The fastest month of the year

I probably say this a lot, BUT I can't believe how time flies! It seems like yesterday that I was posting about thanksgiving. The beginning of this month went pretty normally but also quickly. We had something going on every weekend.

December 1: Baby prep and a short hike

 December7, 8, &9: Brandon's work Christmas party, temple trip, & the Messiah program

  December 14, 15 & 16: A party with our San Clemente friends (We really need to take a picture next time we have one of these get-togethers). The Dana point boat parade, great as usual but also cold. And last but certainly not least, a wonderful pre-Christmas dinner and bell concert at Diane's house.

December 21-30: We went to our ward Christmas party planning to leave right after dinner and get home to bed before our 6am drive to Utah but Brandon being the service oriented man he is, we were one of the very last people to leave after taking down all the decorations and cleaning up! Early the next morning we started out on our 11ish hour drive to Orem, Utah.

I started in the drivers seat and made it all the way to Mesquite (1/2 way) then Brandon took over and got us through the snow to Orem.

We got to my grandparents house where it was immediately obvious upon opening the fridge that my siblings were there!! All the eggs had eyes too, my grandpa was careful to avoid the "live" ones when he made breakfast the next day!

We then drove to West Yellowstone, Montana where we stayed in a nice cozy cabin for the week, celebrating Christmas, snowmobiling, skiing/snowboarding, and walking the town. I missed out on the snowboarding and snowmobiling but in a month it will all have been worth it!

Me and my pillows go everywhere together these days

What happens when you have lived your entire life in the desert of Saudi Arabia! We need to get this kid in the snow more often.

Our sweet ride into yellowstone

Water and snow are my favorite scenery combination, couldn't get enough!

this was not the last time she ended up in the snow, what are big brothers for

Me, Brandon, and the bison. NOT buffalo, bison!

It was cool how you could tell where all the hot spots were just from the steam

love the water color

The two who made it all possible! I love my parents SO much and am so grateful for their love, support, and all the work they put in to make this past week the greatest!

Old faithful. It was cool to see Yellowstone in the winter, unfortunately the eruptions were really hard to see with all the steam surrounding them.

water and snow, I could stare at it forever!

The kids!

The girls!

Baby Seth got his own stocking from Santa. Only 6 weeks until he can enjoy it himself.

Did somebody say gun control? Not in our house!! My dad loves his new Boy Scouts of America Eagle Scout tribute gun!!

Taylor's gift to Grandpa! He wore them until my brother said "You can take those off if you want, I don't mind!" I love my grandpa!

Last year I got the Louis Vuitton and Camree has always wanted one. After watching Brittney and I both open our purses and seeing we got the same ones, she was pretty sure she was getting the same as us also, SURPRISE she got her Louis!

Brandon's first time on a Snowmobile, he had a BLAST!! Racked up almost 200 miles of it this past week!

Brittney and Trevor

Taylor, Mckenzie, and Brandon stayed home with me on the second ski day because they all had colds. We took the opportunity to walk around the town.

South of Vegas and the snow is still melting off our sun roof. This is after a night spent in St. George. We had about a foot piled on top!

I wonder how many trips from Utah to California it will take before Brandon will pass this sign without taking a picture of it....

And December has been the month I figured out that I am constantly making ugly, weird, or mad faces....  Unfortunately for you, Brandon went through and deleted the worst (or best depending how you look at it) pictures of me!

In my defense, this was after falling down the steps of the bus in front of everyone with my coat unzipped. Yes, I'm the pregnant lady that fell out of the bus!

According to Brandon, I always look grumpy when I walk so he set out to prove it to me!

Good bye 2012, its been a great year!

November

This month has been pretty crazy!! First off, I decided to paint a dresser/changing table. I wanted a specific style but could only find a dark cherry wood one used. Our crib is white so I decided to challenge myself! I was in such a hurry to start, I forgot to take pictures before having Brandon take the drawers out but you'll get the idea!

Before

Before

One of our favorite little friends helped us with the sanding. I actually did quite a bit also!

Yea, not sure I want to do that again... at least not anytime soon!

Priming!

Who needs paint when primer looks this good??

After 2 coats of primer! 10 points to anyone who knows what movie I watched while I painted!

Finished and in the nursery! Still need to buy new handles though!!

Oh, yes that is an adorable boat filled with ity-bity diapers!!

Funny side story!! All the painting was done by me in the middle of the night. I got the flu and after throwing up for a few hours I still felt nauseous BUT there was nothing left. If I laid down, I had to run to the bathroom but if I kept busy I did a lot better! After spending a few hours painting I was finally able to lay down and sleep for 20-30 minutes at a time. I did the second coat of paint the next day when I stayed home from church!

I was so bummed when we put the drawers in, they stuck and some paint was pulled off so I'll have to do some touch ups!

For Thanksgiving we went to Agoura and had a great time! I had never done down town LA so we parked down there and took the underground all over. We saw the Hollywood sign, did the walk of fame, visited the old Hispanic part of town, and ended the day with Universals City Walk. I was so proud of myself for keeping up even when my legs are so much shorter than everyone else!

Of course, the boys went on a ride!

Tide pools & caves at El Matador beach!

They fixed the spa...

I always get caught making weird faces by the camera...

Love this one!

I wanted to take the tree home... Brandon said no!

This guy played his part WAY too well... he may have been a she!

And Cory tried to get rid of Rick!

I know this is crazy long, BUT we hit another milestone! 30 weeks today, that means we are 3/4 of the way through pregnancy and only 10 weeks away from being parents! Still can't believe it! He is SO active and loves to stretch, particularly right into my ribs! We now have a changing table/dresser combo, crib, and futon all in the nursery. I planned to get a rocking chair for Christmas but am not totally sure it will fit... I'm still thinking of ways we can arrange everything to get it there! We also got some outfits for him!

30 weeks! I don't think I can stretch any more or get more uncomfortable but word on the street is, this is only the beginning!!

First non-pj Sunday outfit? I think yes!

Christmas at the Casa!

Brandon trying out his new camera! (This boy doesn't believe in waiting until Christmas to use his presents)