Bradley's Christmas Program

Here he is waiting patiently for his part.




Here he is riding the crook.


One of the other mom's was really surprised at how much Brad opened up that night. He really got into it :)


There you can see his card "hiding" under his mat to SURPRISE us with at the end of the song :) He loved that part :)

Bradley had his first Joyschool Christmas Program on Wednesday night. It was SO FUN!! Charity and Kelly helped build up the excitement all afternoon, but Bradley really didn't need much help :) He was really looking forward to it! They acted out the nativity, Bradley was a Shephard(/cowboy). He was so proud of himself. It was really interesting to watch a different side of Bradley. He really just opened up when he was in front of all the families there, in the spotlight. It was the opposite of stage fright :) He was a little confused about the Shephard's crook though- I think he thought it was a horse....not sure. After the nativity they sang 4 songs. They started out really quiet, and were very subdued for the first song, but after we clapped they all (especially Bradley) opened up a ton. It was way cute. Such a fun thing for him to do, I'm really proud of him and how much he's growing up. He kept kind of showing us around, telling us about how they made the refreshments, and what they used, and showing off his card that he made us...it was adorable. Really fun for all of us too- the girls were really proud of him and wanted to do one last clap for him before we got out of the car when we got home :) I'm going to miss Joyschool for Bradley.

Luke's World

The things Luke says and does catch me SO off guard. It's funny that he's so unique.

Yesterday morning I woke up before him, and I was standing in the kitchen when he popped in unexpectedly. I turned around and there he was. So I said, "GOOD MORNING!! How are you?" He almost cut me off saying, "Doze mmMEAN guys....PUSH ME INDA WATER!!!!!" (translation: those mean guys pushed me in the water [very angrily]- apparently he had had a bad dream) TOTALLY caught me by surprise and I started to laugh but held back (he really hates it when I don't take him seriously). So I asked him a little more. "They did? That's scary!" [head nod with concerned look from Luke- the milky look where they know you are feeling sympathetic] "This happened while you were sleeping??" "Yess! Dey got me ALL WET!!!" "That's no good!! Are you okay?" "No." "Well, you're not all wet anymore, right?" "I change my clothes." (he doesn't know how to dress himself, and he was still wearing the pjs I put on him the night before) "WOW! You DID?!! That's amazing!" Then he gave me a look like he realized he was telling me something that wasn't true. "No. I did not!" (he was very angry at this point, very stressed out) I gave him a hug and we talked about it a little more, but I have just never (or at least not that I can remember) encountered something like this with a 2 year old :) He totally cracks me up.

K, and one more from Luke- this one also happened in the morning, but it happened while Nate and I were still in bed (it was Saturday so Nate was home too- we were BOTH neglecting our kids, that's why I can tell this story, it wasn't entirely MY bad parenting :)). We're used to the kids waking up before us and doing crazy things before deciding to come drag us out of bed (eating almost a whole bag of M&Ms that we've left out, or turning a whole loaf of bread into burnt toast caked in cold butter....), but this was a new one. Luke comes into our room and with a very distressed tone in his voice he says, "Daddy? I put my pizza in the microwave." Nate: "You put it in the microwave?" Luke: "Yess. And it's hot." Nate noticed the smell of smoke and jumped out of bed. Apparently there was smoke coming out of the microwave, and our entire house reaked of burning garlic. The slice of pizza (or what was left of it) was in the microwave and was completely charred. Black. Who knows how long it was in there. So luckily he didn't burn the house down, but they had a long talk about when we can use the microwave.
If anyone knows how long it takes to turn a piece of pizza into charcoal, please share- it would be interesting to know how long it was in there.
I so hope Lukey never loses his uniqueness :) He really lives in his own little world.

First sledding night of the season

Nate took the kids out back to go sledding on Tuesday night. They had a BLAST!!! I handed him the camera as they were walking out the door. Nate is the master at throwing the kids down the hill (and not just our kids, but ALL the kids who are out there) so that's why there aren't any of them actually going down :) He's such a fun Daddy.

