Christmas Tag

Christmas Tag

1.Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper for the kids, bags for adults.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial

3. When do you put up the tree? Day after Thanksgiving

4. When do you take the tree down? No later than New Years

5. Do you like eggnog? A sip once a year is good enough for me, Aaron on the other hand can't go to the store without buying some.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?

7. Hardest person to buy for? My dad and step mom

8. Easiest person to buy for? Molly, I think Santa is bringing diapers!

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Not one of our own but my mom has 2 willow tree nativities

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail, but I have never done it. I wanted to this year but never did it.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I better not say.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The Polar Express, and the depressing Christmas Shoes

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? All year

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not yet, but I went to Aaron's work party last night and they had a white elephant exchange and I am going to use what I got at my work party white elephant.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Grandma Page's chicken and noodles on Christmas Eve! And of course all her homemade candy-caramels, toffee, thumbprint cookies, etc.

16. Lights on the tree? Lots and Lots of white lights

17. Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night, and The First Noel

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Luckily we live close enough to hit up all the grandparents so it busy, but eventually we will stay at home on Christmas day.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Only if I sing

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? My mom has an angel because her ornaments are the willow tree angel ornaments

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning! When my sister was dating Tony he talked everyone into opening the presents on Christmas Eve and it was the worst thing ever.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Driving in the snow

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? We don't have any of our own, but I love my mom's tree. But I do now that my tree will have white lights.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? leftover chicken and noodles

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Nothing I am just excited to watch Molly. (She will get a few more gifts besides diapers, we aren't that mean) Christmas is so much more exciting when you have your own kids.


I will tag: Melanie, and Linda

Update

I can't believe it has been a month since I have posted last. Talk about a slacker. Life has been crazy around here. I started working everyday about three weeks ago and I hate it. Granted I only work 5-6 hours a day and they let me bring Molly so that is nice but I almost think that it is harder bringing her. I worry about work and trying to take care of Molly too. Aaron has also been busy with work, school, and his church callings. I can't wait for him to be done with school, but I am afraid it is going to be a while. He also spent a day hanging the Christmas lights outside. My mom and decided it is so nice to have a man around the house so we didn't have to climb the ladder.

A few weeks ago Grandma Connie took us to Disney on Ice. We had my whole family there except my sister Michelle. The kids totally loved it. Molly stood on Aaron's lap and waved at all the characters.

Kylah, Brayden and his Goofy hat, Mykah; my adorable nieces and nephew

Molly and Konner, all Molly wanted to do was give Konner kisses

After we went to dinner at AppleBee's. It is always entertaining to watch the babies together. Konner isn't totally sure he likes Molly. This is a picture of Molly trying so hard to figure out what she was having for dinner.

Wow do the cheeks run in the family or what!

This year for Thanksgiving we stayed in Payson. We all went to Grandma and Grandpa Page's. It was a nice, relaxing day but too short. I can't believe Thanksgiving has come and gone.

We also had Aaron's work bonus night. Every November they do a big dinner at the Salt Palace. This year it was planned the same day as the BYU-Utah game so they had a big tailgate party and they bought everyone their team shirts. We went to West Haven the night before to see Goodrich's and they watched Molly for us when we went to the party. It was so nice to get away for a few hours without her. It doesn't happen often.

Last weekend we had our ward Christmas party and Santa came to visit. And me being the mean mom that I am, I made Molly sit on his lap. She just sat and looked at him for a few seconds and then she SCREAMED! I just had to get that picture.

Freaky

The secretary at my work took her kids to the doctor last week in Provo, and in the doctor's office there was a poster hanging up that was about car seats and buckling up. It had a baby's picture on it and Janice (my co-worker) thought it was Molly. She asked the nurses if they knew who that baby was and they did and guess what it is NOT Molly. She took pictures of it on her phone and came back to work and showed me. I also thought that it was Molly, and then she told me the story. Crazy! This baby even has the cheeks. Does anyone else think they look alike or am I crazy.

Molly look-alike

Molly

Leaves, Leaves, Leaves!

Saturday morning Molly and I went out and raked leaves while Aaron was at school working on a group project. Molly sat in our little bike trailer and sat so nicely watching me. Then of course when I had the giant pile all together I couldn't resist putting Molly in them.

At first Molly didn't like it and she freaked out but it only took a second before she thought it was pretty cool. She started clapping and putting her hands in the air, and saying WOW, her knew favorite word.

Halloween Fun

Halloween was pretty fun this year. Having a baby to dress up was so much fun. More so for me than for her. Molly was a trooper though being drug from place to place all night. I went to work and I dressed like Tigger. My mom had bought a Tigger costume for Molly last year because she thought it would be funny if we both dressed the same. It was pretty cute, but I just didn't think Tigger was "cutsie" enough for a little girl. I bought her a Flower costume at the Children's Place. I fell in love with it the first time I saw it so Molly got two Halloween Costumes.

