Bath time with cousin Atlee

Atlee apparently isn't very into bathtime but likes being naked. We told her she and Elise had to take a bath if they were going to keep being naked. They did really well in the tub together. They were really cute together playing. It was fun to have them playing nicely together.

As you can see, we let them run around naked for quite a while before we made them bathe.

Christmas was crazy!

I remember when I was little we'd open all our Santa presents, get dressed and pick one toy to take with us as we traveled to three grandparents homes for brunch, lunch and dinner. By the time we got home we were exhausted. It was a blast! Unfortunately, this Chrsitmas was similar to those of my childhood but Elise started out the day tired. Here are the best pics we got of her throughout the day. Oh and notice the binki? She' s started biting just about anything and she bites especially when she's frustrated and tired. The binki makes a good bite barrier. Sigh.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

I don't have time so I'll explain and share really fast. We went to Chilis for dinner last night and came home and opened our Christmas presents for each other. That way I didn't have to try to fit them in the car when we leave for Utah tomorrow. Yes tomorrow that's why I don't have tons of time to blog. So here are some pictures. They'll say it all for me.

yeah, sorry about having to turn your head, I'll fix it later

She liked this toy

She had a hard time figuring out to tear the paper off, usually she gets in trouble for tearing stuff. Christmas is confusing.

What have I been up to?

Well Elise is growing at least tall (if not big) and strong and Ryan has passed with flying colors all of his CPA exams. But what have I been doing when I'm not changing diapers or begging Elise to eat?
Well, I like to
                facebook (my latest time consumer is bejeweled blitz, and I'm not very good at it),
                exercise (ok I don't like doing it but at least my ward friends and I can do it together),
                research (I like researching family stuff, like what milestones Elise will be hitting soon and what other families are up to that I want to do to, and how to be a better mom and wife),
                read (I'm loving audio books right now, they are hard for Elise to ruin),
                NETFLIX (nuff said),
                and I'm still uber crafty although I find it hard to scrapbook anymore cuz Elise is way too interested in what I'm doing to leave me alone long enough. I've sewn a few things like a new carseat cover for Elise. I'm soo proud of it. I didn't have a pattern to use so I made it up as I went a long and it still looks pretty descent.
My latest project is this...

 It's an advent calendar that teaches about Christ through a time line of what he's done. I got the idea from a lady teaching a class called "Teaching your Kids the Gospel." So, each day we take out a card and read the backs. It took quite a while to find all the pictures and find all the paragraphs to put on the backs. Mostly they are from lds.org 's gospel art kit. But some of the pictures I wanted didn't have a a summary so I wrote my own summaries of the scriptures that related to the picture.

This is the Premortal Christ card and on the back it talks about how Jesus offered to come to this workd and pay for our sins.



This is the back to a picture of Jesus holding a lamb.

I made a set for my sister too and she showed her friends and they wanted them too. So I thought I would offer what I have to anyone who wanted to make their own. I have a pdf file of the backs that I printed on white cardstock. Then I printed the pictures at a photo center and glued them on the front. Then I pouch laminated them (that was long story and I still owe Heather a personal apology) and cut them out. The cards end up being 4.5" x 6.5". Trish told me I should market them but to be honest nothing about this is my own. I got the pictures online, I got the summaries from lds.org and the scriptures and the idea came from someone in my stake.

Our Christmas Wish

 Christmas cards are the ultimate "thank-i-mony" times, don't you think? If I had been more on top of things, I would have mailed each of you a copy of this card and written out a nice long list of things that happened this year. Oh well, at least there is the internet!

Truly our family has been blessed. Elise continues to grow healthy, strong, and rambunctious. She is smarter each day and keeps us on our toes. Ryan has a wonderful job that allows me to stay home and care for our child as well as pay more and more of our debt off. We have been blessed with continued health and safety. We love California and all the new friends we have made here. We are blessed to have a ward family that cares about us and has been very generous towards our family. We have testimonies that Christ came to this world and preformed the atonement for all of our pains and sins. We have testimonies of giving and love that this time of year allows us to focus on the ultimate gift that we have been given. We have wonderful family who have come to see us as well as having chances to go to Utah to see them. We have great friends that have stuck by us since high school and earlier. We are so greatful for all that we have. May the spirit of Christ and His atonement be with you and your loved ones this Christmas season and all year long.

Weirdness

This week has been a rough one. We got home from Utah and along with the heater not working Elise went through a little throwing up spell and I got a nasty cold. Sigh, my house was a mess and I have this odd psychological disorder where if my house is out of control I feel out of control. So not feeling great I went to work in my spare moments to clean up the house, un pack, decorate, make food, etc. While psychologically I felt better the next day, my throat, nose, and head didn't. Yuck.
Luckily Elise seems to be doing much better and I'm working on it (I'm definitely not as bad as I could be which I'm SUPER greatful for).