Tis the Season...

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas because we sure did! Having kids makes this holiday so much more special. Even though Kaitlyn doesn’t really get it yet, it was still so fun wrapping her presents from Santa and getting her stocking all ready. In the morning we found so much joy watching her open her presents - especially since she would throw her gift behind her and immediately start playing with the box!
Having Kaitlyn also helps me to realize how important it will be to teach my children the true meaning of Christmas. I am so grateful to have the Gospel in my life and have a knowledge of my Savior. I love the Christmas season and the reminder it brings with it to be more Christ-like and to be thankful for all my MANY blessings.
Here are some pictures from our wonderful Christmas!

We had to wake Kaitlyn up to open her presents…shouldn’t it be the other was around??

She LOVES this etch-a-sketch!

Temple Square

It finally feels like Christmas now that we have gone and seen the lights at Temple Square. I love walking around down there, it is so beautiful and I am AMAZED every year at how many lights there are! We went down Saturday night with a friend of Brian’s from his mission and his wife and baby boy. It was FREEZING so we bundled everyone up and made sure we walked through every building we could to warm up. We has such a fun time. (side note: we traveled on Trax during Christmas time on the same night of a Jazz game..talk about getting to know your neighbor!)

We bundled Kaitlyn up sooo much she ended up looking like the kid from A Christmas Story. But at least she was warm! Ralphie wait!!!!!!!!!

The Little Elf

I was going through my pictures and I came across these pictures of Kaitlyn looking JUST like a little Elf! It being Christmas I thought it would be fun to post them. She is about 3 days old in these pictures - so tiny!

Happy Birthday Kaitlyn!!!

Today is Kaitlyn’s FIRST birthday. I can’t believe how quickly the time has gone by, I feel like I was just in the hospital giving birth to her. It’s a bittersweet day. It’s so fun to watch her grow and to celebrate each milestone but I also feel as if someone has taken the sun and all the clocks and sped them up. Hours are shorter, minutes fly by, and all of a sudden a year has passed and I feel as though it’s only been a month. It reminds me of how important it is to savor each moment and to enjoy each step, tooth, and giggle in Kaitlyn’s life.

Last night we had a little birthday party. Kaitlyn LOVES the movie Finding Nemo so, of course, we had a Nemo party!

We had a lot of party-goers. Brian's parents and siblings, his grandparents, and Erin's brother's and sister-in-law. LOTS of people for our little townhouse...but, it was cozy!

So many wonderful presents!

My mom always made us such wonderful cakes growing up and she decorated them beautifully. So, I wanted to do this for my kids too. This is my first stab at it. It's not perfect but I had a lot of fun doing it and hopefully I'll keep getting better as the years go by.

We let Kaitlyn eat her piece of cake all by herself. Ya know, you spend al this time teaching them not to play with their food and you try adn keep their face clean, then they turn 1 and it all goes out the window!

Over the River and Through the Woods...

For the last 3 years of our marriage, Brian and I have had a fake Christmas Tree. This year we thought we would change things up and go cut down a real tree. Every year Brian’s family heads down south to Delta to cut down a tree. So, Saturday Brian, Kaitlyn, and I packed ourselves up and headed down with them. It was a very snowy day so the drive took a little longer than planned, but that is only the beginning…

So we got the chains on the tires and turned the 4-wheel drive on and headed up the mountain. It was a very skinny road but somehow maneuvered around it all and kept on going…

Once we got to the top, that’s when our bad luck REALLY kicked in. The suburban got very STUCK in the snow…

We tried everything to get the car unstuck. In the process we broke our snow chains, broke the chains of the nice man that helped us, and made little progress in the process…

We decided to take Kaitlyn out of the car and let her enjoy the snow while we waited…and waited…

BUT, it was sooo cold that we really had to keep Kaitlyn in the car most of the time to kep her warm. It was hard because she is so used to being able to run around all day and she was only able to walk along the car seats. But she coped very well and was VERY good given the circumstances.

At least it was beautiful!

So FINALLY, about 2 ½ hours later as the sun was going down we got the car unstuck and hurried to pick our trees. We were pretty cold and pretty hungry so as soon as Brian and I found one that wasn’t too Charlie Brown, we cut her down! I had to do a little pruning but it ended up working out well and now we have a wonderful smelling, REAL Christmas Tree in our living room. Yeah!

It wasn't the expirience we were planning on, but it was an expirience nontheless. In the end it really was a fun trip and definitely one we won't forget!