Jen's Cookie Party

Aunt Jen does this cute party for ALL the grandkids that can walk :) (all at once!) and has them all over to decorate cookies, eat pizza, and watch movies, and destroy her house I'm sure :) My kids had a total blast this year. It always amazes me how shy they are at first, and then amazes me again when they are totally bawling when it's time to leave...they just can't make up their minds. Jen is such a fun aunt for my kids though. We are really grateful for her and all the time and energy she puts into things for the family.

We're moving again....

So, I'm not really sure why we're so hesitant to tell everyone. It was kind of a last minute decision. In fact just last week we were telling Jackie that "no, we're not moving any time soon....it will be a while!" But I guess we were wrong. We gave our 30 days notice to our Landlord this week. This is becoming kind of a trademark of our's. We will be moving to my Dad's house in the middle of January. He's so awesome to let us live there. We are hoping to be able to get into a house sooner this way. It's not exactly how we planned things, so I think that's why it's a difficult thing for me to sit and talk about. I hate dragging the girls out of school (and Brad out of Joyschool for that matter) and into different primary classes. I know that they'll do fine eventually, I just feel bad having to do it to them again. They both love their teachers SO MUCH! And I hate leaving a ward that we are finally starting to feel like we know people and are a part of. I'm just way too sentimental for all this moving. At least this time we can just pack up, move and unpack. It's not a bunch of getting rid of and selling all of our belongings, trying to figure out what will fit and what will weigh too much, and at least this time we can enjoy Christmas and THEN pack it all up and move rather than trying to do both at the same time..... it'll be much easier! It really is going to be a blessing, so I need to focus on the positive. Anyway- it's not just a rumor- we really are moving- as crazy as that is.

Maynes Monday night Madness (3 pts for that one Nate!)

We were just goofing around, playing and I remembered how my family used to do "Dog piles" all the time. It was really fun to do it with my kids :) DOG PILE ON CHARITY!!!


Sorry this is blurry, Charity took it- I just thought it was funny :)


And this is a really flattering one of Charity to use as blackmail (sp? it's not black MALE is it??) later.


Luke's sitting with me here as I post this and he keeps telling me this is the picture where his "boogers are coming out!"

And another flattering one.

This is not as easy as it looks :)

This was just cute.

Luke is very good at waiting until the sun comes up to get out of bed. This is for his mommy's comfort. Well, Friday morning the sky was so cloudy that the sun was difficult to see. I came out into the kitchen and the cute little kid is sitting there staring out the window. He turns to me and with this very distressed look on his face says, "mommy? the sun not coming up :(. it keeps coming up and back down over and over....it not coming up! But me and noah can't sleep anymore...." What a cutie! I think this would be funnier if I could have captured the look on his face. If you know Luke you've seen his "concerned" look....that's the one he had on. He was really serious about the sun not coming up. We talked about how it is hiding behind the clouds, and he got all excited. Then when we saw the sun peaking out from behind the clouds later in the day Lukey laughed and said, "I FOUND it!! I found it! He not hiding anymore!" What a cutie.

I'm still laughing....

This is about the funniest thing I have witnessed in about a week :) Everytime I'm down I just have to think to myself "you. owe. me..." LOL. I've been resisting the temptation to blog about this because I don't want anyone to think I'm a jerk, but apparently I'm okay with you all thinking that now because THIS was FUNNY!! Okay, so do you want to know the story? I'll tell you. It's long though, so get comfortable. I guess it starts with Kelly (well, Charity and Brad are in on it too, but this is about Kelly) trying to earn money for Christmas. I've started paying them nickels and pennies for little jobs around the house, and Kelly has started doing some business on her own with things she makes. Her latest was bookmarks. She made these really cute bookmarks and started giving them away and then asking how much we would pay her for them. Nate's was a penny, mine was 2 pennies....anyway. K, so Thursday I spent most of the day working on my cards for the card exchange that night. Kelly decided that she was going to make some cards for her friends too. I thought that was sweet of her, and didn't really look at them too closely while she was working. Later on in the day Kelly got the grand idea of sticking some of her bookmarks in the cards! Then I saw her busily working on her cards some more. This is the funny part....so a little bit later Kelly came to me with her cards and wanted to read them to me. I was not prepared for what she was about to say.
She read each word so slowly, it just made it funnier: "To Jake. You. Owe. Me. 2. Nickels. For. The. Bookmark. From Kelly" No "Merry Christmas" no "Happy New Year" just a simple little Christmas card bill :) I love it!! It totally makes me laugh still.

to nicole. you. owe. me. one. penny. for the bookmark. from kelly.

to ashley. you. owe. me. four nickels. from kelly.

