Ringing in the New Year

Brian’s mom was here, and we had her babysit so we could ring in the New Year with our friends.  We had good food and lots of laughs as we played the Newlywed game and got to know our neighbors a whole LOT better.  Ha ha.  Thanks for the good times Merrills!

Three Christmases: Part 3

We got home just in time for New Years Eve.  Brian’s mom came down to have a belated Christmas with us.  The kids were totally spoiled, again. Briella got this game where the balls jump out.  Braxton was helping her play with it and she was giggling.  So cute!

Three Christmases: Part 2

Later that week we drove to St. George to spend Christmas with my family. It was so fun to have all of us there at the same time. It was crazy of course, but we loved it. Braxton played so well with his cousins and followed Sienna everywhere.

On Christmas Eve, we watched Christmas shows in the theater, some spiritual, some fun. The kids entertained us with dancing to Christmas songs and we wore our Christmas pjs.

Christmas morning we went to church, had a brunch, and then opened presents before naptime.  The kids wore their fancy clothes and looked SO cute!

Briella slept through our present opening, so she opened hers later when she woke up.

After Christmas, we spent the week having fun at my parent’s new house, going for walks outside, and swimming at the Washington City rec center.

Briella also had her first solid food while we were in St. George and she LOVED it.  She gobbles it up every night since we started it.

Three Christmases: Part 1

Christmas lasted the whole month long for our family.  We had a ‘Christmas morning’ at our house a week before the actual day, Christmas Day was spent down in St. George, and then Brian’s mom came down to our house for New Year’s Eve it was Christmas for us a third time.  We were so spoiled!  Here are some pictures of our pre-Christmas:

Braxton was so good this year.  He tore into the presents and helped Briella open all of hers as well.  He was so sweet with her and tried to help teach her how to play with her toys.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Santa came to our ward Christmas party.  It was a MUCH better experience this year.  No tears for either of them -- of course Briella was too young to know what was going on.  Braxton even tried to tell him what he wanted for Christmas--so cute!  Since the party, we've been to the mall twice and he has to walk by Santa several times each trip and keeps trying to run to him saying, "I get Santa".

O Christmas Tree

I love my tree.  I wish I could keep it up all year long.

November & Thanksgiving

Early in November, Briella started smiling a lot.  Of course she won’t do it with a camera in her face yet.  She also gained a lot of neck strength, so she can sit in some fun toys.  She also is starting to take interest in rings and other stuff that go straight to her mouth!  But here are some of the almost smiles I caught.

We spent Thanksgiving week up in Park City with Brian’s dad, grandma, uncle & cousin. We stayed in a great condo. It was the first time the four of us have stayed in the same room together and it worked just fine. The only problem was getting Braxton to bed quietly, since Briella was already asleep. It was good to just relax, hang out, & watch movies. I also got to shop like a crazy person on Black Friday at the outlet mall. Shopping goes SO much faster when you are by yourself, but I was on a dead run for the whole 2 ½ hours between Briella’s feedings. I felt like I was stealing clothes! At one store, between the Black Friday deals and my coupons, I only paid 10% of purchase price. Like whole outfits for $1-$4. CRAZY!

The week after Thanksgiving, Brian took off work and we headed down to St. George to visit my parents. They moved into a new house, so Brian spent some time moving furniture around and I helped my mom do her Christmas cards and such. I LOVE St. George. I wish Brian could eventually find a job down there. Here’s a picture of Brax getting in the hot tub with the big boys. All in all, it was busy & great November with lots of family and traveling.