Pillow Pets for Cheap!

I scored a sweet deal recently on pillow pets. I let my girls pick what they wanted and I have 4 left. I'm selling them for $10 each. Abi & Kate haven't put them down since they got them. There is a panda (my favorite), a dog, a bumblebee and a ladybug. Let me know if you're interested.

I also have 2 pairs of size 8 crocs, old navy sweats, men's jersey hoody, some maternity pants and maternity capris (no, i'm not expecting)--all brand new. I saw some great deals and couldn't resist they just don't fit me/us. I can return the clothes and shoes, I just wanted to pass on the deal if they worked for someone else.

Christmas--The Finale & Confessions

Once this is up, then Christmas can be done for another year....well not really. I'll have to start now stock piling on presents because I refuse to pay full price on anything. But at least the decorations are down (have been for weeks) and everything is back to normal...at least as normal as it can be with a THIRD of our house packed....waiting....waiting.... Home buying/selling is cruel....so very, very cruel. Can't wait till its all over. Hopefully we'll never move again--at least not within the states...

Christmas Eve Nativity at Grandma and Papas

Mary obviously forgot about her baby in her belly while riding the donkey:

Mary looking at the baby

Santa? wha?

Christmas Morning. Richard was so impatient to go open presents. I barely got this photo.

Grandma and Papa got this swing set for the girls. I was hoping it would satiate Kate's climbing desires....it just encouraged her to climb up other things!

Christmas relaxing:

More relaxing. Richard and I played many games of Heroes. Yes, I actually slowed down long enough to relax...a little. I also have been reading books. I'm almost done with the 3rd book in the Hunger Games series. Yeah....I need to relax more often.

Now to confessions...We've been pretty secretive this year. A lot has happened. We've known for a long time that we would be moving. We didn't know if was going to be because of our choice or if we'd be forced into the situation. Paychecks were scarce and small this year. We learned to be very resourceful. We ate things that were....lets be honest....LESS than appetizing. A lot of sacrifices were made. All in all though, we had an AMAZING year. We relied on each other. We learned a lot. We did things we would have never done if we had had money to spend--like attending anything and everything free in Utah county. We had a blast. I wouldn't trade it for the world. Don't know if and when I'll ever be able to eat tuna fish again. I'm pretty darn tired of sandwiches. We were never hungry though. We had food enough to fill our tummies even if it did nothing for the palate. I let slip our circumstances to some people....somehow word spread and we received groceries on our doorstep numerous times, new clothes for Abi, and even presents Christmas morning. We tried to be secretive so people wouldn't have to worry and do stuff like this for us but to be honest, it was welcome relief and it was nice to know that people cared. Things are hopefully looking up. We are currently not in need of anything, except for continued babysitting exchanges. We went out 2 weeks in a row thanks to my rantings and ravings! I think this has happened once before when Abi was little. It was wonderful. Maybe we'll make it to 3 weeks in a row!
Anyway, we can never say thanks enough to the people who so generously filled our fridge and home with the things we needed and even with non-essentials that just bring so much hope. THANK YOU!
Here's to an awesome 2011!!!

Night Before Christmas Eve

We started a new tradition this year of celebrating our Christmas Eve Festivities on the night before to avoid any scheduling conflicts. It was a wonderful, relaxing evening. We loved being able to spend some nice quiet, relaxing time with our family.
First we ate our fondue dinner, then the girls opened their presents (the new dresses I made), and then we had family pictures. We played games and ate dessert and then we snuggled down next to the fire. It was wonderful. Can't wait to do it again next year!

Gingerbread Houses

Look at Kate's distended cheek. That is a pretzel in there!

Maybe we ate too much candy:

Final catch up before Christmas

When Daddy Dresses His Little Girl:

Abi & Kate sporting their Turkey Lurkey and Little Turkey shirts thanks to Emily!

Utah Flash Game. It was a lot of fun!Getting ready for the Christmas season. The lighting

Growing up

These girls are just growing up SO fast! Abi is now a Sunbeam. Can you believe it? She is such an amazing little girl. I wanted to write a few things about her so I don't forget. Abi is so caring and concerned for others. We read a story in the friend a few months ago about a little boy who's friend had cancer. He sold a bunch of his toys and gave the money to this other boy's family. After we read it, Abi started going through her toys and pulling out things that we could sell to give money to kids. One day she brought some scrap pieces of paper to me and asked if I would buy them. I asked how much. She said Twelve Dollars...Each! I asked what the money is for. She said to give to little kids. Whenever she makes money by doing little chores, she usually wants to give the majority of it to Jesus. She understands she can buy candy with it but she wants to give it to others. She even gave me a quarter last week to buy milk (don't ANYONE take that the wrong way--we're doing fine right now. We can afford milk. She just wanted to help out). Abi shares so well with Kate. She lets her play with all of her favorite toys. We just love our Abigail Maye!


Kate is such a joy and pleasure to us. She is hilarious and knowingly gets in trouble quite often. She loves to climb up everything. She is the reason we purchased a new garbage can. Finding your baby eating out of the garbage is more than disgusting! Kate loves to get us to laugh and she loves playing with her big sister. She has been trying really hard to help out around the house. She tries to put her dishes in the sink but can't quite reach yet...she tries to throw things in the garbage...sometimes garbage but also sometimes toys and i think a cell phone...She has a low little grunting laugh sometimes and she is obsessed with Daisy our neighbors dog. She has begun to engage in imaginative play and she loves to twirl and play tag and jump with mommy.

Movie Night:

Kate loves popcorn but she loves to feed us popcorn even more.

See...she does have SOME hair!

Denver

In October, Richard had a business trip to Denver, Colorado. Since it was relatively close he could drive and WHY NOT bring us along? We had a wonderful time traveling there and back with Daddy and spending a little bit of time at night with him. We left snow in Utah and enjoyed 75 degree weather during the days. During the day the girls and I had a blast going to the Denver Children's Museum (SOOOO WAY MORE THAN AWESOME), walking around downtown Denver, and going to the Zoo. We got to see our friends the Grays and that was SOOOO SWEET of them to invite us over to dinner! We even made it back JUST IN TIME to go trick-or-treating. We LOVED Denver and the drive out. It was soooo beautiful. We are SOOOO going to go back for a trip. And someday when we live in Spanish Fork, we'll be 20 minutes closer :).

My favorite picture from the trip:

Stretching our legs at a mall on the way:

We thought this play area at the mall was the coolest. We wished we had one in Utah. NOW we do!!! Hooray! Haven't seen it? Go to Provo Towne Center Mall by the theaters.

The night we drove in, we stopped at the Children's Museum. We were kind of raggedy from our long drive but had so much fun and we were glad Daddy could go with us. The girls and I went back the next day. I didn't take any picture that day. I had my hands full of two little girlets.

Dinner at a diner on the 6th Street Mall strip.

The zoo was awesome. There were 4 baby tigers and like 2 or 3 baby giraffes. SOOO COOL!

It was hard to take pictures when someone was doing this all day:

The girls and I walked around downtown Denver. It was an adventure. Here is an old church:

Public park (I think this is a Non-White park :) ). I turned so many heads with me and my two whiteys. We were fine as I knew we'd be. People looked pretty shocked though that I was daring enough to walk through.

The state capitol:

I tried to get Abi to stick her hand up and "pick" the nose. She refused. :(

The Grays:

Abi and Bayli became quick friends! :)