Friday, December 28, 2012

Hitting the Range

This morning I decided that it would be fun to have Nick take us to the driving range.  Nick was excited to show us his hobby and help his girls learn something new.  Sienna was happy to let Daddy show her the ropes.
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 She didn't last very long but was happy to watch mommy and daddy and eat her snacks.
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It was a great morning and I was excited that Nick got to share golfing with Sienna and that I wasn't as awful as I imagined I would be.

Christmas!

We had a great Christmas this year!  It was fun watching Sienna this year because she was actually excited about everything and big into unwrapping all her presents.  She is so fun right now.  I also love that she is still little enough that any present is awesome...even plates, cups, bowls and silverware.  We started our morning with just the three of us opening our presents and rummaging through our stockings...
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 Mama and Papa got Sienna "Bop Bop"!  She super loves it.
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 Opening her owl pillow that went with the new bed set that she got from Mommy and Daddy.
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 Daddy and Sienna with their matching candy.
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 Silly faces and showing off her new comforter.
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 After Sienna got to open her present with Grandma Swanson and then we headed out to my parents house for breakfast.  It was delicious and fun seeing the kids play together and talk about what they had gotten from Santa.
We had an early dinner with Grandma Hudson at home.  Grandma Hudson was generous enough to take care of everything and she did an amazing job!  It was delicious!  We also opened Grandma presents before dinner...because some times you just can't wait.
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 Sienna was very excited about her new kitchen!
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 Daddy doing what daddys do, assembling new toys.
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We had such a great day and we are very grateful 
that we were able to spend it with both our families.

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Capitol Christmas Tree

On Christmas Eve my parents invited us out to go see the big tree at the Capitol building.  Sienna loved being outside, playing with her cousins and thought the tree was pretty cool too.

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 Admiring the lights...
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 Family picture in front of the tree
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 Sienna with Mama and Papa
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It was something small going to see the tree, but it definitely helped us to get into the holiday spirit!

The Bittersweet Weekend...

...that was really, mostly sweet!
On Friday my parents received their mission call!  They have been called to Orlando, Florida to serve for 12 months and they report on March 4, 2013.  We are so happy/ excited for them!

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 Saturday was my cousin Megan's wedding in Reno.  I had big plans to get there early and do her hair, get ready together and all of those other things.  Well...we missed the wedding by an hour after sitting in bad weather traffic.  A two hour trip turned into EIGHT hours!  I was so sad that I missed it but was excited to see her and congratulate her and Dusty...in my sweatpants...because I had just spent way too much time in a car.

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 On Sunday after church we went to our friend's house to celebrate and see Santa.  Sienna had a much better experience this year.  We talked him up as much as possible and she was actually excited to sit on his lap and get her present.

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 Our family with Santa and Mrs. Claus

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 Nick and his friend Dennis.

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...and then Christmas was right around the corner...

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Christmas Lights

I love having a little around the holidays.  Sienna is getting big enough now where things like Christmas count down chains and such are fun for her.  There is a house down the street from us that goes all out when it comes to decorating for holidays (He even had a blow up turkey on his lawn for Thanksgiving!)  Right now he has a blow up penguin on an igloo, a blow up Santa (whom Sienna calls snowman) as well as lights and other things...it's crazy...and Sienna LOVES it.  I thought she would love to go and see Christmas lights and I was correct.
Luckily, there is a a neighborhood close to us where almost all of the neighbors decorate and they even have archways leading down the street.  I'm pretty sure that they also have a Santa but I think we were too early for him.  
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 Checking out the lights!
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 She was actually kind of terrified for a minute when we got close to this snowman but after she poked it and apparently showed it who was boss it was okay.
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She wanted to go again but we decided to drive around and look at some lights from the car since it was kind of cold and then head home for some hot chocolate.  It was short and fun aka perfect.

Monday, November 19, 2012

She Had a Birthday...Shout Hooray!

After stressing about it for awhile I decided to not have a big party for Sienna this year.  I figured that she wouldn't care anyway as long as there was chicken nuggets, grandparents, and presents.  Done, done and done.  We invited all the Grandmas and Grandpa to meet us at McDonalds for dinner and then head over to the house for presents and cupcakes.  This girl made out like a bandit!  These are all the presents she got:
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 She was very excited to open all the presents and have everything all about her!
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 We missed "mama" but we were really excited that Grandpa was able to come!
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 Grandma Hudson and Grandma Swanson...
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 Sienna and GG
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 Thanking Daddy for putting all her new toys together!
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 This is as good as it gets sometimes...
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Even though it was a small party she still loved all the attention and got seriously spoiled!  We are so grateful for our parents and grandparents and everyone else who helped to make Sienna's day so special. <3 br="br">

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Look who's turning 2!