I hid my laughter and she continued: To McKenzie. you. owe. me. 2. quarters. for. the. bookmark. from kelly.

By the time we got to this one I had to leave the room, but I could hear her from the bathroom: To Aaron H. you. owe. me. two. nickels. from kelly.

This one was THREE QUARTERS!!! Must have been a really pretty one :)

It's cute too because she's not quite sure how to spell bookmark. She tries several different versions. And I LOVE that each bookmark is priced differently :) She's such a businesswoman. I really think it's cute that she is so excited about earning money....

I don't know if this one will make it into the blog book because Kelly is so sensitive, I don't want her to feel bad, but I couldn't resist sharing it with you all behind her back :) Have a good laugh, go ahead :) I won't tell her.

Santa Claus is on a Fire Truck??

Saturday morning while I was laying in my bed trying to make myself get up, I could hear sirens. Which is a very rare thing out here....way different than our neighborhood in AK....but anyway. So I looked out and saw the Firetruck following the ambulance on a street just across the field. I remembered that Amy told me how out here, they have Santa (and Mrs. Claus) ride through the neighborhood throwing candy out to the kids. I was going to remember it on my own, but luckily we were out there in time to watch him come down our street. They actually came down our street twice since it had to go around the one next to us and back to the one that meets at our house (doesn't make sense if you've never been here, but whatever). The first time they came by Mrs. Claus was on our side. I was slightly bummed that it wasn't Santa, but then Kelly says, "Hey! Now we know what Mrs. Claus looks like!" Then when they came back around (throwing more candy than before) we got to see Santa Claus as well. We're pretty lucky :) It was a little like a parade only much shorter, and we were sitting UNDER the blanket FREEZING. But SO FUN, and new for us! So anyway- just a cool little benefit of living out in the middle of nowhere :) I wanted to get pictures but my camera was still dead from a week ago....can't believe it's been that long since I took any! And I tried to steal one from Jen's blog, but it didn't work. So there ya go- no picture for you. But don't ya just love Christmas time!

*stole some pictures :)

Temple Square Lights

Okay, so I'm really sorry about how lame these pictures are (to anyone who wanted to see more). We went to Temple Square on Saturday with Chris and Stephanie and we had SO much fun, but my camera was being lame, then it was full, and then the battery died, so not too many pictures worth looking at really. Well, and the crowd was so huge it was hard to get around AND take pictures. But anyway. Temple Square is a really sentimental place for Nate and I. We spent most of our dating time there. There are so many things there that trigger these really special memories for me. Hopefully Chris and Stephanie didn't mind visiting all of our sentimental spots. The JSM Building where Nate held my hand for the first time, where we would wait to pick up Beth, The Garden Restaurant where Nate took me when we were dating, and the Jade Room where we had our Wedding Dinner the night before we got married. I love that place. Then there are the "bubble lights" on the reflection pond, I can't remember why we cared so much about those, but we loved them :). "The spot" by the waterfall where Nate proposed to me over on the East side of the temple past the Church office building. And the walk over to that spot has become pretty precious to me. We love to find the Swedish luminaria. And this year we got to see some of the nativity scenes that they had had 8 years ago when we were dating, that was fun (no blue angel though). I have to say the Salt Lake Temple is probably my most favorite thing to look at. I love showing it to my kids and talking about Nate and I getting married there and how we get to be together as a family FOREVER. It's just awesome. All the special/important conversations we shared in front of the temple and while walking around temple square. The one where I finally asked Nate if he was EVER going to propose :) (yes, I am pathetic) when we were walking next to the tabernacle and I was getting impatient with our LONG 1 1/2 month courtship. What a trip down memory lane it is for me. I am so grateful for memories. I'm grateful that Nate and I have had such a great 8 years to top those memories off too. So anyway back to Saturday. Chris so generously sacrificed his shoulders to Bradley most of the time we were there, which was nice because then Luke could ride on Nate's and we were only having to keep track of 2 walkees. But hopefully Chris has recovered and doesn't have any lasting affects from it. It wasn't too cold (maybe because we were in shoulder to shoulder traffic), and it is always fun to see all the beautiful lights. I just love Temple Sqaure, can ya tell.

