Winter babe

Kristie lookin' all cute in her winter ensemble in December. =)

Christmas 2010

Better late than never right? Phew!!

This was at the HP ward Christmas party - she didn't shed a single tear for Santa! Also didn't smile a tiny bit, but we were just excited that she didn't freak out! hehe.

(Here she was last year!) =)

Back to this year =)

I just had to make goodies for our neighbors this year! These are Peter Paul Mounds...yummm...

The beginning of caramel...

Mmmm, ready to pour...

Yummm...

And gingersnaps!

All packed and ready to go to our awesome neighbors! One of them left a present for Kristie in return on our doorstep when we got home Christmas eve - it was sooo sweet!

Her cute little Christmas jumpsuit from Auntie Katie, adorable. The shirt that goes with it has the grinch and cindy lou who on it!

A little big, but still cute!

So we were spending Christmas Eve with my family. Kristie was being sad and super clingy and we couldn't figure out why. As we were sitting down to a nice Christmas Eve dinner, we decided to lay her down upstairs and let her sleep 'cause it was almost bed time, she wouldn't even eat any appetizers and she was running a fever all of a sudden. When we got up there she threw up. (Alllll over me.) Ohhhh dear, it was SO sad!!! We didn't know how much more she had in her, so we ended up going home. Oh man, it was just so sad to cut the celebrating short! We felt terrible. She threw up several more times throughout the rest of the night. I was so bummed that Christmas was probably going to be a sad day. But miraculously the next morning, she was completely fine! Oh my heavens, I can't put to words how happy I was. We opened stockings, had Kristie open up a couple presents and then my family came over open a few presents and talk to Dallin over in Latvia!! It was soooo fun to hear his voice! (He only has 6 months left!) Then we got dressed and headed over to the Duces for the rest of the day. Opened presents there, played games, came home for Kristie's nap, then headed to the Petersons with the Duces for Christmas dinner! Lovely day!!

Opening up her LeapFrog Phonics train! (We inherited this from her Uncle Blake!)

My dad gave me (and the rest of my siblings) a brick from the church building that burned down. He was able to salvage some and even finished it up after Christmas by putting a plate on top with the picture Dustin drew of it years ago. Such an awesome present!!

Kristie with her presents, all set up. This cracks me up. =)

Christmas pull-a-parts after rising and ready to bake!

After being baked and turned over...yummmmm...

Jason showing Kristie how to use her first Pez dispenser.

From Jason =) =) =)

From me, new church shoes! He's been wearing the same ones that he had on his mission!

At the Petersons that night. (Ann, the one on the very left, is Dave's sister...Jason's Aunt.) All the girls. =)

All the boys.

The Duces.

Us after church the next day.

The only picture I could get of Kristie wearing her Christmas dress! Guess she was sad Christmas was over. =)

5th Anniversary

On December 17th, we celebrated out 5th anniversary! Soooo much has happened in the last 5 years, and I can't put to words how lucky I am to have Jason as my husband. I love you my dear!!

Jason took me out to dinner at Lombardi's, right on the water in Everett. When we got out to the car I found a bouquet of flowers and chocolates in my seat. =) Dinner was just perfect! They sat us at a little table right next to the window so we had a gorgeous view of the boats out, covered in Christmas lights. The food was amazing! But I loved staring at Jason the most. =) Afterwards we did a little Christmas shopping and came home to watch a movie. (Opa & Abue came over to babysit Kristie.) Such a nice night!

Duce Family pic

Well some of the Duces! We were only missing Erin and John, but Steve was home for a couple nights and we rarely get to see him!

26!

I turned 26 in December! Woo! We had both families over for a birthday party which is always nice - man I love our families! Jason got me this awesome cake from Safeway that literally tasted like a ding dong. It was lovely. =) Devin works 'til 10 so as soon as he got off he came over and we (Dev, Les, Jason and I) watched "Eat, Pray, Love" til the wee hours of the morning. Looove that movie! Jason was a little under the weather with a bad cold, but he was a trooper and joined in the party. =) So overall a good birthday!

Letter Days

My friend Mindy started up a group for our kids doing Letter days! Each week we get together with our kiddos and focus on a letter of the alphabet. It's been way fun! I had a week in December to host for the letter E - so we made "Elf Ears" (homemade elephant ears cut in half, hehe), colored the letter E with an elf picture and danced to "The Happy Elf" by Harry Connick Jr! Sooo fun. We usually have about 5 or 6 kids on average, so it's fun for Kristie have kids to play with!

For letter A we talked about Autumn and make sun catchers with leaves and melted crayons! (And colored the letter A.)

For letter B we colored the letter B and made butter by shaking whipping cream in baby food jars! (And it tasted SO good!)

For letter C we colored the letter C and decorated sugar cookies.

For letter D we made deer ornaments, colored the letter D and ate donuts.

For letter E we did all the elf stuff...

For letter F we made fruit loop necklaces with flowers and played with things that started with F.

And for letter G last week we colored a huge letter G and made G shaped pretzels!

=)

Annual Gingerbread House Making Night

We had our gingerbread house making night again this year! Aw, I just love it - we have so much fun together!!

Kristie had a blast playing with the flour. =)

I was smart this year and busted out the frosting bags instead of using knives to put the decorations on. =) So much easier.

All the goods. We had to pop some popcorn to eat something salty - we were eating waaayy too much candy!

Dev & Leslie's, almost finished.

Dad & Ada's, almost finished.

Ours after it was done!

One of my favorite parts - the rock candy chimney!