Christmas Fun!

We had a great Christmas this year! We stayed in Utah and were able to enjoy hanging out with the Harward side of our family and friends. On Christmas Eve we went to Nate and Katie's, had some great food, had a great time catching up with her family, and had fun seeing the kids dress up to act out the Christmas story. Once again Brylie had such a great time that she didn't want to leave so we explained that we had to get home and to bed so Santa could come. She was o.k. with that, but quickly said, "After Santa comes we'll all come back to Nate and Katie's." Thanks for the great time guys!

The next morning, Brylie woke up and wanted to see what Santa brought but was quite the trooper waiting for Beckam to wake up. We were all really excited about what Santa brought and he was sure generous this year.

After opening all of the presents, letting the kids play with theirs for awhile, and finishing some last minute touches on some other presents, we headed down to Brandon's parents house to enjoy the afternoon with his family. Thanks to the snow storm overnight and into Christmas day there was plenty of snow to play in and get pulled around on (the razor pulled a toboggan with the kids around the neighborhood).

After the kids were done we had a little bit of opening presents time and then some of the cousins finished warming up by watching a movie and eating popcorn in Grandma's bed. After a little bit more time playing in the snow, this time Beckam joined in, we headed home.

It was a great Christmas day and made me even more grateful that we are able to spend this time with family, and a great family it is!! We hope your holiday was as great as ours.

We Have Words!!

Beckam has finally decided to speak to us. We had our own little Christmas miracle on Christmas morning. Beckam finally said his first unsolicited word...baby. He picked up Brylie's new baby doll and clear as day said baby. Brandon and I were starting to wonder when we were going to hear something more then grunting and crying from him. And with that one word the speaking gates have opened. Yesterday we were driving and he copied Brylie saying knock, knock. He says Dad, Ma, Bye, Hi and Bry-ee for Brylie. Oh and our not so favorite that we now hear all the time Me for mine and me! He of course doesn't say them on command, but when he wants to we have quite the little chatter box. (He also continues to hum when he's coloring or reading a book and he likes to sing along with Mom and Brylie.) I'm just wondering what he'll do next!

Merry Christmas ALL!!

Since I was less then punctual getting our Christmas card out, I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! I hope it's great for everyone! We're heading out to start our Christmas festivities.

Visit from Santa

Last night we were invited over for dinner by Viv and Randy. Before dinner started the kids got a surprise visit from Santa. The doorbell rang, we called the kids to come answer, and each responded to seeing Santa in their own way. Brylie squealed with delight and gave Santa a big hug. Britton immediately ran into the house and to his dad. Beckam stood at a distance and was fine until Santa came into the house and then he to ran away. Brylie was the first to sit on Santa's lap and tell him all that she wanted (and the list was quite long.) Both Britton and Beckam cried when we tried to get them to sit on Santa's lap and only calmed down once their dads joined them.

Santa was such a sport and put up with all the reactions and gave all of the kids, including the criers a treat. After Santa left we enjoyed a great dinner and some more visit time. The kids got to open their first Christmas present which is now sitting under our Christmas tree until Christmas courtesy of Brylie. Thanks for a great night guys and Santa!

Growing Up

Today Brylie sang for the first time in Sacrament Meeting. And I'm really proud of myself for holding it together until she came back to our seat after the closing prayer. She went up so eagerly and sang when she could. She has one more week and then she'll be in Primary and man is she excited. My baby is growing up so big. I asked her if she could stop growing so fast and she said, "Yes." Now if she could just accomplish that and my little girl could stay little awhile longer. I'm not sure I'm ready to have one of my kids in full fledged primary and not just nursery.

Art Showing Extended

Well Brandon thought he'd bring Beckam's last art exhibit to an end by cleaning off the front door. Beckam must have been offended by the short time his art was on display because he decided to grace us with another one of his creations right back on the front door. This time it was in a burn orange color. Brandon's only comment was, "He's getting good at this isn't he." I'm just happy he hasn't felt the painted walls need some extra splash of color ala Beckam.

Due to the light color and scribbles it's hard to properly capture his art with a camera, but any who would like to view it in person are welcome. This exhibit will be on display for the foreseeable future until I can figure out a way to get rid of the crayons without the kids really missing them or I come up with some other way for Beckam to express his inner artist since my other option of watching him every second of the day isn't going to happen.

Appraiser Needed

A few days ago I found out my dear son is a budding artist. He felt the need to express himself with a lovely shade of green crayon on the front door. Before I remove it I need to know what it's worth and how much I should encourage this new passion. He could save me a ton in decorating.

Thankful Day

Yesterday I had a pretty trying time with both of my kids. Brylie and I just couldn't manage to see eye to eye on anything and Beckam seemed to need extra attention. I'll be honest I was more then thrilled to see Brandon walk in the door and know I now had reinforcements. So today after reading a few blogs I decided I needed a little perspective change and have dubbed today my Thankful Day. Today no matter what happens I'm going to try and be thankful for it. When I'm ready to strangle one or both of my kids I'm going to try and take a step back and realize there are so many people out there that would give anything for the opportunity to just have children let alone experience things with them. When my kids make a mess rather then get so stressed about it and trying to clean it up, I may jump in there with them. If my husband has to work late instead of losing it because of all I need his help getting done I'll take a step back and be thankful that my husband has a job that keeps him busy and keeps the roof over our heads. Today the small space constantly over run with toys and clutter will not be so small and be the space that meets my family's needs to the fullest! Today no matter what may come my way I'm going to try and be positive and thankful about it while remembering all I truly have to be thankful for. Now to say a little prayer that I can make it five minutes without breaking this goal!

UPDATE: An hour and a half later and I'll take the highest bidder or give the next passing gypsy Brylie. Who thought lunch could go so bad! Guess we'll try another day!

What Was I Thinking!

Since we're ready to loose our decent weather and my friend called wanting help with her family pictures, I thought we'd make a final attempt at getting some more family pictures taken. Yeah that was not the smartest idea I've ever had. It was a complete fiasco and I ended up with two screaming, crying kids in the process. But heh it was worth a try I guess and we got some great out takes. Don't be too surprised if you see one of these on our Christmas card.

Just kidding I do have some better ones, but not by much! (No matter how much we bribed the kids just did not want to cooperate.) Hopefully this whole process will get easier as the kids get older.

Zoo Lights

This past Friday was membership night for Zoo Lights up at the zoo so Brandon and I decided to bundle up ourselves and kids and see our first Christmas Lights of the season. We were really happy our friends The Van Leeuwens wanted to join us. There were really no animals to see but plenty of lights had been put up around the zoo. I was happy the kids seemed to enjoy it, didn't mind the cold, and didn't resist any of the layers of clothes or blankets I wanted to put on them. (And yes Brandon is wearing a pink hat. He didn't bring his beenie and this was an extra one of mine that I had in the car. Being warm won over the horror of him being in pink.)

Of course popcorn, hot chocolate and cookies helped top off the night just right.

We had a fun time and it was a great test run for going to temple square.