These are the pictures of the two Tiggers at work. Molly loves jumping on the little trampoline, it makes her giggle uncontrollably sometimes.

We made it just in time for my Grandparents trunk-or-treat. Molly was so cute. She held her own little bucket until we started getting candy then she would just hold the candy in her hand. I have been working in teaching her Thank You in sign and by the end of the night she about had it down.

Later that night we went to visit my dad and step mom. They were still at their ward party so we went to their church. They were in the middle of the costume judging contest so we sat down and visited. Next thing you know they were handing out the prizes and Molly won the Funniest Costume award. I didn't even know we were in it the contest but apparently we were. I however, didn't think she looked funny. Cute yes not funny. Oh well she won anyways. When we got home our neighbors came over to see Molly. I put her on the floor and next thing she was into her bucket of candy. She was pretty proud.

HELP

Ok so I logged on to my blog and my list of fellow bloggers is gone. There are only two there and I had about 20. I however don't know any of them. So if there is someone out there who is smarter than me and knows how I can get my list back let me know. For now if any of you read this please leave me a your address or call me and tell me it.

9 Months

That's right, Molly turned 9 months on Saturday. We went to her check up this morning and she is 18 lbs 2 0z, and is 27" tall. She entertained the entire waiting room for 45 minutes. I love her sweet spirit and her ability to bring a smile on any one's face. We love her so much. I asked the doctor about Molly not sleeping at night, and what I should do, and he said she has a fireball personality and likes to GO GO GO, and that is a big problem when it comes to sleeping. She thinks she might miss out on something. He said hopefully by the time she is one she will be old enough to WANT to sleep. I am still going to try to let her cry, but I am not sure I have the strength or the heart to do it. I can't believe how fast my baby girl is growing. It amazes me at how smart she is at such a young age.

She can....

• imitate practically any sound


• say "dada"


• say "uh-oh"


• say "go"


• sign more, please, and milk


• wave bye bye


• pull herself up to furniture


• lead the music, whenever she hears music she stops doing what she is doing and waves her hand in the air like she is conducting a choir. This is something she learned on her own. In her blessing she was blessed to have a love for music, so we think it is pretty amazing.

These are just a few things she has learned over the last 9 months. I love watching her grow and learn. I love you Molly girl.

Family Halloween Mix-up Dinner

We spent the weekend in West Haven with the Goodrich's. It was a lot of fun. This was my third mix-up dinner with them. We all go downstairs and fill out our menus. We don't know exactly what we are ordering when it says Monster Toes, Skeleton Fingers, and Frankenstein's breakfast. Leslie is so creative every year. She puts so much work into these mix-up dinners and it is fun to get together and be silly. It seems that Sisalee always gets things riled up.

This is Molly playing in the barn and loving it. She thinks she is such a big girl.

Karissa eating the rat. Open wide!

The rats were crushed up cookies, licorice tail, almond sliver ears, and cinnamon candies for the eyes. These were a hit last year and they were requested again by Alex.

This was Frankenstein's breakfast. Bacon and eggs. It was made with two pretzel sticks for the bacon, and white chocolate with a yellow M&M in the middle. These were yummy and so cute.

These were our cups made with blood dripping down the sides.

Boogers on a stick. Queso cheese dip and pretzels.

Ghosts made out of mashed potatoes and olives. Monster toes. Mini corn dogs with a piece cut out for the toe nail.

The Ride. This was the main dish. Hoagie buns with the middle dug out for the car, cucumbers and carrots for the wheels. The driver and passengers were hairy spiders. Meet balls cooked in cheese sauce, rolled in grated cheese, and chow mien noodles for the legs.

Skeleton Fingers, string cheese with a red pepper on the tip for the nail.

Eye balls. Peanut butter cookies with a whopper in the middle.

After dinner we went outside to take family pictures. We are missing Spencer, Linda, and Dallin, and Jeff . It isn't the same when we aren't all there.

Grandpa Goodrich and Molly. Yes that is a piece of licorice she is eating.

Family picture

She loved playing with the stuffed animals on the love sack.

We had a lot of fun. Thanks Leslie for all of your hard work and putting up with all of us and our messes. We love coming and spending time with everyone.

Slide from Vegas

Ok so I don't know why this dumb thing wouldn't post but it finally worked. Better late than never Right!

Vegas Vacation

Last week we finally got away, and went to Las Vegas. Aaron's job requires him to take 5 consecutive days off every year for auditing purposes. We had plans to go to Florida to visit my aunt and her family and to leave Molly with Grandma Goodrich. However, Molly still nurses and I have tried everything to get her to drink formula from a bottle, sippy, cup with a straw, but she won't. She also doesn't sleep at night, and lets face I wasn't really ready to leave her. I would miss her too much. The longest I had ever left her is maybe 2 hours. So I couldn't leave her behind. We decided we would go somewhere close that we could drive to. That is why we chose Vegas. We wanted to go see some shows and we were given free tickets to Phantom of the Opera but we didn't know how we would do that with Molly. We were able to talk my mom and aunt Marianne into going with us to help with Molly. So I will tell you day by day what we did. Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures of some of the shows but oh well.