Santa Claus

I just love this picture now because just this morning I was asking Luke what he was going to ask Santa for for Christmas. He informed me that "Santa already gave me my present." Not sure what he was talking about I asked him "what did he give you?" (I guess I was mostly thinking he was talking about a previous year, which would just be amazing for a 2 year old if you ask me.) And he told me "Santa gave me candy canes and hot chocket!" How cute is THAT!!! No need to get him anything else, Santa, he's done with that! What a cutie. And no matter how hard I tried to explain that Santa would be coming again and leaving more presents, he just didn't want to hear about it....he has his candy canes and hot chocket! What a nut.


Bradley talked to his hands mostly, and looked at Santa's bells...he talked about his bells afterward.


Charity gave him the letter she had written him. I'm not really sure what to do with this girl about Santa Claus. She asked me last year if he was real, and we had the whole conversation, the tears, the denial, the anger....and I thought we were done with that. But then the other night as I was tucking her into bed she asked, "Mom, is Santa really real or not?!" What do I do with that?! She obviously WANTS to believe that he's real, and I don't want to stop her- I think it's fun to believe in Santa- so I just told her that she needed to watch the Polar Express and then she could decide for herself, but am I just prolonging the inevitable?... making matters worse?....I don't know!!! (well, plus she asks me in front of Kelly, who is perfectly content with believing in Santa, and has never doubted it) I guess I'm not sure where to draw the line. I don't want my kids to get this whole Santa thing mixed up with Faith in Heavenly Father and all the church stuff either. When's a good age to tell them? Or how far do you go??


This is our cute cousin Sydney...she got to come to our party with us.

Kelly was pretending to be nervous beforehand...not sure what that was all about :)

And cute little Noah's reaction was just adorable. He couldn't stop looking at his beard. And actually he was only sitting on his lap for a little over 2 seconds. But he didn't cry!

We had the privilege of seeing Santa Claus at our ward Christmas Party this year! It's been a while since the last time he came to a ward party of ours. The kids were so thrilled to see him sitting there when we walked in the front doors, that standing (or running around the gym and halls, depending on who you are) in the huge line was no big deal. I was happy that none of my kids cried this year :) I guess Luke got to see him up close a couple of years ago when he surprised us and CAME TO OUR HOUSE!! So he's not as scared of him as our other kids have been. (That sure was a special Christmas. The kids still talk about how they were "SO GOOD that year, that Santa came and brought them their presents himself!" Such good memories.) But it's always fun to see Santa.....

Festival of Trees

My Mom planned and treated us all to this "Girls Night" to Festival of Trees last Thursday. I told the girls to pick which tree was their favorite and we would take their picture in front of it (trying to keep them interested I guess). We all had fun but I think my girls were done looking at the trees after the 3rd or 4th row of them. Charity was mostly interested in the Gingerbread houses, and the dancers (this was her favorite part apparently). Kelly was pretty easy going about the whole thing although her feet were hurting her all through the last half. She was happy to sit on Grandma's lap on the wheelchair.


This was Charity's favorite tree. I'm not sure what's up with her shirt in this picture- it was clearly too big for her :)



This was another one of Kelly's favorites.


Here's the picture of all of us sitting down to eat scones. I took this one myself (obviously) I just love taking these :) and I'm very proud of myself for getting us all in it :). good times.

While Grandma was taking a break to buy treats for the boys, Charity, Kelly and I raced around in the wheelchair. Took me back to the days when Brent and I would race up and down the halls at the nursing home where our great-grandparents were living.

Charity insists that "this is NOT A TREE!!!"

These last two are for Grandma Hatch if she ever looks at this. This is Lukey all excited about his snake filled with candy.....making his ssssssss sound.

