Thank you, Santa!

Santa really spoiled us this year...especially me. Santa wasn't supposed to spend more than $50 on my gift(s) but he definitely out did himself. This is my favorite gift I received:

It's not the greatest picture of the picture, the flash kept making a big glare, so I tried to cover it. That resulted in the pinkish hue you see. There is not really any red/pink in the picture. That's just from the camera. It's such a gorgeous picture though and looks fabulous on our wall! Trevor and I got married here 5 1/2 years ago! Thank you, Santa....

Very Merry Christmas

We had such a wonderful Christmas! It all started Christmas Eve at my parentals (it's my Dad's Birthday!) for some good eats and good company. I don't love ham, but Trevor was in HEAVEN!

Grandma and Grandpa Barnes gave the kids some fun gifts and spoiled us like usual.

This is Jace with his new robot. There's a robot song/dance on Barney that Jace loves, so he was so excited for the robot! I couldn't get him to hold still long enough to take a decent picture!

Brooklyn was loving Grandpa! Here's Kylee and Grandpa helping her to open her present.

Of course we had to open our Christmas Eve PJs and books. Jace loved his reindeer jammies but was a little jealous that Sissy had snowmen on hers!

It was SO much fun shopping and planning for Christmas this year! Trevor helped Santa to set up Jace's train on Christmas Eve. I'm not sure who enjoyed the train more, Trevor and Wes, or Jace!

My kids didn't wake up until 9:30 am Christmas morning (which has actually become the trend lately). Brooklyn was a little unsure about everything, and just wanted mommy and her blanky.

She's teething right now, so she was a little slow to warm up.

Jace went straight into action and started to play with his Choo Choo Train. I thought it might be a little old for him, but he caught on really fast and knows how to use the remote and loves for the train to go backwards! Even Brooklyn will say "Choo choo" whenever she sees a train!

Auntie Jen got Brooklyn her first Barbie with a Barbie car. As you can see Jace thought it was for him.

Here he is brushing her hair.

By 1:00 pm Brooklyn was pooped! She found the only piece of carpet that wasn't occupied by toys, presents or wrapping paper and lied down. She had a rough morning (she projectile vomited all of her milk at breakfast and her teeth were bothering her) but was such a trooper!

After their nap Brooklyn was feeling much better and the kids decided to go for round 2 of opening presents. It was kind of nice because opening presents was an all day process for the kids. They were too excited with one toy to open the next. I loved it! Both of the kids did really well with opening their gifts and loved to help mom and dad open theirs too.

Auntie Jen also got Jace some blocks. Both of the kids LOVE them, although I must say I'm getting somewhat sick of Jace dumping them out every time I clean them up! He wants us to build towers for him, then Brooklyn comes and knocks them over.

Here are both of the babes playing with Brooklyn's new piano. For the most part they were pretty good about sharing, although Jace thinks everything is "mine".

Jace's last present to open was his potty! He immediately wanted it opened and set up. Then he wanted his pants and diaper off so he could "go potty". I was happy that he was so excited for it! He didn't actually do anything in the potty but at least he's showing some interest. The funniest part was that he wanted to read on the potty. Neither Trevor or I are potty readers so I'm not sure where he gets it from.

We had such a wonderful Christmas! My parents came over for a turkey dinner in the afternoon too...but forgot to take any pictures. It is SO much fun to have kids at Christmas! I can't remember being this excited for Christmas since I was a kid myself! The funny thing is, is that Trev and I didn't even open our presents until after noon. We just had so much fun watching the kids. Trev spoiled me again this year...I'll have to do a post with the gift he gave me tomorrow. I love the Christmas Season, and am sad to see it come to an end but had SO much fun this year! I can't wait to see what Santa brings for the babes next year!

Grandpa & Grandma

Dear Grandpa & Grandma,

We were so sad you guys couldn't come over and visit us today. We wore our special Christmas outfits that you gave us so you could see how cute we looked in them! Mommy said that it's dangerous to drive when it snows a lot, so we understand. Thank you for our fun clothes and please come and see us soon.

Love,

Jace & Brooklyn

Sunday Best

I love church at Christmas time. The kids look adorably festive and there's all sorts of Christmas songs. The only thing missing is good food :o). Even though we didn't make it through all of church today (Brooklyn was cranky, Jace was poopy....you know how it goes) I still had fun getting the kids ready to go. (It was so sweet, when I put Brooklyn next to Jace to get their pictures taken, he automatically put his arm around her.)

Don't let the smile fool you. For whatever reason she was a drama queen at church ( I think she's teething), but we still love her anyway!

I love that her hair is getting long enough for big piggies too!

