Christmas Eve

Decorating sugar cookies for Santa.



My nephew Cameron.




My sister in law Katrina.



My nephew Jayden.



My mom and dad.



Opening presents after the nativity story.




Time for bed.

Christmas Day

Here's the before picture.



And after. Santa didn't disappoint.



Chase, enjoying all the excitement.



Bryson learning how to work his remote control Truck.



One of my favorite presents. Jewelry is always a hit with me!



We love this workbench. Bryson always goes for the power drill.



A train that hooks to the top of you tree...so cool!



It was so great watching Bryson this year. He really got the whole idea of Santa.

Merry Christmas!

We are thinking of all our loved ones at this time of the year and we feel so blessed and thankful for each and every one of you. We are remembering the story of our Savior Jesus Christ, and teaching it to our children so they will know the true meaning of Christmas. We are blessed to be able to help those in need around us and so grateful for the opportunity to serve. Our hearts are full and our home is filled with the spirit of Christmas. God bless us...everyone!

Chase's 4 Month Appointment

Chase is now 4 1/2 months old but we just went to his 4 month appointment today. Here's the stats:

Weight: 15.9 lbs (50%)
Height: 26 1/2 inches (90-95%)
Head: 17 1/4 (70-75%)

He's now 1/2 of Bryson's body weight (Bryson's 30 lbs) and growing like a champ. He's enjoying eating solids like rice cereal, sweet potatoes and applesauce. I'm enjoying his longer sleeping times and having a content baby. He's been bringing us so much joy and he loves playing with his older brother...or at least he loves watching his older brother play. We can't wait for Christmas, it will be a lot of fun this year.

This Week

We celebrated my dad's birthday at Red Lobster. Here he is with his 4 grand boys.

Bryson showed me how he plays with his fisher price nativity and Santa clause. I call it a "Santa Nativity Clause Blob". He hooks all the scenery together and dumps in the poor baby Jesus in with all the eight tiny reindeer.



Ain't nothing cuter than a sleeping babe. Especially when they're both sleeping and Mommy gets to watch her "Table For 12".

Christmas Tree Hunting In Quincy

All this work just to make memories. Brett and his family have a tradition of driving for 3 hours, walking up and down hills in treacherous conditions, looking for "the perfect one" (which doesn't exist), and bringing temperamental children into the equation. Fun!!


Here's Brett after about the third hike up the hill.



All I needed to hear was "honey...come look at this one" and I said, "we'll take it!!"
When we got it home we realized the mistake. It really wasn't that great of a tree. Oh well...I'm not picky, and gosh darn it, we worked hard for our Charlie Brown Christmas tree.



Bryson and his tree.



Bryson's cousins Cole and Dallas hiking up "the hill".



Brett's brother Jeff and his family. Their tree was better than ours.



So once we were done we headed for Round Table and gorged ourselves on pizza and made the trek back home. It really is a fun outing, just a lot of work.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was at our house this year. It was fun and not too stressful because I had a lot of help. My mom and Brett's mom contributed a ton. Brett helped me get the house ready a week ahead of time because we went to Pismo and didn't return until the night before Thanksgiving. I had bought the Turkey and perishables in Pismo on our way home. It worked out pretty good.


Here's the mom's cooking away.



Brett carving the turkey with my dad's expertise. I used a bag to cook it (most of you know what I mean when I say that) very easy.



The kids table. So cute.



Everybody ready to eat.



And 10 minutes later...all done.



Exhausted but happy.

Pismo

Another trip to Pismo. Loved it!! We really relaxed on this trip. Seriously...I didn't even ride my quad. I went on a few trips in the Rhino, but mostly we ate, sat on the beach, enjoyed the ocean, took walks, ate some more, sat by the campfire, ate. You get the idea.