Our Life in Highlights

Ever since Jason hurt his knee...life has been a little crazy! Who am I kidding?...our life is always a little crazy...mostly from our own doing...ha ha! But really, I have had no time to even sit down at the computer until now! It has been good though. Here is our life in a nutshell for November and December! With his injury, we were forced to keep things simple this season. It was really nice though. I really tried to still make it special for the girls and I hope that I succeeded with that. They really are such great kids and so easy to please. So...onto our memories.

Thanksgiving was supposed to be spent in Utah with Jason's family, but because of bad weather, and Jason's knee surgery, we weren't able to go. We were very sad and missed seeing them! We decided to just have a dinner with our little family. We have never done that before. We usually are hosting a big group or showing up for dinner with a big group. It actually turned out perfect. It was a very fun, peaceful day. The food was delicious too! :) Who was the chef? ha ha! The girls set a beautiful table and we all said the things we were thankful for. Very cliche, but very powerful and meaningful still. After dinner, we took the girls to see Tangled. What a great show! Perfect ending to the perfect day!

The day after Thanksgiving Kamryn went to her first sit down restaurant....Olive Garden. We have been telling the girls (forever it seems) that we would take them there. They loved it and Kamryn was great the whole time! I'm sure it had nothing to do with the never ending breadsticks!

Of course, the highlight of November and December was Jason's knee surgery! Ha ha! Poor guy! He had a lot of cartilage and part of his knee cap floating around inside of his knee. They got that all cleaned up and reattached his ligament to his femur. Ouch! He had a tough wake up, but has been an amazing patient and is a trooper! He has been doing his physical therapy diligently and can now straighten his leg (with effort) and can limp around without crutches. He is still in a lot of pain, but we hope that will go away soon.

Recovering with food, pain pills, ice machine, electronics and dog. What more can you ask for?



Next up...the mall by our house had free horse and carriage rides. It was a beautiful night and there was live music while we waited and tons of lights to look at. The line was over an hour, but Jason waited on a bench and the girls just played. This was only two weeks after Jason's surgery, but he wanted to get out and do something with us. He was in a lot of pain, but I am so glad we made this memory. After the ride, we walked to See's Candy and got a free sample! Yum! Simple and free night...gotta love it!

The Gingerbread House! Of course, Jason had to build a custom gingerbread house! Remember that he is Macgyver! :) This was such a great night! Usually there is competition and fighting over who gets to put what candy where, but this house was roomy enough for everyone. Plus, we had a great assortment of candy and cookies! Each girl took a wall or part of the roof or the yard. Everyone got along and, in my opinion, it turned out fabulously!

Everyone needs a break when you're building a house! Here are Kamryn and Morgan snuggling Bentley.

The next fun thing we did was go to the Mesa Temple to see the Christmas lights. This statue of Christ is in the visitor's center. It is so beautiful there. This is my favorite thing to do in Arizona at Christmas time. We met our dear friends at the temple, but didn't get too many pictures because it was so crowded.

Luckily, my friend, Melissa managed to capture a great family picture amid the crowds. We are all smiling. Is that a miracle or what? Thanks Melissa! Finally a family picture with the baby!

Christmas Eve we made a nice dinner and just spent it with our little family again. After dinner we had our own little program. We each wrote what we wanted to work on this year and wrapped it up as our gift to open for Jesus on Christmas morning. Then, we sang Christmas carols, Jason read the Night Before Christmas and the girls opened their Christmas PJs. After setting out the cookies for Santa, we tucked them all snug into their beds.
My mom has a tradition to have a Christmas Eve Eve on the 23rd, so that everyone can come. It was so much fun, but I don't have pics. We also got together with family for Christmas dinner on Christmas day. So, we had the best of it all. Big parties and quiet peace.

Christmas Morning!!!

Tay with her new bike! I must say that I have bike envy! I want it!!

Morgie has been obsessed with having a pet giraffe. Here is her dream come true! I think she liked it!

Morgie also wanted Buzz Lightyear. She loves her hot wheels too. Gotta love this kid! Tay was nice enough to get her a Buzz! What a nice sister!

No, Rylee is not sucking on a pacifier! ha ha! Ring pops were in their stockings. But, here is Rylee with her new Ipod shuffle. Now, most days, she gets her chores done lightning fast! Music always helps!



HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

We had such a fun New Year's Eve night! We invited some of our friends over and had GREAT food, played Wii, did some fireworks and just had a blast! Here I am with my friends Terra, Amy and Tiersa.

Kamryn and I bundled up to do sparkler's outside!

I think this is a first for the girls. I got the old school sparklers. They were a lot of fun, but either they shrunk over the years or I grew! hmmm!

Tiersa with Kamryn. I think this might be a good way to hypnotize babies! :)

Here is Amy playing Mario Kart with the little girls. Super sweet!

Andrew, Amy and Owen

And...the highlight of the night...a New Year's kiss with my baby! Happy 2011! This is going to be a great year!!!