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This little love of my life turns two tomorrow...and I'm not sure yet how I feel about it.  She is growing so much and while she has always been full of spunk and sass she is developing more and more into her own little person everyday.  Here are some of my favorite things Sienna can do, for your entertainment and so I can remember later.

*Sienna loves music!  She loves to dance and is getting better and better at keeping the beat.  She loves to sing in the car and with mommy.  She recently made up her own song that went like this : "Halloween, Halloween, BIRTHDAY!"  It was really beautiful.

*She is 99 percent potty trained.  I would say 100 percent but she isn't quite tall enough to climb up on the toilet herself yet.

*She refers to herself as Nena.

*Mommy is still number one with Grandma in second but Grandpa and Daddy are quickly climbing up the ranks much to both of their delight. Aunt Sam and Uncle Jake are also pretty high up there and she is always excited to Skype with them in Idaho.

*She is very dramatic.  Sometimes all it takes is a stern look from Mommy to make her burst into tears and sometimes she hits the stubborn switch and folds her arms and just walks away.  She has also been know to plug her ears and say, "I no hear you Mommy."

* She parrots everything...good and bad.  She will say the words she remembers when I read books to her and from the songs that we sing.  She also will scream "Come on" at cars with me as we try and navigate traffic on our way home from Aunt Tracy's house.  This last one I'm not especially proud of.

*She loves babies.  She loves her cousins, especially William.  She likes to bring him his pacifier, and blankets and she especially likes to give him kisses.  She is also very fond of making ANY of her toys into babies, wrapping them in blankets, and bouncing them while shushing.

*She likes puzzles, coloring and stickers a lot as well.  She is getting good at identifying colors while coloring and is starting to show interest in big kid puzzles.  We are currently trying to teach her to only put stickers on paper and on people if you ask first, instead of on the remote, her toys, mirror doors and Mommy's bottom.

*Sienna is fancy.  She loves jewelry and is often found putting a skirt on over any outfit including pajamas.  She then proceeds to twirl, lift up her skirt and tell me that she is a princess. She likes to pick her own clothes and shoes and can do a lot of the dressing herself.  Today she made a request for braids in her hair.

She is pretty much amazing and we could not possibly love her more! 


Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Halloween Wrap-up!

 We continued with the fun tradition of having the Rick's family come over to help us carve pumpkins.  The grown ups got down to business and the girls got to work playing in Sienna's room.  It was so fun carving pumpkins while listening to the girls giggling in the other room!


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 The finished products!
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 Our Pumpkins with the pumpkins...
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 Family picture
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 ...proof that Kathryn was there too!
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 Tonight Sienna decided that she wanted to wear the dinosaur costume we borrowed from Aunt Katie instead of her witch costume, which we also borrowed...thanks Aunt Katie and Rachel.  She made one stinkin' cute dinosaur.
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 Getting ready to hit up the neighborhood...
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 Side view for good measure (p.s. Like the bow I put on it?)
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 Off we go!
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She LOVED trick or treating!  She walked up to every door, knocked, said trick or treat and made sure to thank each person afterward.  I was so proud of her!  Everyone thought that she was so cute and on more than one occasion we had to wait at the door longer so they could get the rest of their family to come sneak a peek at her.  We hope everyone else had a great Halloween too!

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Trunk or Treat!

Tonight was the trunk or treat/chili cook off for my parents ward and we made sure to invite yourselves!  Nick has a big research project happening right now but took a break so that he could party with us.  Sienna was a little hesitant about her costume at first but Daddy explained that she could be a nice witch and that seemed to fix the problem. 

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 Playing with silly grandpa before the festivities...
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 Sienna has reached that unfortunate stage of being so cute but completely unphotogenic.  Seriously, I can't get the girl to look at the camera to save my life...
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 Getting ready for the cake walk!
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 Working hard, walking in circles for our cupcakes.
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Sweet Victory!
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 Sienna and her cousin Jill
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We had so much fun and Sienna was excited about trunk or treating as soon as she figured it all out ("Trick or Treat", open the pumpkin purse, "Thank You!")
  She should be a pro by Halloween!