Wedding Bells

Yesterday my beautiful friend Molly was married.
They were sealed here, in the Columbia River Temple
and I was able to be at the sealing as well as the reception.
I am so glad that she was living here this past year since we
have been living down here. It has been great getting to
see her and hang out a bunch, like the good ol' days.

I am so happy for Molly. I haven't gotten to know
Matt yet, but I am looking forward to doing so. He seems
like a very good man and Molly was just glowing.
Congratulations Molly & Matt~

It's beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS!

Last night we had some friends over to make Candy Trains.
Alaina is starting to roll and this is the farthest she's made it.

Mama and her two sweet girls :)

Justin's train

My train

Our trains

Adrienne's and Abigail's trains

Joe's train

Sunday Katelyn snuck outside without me knowing it.
I caught her running around the driveway in just her
Sunday clothes, no coat or anything. We were getting
close to being ready to go, so I got her coat, boots and gloves
on so she could run around outside while I finished packing up.

Her first snow adventure of 2009 ended in tears
when her hands became red and freezing from the snow.

Church Christmas Party

It's always a pleasure to have Justin with us.

Alaina enjoying the program

Cute Christmas outfit from Granny B

I could not believe it. Katelyn was so excited to see Santa
this year. Last year she was afraid of him. She was so
excited last night that as all the other kids were lining up to
sit on Santa's lap, she ran up (cutting in front of everyone else)
with her arms wide open to sit on Santa's lap and tell him
all her Christmas wishes. I thought it was pretty darn cute.

Believe it or not, this picture was taken in the dark.
Katelyn ate one too many candy canes and passed
out for the night still fully dressed.

Christmas Shopping

Today was my day to get the bulk of the Christmas shopping done. I got a babysitter for the girls and went out to face the madness alone, which is really the best way to do it anyway. I enjoyed my time at the Badger Mt. Craft fair and found some really cute things. Then it was onto THE MALL. I went there for the sole purpose of buying Justin a new cell phone. Come to find out, I am not authorized on our plan to upgrade his phone. WHAT!?! Ahhh, so much for that surprise. After a couple of trips in and out of the mall to get things out of the car and get things figured out, I decided that I will just come back later with Justin to get the phone, since now he knows about it anyway.

Entering the mall for the third time in one day, I start to remember why I hate going to the mall during this time of year...or any store for that matter. Every year I struggle with trying to figure out how I feel about all this "commercialism" or whatever you want to call it. I feel bugged that I want to get my children several things for Christmas, but find that the more presents I buy, the more empty I feel. I start to feel like I am just buying stuff, just to buy stuff. To make sure they have "enough" presents under the tree. I enjoy giving gifts to others. I just feel that they should be more heartfelt and not just "things". I mean, is getting my 3 year old a bed skirt very special? Not really. I also have a hard time when others ask me what I want for Christmas. I'm grown up now. I feel awkward saying: "oh, I'd really like this", or "how bout that". I guess I feel kind of greedy or something. Such a weird, frustrating, confusing thing I go through every year. I guess it is just one of those areas where I haven't quite figured myself out yet.

And you just gotta love when some punk takes down a senior citizen security guard at the mall...yeah...THAT'S THE SPIRIT!

Christmas Favorites

Some of my favorite things about Christmas time are:

Sitting in the living room, with just the glow of the lights from the tree, listening to soft music, and just feeling happy.

Wrapping presents! Oh how I LOVE to wrap presents. I am very OCD when it comes to wrapping gifts and I use way too much scotch tape. They must be crisp and clean looking, hence the over usage of tape. And don't you just love the smell of scotch tape anyway? I do.

Christmas music. Some of my favorite Christmas songs are: "O Holy Night" - "Breath of Heaven" - "Silent Night" - "Santa Baby" - oooh and last, but definitely not least is "Sleigh Ride" the instrumental version.

Baking: I love making the annual Christmas goodies and sharing them with friends and family.

Hot chocolate and candy canes.

Caroling.

Getting to be with family.

