Family Christmas Party

We had the Christmas party for my side of the family on the 21st. Trisha was in charge and did a great job. We had a really great time and I have always loved our family tradition of getting together before the holiday, telling the nativity story, singing carols, opening presents, and eating lots of goodies.
This is Allary dressed up as an angel for the nativity. She really does look angelic in this photo. (Don't be fooled)



The nativity. There were a few rogue angels right up front.

3 Little Angels. (Don't worry Mom, I will post more copies for you to steal off the family blog)

Allary and Paige. Best friends.

This is Cami, Diana, Niki, and me. We have all grown up together and whenever I think of a family reunion, I think of playing at the Circle K Ranch with these three girls. I love this picture, except I am disgusted with my horrible posture. I want to yell at myself, "stand up straight!" Ugh.


All the girls.
And no family Christmas party would be complete without a visit from this guy. Allary did pretty well. I think mostly she puts up with him because she has figured out he always brings something good.

Well, I have to take full advantage of Allary's "quiet time" at the moment, and get my housework done. I will post my Christmas Eve and Christmas morning pictures the next chance I get.

Temple Lights

Monday night, we drove up to see the lights at the temple. It was freezing, but absolutely beautiful.

Santa!!! I NEED you!

Here we are at our ward party last weekend.
Normally I don't agree with dressing your kids up in ridiculous looking outfits, but this one was given to us and it was just too funny. Besides, how many places can you get away with wearing an outfit like this? She loved her "Santa clothes."




She hopped right up on Santa's lap. She was pretty tight-lipped, but happy to finally meet this guy we've been talking up for weeks now.

A funny story... we went to the mall the other night to hit the sale at the brand new Disney store, which Allary LOVED. She thought we were at Disneyland again. Anyway, she was upset in the car on the way there so I told her that Santa would probably be at the mall and she could go tell him what she wants for Christmas if she wanted to. This seemed to stop the whining. So, after the shopping, we went over to find Santa, and found not only Santa, but a long, long, line to sit on his lap. We took Allary to a good spot where she could see Santa and wave at him. She seemed pleased with this and so we left, as bedtime was quickly approaching. As we drive the stroller away, Allary realizes she is not going to get to sit on Santa's lap and so she starts wailing, "Santa! Santa! I NEED you! Noooo!" All through the mall and out into the parking lot, "Santa! I need a kitchen! Santaaaaaa!" It was slightly embarrassing, but more just funny. At least the people who were staring at the 2 year old having a melt-down had smiles on their faces. :)

Why in the world...???

Wednesday night, we were sitting at the table as a family having dinner when Allary started crying for no apparent reason. I asked her what was wrong to which she replied, "Corn..nose" followed by more crying. I didn't know if that meant corn on the nose or corn in the nose. She sneezed a couple of times and I thought that must have taken care of it because she stopped crying. Over the next hour or so she kept telling me "corn...nose..ouchies." So, we ended up taking her to the after-hours care and sure enough, there was a corn kernel lodged up there. Luckily it didn't take long for the doc to extract it and Allary didn't cry at all.
Silly silly girl.

Daddy's Shoes

Some of my favorite things about Christmas...

Decorating the Christmas tree! I LOVE the smell of fresh pine. Our tree is fake, so I went to the Christmas tree lot and asked the nice old man there for some fresh clippings. He gave me a few branches for free. I placed them around my family room for added decoration and for the wonderful smell. Here are some photos of us decorating the tree last week.



Snow! I do love snow. I love the way it looks as it falls and waking up to a beautiful, white, untouched blanket of snow. (I just don't like driving in it.) Here's Allary watching it snow earlier this evening.

And.... Christmas goodies! Mmmmm! I love Christmas treats. Chocolate (of course), peppermint, hot cocoa, eggnog, homemade candies, etc etc.
This weekend I made homemade fudge (my Grandma's recipe, although it has been said she may have gotten it off of a Marshmallow Cream jar, I still attribute it and all it's yummy goodness to her and my mom who made it every year). I also made White Chocolate Peppermint Crunch, a delicious recipe I got from my wonderful sister-in-law. I love this stuff and eat it by the bagfuls.

And, as always, I had a little help.

Mrs. Claus

I took Allary to the library for a special story time with Mrs. Claus. It was really cute and Allary actually sat still for most of it. Afterwards she got to meet Mrs. Claus and I was thrilled that she went right to her. She may have been second-guessing this decision judging by her expression in the photo. :)

MRI Results

I had to go in for another cardiac MRI yesterday. I really hate it. It wasn't quite as bad as last time because I wasn't in the machine for quite as long and I didn't need an IV this time. Mostly, I hate the reminder that something is wrong with me. Only people who are sick or have a serious heart condition need an MRI, not me. I guess it goes without saying that I still have not accepted this as a permanent or serious condition.
I got the results back today and they are great. There was no change in my left ventricular function from the last MRI and my EFR is at 58%, up from 57% last May. Not a huge difference, and yet so significant to me because in May I was on medication, and now I am not taking one single pill! Yay! I told the Dr., "that's great, right? I mean, really great?" She assured me that my heart is functioning normally, but told me the cardiologist made a special note to tell me still not to consider another pregnancy. But, that is the down-side and right now I am trying to focus on being grateful for a healthy heart, which is now surviving completely on its own. I thank Heavenly Father every day for this miracle.

Advice anyone???

I have started potty training Allary, sort of. I keep putting it off, but she keeps asking about it and telling me when she needs to go. I am afraid that if I put it off too long, the window of opportunity will close. I have heard so many potty training horror stories and I would rather deal with changing diapers than with nasty messes at an inconvenient time or place. But, I think it is time. My little Miss Independent wants to use the potty. Right now I think she just thinks of it as a game. I'm not sure if this is good or bad. She wants to sit on the potty every few minutes and she manages to squeeze a tiny bit out each time so that she can be excited and get a reward. I gave her a money jar into which she puts coins each time she goes on the potty. She thinks this is awesome. She did really well last night and so we went to the store to pick out a dollar toy that she bought with her very own money, very exciting. I have not yet fully committed myself to this task, and so have not yet given up the diapers.
Does anyone out there have any potty training advice? Do's and don'ts? Please?

First Snow

The first big snow storm of the season hit us last night and today. It looked so beautiful today. If only it could stay so clean and white, right? I was a little upset about all the snow this morning because I can not stand to be couped up in the house, especially when Jason is gone all weekend, and yet I hate driving in the snow. But I had to get out. So Allary and I got all bundled up and she insisted on coming outside with me while I swept off the car. I was dreading going out in the still falling snow and having to practically shovel it off the car. But, while I was brushing it off the roof of the car, I accidentally dumped some right on Allary's head. She busted up laughing and threw some snow right back at me. This turned into a fun little snow throwing fight. So, I guess I'm saying that I am grateful I have Allary around to help me not be a scrooge about the snow.