Christmas Morning: 2009

Merry Christmas everyone! We had a wonderful morning! Lexi slept in until 8:40 a.m. so Chris and I got to sleep in as well. It is a good thing too because Chris stayed up really late watching, "A Christmas Carol" and drinking his egg nog. I fell asleep on the couch shortly after the ghost of Christmas present entered, so I did not finish the entire movie. Needless to say, it was a great Christmas from the start because we were all rested. It was so fun watching Lexi open up all her presents. She unwrapped them herself and she loved the concept this year. It was really cute when we walked out to the living room where all the presents were and her face just lit up! I love being a parent! The holidays are so much more special now. Lexi got a long list of presents from Chris and I, and both sets of grandparents. Thank you everyone for the presents. And, my mom and dad, thank you so much for Chris and I's presents, we love them!

Lexi's favorite two favorite presents are a stuffed barney doll, and her baby strollers that she got from both Grandmas. She has already strolled Barney around the apartment!

I am also in the process of making my mother-n-law's cinnamon rolls. Because we woke up late, we will probably have them as an afternoon snack instead of breakfast, but hopefully they will be good regardless.

Chris and I got a digital frame from my mom and dad, so today we will be adding pictures to it so we can display it in our home. We also got some gift cards so we will have fun using those!

Later tonight, we are going to Wagner's for a yummy christmas feast!

This has by far been the most simple and quiet Christmas for Chris and I, but there is something special about being together as a family. I didn't think I would miss my extended family, but I do. It is a good thing Aaron is getting married and we can come out in January after the new year to be with our families. we love you guys!

Anyways, we don't have a lot of snapshots because we recorded most of our Christmas morning, but when we come out we can show you the exciting footage.

As for now, enjoy the pictures and we hope all have a very merry christmas and a happy new year!

Christmas Eve: 2009

For Christmas Eve this year, we went over to the Wagner's for the festivities. We ate delicious appetizers, re-enacted the Nativity story with five girls, had a white elephant exchange with the adults and talked and had fun. Although the kids did not fully understand what they were suppose to do, we felt the spirit as the story was read, songs were sung, and we remembered the birth of our Savior. Lexi started off as one of the wise men, and then she ended being Mary. As you can tell from her facial expressions in the pictures, she did not thoroughly enjoy playing a part in the story, so eventually, she took off all her costumes and started goofing around while making the others girls laugh in the process. Yes, that is my daughter, the ring leader :) I am so grateful, though, that we could be with friends on this special holiday and not be alone. Thanks Wagners for hosting a great night!

Santa Clause came to Rochester Hills

Today, Chris and I took Alexis to go see Santa. She can say, "Santa" as clear as a bell and everytime she sees pictures of him or reads books she can recognize who we are talking about. So, we thought she would be so happy to see Santa. Even in the short line we had to wait in she kept looking in the window where he was and repeating his name over and over. So, when it was our turn we were anxious to get some good shots of Lexi and Santa. Well, we walked in, took off her jacket, and told her to go to Santa, and she literally froze. So, chris picked her up and placed her on his lap. He was a very friendly Santa, but Lexi was not quite impressed. She kept squirming and wanted to get off of his lap, and we asked her to look at Santa and she wouldn't she just kept looking away. You could tell she was so uncomfortable and finally when he said merry christmas and was staring to put her down she said, "All done!" She ran to us like she had not seen us in years. She did not cry though so that was good. But, here are the best pics we could get of her. And, she made out with a lot of goodies from Santa. she got reindeer antlers, a sticker/coloring book and a candy cane! She did like those even though Santa was not her favorite.

With a box and packing peanuts, who needs real toys?

My parents sent our Christms presents in this shipping box and filled it with packing peanuts. Alexis could care less about the wrapped gifts I was placing under our tree. Instead, she was more interested in the box and all the pretty pink packing peanuts inside. She looked at the box and said, "In." So I put her in and she went crazy. She started kicking and throwing packing peanuts and had the look of the happiest kid on earth while doing it. She loved it. She even was putting them in her ears, which I kindly stopped for obvious reasons :) Anyways, when it was bathtime we had to literally force her out of the box while she was kicking and screaming and saying, "More please, more please!" So, thank you mom and dad for making her day. And, I am sure on Christmas she will love the wrapped presents as well.

Barney: I love You!

