Where to start?

We're back in blogland (only 3 months since my last post).  I don't know if I have a good excuse.  We've just had other stuff going on.  Two busy little kids, another one on the way, etc.  But now I'm back and ready to start posting again.  I was going to go back and catch up on everything that's been happening since last October when we went to Disneyland, but that may take a while.  We went to Disneyland, we went to Utah for Andy's grandpa's funeral and Thanksgiving, we went to Utah again for the week before Christmas, and I went to Utah again for a few days last month for a baby shower (I love living closer to family now.  It's so much easier to make a quick (or not so quick) trips to Utah).  So in case I never get around to going into details of the past few months, here are a few pictures:

Christmas Eve with the girls in their new jammies:


The only picture I managed to get of Rachel in her Christmas dress.

Rachel loves the Curious George book she got for Christmas

And Eden loves her Lion King movie.  She'd been begging for that for months.

Rachel loved to stand on ALL the boxes.   They were as much fun as the presents.

Eden got a new doll and I made some princess dresses to go with it.

Rachel has changed so much since our last post.  About a week after she learned how to walk, she learned how to run, and I don't think she has stopped since.  Her favorite thing to say is "GO, GO, GO".  I have a hard time getting a good picture of this girl because she is moving all the time.  She's so different from Eden when Eden was this age (only partly because Eden wasn't even walking yet).  Talking is something she is only mildly interested in, but she loves to climb and explore and I sometimes feel like I spend all day just chasing her around the house.  She totally wears me out, but I can't complain because she is so darling.  I just can't resist this face!

Climbing...

And climbing some more....

This is a typical Saturday morning in our house:  The girls on their pillows with their cereal, watching the Sprout channel while mommy catches a couple more minutes of sleep on the couch.  This is the only time of day when Rachel is awake and holding still (and it never lasts very long).

The End of 2010

It's been a little while, once again, since I blogged. I realize Christmas was weeks ago, but I thought I would post a few pictures from the last part of December before I move on to this year. On Christmas Even morning Eden helped Andy shovel some snow and then came in to get warm and have some hot chocolate. I did some more baking of goodies (even though I had decided I was not going to bake as much this year...) and somehow managed to throw my back out putting something in the fridge. I couldn't even stand up straight for a while. A few ibuprofin and a heating pad later, we were on our way to our friends house for dinner. Later that evening, we let Eden and Rachel open their new jammies and leave a treat for Santa (he really likes brownies) and went to bed. I have to say that as a parent, I think I get just as excited for Christmas as I did when I was a kid, only now I am looking forward to watching my own kids open their gifts and feeling the magic that only Christmas morning brings.

When Eden was a baby we bought this huge stocking to put her in and so we had to see how Rachel looked in it as well.
Our girlies in front of the tree. Note the slightly terrified look Rachel gets on her face when Eden is holding her. You can also see Eden's contribution to the tree in the background. She got creative with her pipe cleaners a few days earlier.

Time for jammies- Santa is coming soon...
Christmas Morning: Eden was kind enough to wait until about 8:00 to wake us.

Rachel got a new headband and a Bumbo seat, both of which she was excited about.
Eden got her very own Wii game- princesses, of course.

One of the other big hits of the day- Squinkies. She's been begging for these for months.

Rachel was all worn out watching Eden open her gifts for her. Life can be so rough when you are a baby.

We hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas season. We sure had a great holiday and are so thankful to have all of you as our family and friends.

December

Here's a few pictures we've taken this month. We've been pretty busy getting ready for Christmas and trying to stay warm. Eden is a great big sister and helps me out a lot and Rachel is getting chubby and smiley. Andy has had most of the month off so we've been having a lot of fun with him as well. We hope you enjoy!

Merry Christmas

We hope all of you had a very merry Christmas. We certainly had a great day. Andy is working hard in the ICU this month and we've missed having him around more often. He was able to get off early on Christmas Eve and doesn't have to go back until Monday, so it has been nice to spend time with him. We stayed in Omaha for Christmas this year and it has been nice and relaxing. We miss our families more this time of year, but it has been nice to not have to worry about traveling in the bad weather.

Eden was very excited to get lots of "Princess Stuff" for Christmas. Santa really came through for her this year. He took good care of Andy and I as well. One of Eden's favorite gifts this year was a small tent that she loves so much we had to move it into her bedroom so she could sleep in it.

Andy wins the prize for "Biggest Present" this year a couple times over. Eden gave him an air hockey table and he also got a ladder (now he doesn't have to borrow the neighbors to take the Christmas lights down). He also got a new leather jacket and a remote controlled helicopter which has been buzzing around our kitchen for a couple days now. Thank goodness for vaulted ceilings!

Santa brought me some beautiful new dishes, a digital picture frame, a new coat and a fun Wii Fit game. For those of you who think that exercise isn't fun (as did I until recently) you should try out Wii Fit. It's been a lot of fun.

Christmas was wonderful and we were sad to see it go, but he're looking forward to another great year to come. We hope the rest of the year is peaceful and safe for you and that next year brings new joys. Have a Happy New Year~

One more week until Christmas!

Guess who's getting excited!
I guess it is about time to post another blog. We've been so busy lately getting ready for Christmas, it just hasn't happened. We've had some requests from family lately to post some pictures of our house decorated for Christmas and so for those of you who care, here they are.

Our living room with the tree. For those of you who heard about her huge Sleeping Beauty ornament, it is the big pink thing on the tree.

Andy put up lights this year. They look really great. I just wish he hadn't done it in the dark on a windy day. BTW, this is not what our yard looks like anymore. We now have 4 and 5 foot piles of snow everywhere.

The shelf by our stairs. We love those nutcrackers!

Eden has been asking how many days until Christmas since the day after Thanksgiving so I decided to make her an advent calendar so she could see for herself. I found this idea from a blog I love called allsorts and started to make it the last couple days in November. Each pocket has a number and inside is a chocolate and a little tag to hang off the pocket. Eden loves doing her calendar every day. She doesn't like sharing the chocolate.

Eden was very excited for our ward Christmas party this year. If any of you remember last year, "Santa" was not well liked by Eden, despite him being almost a fatherly figure for her. This year, we talked about Santa for weeks ahead of time to prepare her to sit on his lap. She was a little afraid but she wanted to be sure he knew what she wanted for Christmas. She waited patiently in line and was only a little afraid to sit down. She made sure to tell Santa what she wanted ("Princess Stuff") and was super excited to get a candy cane when she was done. It may just be a small thing, but we're really proud of her for doing this all by herself. We love our cute little bug. She is such a fun girl.

Happy New Year!

Well, I didn't get to blogging in December like I thought I would. It was an extremely busy month and we have a very slow computer. Two things that don't go together. Hopefully January will be slower and we can get some more blogging done.

Andy is on the activities committee for our ward and so he helped out with planning our ward Christmas party and made sure Santa was there safe. It went really well and Eden even told us she would sit on Santa's lap and tell him what she wanted for Christmas. We really hyped Santa up so she would be excited for this. Once we got up to see Santa, Eden did not want anything to do with him and she cried when I tried to put her on his lap. Fortunately, Santa already knew what she wanted because he had been told many times at our house already.

Andy got the week of Christmas off, which was really nice, so we decided to go to Utah for a week and be with our families. The driving was long and we still don't have anything good to say about Wyoming but it was nice to have a little vacation. Eden got the "Thomas Train Set" she's been asking for, as well as a tricycle she is learning to pedal on the concrete floor of our basement.

We had a great Christmas and hope all of you did too. Now we're ready for 2009!