitched in though and provided our family with a Secret Santa box full of presents for everyone (and there are a lot of us). It meant so much to us that they would do that for us to help make this Christmas special. Dad also did an awesome job of making Christmas special, especially for the Grand kids.  Mom would have been proud, although if she knew how good he really is at Christmas shopping, she might have put him in charge years ago. On second thought she probably would have taken his credit card away. We had such a great Christmas!

And now I am sad, just like every year, because Christmas is over. I sit and stare at my beautiful tree, and I don't want to take it down. I am not sick of the Christmas music yet, or the lights. And I hate to think that next Christmas is so far away. Now what is there to look forward to??

 Valentine's day??

Hmmm somehow that doesn't even come close to the special spirit that Christmas brings. 

Oh well, until next year. And in the meantime I will enjoy l playing with my sweet baby girl, spending time with my family, and looking forward to warmer weather.

Merry Christmas!!!

Sledding!!

We got to go on a short sledding adventure the other day. In my opinion a short sledding trip is the best kind of sledding trip.

Our little angel

 It must be nice to be a kid and get towed back up the hill.

 Even Kynlee got to go down a little ways, but I am not sure if she enjoyed it.

And this is random, but guess who spit up in Dad's mouth???

5 Months!!!

She's five months!! She smiles at me all the time, laughs, sleeps well, and is cute as a button. We love her!

Food!!!

Look who is eating cereal now!!!!

Ok eating is probably not the correct term since she really just spits everything back out. She seemed really interested in food when Carson and I would eat, so we thought she would like food. Nope, at least rice cereal is not a winner. I guess we will have to see if she likes other things better in the future. She is so cute!!!!

Swimming!!

We had a stake activity at the aquatic center here the other day. Kynlee had such a good time!! I was way surprised because even though she doesn't hate her baths anymore, she still gives us this look like "what are you doing to me??"  when we put her in. But at the aquatic center she figured out how to splash her hands in the water and she thought that was great. She is such a cutie!!!

O Christmas Tree!!!

I love Christmas, and my favorite part is all the fun decorations, so I insist on getting our tree up right around December 1st, not before that because that would be a little extreme. Carson and I have a favorite spot to get our tree, seriously we go to the exact same spot every year! But we always find just about perfect trees. This year was especially fun because Kynlee got to come too!! 

 Everyone lays down to cut their tree right???

 Decorating

Our new ornaments this year came from San Francisco. It sure is a nice tree!!!

4 Months!!!

She is 4 months old, and still as cute as can be. She can laugh, and she smiles at me all the time. She can also roll from her back to her belly, but has only rolled from her belly to her back once. We love her so much!!!

Thanksgiving

Whew I am glad I am getting this posted while it is still November. Tons of people I know already have their trees and lights up and I already feel like I am way behind on Christmas even though it is not even December yet. 

We had a really nice Thanksgiving in Moab. Carson got a few days off work and I think he was especially glad to have a break from school, although he paid dearly this week for not doing some of his homework over the break. Anyway we asked my Dad what he wanted us to make for Thanksgiving this year, and then we did our best to pull it off. I was put in charge of the Lemon Meringue pie, and though I have helped with it for many years and I did my best, it was not quite up to par with my Mother's skill level. Later my Dad told me that my Mom actually struggled with that recipe for years before she got it right. Give me a few years, and I will master it as well. 

We had a fun week with family. We went to the park to feed the ducks.

However the best part of the adventure was when the guys got very interested in racing whatever items they could find down the stream. 

 Then they would run along to see who's item was winning. It was so funny to see them all so engaged in finding new things and trying them in the race.

 We also made a trip to the sandhill. Megan and I work out together most everyday, and so we thought racing up the hill would be a great way to burn off some of those extra Thanksgiving calories. Boy were we wrong. That hill kicked our butts. We were pretty much crawling by the time that we got to the top and we both felt like we were going to throw up. The really terrible part is that Carson, who does not exercise daily, beat us to the top by quite a bit, and he was even carrying Kynlee. Next time would someone please remind us that racing up the hill is a really bad idea. 

 These 2 were having so much fun they didn't want to leave.

After the sand hill my Dad took us on a hike to Tusher Tunnel. Carson kept giving me a hard time because that is where we went on our first date, but I didn't really remember the tunnel. I guess I was just too nervous  being on a date with this cute boy that I didn't know yet to remember everything about the hike.

It was really nice to have a break from our responsibilities and just relax with family for a week. We missed my Mom, but we are truly grateful for the family that we do have and the love that we share. 

Happy Halloween!!

Pumpkins!

Carson and I carved pumpkins with Megan and Andrew. We had lots of fun, and lots of help from Alex, he enjoyed scooping the pumpkin guts back into my pumpkin while I was carving it.

  

 My ghost at the door and Carson's witch.

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

My birthday started out just like every other day, I got up to go work out, but then I found this at my door...

And these 2 cuties in the hall...

 And a pile of presents just for me!!!

Later there was pizza, brownie cake, and ice cream.

It was an awesome birthday!!!

3 Months!

Yep she's 3 months old!!!

Night of the Running Dead!!

Last weekend we got to go up North to do a 5k race called "Night of the Running Dead." The race benefited the Huntsman Cancer Foundation, so what better cause to get in shape for. We met up with Tonya and her girls and had a fun filled day. First we stopped at Hee Haws for a corn maze. the corn wasn't very tall this year, but the kids still had lots of fun.

There were animals to pet and feed.

 

 Tractors to ride.

Large slides to go down. 

More tractor rides. 

And this is what Kynlee did the whole time.

 Our next stop was Gardner Village where we saw many witches.

 Kynlee has a new babysitter.

 The kids had fun dancing to the Halloween songs

 And then it was time for the big race. When you register, you can either be a human or a zombie (Carson was a zombie), then when the race starts the humans go and the zombies start 2 minutes later so they are chasing the humans. Oh and just so you know Megan and I did not plan to dress like twins, it's just one of those happy side effects that happens quite often.

 I only had about 10 minutes to do Carson's makup, but I think he made a great Zombie

Carson caught Megan and I just a little bit into the second mile, then we all finished in the middle of the first pack. My time wasn't as good as I was hoping, but it was still respectable. The race was way fun though, people would yell out their apt. windows,"What are you running from?" Then runners would yell back, "ZOMBIES!" Some people had really good costumes too. 

We spent the next day with Nathan and Tonya. It was a way fun weekend.