As Christmas gets closer, I am getting so excited to be with family and to see my girls with our families. They aren't around them all the time so I feel like our families don't really know them, sad but true. I am sad that my sister Tam won't be in Utah with us, but she is getting ready for their sweet little boy to join the family in a couple of weeks. We will miss you Jacobs family! 
This is about as close as Chloe would get. She was waving to him and saying, "ho ho ho" while waiting in line, but she didn't want to sit on his lap once it was her turn. I thought she would be friendly, but I guess you never know how kids will react!
Chloe loved her bag of treats from Santa. That's probably the only reason she got as close to him as she did! It made her whole day.
Here's our Christmas tree. The girls had fun decorating it with me.
I bought the girls' Christmas dresses at Baby Gap this year. I saw them and I really couldn't resist them. I thought they were too cute, and they are my favorite color. The girls wore them to church yesterday and they looked beautiful.
We are all very excited for Christmas this year. It will be so much fun to spend it with family. The girls get to meet Santa on Saturday so stay tuned for that post!
Our weekend in NYC was so much fun. Here's a brief rundown of what we did. My sister's friend and her husband live in the city, so they were nice enough to let us stay in their place since they were out of town for the weekend. They have a sweet apartment and an awesome view of the George Washington Bridge. (Thanks so much Lindsay and Rob!) We got there late Wednesday night, around 10:30. Bryan drove around for an hour after dropping us off looking for a parking spot. The girls went to bed at about 12:00 am and we woke up at 7:00 to get ready for the parade. We caught the subway at 8:00 am and it was so crowded when we got off the subway. We stood still for 20 minutes just waiting for the crowd to disperse. We ended up at Columbus Circle to watch the parade. It wasn't the best spot, we could only see the balloons and no people. Niah was really mad when the 'Bolt' float went by and we couldn't see Miley Cyrus. I was a little disappointed for her too. We decided about halfway through to walk up the street and see if we could find a better spot. Well, we did and it ended up being so much better and Niah loved it! It was so much fun seeing the parade, I have always wanted to see it in real life so now I have! After the parade, we headed down to 5th Ave. to check out the FAO Schwartz toy store and the decorated windows. Just a bit of advice if you ever go to the city with kids- go without the stroller! NYC is not a stroller friendly place, the store aisles are too narrow and the subways are a pain with them. We actually ended up leaving the stroller home on the second day. We had sore arms from carrying Chloe but it was worth it. Anyway, after 5th Ave. we headed to Times Square and ate lunch at a place called Ellen's Stardust Diner. The waiters and waitresses are Broadway wannabes so they sing while you eat. The atmosphere was great but the food, not so much. I love Broadway so I thought it was a great way to get that theater feel when we didn't go to a real play. We then took the girls to the gigantic Toys R' Us store. There is a ferris wheel inside that you can ride, we didn't because the line was soooo long. Out of all the toys in the store the girls picked out stuffed giraffes. Bryan and I tried to talk them out of it, but that's what they wanted. Whatever makes them happy, right?! We were all so worn out that we decided to call it a day, it was only about 4:00 in the afternoon but we had had enough! The second day we went to the Statue of Liberty. Niah loved seeing her in real life. She had to pose for the camera in front of the statue. It was really funny. This was probably the highlight of the trip. After the Statue, we went and saw Ground Zero and then headed to Times Square again to eat lunch/dinner. Niah wanted to see the Disney Store so we went back to 5th Ave to let her see it. The store was awesome and we even got to see Minnie and Goofy. The walking was exhausting. We walked a ton and when I woke up in the mornings I could hardly walk because of sore feet and legs! Since I didn't get much shopping in the first couple of days, Bryan took the girls to a park near the apartment while I went into the city by myself to shop. It was a ton of fun and I want to do a girls trip now! I had a great time shopping all by myself! On our way home, we missed a turn off and got pretty lost. We eventually found our way back to where we needed to be and then got lost again in Albany when we tried to find somewhere to eat. Needless to say, our drive home was not that fun and a little longer than it should have been.
I'm so glad we got to visit NYC. It was so much fun and I want to go back someday for sure.
Here's Bryan testing it out for the first time.
It came in two huge boxes so I turned them into houses for the girls. The girls got to work decorating them with markers.
I love my new couch. It's so nice to have somewhere to relax and lay down at the end of the day. Thanks B for my wonderful birthday present!
All in all, it was a great day. Growing up, I always wondered what I would be doing when I was this age and today, I realized that my life is exactly as I imagined it would be 10-12 years ago. I have a wonderful, forever family, a terrific husband who works hard every day for us, and two beautiful little girls who are the joys of my life. I am so happy to be a part of their lives. I am so blessed. I can't wait to share the next 26 years and many more with them!
