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!