Christmas 2008

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Despite our recent move, Christmas was very merry for us this year. We set up all our decorations the first week in our house and then put all the rest of the unpacking on hold until after the holidays. That way we could just enjoy time together as a family and not feel stressed. It was great!

Tyler's first Christmas

Nathan actually cooperated with me!


What a face! Always makes me laugh :)

Our pretty girl :)

Red is Natalie's color!

I originally took these pictures for our Christmas card, but as you probably have now noticed - I never got around to doing Christmas cards this year. I figured everyone would understand.

We hope everyone had a wonderful and merry Christmas! We send our love to all of family and friends that we weren't able to see over the holidays and hope to see you in 2009. Happy New Year!

Nathan is THREE!

Our little man isn't so little anymore. In fact he's quite the big boy now! Nathan turned 3 on December 7th, the day after we moved into our house. Unfortunately for him we were all exhausted from moving so it was a pretty low-key day for him. However he did get to open his birthday gift from us (which was not wrapped b/c all the wrapping was of course still boxed up), so he had to find it playing the "hot/cold" game. He wasn't very impressed with trying to find his gift until he actually saw it...

A remote control car!!

Nathan absolutely loves anything that has a remote control, he couldn't wait to take his new all-terrain vehicle outside and try it out!



Nathan played nonstop with his new car (even slept with it!) for a week until it broke beyond repair. I'm glad I used my Kohl's cash to buy it :)

We had a family party for Nathan a few days later which he loved. He kept saying, "It's my birthday? I have a party!" I'll post pics of it once I get them (hint, hint Carla)

I can't believe that Nathan is already 3...here's a few highlights of our big boy...
December 7, 2005 - Nathan's birth day
Nathan turns 1!
Nathan turns 2!
Nathan enjoying his new "big boy" status

Seeing my little man in church today wearing a tie and looking oh-so-big as he headed off for his first day as a Sunbeam in Primary made me realize just how fast he's growing up. And all those things that I love about Nathan right now will probably change as he grows, but I hope to never forget them...

I love how he still likes to snuggle with me, especially when we watch movies on the couch.

I love that he needs his hot chocolate "fix" every morning as soon as he wakes up (although I don't always love getting out of bed to get it for him).

I love how he always asks for a second treat to give to Natalie whenever he gets a treat.

I love his high-pitched "baby" voice that he uses to talk to Tyler, and the sweet things he says to him. And how every time he hears Tyler crying he stops and says, "Oh! My baby crying!" and rushes to go see him.

I love how Nathan tries to pray whenever he hears anyone else praying, especially at church it always makes me crack up when Nathan will keep ending his prayer while the person at the pulpit keeps on (it's like his way of saying "that's enough already! hurry up!")

I love how Nathan brings me my glasses every morning when he comes in to wake me up (so I can see to make the hot chocolate of course)

Most of all, Nathan, we love having you in our family and your sweet tender spirit. You have blessed all of our lives in so many ways. You are so wonderful, we love you so so much! Happy birthday :)

Thanksgiving 2008

I know I'm way behind on updating, but as you can already guess - we've been busy! So I'm trying to catch up before next year (which is only two days away!)

We had Thanksgiving at my parent's house this year and it was great! Lots of great food, some kite-flying, and the best part of all.... the moms got to go to a movie WITHOUT kids!! Here's a few pics from the day.

THANK YOU

I will start off by saying that I am SO GLAD to be done with this move!! We should be old pros at moving by now, right? But it seemed like the hardest move yet. Probably because I've never tried moving while also having 3 children still at home. Or had only ONE week to paint an entire house as well as be completely moved out of the old house. So before I complain too much about how crazy and busy I've been this past month...I must send out some huge THANK YOUS to all of those who helped us during this move.

THANK YOU to the Stony Point men who showed up early Saturday to help load all our heavy furniture into the Uhaul and pull down all our stuff out of the attic. Giving us your time and strength truly showed us the spirit of giving during Christmas. You helped make the move go so much faster that day and we really appreciate it.

THANK YOU to my Stony Point friends who came and helped me clean the old house while we were trying to move everything out. I've never seen the house look so clean while we lived there! Your willingness to help me touched my heart and words cannot describe how thankful I am for your kindness.

THANK YOU to my Dad who came everyday for a week to help tape, paint, and do other odd jobs around the new house to get it ready for us to move into. It was so nice to have someone to talk to while we worked those long days. We couldn't have done it in such a short amount of time without you, Dad!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU to my Mom who took an entire week off of work to watch Natalie & Nathan so I could help paint the house and pack everything up. I know how exhausting it is to take care of those two and how much it must have worn you out Mom - you truly are a saint! We also really appreciated the sandwiches mom sent with us everyday so we could keep up our strength. You're the best mom!

THANK YOU to Michelle who came and helped me paint one evening so we could finish our bedroom. I was wearing down and it was so nice to have some fresh spirits to help me along (even if we did spend most of the time talking and nursing our babies - it was fun!!)

THANK YOU to Michael who came several times and helped unload heavy furniture (so that I wouldn't break my back trying to help Dan). It is so great having such strong muscles in the family! We promise we won't try to overuse them. :)

THANK YOU to Kevin who helped Dan with unloading, loading, and then unloading again late into the night that Saturday. And also a huge Thanks to Angela who let him leave and come help us with our move - you guys truly are our best friends!

And finally, THANK YOU to my husband, Dan. He put in more hours and work than all of us and pulled this move off without a hitch. His great attitude kept me motivated, especially after we found out we'd had to be out of our old house an entire week earlier than planned. He installed french doors, painted most of the house, put in new blinds throughout the entire house, and made three trips with the Uhaul to get us completely moved. He got us set up immediately after the move - put all the beds together, hooked up all the electronics, and got everything in working order with all the utilities. I didn't have to worry about anything except packing and unpacking boxes. Dan took all the worry off my shoulders (as he always does) and he probably doesn't know just how much that means to me. So I'm telling you babe, I really appreciate you! And love you too :)