I am definitely NOT ready for winter, but ready or not it's coming!
Isn't she pretty?! I love this picture of her. It was taken one or two days before she had brain surgery. I was pregnant with Niah at the time.
I miss you and love you Grandma Saundra. I know you're always with me! 
Niah can get it pretty high up in the air.
Chloe just wanted to run and ride her bike on the court, she didn't really care about the rocket!
Thanks Grandma Shannon for the fun rocket. It's great entertainment for all of us!!
Bryan and I rented this movie over the weekend. We LOVED it!! It was so hilarious. I haven't laughed so hard for a long time. Steve Carell is so funny. If you haven't seen it, you must watch it!
Today is my Grandma Sally's birthday! She is such a great Grandma and I love her to death. I have so many memories of her. Here are some of my favorites...
We decorated some sugar cookies. The girls enjoyed the frosting more than the actual cookies!
Last night, we went to our ward Halloween party. It was so much fun and the girls had a blast trick-or-treating around the church. Niah was a little shy and wouldn't say 'trick-or-treat' but by the end she warmed up a little. Chloe is our little sweet tooth so she was in heaven. Here's Ni with her friends at the party... Gracie, Niah, Georgie, Beth (the perfect Snow White), Brooke, Addi, and Grace.
Here's us at the party. The sign says it all when it comes to Bryan and me dressing up. Bryan isn't a huge Halloween fan- I have told him, and he will admit that he is a party pooper!
Niah and her friend Addi.
Niah dressed up as Ericka from Barbie's Princess and the Pauper. She wanted her hair just like Ericka's so, I had to straighten her hair first to get all her natural curl under control so that she could have curls like this. She looked really pretty! I love fixing her hair- she doesn't let me do it fancy very often so I had fun!
Thursday night I had the crazy, last minute idea to turn one of our pumpkins into a witch for the girls. I worked on it for 2 1/2 hours and was up until midnight. I had a lot of fun and Bryan even helped me make the hat. I thought she turned out pretty cute- I'm not an artist so the face is kind of funny looking, oh well. I made up a Halloween story that night for Niah and the witch in the story was named Agatha. I set the pumpkin on the counter so the girls would see it when they woke up. I told Niah Friday morning that Agatha, the witch from our story came to visit her for Halloween. Well, both of the girls hated the witch and wouldn't go near it! I had to move it away from them while they ate breakfast and they haven't touched it since. I guess I'll know in the future that the girls don't like pumpkin witches! I also made them pancakes for breakfast and cut them out in Halloween shapes... the girls wouldn't eat them so I ended up giving them cereal. I was trying to be a fun, creative mom and it didn't go over well with the kids! I guess I'll try again next year.
Here's Agatha with a carrot nose, yarn for hair, and a hat made out of a cereal box. I think she's cute...
We had a fun Halloween. It's weird to think that it's already over. Now, on to the real fun holidays!!
My friend Erica and I planned a little Halloween party for the kids that go to playgroup every week. We had a couple of crafts, food, a game- kind of like a cat walk- and our friend Carrie did a wonderful job of reading the kids a few Halloween stories. Erica and I made these 'witch-on-a-stick' treats that I found in a magazine. They turned out super cute so I had to show them off!
Bryan played in the Intramural Flag-Football Championship game on Thursday. Even though it was 32 degrees-freezing!- we went to support him. They won and had an undefeated season! Going to the games was really fun and the girls looked forward to going every week. Niah is sad that we won't be going to anymore games.
The pictures I tried to take did not work because it was too dark outside. This is the best one I got of the team in their huddle. You can barely see Bryan's head- he's wearing a BYU beanie.
When my mom came to visit she brought me some new books to read. It's a series written by Anita Stansfield called the Barrington Family Saga. There are four books in the series. I started them last Sunday and finished the last one tonight, that's four books in a week. Needless to say, I have neglected my household chores for a week and will be catching up tomorrow! They are so good!!! I have always loved Anita Stansfield's books. This one tells the story of a family who moves from England to America right around the time that the Mormons are being persecuted and pushed west. It's a great story and I wish there were more books in the series. If you want a good read then here it is!
On Saturday, Niah and I went and saw High School Musical 3 while Bryan took Chloe with him to the school to watch the BYU game. I have to admit that I actually LOVED this movie! It was really cute and I think it's the best HSM yet. The music was awesome and the dancing was great too! Niah loved it, as much as she loves the first two movies. It's also very nice to be able to take Niah to a movie and not have to worry about the content, other than Troy and Gabriella sharing a few juicy kisses! You should go see it!
