Christmas 2010

Christmas was sure awesome this year. Having kids is just the best at Christmas time. Santa came and both the girls ripped, squealed, and had tons of fun opening their gifts. Gwen got a bike this year and it took alot from Brett and I to get her to look at it. Santa left the bike off to the side so she wouldn't see it when she came downstairs. She walked right to the tree with all the presents and then Brett and I told her to look by the kitchen and she looked and said nothing. We told her to go over there by the kitchen and she ran right into the kitchen walking right by the bike without saying anything. Then we pointed the bike out to her and she was like " This is for me???" She loved it!

It was funny each time Gwen opened a gift I told her to open another one and she was like " Is it for me?" She was so hesitant thinking the presents were not for her. Such a sweetie.



Penelope was excited to get her own purse and so was Gwen since Penelope always took hers to use.



Penelope was really into all the present opening but once we started getting a good amount of wrapping paper all on the floor she decided she just wanted to eat it. I swear this girl eats anything she can get her hands on.



Cinderella Gwen's favorite princess, mainly because she has blue clothes.



After all of that Gwen just wanted to go and ride her bike outside. It took alittle bit for her to get the hang of it, but she now is a pro.



Then we got dressed and went to Brett's parents to open all the gifts there. Gwen got a crash kart from Kami to add to all the Doctor stuff she has and loves.





Gwen was so giddy when she opened Winnie the Pooh in a blanket from Grandma. She was sad when Santa didn't bring it.



Penelope just wanted Kami or Papa.



Penelope's favorite was this ball machine that Grandma gave her. She screams with excitement whenever a ball comes out.



The girls got a whole toy store between Santa, Brett & I and Grandma and Papa.



Brett got this awesome shirt from Kami which was great since we all love Arrested Development. Mr. Manager.



Brett's parents are always buying us kitchen things since I hate buying them. I would rather spend my money on other things. They all laugh since I call it " kitchen crap". It is great to have new pots & pans we really needed them.



Christmas was huge this year and I wouldn't have it any other way!

It is hard to get a family picture

Apparently Brett was having issues along with the girls.

Our traditional kids photo on the stairs before opening presents.



More Christmas to come......

Thanksgiving with my parents

This trip turned out to be the trip from HELL (sorry for the profanity but there is no other word but that one to describe it). We have traveled to my parents before many times during Thanksgiving and Christmas and have NEVER had traffic like we did this trip. It took us 9 hours to get there when it normally takes us 6.5 or 7 hours at most.

We had a great time with my parents. The girls loved having the huge house to themselves and being able to do what they wanted. Most of my parents things are packed since they will be moving soon so the house was EMPTY which made it easy for the girls to roam and play. We got there Wednesday night late and talked to my parents to let the girls run around since they had been in the car forever. Then when we woke up I made pumpkin pies (yummy!) and we ate lunch/dinner at my sister Dori's that lives next door to my parents.

They have 2 little dogs and the girls loved them. That is all they are getting since Brett and I do not like dogs :)

We ate with Dori's family and some of her friends and my parents. I thought I got a picture of all of us at the table but apparently not.



While at my parents both of the girls allergies were TERRIBLE. Brett got a terrible sore throat which turned into laryngitis and then once we got home we both got Bronchitis. Apparently Utah in the winter does not agree with us.

We did have fun and the girls loved being with my parents. This is what everyone did:

Gwen & Grandma Helen (aka my mom) did crafts. They made Grandma (aka Bretts mom) a birthday card since we would be driving home on her birthday.



The card in progress. Gwen loved the glue and glitter and that my Mom had her wear an apron. She just loves all that crafty stuff.



Then Grandma Helen found playdoh that she had made and some toys and Gwen was in heaven.



Penelope pushed her stroller around since there was a ton of open space in the house. She had a ball. Can you tell from this picture how awful her face looks? It is all red and broken out from her terrible allergies. Poor thing.



Papa Helen played, wait sorry, worked on his computer. He is addicted.



Watched movies on the ipad.



Played cards. My family is huge on playing cards and always has been.



Braved the snow. It was one of the coldest winters Cedar had seen -10 degrees one day.



Gwen loved the snow and took every opportunity to play and jump around in it.



Then on our trip home we had the scariest thing ever happen to us. We left my parents house at 5:30am so we would miss the traffic. Once we hit this place in Cedar City on your way to St. George called the "Black Ridge" it is one of the worst places with the most accidents in Utah. Well it turned into one scary time for us. We were going slow since it was snowing and the roads were not the best and we got on some ice and totally lost control of the car and did 2 360's which made us go into the embankment between the road and the mountain. We felt like we were going to flip over but then we hit the mountain and it stopped us from flipping (well that and we were blessed). Brett then got the car in reverse and drive really fast to try to get us out of the embankment. One awesome good Samaritan pulled over and helped us push the car out and jumped on the side rail to help give the wheels some traction so we could make it out of there. We did as you can see from the picture below. We are on the side of the rode were we stopped to look at the car and found out we had a ruined tire and had a dent in the bumper.





