A Hike Before the Snow

Yesterday, a hike in the foothills...

Today, just enough snow for a baby snow princess...

Christmas Day

We had our own little Christmas in the morning and then went to church. The service turned out beautifully! My choir sang: 1. Still, Still, Still 2. O Little Town of Bethlehem 3. I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day (with bells on the organ) 4. O Come All Ye Faithful (with strings). The spirit was so strong! Phil sang even though he didn't have much of a voice, darn cold. I was so happy to have Ben, Trisha, Dad & TJ there too!

I really like Christmas being on a Sunday. It was so nice to feel the spirit and have a full hour dedicated to the Savior. I think there should always be sacrament meeting on Christmas no matter what day of the week it is!

Then we spent the rest of the day at the Masons. Caitlin was more concerned with climbing on the boxes than opening them up!

I meant to get a picture of Phil's mom with her gift but forgot. When her dad died last year, she gave Phil one of his rings. We went to find out if it was a real diamond/gold and it was so we used the money from the gold to set the diamond into a pendant necklace for her. She was totally blown away and I was so glad we thought of it!

Here are some totally random quotes from Sophie that I don't want to forget:

Me: "How many cookies should we leave for Santa?"

Sophie: "Only a couple so he won't get stuck in the chimney." (A side note: She thinks smoke detectors are chimneys.)

"Mom, now we have TWO people watching us: Santa AND Jesus!"

Christmas Eve

We began our celebration with a yummy brunch made by Aunt Trisha and Christmas at our house with my dad and TJ.

Papa & TJ gave Sophie this giant colorable playhouse that we all enjoyed decorating:

My musical scarf:
Caitlin got her favorite thing: books!

Papa with his new Tshirt and here is the story behind that:

We were at the Avett brothers concert in Sun Valley. I asked him if he ever buys band Tshirts at the concerts he goes to. He replied, "No, but if they had a tshirt that just said "Wow!" I would buy it!" Alcohol may have been involved since he has no recollection of this but I googled and found it for him. :)

My siblings and I put together this beautiful song called Holy, Holy, Holy. You must hear the Sufjan Stevens version if you haven't! Every Christmas gathering needs a musical number, right?

Then we went to my mom's. I'm so sad because none of the pictures we took there turned out. Trisha, my mom and I delivered cupcakes, then we ate our traditional clam chowder (my Grandpa Goodsell's recipe) with bread bowls for dinner and then opened gifts. Grandma Peterson was there too!

Sophie got a Vtech InnoTab which is essentially an IPad for kids! I won't ever have to entertain her again. :)

Decorating Sugar Cookies

I have a sugar cookie recipe passed down from Grandma Peterson that makes 8 DOZEN. It took us all night, but we did get them all frosted.

P.S. We need a new camera. These pics are no good!

North Pole Express & Gingerbread Houses

Christmas fun with the Crooks!

Sophie's Preschool Christmas Program

They sang all their Christmas songs so loud, I couldn't even believe it! So cute.

Caitlin sat through it all. My little angel.

Sophie and a couple of other kids said this poem together. You can't really understand her so here is what she's saying:

A chubby little snowman had a carrot for a nose.

Along came a bunny, and what do you suppose?

That hungry little bunny looking for some lunch,

At that snowman's nose with a nibble, nibble CRUNCH!

Kiwanis Holiday Tour

This is what me & 28 boys on a bus all day looks like...

Mason Family Pictures

Phil's older brother Jeremy and his wife Carolyn took us up to Garden Valley to get our pictures taken all together. I know we will be so happy to have these pictures with Kevin.

A Christmas Picture

Growing Too Fast

Caitlin Elaine is almost 15 months!

She is so so happy and sweet almost all the time. Giggles and smiles all day long.

She LOVES books. She will look at them and babble, babble, babble while she looks and points at the pictures. A pile of books will keep her entertained for at least a 1/2 hour. The first thing she does if we go to anyone's house is find a book and carry it around the whole time we're there. She could care less about toys!

She still loves food but is starting to be more picky about it. She'll throw it on the floor if she doesn't like it. Fun for me!

She is such a blessing to our family. I look forward to spending every day with her.