Bradley was happy to wake up to his as well. Anything that has candy is good.

Sticky Popcorn

I just wanted to document how much my kids love popcorn (Sticky Popcorn to be specific). Last Wednesday I had told the kids that we would make sticky popcorn "tomorrow". Thursday came around, and I had completely forgotten. A few hours before it was time for me to leave with the girls to go to the Festival of Trees, I was telling the boys that I would be leaving and Bradley got really sad (I thought because he was going to miss me, but I was wrong:)). I found out after a lot of coaxing that he was really bummed that we weren't going to be able to make sticky popcorn like I had said :) Needless to say we got the popcorn popper right out and made some sticky popcorn :) I love how excited they get for popcorn (anything simple for that matter). I love that they can remember when I tell them we will make it. It's just way cute to me. And this picture is now one of my favorites just because it has all 3 of my boys enjoying the excitement.

Christmas Getting to know you

I got this in an email from my mom and wanted to use it as a tag for my blog- sometimes I think these questionaire things are lame, but this one was about Christmas so I couldn't pass it up...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? wrapping paper! gift bags are of course easier, and I use them a LOT, but wrapping paper is SO much more fun and builds up the suspense so perfectly :) (I think Nate's the one that taught me that it doesn't matter what gifts the kids get, it's how many they get to unwrap that counts :) I agree.)

2. Real tree or Artificial? I prefer real just because of the smell, but artificial ones are definitely lower maintenance. Not as funny to smash into your car though LOL!!! The first year Nate and I were married we went to Smith's to get our tree and we found this perfect little 19 dollar one. It was not very big, but we drove a Honda Civic, so it was a real feat getting it in the car (yes, we crammed it in through the trunk- dumb, I know, that was my idea as embarrassing as that is) and then home. (I remember vacuuming out pineneedles out of our car even a year after!) I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants when Nate was trying to get the tree into the tree stand....he's got the trunk by his hands, just raising it up and then slamming it down into the stand over and over really fast (it was the wrong size I think). It looked SO FUNNY!!! The way he just flung the thing around..... he's just so strong I guess. But after a few hacks at the end of it with a hammer and some more finagling with the screws and throwing the thing around a little more- it fit. Man, I still can't think about that without laughing- it was HILARIOUS...pine needles flying all over the place...what a cute husband I have... anything to make his wife laugh....I love you, Nate!!

3. When do you put up the tree? the Monday after Thanksgiving for Family Night

4. When do you take the tree down? I hate to think about that already, but probably just after New Year's

5. Do you like eggnog? I LOVE it!! And I can't drink it without thinking about my dad holding the cardboard container over our mouths to catch the last few drops- savoring every last one.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? My Cabbage Patch Dolls were a favorite. I think I had like 7 of them (where were two Christmases where I got one for my bday and one for Christmas I was obsessed- and even though Nana hated buying me yet "another darn [she doesn't say darn, just so you know] doll" she always gave in :) I did love my Sylvanian House and bear family though....those were fun. And my cool bike that I tried riding in the ice and snow on Christmas morning.....I could go on.....

7. Hardest person to buy for? Nate- mainly because I want to get him EVERYTHING but I have to choose....and because most of the stuff I really want to get him is way too expensive.

8. Easiest person to buy for? my kids- I could totally spend WAY too much money on them if I had it.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? I have a bunch, I collect them.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? um...I have yet to mail out Christmas cards- I know I'm bad- I would really love to it's just so expensive!! I did do an email one the last couple of years though....I'll have to send out real ones someday though.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I can't think of a bad one....I'm sure there have been some???

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Mr Krueger's Christmas, Christmas Story, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the old Dr. Suess one. I like the new one okay, but mostly just for the line, "course when I say 'we' I mean 'you'" That's a classic :)) I love the kid ones, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph (especially the misfit toys) oh, and I don't know if this counts as a Christmas one, but While You Were Sleeping is an all-time favorite of mine.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? this is bad, I know, but the week before usually. I'm indecisive and don't want to find something better later.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? unfortunately lots of times!! I used to do that a lot actually. But I don't see anything wrong with it if it isn't used. :) It's been a while since I did that though.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? candy/chocolate. And Nana's peanut brittle- oh I hope she doesn't forget that she makes that every year!!!