What made it even worse was that we had to wait 3 hours for the tow truck/AAA to come and help us. We did have a little bit of excitement when no one was passing us for almost 45 minutes and we knew there had been an accident before us so no one, now, could get to us. After another hour, making it 3 hours we had waited, a fire truck and an ambulance pulled over to check on us. Gwen liked talking to the fireman. They just wanted to make sure we were warm and had help coming but they were not allowed to help us with the tire or anything. Which did suck since we had been waiting forever but oh well. Finally the AAA people came and fixed the car for us so we could be on the way. Well now it was way late and we had not even got to St. George yet! Traffic was horrible, oh course, and finally in Jean, Nevada we were done and got a room for the night. We rested and let the girls run around for a couple of hours and ate but then decided to just leave and get on the rode since Brett had to be in court first thing in the morning.

So all in all we left my parents house at 5:30am and didn't get home until midnight. Worst trip ever. We may never go to Utah again. Snow is the devil.

Don't Worry Be Happy.

 It has been so crazy around here. I am still dealing with some postpartum and seriously can it just end?!?!?! To help I have decided I need to have a moto and stick with it. Don't Worry Be Happy. This has helped me to:

• calm my voice when I am speaking to Gwen & Brett. Mainly Gwen since she is the 3 year old
• be nice not angry
• be happy not depressed
• smile
• realize that the house will never be as clean as I need it to be 
• be the fun happy person I used to be
• enjoy the little things again
• little steps do help, but it is a process
• don't worry be happy

To help this I got rid of my old camera and got a new camera . One that has HD video so that I will get back to using my nice camera because taking pictures is one of my passions and I just love the video and camera combo! It is so nice to have that back.

Going and doing the things that are fun and that I love are great too. The pumpkin patch always makes me happy. You always get great pictures there. Of course I had to take tons so prepare yourself.



Sisters forever. It will be fun and interesting to see how they develop their relationship together over the years. All of my sisters are WAY older than I am and I never had one close in age, luckily Devon and I were always really close.



Almost a year old in just a couple of weeks.


Almost every picture I took of Gwen is like this. She really was going full throttle with the tongue thing.





Just about every picture of Brett & I is like this. I stick out my arm as far as I can and pray for a good one. YAY for finally having one without braces.



Gwen has totally grown lately. She is soooo tall and can go on every ride at Disneyland now with the exception of Indiana since that is 46". Big Thunder is her favorite.



To end I will share this funny outtake of the girls. Once Brett & I saw it we laughed.

Shake your head when you dance

Penelope has been cracking us up with her dancing moves! She does this everytime music comes on. Gwen of course dances all the time and it is her favorite thing!

Miniture Golfing with the whole fam

We went golfing at Camelot with Brett's whole family one random Saturday! We had so much fun and Gwenie lasted the whole 18 holes.

It was hot but there was shade. Penelope was so great. She was content the whole time in her stroller.



Silly me but I was so excited to be the first person to score a Hole in One!!!!



Gwenie did really good. She got a bunch of 3's.



Brett's parents. Aren't they sooo cute?? Love you guys. I am really lucky to have great in laws.



Gwen landed in the water alot but we think she did that on purpose so she could get wet!



We had a really fun day!

10 years is a big milestone

Once we dropped off the girls with Brett's parents we got dressed up for our AMAZING dinner at Ruth Chris. I had been salivating all week thinking of my yummy lobster.

They decorate you table with lots of cute confetti for your special occasion.



Then came our dinner of Lobster and Filet Mignon. Usually I am all about the lobster but this time the lobster was a little over cooked (but still yummy) and the Filet Migon was AMAZING!!!! Seriously.



Ruth Chris surprised us with the dessert plate. Isn't it so adorable? The lava cake was soooo good to.



We also went to movies and went to a Angel Game. To bad they lost, it really isn't their year. It was so nice to go to a game though.



10 years is such a long time. Crazy how fast it comes. Since it is 10 years and people are amazed when I tell them it is that long I thought it would be a great to list some things that have made us work, mainly about Brett.

1. Brett works soooo hard for us. Or as he tells Gwen he works hard for the MAN. I know being an attorney and listening to people yell at you and hate you all day SUCKS.

2. He still thinks I am sexy.

3. He loves his girls.

4. He is taller than I am. (trust me I never dated anyone that was taller than me and it is one thing that I really love)

5. He is a great cuddler. (is that a word?)

6. He has way more patience than I do.

7. Gave me the confidence that I have today. I was not a confident person before I met him.

8. His favorite thing to do is to come home and hang out with us. He gets bummed if we are not home. Whereas I would think he would love the time alone to get a break but no.

9. He can look to the future and picture all of these great things, where as I can not. I am stuck in the now and think those things will never happen. I wish I could be like him that way.

Thanks so much Babe for all of these years together. Let's hope one day we can finally pay off your schooling (which by the way was totally worth it) and live in a real house! As long as you help me stick to our goals I know it will happen.