Faas family Christmas party

We had a lot of fun at the Faas family Christmas party where we had a special visitor from the North Pole!

 not so happy at first...

then they didn't really seem to care... I guess meeting Santa isn't so bad afterall

Graves Family Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with Abe's family earlier in the month. 

Here is Grandma Karen telling the nativity story before we acted it out.  We had been reading scriptures and read about King Herod, so when the part came about the 3 wise men Hudson asked Grandma about him.  I was surprised because we had only talked about it that one time!  This kid has a great memory.

Getting ready...

Abe and Hudson were shepherds and Ella was their sheep.  I was Mary and Olivia was baby Jesus, since she was technically the youngest grandchild.

Then Santa came for a visit!  We actually got to perform the nativity story for him.

and then he had a present for each of the kids!

Olivia had already fallen asleep

And, not the best pictures, but these are the girls Christmas outfits from Grandma Karen- so cute!

(and this 'deer in the headlights' look is quite common from our Olivia, so silly)

Baking day!

We got together at the beginning of December with my sisters and Mary to do our annual Christmas baking day.  I love it!  It is a great way to start the Christmas season and gets me in the holiday mood.

Hudson and Papa working on his gingerbread house

 The finished product

look at all that candy!

 Jacey and Kylie

Brecken and Karsten

 The girls!  Here we are hard at work  :) 

It is so much fun to get together and bake!

Christmas outfits

My cousin and aunt got these adorable outfits for the girls for Christmas- LOVE them!

And of course big brother wanted in the picture, too :)

Family pictures

We took family pictures with my dad at the end of November.  I think we got some really cute ones!

My favorite family photo

SO handsome!

Ella

Olivia

our THREE kids!

all the cousins

Grandma and grandpa with their 8 grandkids!

The whole gang

Bonnie

We have watched Abe's parents' dog, Bonnie, a few times for them when they go out of town, and for some reason things 'mysteriously' happen while she's here.  One time we came home and a box of capri suns had been drug from the pantry and also some random paper goods, too.  Since we also have Zorro, we couldn't really place the blame on either of them.  Another time she was over, a few small pieces of the bathroom rug got pulled out...we had forgotten to put Zorro in his crate for bed, so once again we couldn't really blame either of them.  Well this time...

Bonnie got caught!

I came home and she was sitting on the rug with ramen noodles in her mouth!! No blaming Zorro this time. 

Thanksgiving

We kept with tradition this year, and went to my sister Nichole's in-laws for breakfast and a turkey bowl.

Abe was even QB for his team

Hudson being silly

Brecken said he'd watch the girls :)

Whitney, Brecken, and Rachelle

It was really cold out, so we took the girls out of their seats to cuddle

love that sweet face and those beautiful eyes!

Later in the day we headed out to Abe's parents for a yummy turkey dinner.  Abe's sister, Melissa, and her husband, Rob, were able to come out to visit from California.

 

Karen had us help string popcorn to put on the tree

And we also put on some of the ornaments

Ella with Aunt Jeaniece

Melissa and Rob also brought their dog, Charlie...he provided some good entertainment :)

Melissa was sitting at the table holding some food for Charlie and the boys had fun trying to 'ride' him as he ran over for his treat!

do I even need to say how much Hudson LOVES dogs?!

Moby

I wish I would've had a moby when the girls were first born.  I heard that you could fit two babies in one, but didn't get around to borrowing one to try it out until the girls were over 6 weeks old.  And seeing how my babies were not small...they were already getting a little big to fit comfortably.

Attempt #1

both girls are in, but I didn't feel like Olivia was very secure...and I think Ella felt a little squished.

Attempt #2

I felt like we did it a little better, but neither of the girls really seemed very comfortable

so much for putting them both in one :(

ps- i don't know how people take good pictures of themselves in the mirror

Fire pit

Just had to post this picture of my dad's work in progress.  He has been doing his whole backyard piece by piece and this is the firepit he is doing.  I just remember having a picture of me and my sisters playing in our pool when it was almost finished and this just reminded me of that.  It will be fun to look back on.

Blessing Day

We were able to have the girls blessed at the beginning of November.  It was a very special day for us and our two new little girls.  They looked so beautiful in their little white dresses.

Olivia was blessed by her Papa Benny and Ella was blessed by her Papa Dave

This was the best picture we could get of Olivia...she was a little tired/hungry/fussy by the end of church

Ella...perfectly posed, she was conked out :)

Our (not so) little family

We were so blessed to have a lot of our family there for the blessing, and even some great-grandparents were able to come to town to share this special time with us.

Abe's grandparents- Grandma and Grandpa Kern

My grandparents- Grandma Drue and Grandpa Howard

Ella having a nice little chat with Grandpa Howard

 Alyse and I at my dad's house after the blessing

My older sisters who are twins- just as different as can be.  You'd never suspect they were twins.  That's how Ella and Olivia will be as soon as I stop dressing them the same :)