Giving to others.

Spreading the love of Christ.

Christmas is hands down my MOST favorite Holiday.

Deck the Halls

We have finished putting up our decorations for Christmas-
Except for the exterior lights, which Justin will do this week.

Willow Tree Nativity- there are still some pieces to this
which I would like to get, especially the camel.

Snowmen

Our beautiful tree! We splurged this year and
bought a Noble Fir. I love coming upstairs and
smelling the tree and seeing the lights. It is so cozy.

-Stockings-
We still have to get another stocking holder, so
right now they are just doubled up and Justin's is hiding in back.
We bought Alaina's stocking the other night (the red one).
The blue one is Katelyn's and the tan one is mine.
Justin's is the really, really LONG one hanging down.

Justin put up this little table and tree in the
entry way. It's only a few feet tall and this is the
tree we used last year in the apartment when all of
our Christmas decorations were up in Newport still.

Thanksgiving '09

I am one of 11 kids in a combined family. I think we were
all there this year except for Robert. Basically what I am
trying to say, is that's a lot of people! But it's always fun.

We had it at my mom's. The food was great and I ate
more than enough of my share. I think I gained a few pounds
over the week with all the good food and no exercising.

Two of my sisters: (Britany-left and Tammy-right)

Sister in law, Michelle with Alaina

Sisters Jenny with Madeline and Crystyne with Alaina

Brother in law Aaron-only had to wait 3 1/2 years for
Katelyn to socialize with him :)

Madeline and Alaina (3 weeks apart)

Visiting at Jared & Michelle's- Ethan & Kate watch a movie

Small Wonders in The Life of DeAnne

OK, so this picture makes my heart SOAR! I placed Alaina on her little play mat thingy (that's the technical term) with a cute little ducky hanging over her head. She enjoys looking at and swatting the duck. As I was going about my business today, I realized she had gotten awfully quiet. I looked over and she had fallen asleep like this. This is a BREAKTHROUGH! I don't know how long she will stay asleep like this, but it will be interesting to find out. Why is this an exciting thing??? Number one: she fell asleep on her own, without anyone holding her, without a pacifier, without the swing, a bottle or a blanket. Number two: She's not in the swing. She is flat on her back on the floor. Awesome! Progress is underway. I hope that soon, she will be sleeping in her crib. So far she hasn't been.

Visit To Boise, ID

We went to Boise, ID this weekend to watch our niece Madalyn
compete in a swim meet. We were really excited to go because
we haven't seen these cousins since Katelyn was 2 months old.

Hanging out in at the "Y" waiting for Maddie's turn.

Cute McKay- being a little shy around us.

It was SO hot in that place! I was wishing I had a t-shirt under my jacket.

This was Maddie's last race. It was really long...
Butterfly, backstroke, breast stroke, and crawl???
200m medley (hopefully I'm getting the details right).
She was awesome! It was so fun to watch her swim.
I still can't even dive!

Back at my brother in law Erik's- brother in law's house.

Maddie holding Alaina, Maryn in the back, and
Katelyn up front. I think Katelyn REALLY, really liked
her girl cousins :) We went back to their house to say
hi to Maryn since she wasn't at the swim meet.
It was so good to see everyone, we just wish Gretchen was there.
(She was running across Florida with 11 other women)

NEW MOON

Last night was the big NEW MOON night. I was able to
attend a special showing at 6pm. Some people in my ward
rented out a theater for an early showing and I was lucky enough
to be included in the festivities. I went with my friends Lisa and Molly.

Someone made this really cool NEW MOON quilt
and they raffled it off before the show started.
They also gave out other prizes for various things.
I didn't win anything (not that I expected to).

A "ladies only" showing. It was so funny, a bunch
of grown women acting like twitterpated teenagers.

The poor souls who were waiting in line for the midnight show.
We got there just before 5:30pm and there were hoards of
crazy fans waiting in line, camped out in their lawn chairs and
wrapped in warm blankets.

It was a really fun night and I am glad I was able to go.