READY FOR CHRISTMAS

Well it has been a couple days since Christmas and I have been checking everyone's blogs to see the flood of Christmas updates, but I guess everyone is still busy, so I decided I would be the first I guess. We had a great year this year. We were still here in Houston away from family, but we tried to think of lots of traditions and things we could do to make this year special since we are alone. It was a busy week trying to plan all of our festivities, but it all came through and we had a great time! My most favorite thing this Christmas is that I finally got the little family that I had been wishing for the past few years. What is better for Christmas than your family? This is what Brystal did on Christmas eve as we were getting ready for Santa. What a perfect little Christmas gift.

CHRISTMAS EVE

My family traditions is to have a big Christmas dinner on Christmas eve by candlelight. We had some friends over, (we were supposed to have more people, but one little baby got sick so they couldn't make it) Look at this feast, ham, potatoes, and all the fixins, including my favorite family pastime of slush. Mmmmm. Soo yummy.



Ya I pretty much did all this myself. I feel so proud of myself. If I would have known that all it took to make a Christmas ham was to read the directions on the label, I probably would have been making ham alot more often.

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

After dinner we piled in the car with our little family to go see the lights. There is a neigborhood here where every street has a theme and they all light up their yards and decorate them with the theme, here is the Disney street.



The neighborhood was packed with cars all lined up down the streets to see the lights. People in trailers filled with hay wearing santa hats, music playing...We even saw a Santa Claus riding his bike down the street.



There aren't very good pictures, but it is hard to take good ones when you are driving by in a car.

WHAT A GOOD LITTLE BABY

Here is Brystal opening her stocking. She got some new binkys and a couple of little cheap toys. She didn't know, but she'll like them someday.

Brystal patiently waits to see what is in that big box we are opening.

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS

I have wanted this willow tree nativity scene for so long. And though we couldn't afford the whole set, Nathan was nice enough to surprise me with some of it and we will hopefully be able to add to it next year. I was so excited to get it regardless.

This was from my parents. I am so happy to have this as we are too poor to be able to buy this kind of art. We really needed some pictures of Christ in our home and so now we have this one and it is beautiful isn't it? I can't wait to hang it up.

EXITEMENT FOR THE BABY

I have been so worried that Brystal was so bored whenever I would lay her on the ground to play so this was her big gift for Christmas, now she has something to look at while she lays on the floor, and hopefully will let me have some time to get things done without having to sit next to her and dangle things in her face. Doesn't she look excited?

BRYSTAL'S LOOT

What a spoiled little baby.

WAFFLES AND ICE CREAM

This is an old tradition that Nate grew up with. The only day of the year you get ice cream for breakfast. I can see how it would be cool as a kid, but since I just love breakfast the most, it was hard for me to eat ice cream for breakfast. I will have to get used to it I suppose. We did come across a new recipe for Christmas waffles. They are called gingerbread toffee waffles. Basically you add a little molassis, ginger and ground cloves, and of course toffee to your regular waffle recipe. I thought it sounded nasty at first, but it was actually quite delicious and very good with ice cream! If you want the recipe, let me know.

No that is not butter, (thank goodness) that is the ice cream. You rub it on your waffles and let it melt into your toasty waffle. It is growing on me.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOODNIGHT!

All in all, we had a great Christmas this year. Yes we missed being with family very much this year, but it was fun to be on our own and to try new and old traditions. We are excited to see what the years to come bring for us and we hope that we can create many more fun traditions together. Here is all of us in our new pajamas that we open on Christmas eve.

CHRISTMAS CARD

For those of you who didn't get a Christmas card from us. I am very sorry. I ordered 50 copies thinking there would be no way we would use all of them because I didn't think we had that many friends and family. Well as I was licking the last envelope, many more names of people that I knew would have wanted one flooded through my head. I guess we have more friends than I thought we did. So here is the picture that we used in case you are interested. And once again, you were not forgotten if you didn't get one, I just didn't know any better. Next year I'll get more.

TWILIGHT

For those of you who read the Twilight series, this post is for you. I have only read the first one, but loved it, so as I was in the bookstore today buying the second book, NEW MOON, the girl at the register told me they were making a movie!! What?! I was so excited, she told me about the cast, so I ran home to check it out. So for those of you who care, here is some of the cast. Playing Edward....



If you don't recognize him that's ok because neither did I, but he played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter. Robert Pattinson. Personally, I think they could have picked a cuter guy, but oh well.... And to play Bella....

Holy Cow doesn't she just look exactly how you imagined her in the book? She does to me anyways. I have only read the first book, but after reading all the Harry Potters, I thought that I was never going to read again, until I discovered this book. So I am so excited to read the second and third. And I am even more excited that there is going to be a movie! This was such a random post, but it is something that I thought was pretty exciting for today. Ya, I'm lame.

DADDY TIME

Brystal loves her Dad.

SOPHIE?

It looks as though Sophie is warming up to little Brystal. Yesterday, he noticed she was getting a little fussy and went and curled up next to her to lay by her. Whenever Brystal is on the ground she often gets really close to her and just sits and watches her. Sometimes she tries to sneak a lick, but I am always there to make sure she doesn't.

For all of you people who look worried seeing this picture, this was a highly supervised cuddle between the baby and the dog. Sophie just gently rested her head on Brystal. It only lasted about a minute, because I was worried about Brystal not being able to breath even though she seemed perfectly fine and seemed to like having Sophie there.

