Christmas Eve

Posing in front of grandma's tree

Checking them out

Loving the aunts

So as the tradition goes we opened one gift...PJs! This year was even a little more special because growing up my grandma used to make what we call "genie jammies" they are made of trieco(I have no idea how to spell this) which makes them silky we used to run around pretending we were princesses when unfortunately now we are older and she has stopped making them for us but this year she made Hallie some they are the cutest things ever. I love them and although at this point Hallie doesn't get the significance of them I am very appreciative of the time and effort that my grandma put into these. She has no pattern and they are very difficult to sew because of the fabric they are made out of and I know that grandma will probably never read this I do really love and appreciate the work she put into them.

Going to Grandmas

So for Christmas this year we were lucky enough to get to go to Vegas to spend with my family. I love when we find flights that make it just as cheap to fly as to drive and this was one of those cases. Its hard to have the feeling of Christmas without spending time with my family and all the traditions I grew up with so I was ready to go long before our flight came. Hallie had been sick with adnavirus so it had been a long week and I was much looking forward to the many wonderful babysitters that awaited our arrival. Hallie enjoyed playing in the suitcases while we figured out where to put everything.


Getting to and from the airport was pretty smooth thanks to Brit who arranged for their wonderful neighbor to take us. Last time we flew with Hallie was before she was mobile and that made it alot easier but she was still the best kid on the plane...with lots of snacks and stories! The best part is the 8 hr drive becomes a 1 hr flight(doesn't get much better than that. Our happy little fam

We collected our luggage and continued to passenger pickup with our circus looking setup with 4 suitcases, a stroller, diaper bag, and backpack. My parents picked us up and off to let the fun begin. Everyone else had arrived earlier in the week so we were excited to see everyone. I know the day will come when we don't get to spend time several days together over the holidays so we make the most of it. My dad and mom had plenty planned and wonderful food, and kim had gotten together a lot of fun games. Unfortunately Hallie was having none of it so she got put to bed and we continued to enjoy ourselves.

Pink Coat

So there is a story behind this darling fluffy coat. I wore it when I was Hallie's age and then it was passed through my sisters and now it is Hallie's I really didn't think it would fit for a while but in cleaning her closet out last week found that it fit..to my surprise. I was so excited I brought it out to show Matt and asked him to guess where I got it. He guessed several places before I finally told him it had once been mine which makes it even more special. I am going to try and remember how much I love the things my mom saved for me so that even though its not convenient to store for that long I will do it anyway. It is for lack of better words...priceless!

Fire

So yes you heard right our neighbors house burned down this week. Thursday morning we heard several sirens which isn't uncommon because the fire department is less than a mile away it wasn't until they started parking in front of our house that I realized something was really wrong. The elderly gentleman that lived there was saved by a passer by and a neighbor that found him collapsed in his kitchen and carried him to safetly. I stood in the driveway holding Hallie crying at the thought that this sweet old man had built this house and lived there his whole life and now it was burning down right before our eyes, we were helpless. The house is a total loss but luckily the owner will be ok and is just in the hospital for observation. Just another suttle reminder that life should never be about things but the people and memories we have and make in our lives.

1st Hair Cut

I have heard of a lot of moms that hate to cut their little ones hair but I'm not one of them it makes me sad Hallie is getting older but it was going to happen. My sister mentioned the other day that over skype that Hallie looked as if she was getting a mullet!!! So we did a little trimming of the back and the evened out the top she was very good and played in my makeup. She is getting so grown up. We spend most of our day reading stories. She has gotten to the point that she will sit down and read to herself aloud it is quite cute. She continues to love fruit and eats everything we do. She is improving at feeding herself messy foods..less on her more in her mouth. She is a big helper but I am doing my best to help her be involved in all the kid stuff(to many kids grow up to fast they should be playing not always helping in my opinion)She stayed with Grandpa B last night while Matt and I attended the Christmas Concert she loves her grandpa. She loves to play with her soccer and basketballs which is just up grandpas ally. She was so good and went right to bed. Our little girl isn't so little anymore!

Snow...FINALLY

All dressed up to go outside

Playing in the slush..crazy girl

Shoveling

Sorry we have been gone so long our internet has been down for about a week now but surprisingly enough we managed to survive. Life just seems to fly by faster and faster all the time one week until christmas! Hallie just keeps getting more fun everyday. I love watching her learn and grow. As the title says it has been an abnormal winter so far not a lot of snow and abnormally warm temperatures. Well we finally got some snow this week and Hallie and I have been out playing in it. She is really unsure about the whole thing but likes to play for short times in it. She of coarse, being the big helper she is, wanted a shovel of her own. But her favorite was playingin the slush at the end of the driveway. She layed on her belly and splashed like it was a warm summer rain and we found out that her clothes labels held true they really are waterproof! Hopefully the rest of December will be fun of snow!

Thanksgiving

One thing I have realized is the older you get the more the definition of spending the holidays with family changes. Sadly as this world seems to be evolving it also keeps us busier and more tied down in order to kepp life as we know it going. Unfortunately this year was one of those years for us. Matt's family decided to go to Reno and because of work conflicts we were unable to go. Growing up we spent alternating years with my entire extended family. I have many memories of having dinner at grandma harris's with all of our cousins, great food, and football. I really do miss that and I think everyday I realize more and more that I wish I would have enjoyed the time more as a kid. I remember always wanting to be a little older wanting to drive, be done with school, ect. I hope I'm not. alone in this? But fortunately I have learned and so I am now trying to live more in the moment than for the future. But fortunately having a wonderful family my Aunt Jeanette and Uncle Jay have allowed us on more than one occasion to be welcomed as one of their own. Thanksgiving was no different so the morning of Thanksgiving we headed to Tremonton. My aunt and grandma made wonderful food. An we enjoyed the great company. Hallie loved playing with Dillon, Lexi, and Dana. They are all really good kids and played really cute with Hallie. The 2 girls fought over who got to sit by us at dinner..there is nothing better than being fought over.haha

Enjoying her food to much to smile for the camera.