Alexis is obsessed with Barney. We rent Barney DVD's from the library once a month and she cannot get enough of them when we do. The cutest thing, though, is what happens at the end of each show. Barney always sings the I love you song, which is Lexi's favorite. Everytime barney starts singing this song, she runs up to the tv, opens her arms as wide as the tv and hugs and kisses barney. It is so cute! She does it every time! Hence why she is getting a stuffed barney from Chris and I for Christmas. Maybe she will hug that instead of the tv. Anyways, here are two pics of her hugging barney.

Alexis: Roughly 22 months

Here are just some pictures I took of Lexi yesterday. In some, you will notice she has my strainer. She loves playing with my kitchen gadgets and so I let her play with the ones I do not use too often.

you will also notice that she is wearing a lil' peanut shirt. Her Grandpa Glidewell always called her "little peanut" so he found her this shirt. It just now fits so she is wearing it with pride. I love it!

you will also notice that in one photo shoot, I got almost every emotion of my sweetie! She is so full of emotion and they click on and off, like most girls, so I thought I would document the many emotions of Alexis!

So, enjoy these updated pictures.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

The sunday after Thanksgiving, we set up our Christmas tree and decorated our apartment. Lexi loved the tree when we put it up and now, weeks later I am happy to say it still stands. The decorations might not be in the same spot that I put them and the candy canes might be all broken and some half eaten, but nevertheless, it still stands!

I find it funny that she was all smiles for these pictures, except when Chris wanted to be in the picture with her. She threw a fit and as you can see, she is not so happy to be cuddling with daddy, mostly because he was restraining her from taking off the decorations, but the pic made both of us laugh, so I thought I would share it. Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving 2009

I am so lame! Between Lexi being sick, me being sick, company coming in, and hosting Thanksgiving, I FORGOT to take pictures of Thanksgiving! I am bummed! But, I am still going to blog about it, because it was fun!

We had our friends, Kara, Jake and their baby Lucy come over from Ohio. They hosted us for Thanksgiving last year, so it was our turn this year. They came and then we had two families from the ward join as well.

It was a blast. We had 8 adults, 3 toddler girls, and 2 infant girls in our apartment. Everyone brought something so no one was burdened cooking the entire meal. I like it that way. It gave me a chance to enjoy my company.

I made the turkey, gravy, stuffing, and sweet potato casserole. Everything turned out great so I was happy.

As always we had more food and dessert than we could eat, so there has been plenty of leftovers, Chris has liked that.

After eating, we played Right, Left, Center. Prizes were won and I think everyone had a good time playing. Then, we just talked and tried to keep 5 little girls happy :) I was so glad we were not alone for this holiday and I am glad it turned out well.

Thanks everyone for coming and we should do it again next year!

Tutu Party!

My friend, Callie, organized a girls night out. It involved brownies, muddy buddies, lots of tulle, elastic, tying, and talking. It was a blast! I made Alexis this purple tutu and I wasn't sure how she would react. She isn't exactly the girliest child in the whole wide world, but she loves to dress up so I figured it could go either way. Well, I was planning on wrapping it up and giving it to her for a christmas gift, but I got home from the party way late and forgot to put it away. So, needless to say, when Alexis got up in the morning, she saw it on the couch and said, "Pitty" (pretty). I thought, what the heck, let's see if she likes it. Oh my gosh did she like it! I put it on her and she twirled and laughed and ran full speed everywhere. It was great. So, I hurried up and got my camera to capture some of the moments. I was a little too slow getting it to capture the twirling, but I did get some good ones. In fact, she likes it so much she would wear it all the time if I would let her. I have to hide it sometimes so that she does not go crazy for it! I am so happy she likes it and it was fun making it with my own hands.

Mommy's Shooooooes!

I have blogged about Alexis wearing my shoes before, but I had to blog about it again, because it is too darn cute. Also, now Alexis not only wears my shoes and walks around the apartment, she now repeats the following phrase while walking around: "Mommy's Shoooooooooooooes!" She says it the whole time. It cracks me up! She used to hate shoes, and now she LOVES shoes. So funny that girl is.

Arizona and Utah Trip, October 2009

I have realized that I never blogged about my trip to AZ and Utah in October. In October my twin brothers, Shane and Shawn, returned home from their missions. I loved seeing them and I was so grateful that I was able to stay for two weeks, to spend time with them and my other family. My Cali grandparents came and I love being with my family. After they were home for a while, we went up to good old Mt. Pleasant, UT to visit my Grandma Priest. It was so much fun! We took my Gma to Salt Lake where we got to go to all the church sites and feel the spirit of the church headquarters. Lexi especially loved th top floor in the Muesum because it was a hands on center that she could take part in. Overall, it was a great trip! I am glad to have all my siblings on one continent again!