I can do so many new things

My baby is growing up. Just in the last few weeks she has mastered so many new things. She can now sit up from laying down, she has started to crawl (mostly army crawl), looks at books, gets into everything, and she just got her first tooth. It is so fun to see her personality emerge as she grows and learns new things. Emmy I love you!

Can you tell where we have been?

AVATAR 3-D!!!
Kirk's parents were brave enough to take care of all 4 kids while Kirk and I had date night. The movie was awesome. I felt a little nerdy with my glasses on and it was funny to look over and see Kirk (and the whole theater) with his on too. I have to admit I was a little hesitant to see it. The only thing I knew about the movie was that the kids got some weird blue dudes in their happy meal. I am not really into sci-fi but this amazing movie had it all (action, and a good love story). You definately have to see it in 3-D.

18 months- hip hip hurray!

Carter had his first day of nursery a couple of weeks ago and he went in without any crying. He did well for the first couple of weeks and has now decided to cry- poor boy! Granted it is during naptime and lunchtime, I would probably cry too. As soon as church is over and we peek our head in the door to pick him up and he runs towards us crying. Better luck next week.

Happy New Years

This morning I woke up at 4:30 with Emma and heard a little noise outside and took a peek and saw a firetruck. I started smelling smoke and then more firetrucks arrived. After a couple of minutes I could see smoke and soon the house 2 doors down was on fire. My in-laws came up stairs and we had a little gathering in the front room as we watched the neighbor's house burn down. We slid the Christmas tree out of the way and pulled up the couch and watched for several hours as the firefighters were hard at work.

Flames were shooting out of the windows and roof. There were 2 ladder trucks in the air continiously spraying water on the fire. However, the fire burned for over 3 hours.

As day breaks the damage is finally visible

Our street was lined with trucks as far as I could see and our driveway quickly turned into a news station and was used to roll up all of the fire hoses. It wasn't exactly how I thought I would be spending my New Years Day but I did get an interview (with the guy in the white jacket) with Channel 5 in my pj's and all. If anyone actually sees it air, let me know. Everyone got out safe and sound!!!

Christmas Vacation

We have been looking forward to Christmas vacation for months. Kirk's family came from Seattle, Texas, Idaho, and Utah. We are so glad everyone came to us. We felt like we were on vacation without having to pack our bags and leave home. We had such a wonderful time. Here are some highlights.

Lunch at Joe's Farm Grill (featured on the Food Network and was just as good as we hoped)

Temple Lights

Every Christmas needs to include gingerbread houses (aka grahm cracker houses). We had houses with slides, pools, sleigh and toys, christmas lights, and many other very original creations.

The cast from the nativity reenactment (minus our cute shepherd boy who disappeared before photos)

Of course Christmas morning was wonderful.

Emma's 1st Christmas

Carter is still a tad bit sleepy!

Our Polar Bear Club was much larger this year. (PICTURES COMING SOON) We had 14 brave souls. It was much colder than I had imagined and it literally took your breath away-brrrrr. You know it is cold when everyone comes up gasping for air, and when you get out of the water you instantly feel warm.

Next we played kickball at the park.

We wrapped up the evening with our tradition of reading a Christmas book in front the fire.

The next day was followed lots of shopping, pizza and movie night.

The whole gang (all 21)

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas (inside)

One of the many reasons why I love shatterproof ornaments.

The Christmas tree ornaments spend alot of time on the floor or in a grocery cart, but every once in awhile all of the decorations will be on the tree at the same time, usually at night when everyone is asleep. Nevertheless, it is beginning to feel like Christmas around our house, except when you step out the front door and feel wonderful 70 degree weather.

Simple pleasures...

...having your very own swing. We are beginning to remember why we love AZ.