We got Jace to pose by the Christmas Tree but he was so serious and wouldn't smile. He still looked handsome anyway!

Capturing the Moment

I've been trying to get this picture for months! They either do it when I'm driving and can't take a picture or when I don't have my camera...or when I have my camera, they want nothing to do with each other.

I love that my babies are becoming friends! It's been the greatest joy to watch them interact and play with one another. It's so fun to watch them running around in circles, copying each other (screeching, making fart noises, etc). Now, whenever Jace goes into another room, he always says,"Come on, Sissy!" It's so sweet! Having our kids so close in age has been challenging, but I'm really enjoying it now that they can play a little better. Sure, Jace still pushes her down on occasion and doesn't always want to share, but watching them play and love each other makes it all worth it....

Annual Christmas Party

On Saturday evening (I guess it was more like later afternoon) we had our annual Christmas dinner with the Barnes family. This year it was at Tepanyaki... YUM! We really missed Nate & Angie and Wes & Tara but it was really nice to visit with the rest! Especially the Nelson's....we don't get to see them nearly enough. The food was delicious and I ate WAY too much.



Shel, Marc, Jeff, Dave, Shelbi, and Brian enjoying the conversation (and food).

Trev and I after stuffing our faces.

Here's a group shot. (Sorry that my big fat face is covering your face, Julie.) Thank you SO much to our gracious parents for such a nice evening.

Thankful

This year for Thanksgiving, we had the big dinner at our house! We were SO excited! My whole family came (minus Nate/Angie and girls, who we missed terribly) and we had Trev's sister and her family too. I was a little worried with fitting everyone, but I think it all turned out really well! The food was absolutely amazing, and can't remember having a tastier Thanksgiving! Those Canadians sure know how to cook!

Here's a shot down the table. I wasn't really good about taking a lot of pictures before/while people ate because I was so hungry and there was so much good food! Plus I had kids to attend to.

Here's the girlys getting ready to eat. They all were so patient and didn't even mind eating up at the bar. In fact, Chrissy and Vicky made name tags for everyone at the bar so they'd feel special!

This is me with my beautiful girl before the big dinner. She is growing up so fast and is still such a sweetheart. I'm waiting for Jace to start rubbing off on her :o).

Here's is Jace enjoying his dinner. You can tell he's storing some food in his cheeks like a chipmunk!

Brooklyn tries to use spoons, but hasn't quite figured it out. It's more effective when she shovels it in with her hands!

Ry and Ky got along so well with Vicky and Chrissy! It was so nice, they played downstairs for hours after dinner playing "British Tag" and other games I'd never heard of. Here they are decorating a gingerbread house. They were so good to take turns.

Here's the finished product. Jace woke up from his nap just in time to ruin his dinner by eating candy off the house.

Here's the adorable Brooklyn chowing down on some raisins. (I can't complain. It's certainly better than the candy Jace was eating!)

In a time where so many are suffering we have much to be thankful for. I am so happy for this time of year when we can reflect on all that we have, and in return, give to others. Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Canadian Visitors

Last week Trevor's sister, Jen, came to town with her hubby and three girls. We had SO much fun! This is the second year in a row that they've come for Thanksgiving and I'm hoping that this will become a long-standing tradition. We have SO much fun when they come to town! Jace and Brooklyn especially loved having their cousins to play with all week long. We've been going through with drawls since they left.

While they were here we went to IHOP twice, Krispy Kremes multiple times, Wingers, and did LOTS of shopping! I swear whenever we're with the Canadians we base most of our efforts on food. And man, do they cook some yummy eats! This is not necessarily good for someone who's trying to shed some pounds. But I certainly had to endulge myself a little. (Okay, a LOT). The only regret I have from the past week is that we didn't take near enough


Here's Sarah-Boo with Brooklyn. Much to Jen's dismay, Sarah was Brooklyn's favorite!


Here are Chrissy, Vicky, Brooklyn, and Sarah on our way to IHOP.

Jace and Brooklyn couldn't get enough of playing with their cousins.

We went to see the lights at Temple Square the day after Thanksgiving and it was beautiful! Jen took such great pictures. Jace kept asking where the Santas and Snowmen were, but it's nice to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas...

Even though it was a little chilly, all of the kids did really well!

Here are the kids in front of the temple. Surprise, surprise, Jace found a water fountain and didn't want to leave it.

Jace enjoyed a shoulder ride from Daddy and wouldn't get back in the stroller.

We're really sad the week went by so fast...but cherish all of the memories we made. I've decided that my New Year's resolution is going to be to figure out a way for them to move down here!

I'll post some pictures of our Thanksgiving tomorrow.