16. Lights on the tree? of course. I like the green/red/white combo of lights the best. White if I can't have that :) I do like the feel of the glow from the mixed colors though- reminds me of when I was a kid.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Angels We Have Heard On High (Charity's new favorite, because she can find page 209 in the Hymn Book is Hark the Hearald Angels Sing- I like that one a lot too), and Silent Night, Carol of the Bells, Christmas Shoes (sorry Sherry, but I love it even when it's overplayed), Rockin Around the Christmas Tree....again, I could go on.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay at home? Stay at home and play with the new toys-especially now that I have kids, I hated having to ditch my toys to go visiting (love the family we visit, don't love leaving the toys ;).

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? of course-what a silly question. Although you should hear Charity and Kelly when they are singing the beginning to the Rudolph song :) lol they were doing that all morning and I think there are 2 Dashers, 2 Blitzens, and a couple of others that I have never heard of :) They're so funny.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? I think I already gave a way too detailed explanation of the blue angel on top. I like Angels, but I think stars are just as good. I use whatever I have available.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? It is my tradition to go to Nana's house Christmas Eve and open the presents from her, Aunt Bambi and Uncle Ken (even though for the last few years it's been ruined by one thing or another-stupid Idaho!), so that is all the present opening that goes on other than Christmas morning. I must say that in Alaska Christmas Eve just wasn't the same without Nana's house. I certainly hope she doesn't forget that we come over on Christmas Eve this year :) (Nana's getting forgetful....maybe that's where I get it!!)

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Too much focus on the commercial aspect of it.

23. What theme or color are you using? do I need to have a theme?? Actually I have always wanted to do an Angel/white theme, but we have too many other fun ornaments and decorations....maybe when the kids are grown.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? ham

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? do you really want to know? :) jk. I really want a new camera, new shoes, and peace (that's what my mom always used to say when we would ask her what she wanted for Christmas :) that's probably what I'm supposed to say.

If you do this tag (as you should!) tag as many people as there are days left till christmas.
I'm tagging 19: Natalie, Wendy, Sherry, Meg, Angela, Jen, Ashleigh, Leah, Cally, Charity, Sarah, Aimee, Beth, Emily, Meredith, Shannon, Julie, Chelsea, Kaye, I'm totally checking your blogs to make sure you do it!!! jk.

Kelly singing "Over the River and Through the Woods"

Kelly's been learning this song at school, I guess. She sang it for me like 3 times and everytime kept forgetting the rest :) But then all the other times I've heard her sing it outside of me videotaping it, she's done it just fine :) Just a little camera-shy maybe :) But I just love getting videos of her singing- she's got such a cute little voice.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at our house too, now! YAY!!

We got out our boxes of Christmas decorations during the day and the kids and I put up a lot of the extra stuff like my nativity sets. Then when Nate got home he whipped out the tree real quick- such an EASY tree to set up!! LOVE THAT!

This was our beautiful Monday night Sunset. It was incredible! I sent Charity out to get a picture of it since I knew it wouldn't do it justice and that just frustrates me :) But it was really beautiful.

Then after dinner for Family Night we decorated the tree. It was SO FUN!! I can't believe how excited I feel this year for Christmas. I mean, I'm always excited, but usually there is this nagging "here we go again" feeling with this stuff. But not this year!! I totally love it!! Maybe it's just because last year was so unusual. I don't know what it is, it's just really fun for me this year. The kids are way excited this year too. I hope we make time to do all the fun things that we always want to do. We were supposed to go to Temple Square on Saturday but I was so sick (no, I am not pregnant) we decided to reschedule for next Saturday, but I am SO excited to go to Temple Square again!! Nate and I spent like our whole dating time at Temple Square , so it's very sentimental.

It's fun to watch Luke experience it all for the "first time" again. He doesn't remember much from last year. The kids all teach him the songs and how to be good while Santa is watching you. It's fun. Kids so make holidays more enjoyable!! It's totally like being a kid all over again.