Cleaning up

This is what happens after to much food and to many hours of fun!

All and all we had a wonderful quiet and relaxing Thanksgiving. We are so blessed to have wonderful family who always make us feel welcome. Thanks Gills for adopting us for the weekend.

Surprise!!!

After a couple months of planning the moment my family had been waiting for finally arrived my mom turned 50 and we pulled off a surprise party without a hitch. Kim was the master mind that started this idea and then it continued to grow and included all of us. I spent hours on the phone planning with my sisters and thought about it all the time. Well all of the time and hard work payed off my mom had no idea. So here is how it all went down. Thurs night our little family headed south to cedar city to nic & ky's where we would do most of the baking on friday before heading for St. George to pick up Kim. We made pumpkin bars, cake bits, carmel apple cheesecake, dark forest cherry cupcakes, and gave carmel apples for party favors it was awesome to say the least.

My dad made plans to take my mom to a fancy dinner so once they left we arrived and began to setup then the waiting began we could hardly stand it. About 7pm people started to arrive and then we all waited in anticipation. About 8pm they arrived and we had a hard time getting everyone to be quiet but just as mom and dad came around the corner we yelled "happy birthday!" Its hard to describe my moms face but as it slowly sunk in she looked around at the multiple people standing in her kitchen her face lit up initially when she saw Hallie and I standing in the front of the crowd. She then took Hallie and continued to greet everyone while the shock wore off.


We ate, visited, and watch a short video about my mom's life. It was fantastic and couldn't have been any better. The best part was we got to spend the rest of the weekend with the whole family. Hallie and Maddie were best of friends following each other everywhere Maddie even did some bum changing.

Saturday morning we all went to Maddie's volleyball game. She did a great job and is learning a lot very quickly(I think her hope is to be just like Nic). It never gets old watching Hallie interact with my parents and siblings. She sat most of the game on my mom's lap with her blanket and puppy which her holding still for that long it pretty unusual these days but I know they both enjoyed it.


Then once we got home and settled came the cool stuff. My mom has a talent at finding awesome deals on just about anything you could ask for especially since Hallie was born below is an awesome little tent that is perfect to set up and have sleep overs in the front room. It was so funny we would tell Hallie to lay down so she would then she would say all done and pop up and laugh at herself. We also got a bunch of fisher price little people sets that we will be wrapping for christmas.


Matt and I were talking on the way home about how we didn't think Hallie had ever laughed so much in such a short time frame. That was just moments before there was a loud noise and a variety of lights lit up on the dash board after that matt lost most of the control of the steering but was able to get us off the freeway. Nic & Ky got a trailor and came to tow us as well as found a mechanic at 6pm on a sunday to look at it and fed us. The car is to busted up so with lots of help and phone calls we had it towed back to st george so my sister kim let us borrow her car so we could get matt back to work today. Everyone took turns calling to check on us to make sure we were awake and safe driving on the slick snowy roads. We finally got home about 1AM. The more important thing is were all safe and cars will fix. Words can't describe how much fun we had and can't wait for Christmas when we will go again for even longer.

Dipping and making a MESS!

Hallie has started where she likes to dip things in this video its chips and salsa but she like to dip just about anything.

Hallie has also been feeding herself for quite some time which can often make a mess(good thing kids wash easily)Tis weekend she had chili which was especially messy but she enjoyed every bit. I love it.

A package from Grandma!!

My mom is so wonderful and thinks of Hallie I would guess almost every minute of everyday for all the cool things she finds her. This time she mailed them. It was addressed to Hallie so I told Hallie she had got some mail and handed her the package she was so excited probably more about the package at this point. I cut open the end and let her open it the rest of the way she 1st looked in to see and pulled out a book(she loves books) then set the package to the side.

After a little prompting she went back to the package and dumped out 2 hats.

My mom makes the cutes hats so I was really excited. Then Hallie went back to reading her book. Silly girl. Thanks mom for always thinking of us and Hallie.

Our Halloween

Sorry this has taken a few extra days to get posted I have had good intentions but there will always be something else to work on. Our Halloween was much busier than I had anticipated..we enjoyed all of it. Friday we were invited by some great friends to a Halloween party. They had a chili cookoff, played games, gave prizes for pumpkins and costumes. Matt and Jim were the judges for the cookoff and they took it quite literally and did a great job. Were so lucky to have wonderful friends hang out with and make memories. Thanks Packards!

After the party we came home to make some treats for my young women. I love to make treats but unfortunately I also love to eat them so its always fun to have someone to make treats for. As a side note I am loving my new calling. I am getting to know each of the girls and appriciate each of their talents. It only gets better every week.

Saturday was the ward trunk or treat. The weather was anything but good but looked like it would hold out. We got there and set up our trunk I took Hallie around the parking lot and Matt passed out candy. Hallie was everything from excited to scared by the various costumes there but she did like getting treats. Just as we finished circling the parking lot it started to pour. We jumped in the car and headed for home...not to exciting and pretty short lived. Hallie loved her glow in the dark wand that Grandma Sheryl bought her..she mostly chewed on it.


When we got home we let Hallie dig through her candy she would pull all of it out a piece at a time and then place it all back in her container she did this probably 2-3 times before she decided to taste one. Then we gave her a couple tootsie rolls..needless to say she loved them.


Sunday we got together and had dinner with the Bennetts and Browers we got all the kids back in their costumes to take pics, Hallie was less than cooperative but we got a few good ones.




Happy Hallieween!!!