Brystal is just starting to notice that there is this little creature that follows us around all day. She is always looking at her when Sophie is around now.

Someday these 2 will be the best of friends, and they don't even know it yet.

See what I mean? Here they are pounding eachother's knuckles. They are already starting a secret handshake.

MERRY CHRISTMAS BRYSTAL

Brystal is getting ready for Christmas by wearing her new little Christmas jammies from Grandma.

I DON'T FEEL GOOD

Last week little Brystal had a bad day. She just didn't feel good one morning, she had some gas, and was just really sad. I gave her a bath, which she loved of course, and put her in this cute little Utah State Aggie robe we got in Logan. She was so cute in it, I couldn't take it off of her, so she took a 3 hour nap in it all bundled up in her blanky.

Oops! She did it again, Brystal has been making a bad habit of pooping ALL over her clothes, I swear I change her clothes 5 times a day. So after her 3 hour nap, she had poop all over the back of her little robe, but I had to get the cute pictures taken first.

Not so sick anymore huh Brystal? She seemed to enjoy her little nap, and the poop going up her back...

GROWING UP

After I got her poop all cleaned up, I bundled her up as it was a cold rainy day and she was miraculously feeling better. I think she liked this outfit. I was so excited because she has been too small to wear any outfits, she has just been wearing onsies and pants that are too big for her, so this was exciting for me that she could wear this. She looked so cute in it. But really I think her 3 hour nap is what made her feel better, and the fact that she pooped every ounce of poop in her body out. That's probably what made her feel better.

IS THERE ANYTHING CUTER THAN THIS?

If you can find anything cuter than this than you are blind. What could be cuter than a little baby smiling, especially my baby.

THE JOYS OF MOTHERHOOD

I am really starting to enjoy being a mom now. I admit that it is hard at times, but as each day goes by, I get more confident and I just love her more and more everyday. I can already tell that she is growing and learning. Even the little things she does I get so excited about, like when she finally started noticing those spinning animals above her head in the swing and couldn't stop staring at them for a half an hour.

I love now how much she likes bath time. I think it's cute.

love how she likes to just stare at my face for hours and hours. Even in the middle of the night when I'm so tired, it is hard for me to put her down when she looks at me like that.

And I love to watch her fall asleep. There's nothing cuter than watching a little baby fall asleep. Sometimes it takes hours, and sometimes it takes seconds. She'll be screaming one second and then I turn around and she's sleeping. I don't know how it happens because I always miss that moment.

And I think it is so cute when she is just waking up and scrunches up her face and puckers her lips and stretches out her arms for a good stretch.

There are some tough moments sometimes. Like feeding her round the clock is very draining. And when I want to go out somewhere, I have to make sure that she has some milk pumped so that she can have a bottle. And it is really frustrating when you leave to go out by yourself with out the baby and leave her with your husband and he calls during the middle of the Relief Society party to say that when he was getting the bottle ready for her, he forgot to put the bottom of the bottle on before he dumped the milk in it so it spilled all over the counter and that I have to come home and feed her. Ya that was not funny, and anyone who has ever breastfed and pumped milk knows that stuff is like liquid gold and isn't easy to come by, so when you dump it on the counter it was a waste of a half an hour of pumping for me, and the pain of having to do it for NOTHING. I wasn't to happy about it, but I made sure that everyone at the party knew why I was going home, so that next time they see Nathan, he'll never hear the end of it. He he he.

DEEP IN THOUGHT

What could this little baby be thinking about. Probably how cute she is. Or how that big bow on her head is bothering her. But if she knows better, she is thinking about how cute she is WITH the big bow on her head.

JACK AND BRYSTAL

Andy Hyldahl came to visit me this week with her 2 month old baby Jack. Jack and Brystal are exactly 1 month apart. We've already decided that they will get married someday, so we got some cute pictures of them together for the future. Jack weighs almost twice as much as Brystal does. She is very small for her age, and Jack is a little chubby for his. So they looked so cute next to each other. We had such a fun few days together, it was nice to get with Andi and share baby moments together, good ones and bad ones. For the most part, they were very good this week. I hope that Andi comes again to visit. We had so much fun. Thanks Andi!

OH CHRISTMAS TREE OH CHRISTMAS TREE

This is the big Christmas tree they have set up in the Woodlands
It was so big and beautiful and colorful. I had to get a picture next to it. That is how big it is.

LUNCH TIME

Just finished lunch.

Getting burped. Looks like it was a good one.

We had so much fun eating out together. What a perfect day.

TRIP TO GALVESTON

Andi, me, Brystal, and Jack hopped in the car and went to Galveston to see the beach. It was a very nice day and the babies were very good. It was a beautiful day

DISCOVERING THE OCEAN

Feeling the sand between our toes.

Brytal feels the ocean for the first time.

FIRST BATH!

Brystal's belly button finally came off, so I was so excited to finally give her a real bath. Here she is experiencing the water for the first time. She really liked it alot. She just sat in the tub and relaxed. If she is anything like her mom, she'll love tub baths all the time!

We put Jack in the tub with her. It was a tight squeeze but they fit in together. Brystal didn't seem to mind. I think Jack did though.

"Excuse me, but could you please move your foot out of my face?"

This is what happened when I took her out of the tub. Like I said, she loved it taking a bath.

All Clean!