While we were down in Utah for the holidays, we were able to celebrate with Amber and Eric...they got married a few days after Christmas. It was a beautiful temple ceremony and reception. We are so excited for these two!
Amber and I were roommates at BYU along with all the "chicken coopers." We lived in a house south of campus...there were 8 girls! We had some move in and out but there were always 8 girls in the house. That seems like a lot of estrogen in one place...it was...but we had the best time and all got along great. We never needed outside entertainment...there was always something going on at the "Chicken Coop!"
Amber is one of those girls that can do it all. She has taught school for several years and adored by all of her students. She bikes and runs...and is fast! She plays the piano and violin...and teaches too. She sews and crafts. She has a strong testimony of the gospel. Eric is a lucky guy to get her as a wife. She's a catch!
We went to the reception that night and met up with a couple of other old roommates...Kristy Dimmick and Emily Scoffield. These two gals are the best too! I've always said it and will again...I've been so blessed to have had great roommates and friends.
We weren't sure if we were going to make the trek down to Utah this year for the holidays based on weather and pregnancy. I was 23 weeks and was a nervous wreck to travel and have added holiday stress in my life plus be far from our docs if anything happened. But our doctor told us to come in on Christmas Eve morning and she would do an ultrasound to see how things were with the baby. If things looked good, she told us there would be no problem with traveling.
It was a huge load off my mind and heart to have that ultrasound and know that our little girl was looking good and growing just right. In fact, she was measuring 1 lb and 2 oz on Christmas Eve. That is one ounce more than Tess weighed when she was born and this was two weeks earlier than when Tess was born. Already this little nugget is breaking our family records of being our biggest baby. Yahoo!
We had packed the car and were ready to head out after the ultrasound. The weather was our next biggest issue. It was great through Idaho, but we knew we were driving right into a storm the closer we got to Utah. Fortunately, it was just really wet weather and we had no problems until we hit the point of the mountain in Draper. That was a blizzard! But by then we were close to my parents...thank goodness! We finally arrived that night around 5. It was a long day but we were grateful for safe driving and to be with family to celebrate Christmas Eve!
We had a delicious dinner of prime rib (go Mom!) and then read the Christmas story together. Tessie did a great job holding up the pictures. (I forgot my camera in Boise, so these are all from my phone).
Opening our 1 present on Christmas Eve...bet you can't guess what they are....
Christmas pajamas! Um...my pants look as big as Dave's...yikes! I'm sure I'm stretching them...at least I'm hoping I was.
Christmas morning was fun...and it was wonderful to sleep in! I don't think Tess had a clue what was going on, but she did love all her new toys!
This is Christmas morning...sorry...it is a bit long.
Tess was a lot more into opening her gifts this year than last year. She ripped right into them. The wrapping and boxes were her favorite...
She got this cute little pink beanie in her stocking...she wouldn't take it off the rest of the morning.
A few pics of the rest of us Christmas morning...
{Drakkar cologne...he loves this stuff...this is what he always used to get when I was a little girl. It's been a lot of years since he's had this...}
{new running gloves...now onto that running!}
{new charm bracelet with all of the grandkids initials on it}
{LOVE this picture of her...she's looking out the door at all the snow}
{dancing with Grandma J...Tess loves to dance!}
Later that day, we headed over to the Nielsens for more Christmas fun.
{little Grayson born just a few days earlier...the best Christmas package to Brian, Chelsie and Avery}
{Tess playing with her new grocery cart...I have a feeling she is going to love this}
{Aunty Beth with Tess and Avery}
Tess got a quiet book from Grandma and Grandpa Nielsen. This is the quiet book of all quiet books! Grandma Nielsen started this book when Dave was a baby...it was supposed to be for him. She never finished it, but pulled it out and worked on it for months for Tess for Christmas. Such a sweet book handmade by Grandma! We will be sure to cherish this family heirloom!
