Mom's Done It Again!

I don't want OUR blog to be just about me, but I wanted show what I did New Years Eve. Many of you are probably thinking...didn't she just cut her hair short a little while ago? Yes I did and yes I cut even more off. This was my original plan and I couldn't handle keeping it as long as it was any longer. I believe this is what you'd call a pixie cut. Do I love it? Yes. Will I keep it this way forever? Probably not. But it is a fun change.


Oh... and I decided to include a picture of the baby bump at 30 weeks! I can't believe we only have to wait 10 more weeks til we get to meet our new little addition. Hopefully it won't be longer than that I already feel huger than huge!

Christmas 2011

Our first Christmas Morning at home! For the 23rd and Christmas Eve we spent the evening with my parents and my wonderful families on both sides. Dresden was ecstatic when his Nani and Bopba gave him a Lightning McQueen tent, sleeping bag and backpack combo. He insisted that we "shut the door" and quickly wanting us to open it again. He felt so big in his very own tent. He also really enjoyed the soccer ball and net that his Bopba picked out special for him. As for me and Scott, my parents amazed me and completed a beautiful book shelf. I love my dad and mom they are so talented. Some of you may remember the shelf he made me a couple years ago. It too was amazing! I really gotta learn how to do what he does. It is amazing! I will cherish those gifts forever because I will always remember my dad made them for me with a lot of love. For my parents we gave them some framed pictures of Dresden and (my favorite) a framed Family Tree filled out with a whole bunch our families names. I was hoping my parents would like it and my mom gave me exactly the reaction I needed. My cute brother was there and that was a present in and of itself and he brought his cute girlfriend Maura. I really liked getting to know her. She is such a positive person and I'm so proud of Ty for finding such a cutie. The only thing missing was my other Little Brother Trevor. I missed him so much. It just wasn't the same without him. I hope next year we'll get to see him.

Well as for Christmas Morning I woke up to my sweet sweet husband having breakfast made and the table set. He had to get up extra early to make the breakfast casserole and I was so grateful for his efforts. Dresden came down and a fun time opening presents. He was most excited about one of the smallest presents (an addition to his Thomas the train set, Henry) not the one that I've been hiding and he's been asking about since his Birthday (Lightning McQueen rolling bag). Boy is it nice to buy presents for a two year old. I can't imagine what it will be like when $75 will barely get us one present for our kids.

After we opened presents, had a delicious breakfast and went to Church (Which was lovely by the way. I found a new favorite Christmas song: Where Shepards Lately Knelt), we went to Grandma Tamera and Grandpas house where they were so generous to give us more presents. Despite Izzy's lack of joy (to say the least) Scott and I were excited for the Shock collar we gratefully received from Dave and Tamera. Hopefully now we can keep Izzy from tearing apart other peoples garages while chasing after their cats.

Dresden was so lucky to receive Thomas the Train PJ's some Matchbox cars and Thomas the Train Movies. For Mama and Papa T we painted a new shelf for them to put coats on. I loved making so many of our gifts this year. It was worth all the late nights and work. I don't know if I'll be able to continue once we start having more kids though. Mama T is amazing making so many of her gifts with 8 children. Wow! Anyway, I think the highlight of the day was getting to talk to our brother Jon on his mission. I'm so grateful for technology these days. We got to skype with him and actually see him. It was so good to see how happy he is and how good of a missionary his. Scott and I (Izzy and Dresden) are really excited for him to be home next Christmas. Even though I want to be in Germany by then I really want to be able to see Jon when he gets home. Missions do such amazing things to young men. I can't wait to see the magic worked on Jon. He already was such a good example and so fun for Dresden but I can only imagine when he comes home. Well we finished the night at the Taylor's and had a lovely evening just relaxing. Scott got to get his Halo fix with his two sisters and Kristen's boyfriend David which I know he enjoyed. I am grateful though that he wasn't stuck playing til all hours of the night. Had Bryce been here I'm sure we probably would've had to have ended up sleeping over. Scott sure misses his Best Buddy Brother Bryce. Til next Christmas...Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

St. Nikolaus Comes to our House

St. Nikolaus DID come to our house! Despite that Dresden might not have fully understood our new tradition, I think he thought it was pretty fun. He especially loved his new Thomas the Train Ornament and even though he didn't like eating the orange he thought that was pretty cool too. Scott did his research on this wonderful German Tradition. December 6th is the day that St. Nickolaus comes. You have to put out one of your shoes outside your front door the night of December the 5th and then if you are luck St. Nickolaus will come by and bring you oranges, nuts, chocolate Santa's and cookies or crackers. We were all lucky because St. Nickolaus did fill our shoes the morning of the 6th and we all got more and more excited for Christmas and to see Dresden's childlike excitement for these wonderful traditions that make up a Merry Christmas.

Christmas Decorating and Traditions

I love Christmas! I love everything about it. I especially love decorating for Christmas. This Year I decided that we try getting our Christmas Tree and decorating done early so that we could focus on getting our presents (at least a week before Christmas) and enjoying the Spirit of Christmas. December 1st I told Scott it's time to get our tree and so that evening we went and picked out our perfect tree. We took it home and as I decorated the tree with I got to watch my boys snuggle on the couch and watch The Polar Express. Dresden absolutely adores trains and so I thought he'd really enjoy the movie, but enjoy is an understatement he was captured by the movie. He watched the entire thing and wanted to watch it again right after and the next day. Let me just say that watching those two there on the couch made decorating the tree seem completely unimportant. Those two boys are my everything and seeing how much they love each other and enjoy being with each other makes me so happy. I love them so so so so much!

I wanted to involve the Savior in our Christmas even more and so I made this cute little 25 day countdown til Christmas where everyday we get to read a scripture, sing a song and do some sort of act that reminds us of what Christmas is all about. Thank you Tamera by the way. I also learned about some of the cute traditions that Scott enjoyed as a child and I loved the idea of reading a Christmas story every night. Even though we missed the last two nights because I was working late at my seasonal catering job I'm excited to try out that tradition. Another thing I think we are going to do is-since we have so much love for the German culture- we are going to set out our shoes (or at least Dresden's) for St. Nikolaus on Dec. 6. Stay posted to see how it goes. Dresden might be a little too young, but we'll see.

I made Izzy a stocking this year. It only cost me $1.50. I made it out of felt and a pre-made stocking I bought at Joann's.

I also made the tree skirt to match the ribbon on the tree. I love polka dots! Who knows if I'll love them forever but this was a fun easy project. Plus, every tree needs a tree skirt in my opinion.

And Christmas Lights... I love love love how simple little lights can bring the warmth of Christmas.