Christmas

This year, we were in SLC for Christmas. It was great to see most of my siblings, many aunts and uncles, cousins, my Grandma, and friends.
Christmas Eve with my mom's family. My mom is such a champ- she hosted about 4 parties while we were there. She is such a great hostess.
Gracie on Christmas morning.
Gunner LOVES this giant cow pillow he got from Justin's mom. He played with it for a good 15-20 minutes. I'll post a picture of his sock monkey later, but his two stuffed animals have seemed to be his favorite gifts.

The blanket I made for Justin to put in his truck.



The kids with their stockings and matching jammies on Christmas eve.

Finding Myself

8 years ago, I went to St. George with my girlfriends and chopped my hair. It was super choppy and short. I really loved it... one of my favorite haircuts ever, but I started to grow it out because I was going on a mission and didn't want to look too cute :) (Actually, I just knew I wouldn't be able to get my hair cut as often). Anyway, for years I have gone back and forth between long and short, but I was trying so hard to play it safe that I never really got it right.

...until now! I went in on December 23rd to get my hair cut and colored. I feel totally liberated by my short hair and feel like I've found a part of myself that was lost (does this sound weird that I feel this way about a haircut?) Do you have a favorite haircut on yourself?

Jolly old St. Nicholas, lean your ear this way

We also made it to the mall today to visit Santa after we visited the reindeer (see post below). I think I got a cuter picture on my friend Meredith's camera, but i thought I'd post this while it was on my mind. As you can see, Gunner doesn't know yet how to feel about Santa, but Gracie sure liked him. We are getting so excited for Christmas!

Santa's Reindeer

Lucky for us, Santa was storing two of his reindeer at a nearby nursery. We went and checked them out today. They were awesome.

"Okay, now give a really cute smile for the camera"

Giving Thanks

This is just a quick Thanksgiving catch-up with a lot of pictures and a brief re-cap of the fun time we had. We went to Billings for Thanksgiving to spend it with Justin's parent's in the mission home there. Luckily, all of Justin's siblings were there too. We had such a great time. Thanks again to those who made it so enjoyable.

Father and son.


Justin and I before the annual turkey trot with Miley. I wanted documentation that I sometimes exercise.

This is our little family at Pompey's pillar (a huge rock with the signature of William Clark).

Justin and Camille in front of the Yellowstone River.

Gracie and Gunner.

Gunner with Aunt Kim. So cute.

Carol Ann and I made some pies, and we had some extras in case the Elders came around. What you see is a small part of the goodies we ate :) Yum.

Oh, how we wish we could justify having several 3 gallon tubs of ice cream around.

Wedding pics!

Jeff tried on his tux the day before the wedding, so this is a practice for the temple steps cheering picture.

For those who didn't know, we went to St.George this last weekend for Justin's brother's wedding. Jeff and Sara got married on Saturday and it was such a beautiful day (80 degrees and sunny). We are so happy for them and are excited to have a new sister in-law. I love Jeff's victory fist as they came out of the temple.

Gracie and Maddie (her cousin). Aren't they cute little buddies?

Gunner and Kim. Also cute little buddies. Kim held Gunner so I could dance with Justin.

One of our favorite missionaries got to come home for the wedding. We sure missed our other favorite missionary (Justin's dad).


Jeff and Sara again.
Here are some family pics we snapped. I'm hoping to take some pictures another time with the kids in these outfits. By the time we got to pictures we had hair falling out, shirts untucked, tears, and Gracie slept through the entire luncheon (but woke up conveniently when the cake was cut. Coincidence? I think not). Speaking of the cake- one of the best I have EVER had, and also gorgeous- maybe I'll do a post about the cake...later.

You won't believe it...

But this cutie stood by himself for 7-10 long seconds tonight- a couple of different times. GO GUNNER!