{playing the piano with Grandma Nielsen}
One of the days we were there, we took the Frontrunner up to Salt Lake. Such a great travel system! If I was in Utah County going to Salt Lake every day, this is the way I would ride. So slick and fast...and no traffic headaches! (but they only have one bathroom on the entire train).
{We did the quickest "tour" of the Temple Square lights...it was freezing and we had to catch the train back}
Grandma Nielsen set up a carriage ride for us around the Salem Pond. It was beautiful! There were lights all around.
It was such a fun holiday season and we were glad that we were able to be with family this year. It is always hectic preparing and planning for travel during the holidays, but it is always so fun to be together with our families.
We have had a great year and are grateful for our many blessings especially for the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. His life and gift to us are the top on our list of blessings.
Into the kleenex again! Guess I need to keep them higher so she can't reach them! My favorite is that she would pull out a kleenex, put it up to her nose and "wipe" and then throw it on the floor and repeat. She must be watching us....
We started out our Christmas traditions with our advent calendar. I filled some days with candy and some days with Christmas activities to do during the holiday season. Tess especially loved the "candy" days. We had some fun activities from writing cards to our military members to hanging mistletoe to taking a sleigh ride with Santa.
{I gauge how much Tess liked dinner depending on how much she gets on her face...this night we ate sweet potato chili which she LOVES! Finally getting some veggies in her.}
{This is one of Tess's favorite books...one side is "Kisses, Kisses, Kisses" and the other side when you turn it over is "Hugs, Hugs, Hugs. She loves to kiss and hug the pictures.}
Our friends Josh, Melissa and Lucy came to visit one night from Utah.
We went for pizza for dinner. Tess about out ate all of us...I think she
had 3 1/2 pieces of pizza. She was on a roll. It was so fun to have
good friends in town. We miss our Salt Lake crew!
As one of our Christmas activities from the advent calendar, we went to Winter Garden a Glow at the Botanical Gardens. They had every tree, bush, and everything else covered in twinkling lights. It was beautiful! Tess loved all the lights. We even went and saw Santa and one of his reindeer!
{Tess was a bit hesitant, but didn't cry...of course I had to stay with her}
{Daddy showing Tess Santa's reindeer}
{This was one of my favorite trees...completely covered in green lights with little red ones interspersed between...looked like little red berries.}
Tess's new thing is getting into my wallet. She will find it no matter what. It only took one "no" the first time she got into it to let her know she wasn't supposed to put the coins in her mouth. She's never tried it since. Dave and I are amazed at how obedient this little girl is...most of the time. We hardly ever have to tell her twice not to do something. If she gets something out of the cupboard that she isn't supposed to have, we just tell her to please put it back and she does. It's kind of crazy...I hope it lasts!
{Sitting at her new table in the toy room}
We had a Christmas party with some of our good friends. I've never seen so much food! We might have gone a little overboard, but that is what the holidays are all about, right? It was a fun night of visiting, eating, and exchanging white elephant gifts. Every gift was hilarious! I wish I would have snapped a few more pictures!
{Dave holding up his new toilet seat...it's so lovely}
{Greg modeling his mask and new underwear....}
Tess is loving bath time these days. She always has. But now she has lots of tub toys including this new xylophone from the Rockwoods. She LOVES it. Thank you!
Another one of our advent calendar activities was to take a sleigh ride with Santa...and we just had to go to the next neighborhood over to do that. Santa lives there and gives rides every night during December. It was so fun! None of the pictures really turned out...it was so dark. But Tess loved it, especially her candy cane!
We went inside Santa's house and it is covered (and I mean covered) in Christmas decor. It takes his wife two weeks to get everything up and ready for the holidays. I just think of the dusting! Guess it's not so bad if it's only up for a few weeks.
We had our Ward Christmas party. Tessie was not fond of Santa here...possibly my favorite picture ever!
And Dave snapped this sweet picture of Tess holding baby Jesus...another one of my favorites!
