Christmas Morning

Getting ready to open presents. Don't you love the pj's?Christmas with family is really what Christmas is for me. I love how happy they look in this picture!

Look at how spoiled... I mean loved...these girls are! I will never fit all of this into the back of my little Blazer.

Heros

A few weeks ago Julia's nursery teachers talked about heros. I guess it really stuck with her because this morning I told her we were going to go see Grandma and Grandpa Stoddard tomorrow. Her response went like this.

Julia: Let's talk about everyone.

Mom: Who do you want to talk about?

Julia: Grandpa is your father. And he is your hero.

Mom: How do you know that?

Julia: Because I love him really much. He is your daddy, but his name is Grandpa.

Braids

I love braiding hair. I'm so excited that Julia's hair is FINALLY long enough to do this:

Julia's dance recital

Julia has really enjoyed her dance class. The eight week session ended yesterday with a little recital. Julia was distracted by everyone watching and the promise of cookies and treats afterward, but she was adorable. They had little routines for five or six different songs and I was very impressed by how well the girls knew them. I signed Julia up for the next session so she will start again in January. Here's some pictures of her tap and ballet routines. They aren't in order, I can't get my computer to move them around. Dancing a tap routine. Warming up at the bar

Posing at the end of a tap routine

Ballet routine called Kitty Rock. This was my personal favorite.

Mom made me stand like this to take a picture, I just want cookies...

Random, adorable pictures

Flowers for Daddy because we are proud of all his hard work

The girls singing the "We Did It" song from Dora. They always dance in unison. Pretty cute.

Wearing jammies, rainboots and sitting in a doll stroller.

And just in case you thought the messes had stopped, here are two from this week:

Lights at the Los Angeles Temple

We were in LA yesterday with Autume and we went to the temple to see the lights. It was very cold (for us, I know you Utahns are freezing up there). But the girls didn't care at all. It was beautiful. I especially loved the nativity. It was so simple and so wonderful.

Oh, Christmas Tree

Yesterday we went and picked out a Christmas tree. The girls L-O-V-E-D it. We also started a fun new tradition to let the girls pick out an inexpensive ornament to put on the new tree.They had a hard time, but Julia picked a cute little mouseAdria liked this cuddly penguin.

They didn't want to look through the trees, they just wanted to get the first one we came to. Which is pretty much what we did. Julia wanted to know if Santa was going to take the tree back to our house for us. She was very nervous once she realized we were strapping it to the top of the car. I love my tree decorations, and so do my girls. I had a hard time getting anything put onto the tree. This is the look Adria gave me when I tried to take one from her.We also somehow lost a strand of lights and so Ben had to go get more. By the time it was all decorated, it had been about 5 hours from the time we left to get the tree. I'm still tired from it. But, it is so beautiful. I love Christmas trees!!! Both of the girls wanted to put the star on top, but neither of them could reach, so the star got put up three times. Julia wanted to stay under here all day, even for meals. Who doesn't love looking at lights?

I love living here

Most of you know that I have no intention of living in California for more than a few years. But, in the meantime, I really love living here. This is where I went jogging this morning. The girls love all the leaves on the ground. Every time the stroller goes through them they say, "crunch, crunch, crunch!" to each other. I love that I can go out with my girls on December 1st and the girls don't need to wear jackets. A lot of people are very surprised to find out that I like living here more than next to the beach, but I love the big sidewalks and wide streets, not to mention the many stores and shopping centers. I also will always love looking at mountains more than a beach any day. Well, I'm going to go get ready to take my kids to the park, without jackets, in December. Yeah!

To the North Pole

Dear Santa,

For Christmas I want the biggest dolly in the whole world, a car for me and Adria to ride in, a Diego lollypop and a doll house.

Love,

Julia

Thankful

I know it's cliche, but I just wanted to say that I am thankful this year for my family. And I don't mean the "oh, it's nice to have a family" kind of thankful, but the deep in my heart, more grateful than anything in the world kind of thankful. I watch my girls growing up so fast and all I can think is that I wouldn'trather be anywhere in the whole world than here. Of all the good choices I've made in my life, my family is the best. I love knowing that I mean more to them than anyone else. It's nice to matter so much to someone. So, to myadorable girls and my wonderful, patient, forgiving and loving husband, I'm thankful for you!

Christmas is coming...

I know that Thanksgiving is still a week away, but I love Christmas and I am so excited for it this year. Julia is just as excited, she talks about it a lot. It doesn't help that all the stores are overwhelming us with Christmas stuff. Julia has been asking for a Christmas tree for weeks so I finally caved a few days ago and got out a little tree for her room. She wanted to decorate it herself. And, of course Adria had to help too. I think this Christmas will be more fun than any Christmas I've ever had.

Play space

It would appear that our girls were overwhelmed by the giant size of our apartment and felt that they should find a smaller place to play. At least I had one for each girl.

3 going on 16

I can't believe how fast Julia is growing up. Look at this picture and tell me she doesn't look like she's going to the mall with her friends. I took the picture and told her how pretty she looked and she got embarrassed and started dancing on the stairs. What a goof. Today Adria was emptying my dishwasher for me and Julia said,"You're going to be put in trouble, Adria. And then Julia and Mommy and Daddy will be soooo cranky." I tried to clarify that Adria was getting herself in trouble and would get put in a time out and she said, "Yeah, she's climbing into trouble." Then I just laughed and hugged her. Don't grow up too fast, Julia.

Fun with friends

Our good friends the Mortensens are here for a few weeks from Texas. Today we got to go to the Spectrum and hang out with them and the Hansens and the Syeds (minus all the dads). While I admit to lots and lots of craziness, the kids (all eight of them!) had a really great time. There were a lot of cute pictures, but I won't overwhelm you.

The way things work

Lately, I feel like my girls want to know everything about the world...all at once. Julia will see something, like stars last night and say, "Mommy, what do stars do? Tell it! Tell it!!" Today Adria wanted to know about the rainboots she had in her drawer. I told her they were for walking in the water and then went on making dinner. I guess the only water she could think of was bathwater. Did you know that Adria could climb into the bathtub and turn on the water? Neither did I. These are censored to keep this G-rated. Julia says something funny pretty much every hour. Here are some of my favorites. Driving past a dairy farm, I explained that those cows gave us milk and I said, "We call them milk cows." Without hesitation Julia replied, "Where are the hot dog cows?" Today we were watching bees on the flowers outside my bedroom window. I was telling her how bees use the flowers to make honey. Julia said, "That's not all bees make." "Yes sweetheart, honey is the only thing bees make." "No, they also make the clouds very, very beautiful." Ummm....what? Also, if she doesn't want to do something, she'll start walking backwards, holding her arms towards me saying, "I think I'm going the wrong way! Help! Help!" And I have to laugh, it's just too cute.

Arizona Halloween

Cousins

Trunk-or-treat

counting the loot