We had fun getting out all of our ornaments. Most of them (very few are not) are VERY sentimental. We got rid of a bunch when we moved to Alaska and then some when we moved back, so it's just the most sentimental ones left. My mom always gives my babies a "baby's first christmas" ornament, so they all had fun finding their's and hanging it where they wanted. Then there are Alaska ones for each of them as well that we bought during that week that we were "stuck" there. We have a few from old neighbors and friends that we always have to reminisce about. (It's really just such a sentimental holiday for me. I love that it gives us something to look forward to all month. We need to make a chain.) And then we have the fun Disney ornaments from last year that have become VERY sentimental to us just because of how much it meant to us last year to have a tree and Christmas when we got back here. In fact Nate and I both have been reminiscing about all that happened last Christmas. It's so hard for me to keep back the tears when I think about the whole thing. What an awesome Christmas that was. I think it will always be my favorite. All the help getting to and from the airport, all the help with the hotels and plane tickets. The Manwaring's generosity. Their house, their BED!! Their family Christmas party! Christmas Eve in the Seattle Airport. Christmas and a furnished house to come home to......I can't even begin to scratch the surface, and it almost feels too precious to talk about still, but what an AWESOME experience the whole thing was. As much as it felt like a trial back then- I really wouldn't trade it for anything. Christmas has taken on a whole new meaning to me from that experience.

I like this picture because Brad was helping Luke :) They're becoming such good buddies- it's just fun for me :) long awaited too. Ever since we found out Luke was a boy I have looked forward to the day when they would be able to be friends and it's taken a lot longer than it did with the girls.

This will be Noah's first Christmas! This is his first time holding a candy cane :) He was really enthralled by the whole tree and all that was going on- it was way cute. I made him stay in his walker till all the ornaments were on though.

This picture almost makes me cry because I can't believe how HUGE Charity is!! She's grown up WAY too fast! She just looks so funny in Nate's arms- too big to be lifted up- but anyway- she's still little :) I'll try to just enjoy it while it lasts.

It was Kelly's turn this year to put the angel on the top. (I STILL haven't made my blue angel- not sure what's wrong with me. WAY back when Nate and I were dating-jk, it was only 8 years ago- they had these nativity displays- like lifesize ones- at Temple Square. They had different ones for different nationalities- it was WAY cute I wish they still did it- but anyway the one they had for the African Americans had a BLUE skinned angel. The people were all BROWN fabric (or whatever they used) and the angel was BLUE! I seriously couldn't get enough of it. Not sure what the implications were supposed to be :) Mostly I just thought it was funny. But so I decided that we were going to have a blue angel on our tree when we got married......well, I'm still working on it :) I think I bought some fabric the first year, then a ball for the head the next year, now I'm not sure where either is or if they made the cut in the moves, but anyway- maybe I'll try to do it this year... not sure. Anyway :) There's my long lame story about the blue angel. I probably could have made it in the amount of time I just took typing the story out.) Kelly was excited to put the angel on nevertheless :) And next year is Bradley's turn :)

Noah had fun crawling around under the tree once we had it all finished. I like that he wasn't too anxious to pull the ornaments off right away. He's of course gotten more comfortable with it. We'll see how long those ornaments on the bottom last.

This is pretty much a tradition now too. After we get the tree all up and with it's lights on we all whip out the glasses from Sister Ashton (Charity's Primary teacher in AK 2 years ago) and look at the cool designs that they make with the lights. They are the FUNNEST glasses!! We're totally going to have to get online and order more someday because they're getting hashed. But they're so fun....if you come over during Christmas time remind me and we'll let ya check 'em out- they're the coolest! In this picture Charity was amazed that it did a REALLY BIG one with the camera flash :) She's such a fun girl.

I had to use this picture because of Kelly's face :) (and can I just say how adorable I think kelly looks in jeans (maybe I've said it before) but I so wish she would wear the hundreds of pairs she has more often- she's so cute!)

And yes, this is Charity's bumb in the middle of my "final picture of our Christmas tree". This will be a good show-to-the-future-boyfriends picture I think :) What a cute bumb it is.