What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?

Avery is watching Yo Gabba Gabba from underneath a pillow.

Daryl is actually keeping Harper away from Sebastian.

See Sebastian is hiding behind the closet door.

I'm making sure I'm ready to teach Relief Society tomorrow.

A Quick Trip

  On Wednesday we went down to Sacramento to stay a few days with Nellie and Paul since Alex and Addison spent Christmas there, and DeAnna was coming up to help Alex drive back to Phoenix.  We celebrated Alex's birthday on Thursday, and took the kids to a little zoo and park.  Avery and Harper really enjoyed playing with Ember the dog.  As always it was nice to spend time with all my sisters.

Except for Harper, all the girls spontaneously decided to sit by Daryl.

Apparently Harper has been deprived of this toy that Nellie borrowed for Harper to play in.

Ember actually had baby Minnie on her back for a good while before she shook her off.

Harper thought she needed some of Ashyln's french fries.  You also see Addison closing in.  Addison snagged one and then she dipped it in Ashlyn's milkshake.

Eleventh Months

  Harper turned eleven months old on Christmas Eve.  We can hardly believe we will have a one year old next month.  She has finally decided that she could hold her bottle every once in a while, and it looks like tooth number three is making its way in too.  Harper goes up and down stairs just fine now, but although we catch her standing on her own from time to time she hasn't quite figured out walking yet.  That's okay though.   Harper also will wave hi and bye sometimes when she hears someone say them.  

Christmas Day

  It was a wonderful Christmas day.  We went to church with Mom and Dad since theirs was earlier than ours.  Afterwards we met them and Adam and Angie at our house for presents and general togetherness.  Avery was very cute opening her presents.  After opening each present she would of course start playing with it, and the third present was a coloring book.  When she saw that she went off to get her coloring crayons, and we had a hard time convincing her that were more presents after that.  We gave Avery a bubble gun that shoots bunches of bubbles into the air, and both she and Harper really liked that gift.  It was also our newly named kitten Sebastian's, first day out of our room.  He was of course enthralled with all of the discarded wrapping paper.  Avery and Harper as always enjoyed playing with Adam and Angie.  Looking back on my pictures I have once again neglected to take a picture of Daryl and myself. 

Mom and Dad wanted their picture in front of the tree, and Avery randomly jumped in.

Harper on the little Mini Cooper that Daryl couldn't resist buying for her.

Adam helping Avery, Harper, and Doll to ride the Mini Cooper.

Christmas Eve at the Olson's

  Tonight was the annual (and rumored to be last) Christmas Eve get together at the Olson's.(Daryl's Aunt Debbie and Uncle Kent to be precise.) It was fun as always, and great to see everyone.  We missed seeing Steven and Janet, and Michael and Rachael and their families of course.  Hopefully we will see them soon. I've got to say that Mike and Jenny's baby, Addie, is just the cutest thing. Addie is five months and Harper is eleventh months, but they both are about the same size and weight. It was great to meet baby Addie at last! I have to say that we scored at this year's white elephant swap.We got the Shake Weight, so next year my arms will be amazing just using my Shake Weight for six minutes a day. It's the gift that keeps on giving. Merry Christmas everyone!

Aimee with baby Harper and Sophie off to the side.

Tyler was really excited to play with this Nerf gun.

Kyle looking very dapper.

Karl also looking dapper.

Obligatory cute baby picture. 

Aimee put baby Adeline to sleep.  

Debbie being master of ceremonies.

Namma Diane helping Tyler play a game on her cell phone I think.

Erik with Bjorn the dog.

Scott and Kyle in the back  there.

Harper, Sophie, and good times.

Tyler, Avery, and Sophie played some very beautiful music for us.

Mike and baby Addie.

Our Newest Family Member

  Daryl and I picked up our new kitten today.  He's a British Shorthair, and in the roughly six hours that we've had him it's been great.  He sat on my lap the entire car ride home and purred his little kitty heart out.  British Shorthair's aren't very big talkers, and that was incredibly refreshing.  Usually my car rides with cats have involved non-stop meowing.  He hasn't met Fox yet, and he doesn't have a name yet either.  Right now he is confined to the relative safety of our master suite. Avery liked petting him a lot, but out of sight out of mind.  Harper did the classic baby move of tugging on his ears.  So far he's a pretty good cat and adorable.

Mom and Dad's Mission Call!

  My parents got their mission call today.  They are going to Santiago, Chile to be temple missionaries.  My dad served his mission in Chile back in the day when it was just one mission.  They are both temple workers right now, so they are very excited about their call.  They will report to the MTC in Provo on April 2, 2012.

Christmas Decorations!

    I have to admit that when it came to decorating for Christmas this year it was bit of a forced march since with the impending move my natural instinct has been to take things down, and pack them away.  I definitely wasn't my usual enthusiastic self while decorating, but I managed.  Here are my Christmas decorations memorialized for all time!

Here's the mantel.  Those stockings don't belong to anyone just purely decorative.  I got lucky this year.   Harper is too little to try and pull the stockings down, and this year Avery left them alone.

That's right my cats have stockings,and yes, Zoe is dead. I put up her stocking anyway.

Here's Avery's advent calendar, and all the stockings. That extra little pink stocking is one my grandma knitted for me when I was baby. Since she died not too long after that it's actually one of the only things I have that she gave me.

It's a good thing I gave away all the living room furniture, so now the tree fits perfectly.  The girls haven't really bothered the tree.  I'm a little surprised and relieved.   Do you like how I threw a little white tree skirt over the phone modem on the left?

On the right of the tree my Temple Square get up got it's own little table, and Avery has left alone.

I got this play nativity set at Target, and Avery put it under the tree.  It melted my heart of course.

I put a garland on my railing and a wreath on my door and called it good.

Seahawks Game

  My best friend, Christie, loves sports, so for her birthday we decided we would go to a Seahawks game.  Fortunately for us, this year there were three non-Sunday games to choose from this year in December, so we went to the game this Monday against the St. Louis Rams.  We had an awesome time, especially since we won!

Christie and her husband Ben.

Best friends forever shot!

You know who we are.

Santa Train 2011

 This year we rode the Santa Train in Elbe, Washington called the Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad.  It wasn't so scenic though. We did see a lot of motor homes in peoples' backyards.  Maybe if it wasn't overcast we could have seen some mountain views.  Aimee, Karl, and Tyler came with us, and despite the lackluster scenery we had a good time.  Santa was in the last car on the train, so we had to come to him.  Avery wasn't really interested in him, but appreciated the candy cane and puzzle he gave her. Harper was similarly disinterested, but loved the little rubber ducky she got.  Tyler was not a fan at all, and sat on Aimee who was sitting on Santa's lap. Oh well, look at the cute pictures.