• Sunday afternoon we drove to Mesquite just to break up the drive a little. We didn't do anything there since it was Sunday.
• Monday afternoon we got to Vegas. After we unloaded we went to a show a Treasure Island called Mystier Cirque Du soliel. We took Molly with us to that and she absolutely loved it. All the lights and music had her saying Ooh and Aah all night. This show was amazing. It is all acrobatic stuff. We couldn't believe the strength these people had.
• Tuesday we were able to spend time at my Grandpa J's house. He lives in Henderson and he is totally smitten by Molly. We just spent the day at his house visiting since we don't see him very often. My dad and step mom also were visiting my grandpa that same week so we were able to have them babysit also.
• Wednesday Aaron and I went to the Phantom of the Opera. It was AMAZING. We were given these tickets by a lady who's son is in the program my mom and I work at. Our seats were up close to the front right under the chandelier when it fell. After the show we met my mom and aunt and we went to the was museum. It was crazy how real these statues looked.
• Thursday we took Molly over to my grandpa's so they could all tend while we went to the Las Vegas temple. It was so beautiful and a nice break from the craziness of that wild city. When we came out there was a 98 year old lady that needed help getting over the curb and walking to the front door and so she held on to Aaron's arm as he helped. It was adorable. 98 years old and still faithfully attending the temple. After that we went to a buffet at the Sam's Town, and watched a waterfall and fountain show. We went and got Molly and decided we wanted to go the chocolate factory. It was disappointing because they weren't making any chocolate, but we got samples anyway. Outside they have a cactus garden to walk through and my mom was looking at one that was fuzzy and it looked soft so she toughed it. Needless to say she had hundreds of little fuzzies in her hand that hurt. It sure gave us something to laugh about all day. After resting we headed back out to the strip and met my dad and step mom to ride some of the roller coasters. We started at New York, New York's roller coaster. Then we were headed down the strip to the stratosphere. We stopped to watch the fountains at he Bellajio. It got late so we ended up going back to the hotel for the night. I love roller coasters but after New York New York I didn't want to go another one for a really long time. It came me a mean headache.
• Friday we SHOPPED! We were just a mile from the Las Vegas outlets and that is were we spent most of the day.
• Saturday we stayed is St.George. We went and Les Mes at the Tuachan. It was freezing cold. Thanks to Sisalee we had lots of blankets and coats to keep us warm, and she watched Molly for us. I was stressed because we were gone so long and way late, but of coarse Molly was just fine. Thanks Sisalee!
• Sunday- came home!

It was so fun to get away

and spend time together before Aaron starts school again next week and life gets crazy. We appreciate all the help we got from family that made it possible to go on vacation.

Two Posts in One Day!

I have a lot of catching up to do. Last weekend we went shopping for a new car seat for Molly, because she was getting to big for the carrier and it is a pain to get her in and out. I had gone to different stores and shopped online and found the car seat I wanted at Babies R Us. Then I found the same on for cheaper at Shopko. Here are some pictures of our big girl in her new car seat.

When I was back in the baby department getting the car seat, Aaron decided to wonder off to the electronics. Next thing I know he called me and said, "Honey they have one Wii in stock, can I get it?" We have been wanting one for a long time and Aaron's work has different incentive programs each month and they earn points, which can be turned in at the end of the year for different prizes. He has been working hard and saving all of his points, but he found out that they were not going to be rewarding anymore points for the rest of the year. So Aaron decided to cash his points in for money. He earned almost $200 and yes he bought the Wii with that money. It was kind of ironic because earlier in the week my mom bought a Wii game and she doesn't even have one, but it was on sale and she said she would eventually get one.

This is Aaron and I playing baseball. It has been very entertaining. The game my mom bought is called Outdoor Adventures. It has over fifty games on it. It is a lot of fun and a very good workout. We were playing the log jumping game and you have to run on the mat and then jump over the logs. Molly was sitting on the floor watching us and she was laughing so hard at her crazy mom and dad.

On Sunday, my grandma took us to the golf course to go for a ride in the golf carts. There are two new holes that they have done and they are up on the canyon, so we went to look at the leaves. It was way fun cruising around in the carts, and we even saw tons of deer. Amazing!

So the pictures aren't the best but Aaron was a crazy driver. He was driving so fast Molly's hat kept blowing off. I recommend driving up the canyons to get a good view of the leaves before it is too late. And if you don't live near a canyon enjoy our pictures of beautiful Payson Canyon! I love fall.