Christmas wrap up...

All in all we had a great Christmas! Everyone left to go home this morning and the house is so empty. Reese keeps tugging at her ear wondering where Grandpa went. She has quickly learned that Grandpa can magically pull candy from her ear. She also misses her playmate Crew. It's back to boring old mom. Soon the Christmas decorations and tree will be coming down and a new year will begin. The holiday season goes way too fast.

I have to give a big thank you to my brother Brady for taking most of these pictures; all the good ones anyway. It's hard to be the photographer and the host. Thanks so much Brady!!

Dinosaur Museum!

Arnold was able to score some free passes to the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum, and we just had to take Crew...he loves dinosaurs. It was fun for everyone!

Crew & Uncle Kit

Crew and Reese both played in the dinosaur water for a few minutes, but they both hated having their hands dirty so we had to move on.

Reese had so much fun hanging wither her cousins Riley and Mycol.

Reese was mildly impressed with the scary shark.

She's got the music in her...

Reese loves music. She especially loves playing the piano, as do most kids I'm sure. Every Sunday we have to pull her away from the piano in the primary room. So Santa brought her a fun keyboard she can play to her hearts content. As you can see...she loves it. Who know she'll become the next Sarah Mclaughlin. I would love it!

Christmas Day Fun!!

I feel bad that I didn't take more pictures on Christmas morning. We were focused on the video camera and all the high pitched screams coming out of Reese's mouth.

Reese was pretty funny. As soon as we came downstairs she went running straight to her uncle Kit who was sitting on couch. She didn't even see all the presents surrounding him. Once we pointed them out to her, she went straight for her cousin Crews presents. For a split second we wondered if Santa should have brought a race track, cars and a Nerf gun for Reese. Fortunately once she realized she had her own fun toys, she was thrilled. She also had tons of fun opening all her presents. It was a bit overwhelming, just one toy after another. It's been 4 days and she's still re-discovering all the fun toys she got that morning.

Uncle Kit demonstrating his block skills.

Christmas Eve!

We have a few other Christmas Eve traditions. We get to open one present; usually new pj's and sprinkling "reindeer dust" outside, so Santa's reindeer can find our house.

Reese opening her "Christmas Eve" pj's and a special Sesame Street bedtime book.

Crew opening his Christmas Eve pj's.

Grandpa just got socks. I love that little Kendi is the only one looking at the camera.

The sprinkling of the reindeer dust.

A right of passage...

Doesn't everyone have a picture of themselves naked with some or one of their cousins in the bathtub??

Festival of Lights...

We took the kids to the Festival of Lights in Spanish Fork. They loved it! Reese sat on my lap bouncing up and down and squealing the whole time.

Sugar cookie tradition...

We were lucky to have a house full of family this Christmas. My brother Brady and his family came for a visit from Colorado. My parents also came down from Idaho. And then of course my brother Kit, who lives in Provo, spent the days here.

Reese had a blast with 24/7 playmates. She and Crew were instant buddy's. She followed him around everywhere and learned a lot about cars, guns, and all things boy. She in tern shared her stuffed animals, balls, blocks and stroller. They were quite the little pair, with only a few minor disagreements.

We spent the week doing all kinds of fun family things. Including, making cookies.

We have a tradition in our family. We make sugar cookies on Christmas Eve. We decorate some special cookies just for Santa. This year I had two cute little helpers; Reese and her cousin Crew.

I think we did a pretty good job.

Two little cousins, sitting at the bar.

Crew's "Santa" cookie...with a little help from mom.

Reese's "Santa" Cookie...also a little help from mom.

A mind of her own...

Reese never ceases to amaze me. This little cozy creation was all her own doing.

15 mo. stats

Weight - 24 lbs 75%

Height - 32.5 98%

Head - 18.5 80%

Reese and her pillows...

We bought some new pillows for the couch (Costco) and they are the softest most comfy pillows ever. They're like pillow teddy bears and Reese loves them! She thinks they're her pillows. She loves to gather all of them and pile them on the floor for her own personal pillow chair. This is her new favorite TV watching position. Cozy with her pillows. A perfect view of the Christmas tree and the TV. Sometimes she even uses the presents as a foot rest. You also gotta love the strainer as well; another favorite household item she likes to carry around with her.

Santa??

So we took Reese to the mall today for her first encounter with the man in the beard. The line wasn't too long, but we still waited for about 15 minutes. Too long if you ask Arnold. We weren't sure what Reese was going to think or do. She's seen other characters before and really liked them, but Santa's not quite as cartoon-ish. When we got up to the front of the line, Reese was watching very closely as the other kids sat on Santa's lap. I thought maybe she would be ok, but unfortunately it was a no-go. At first she was willing to stand in front of him with a sceptical look but as soon as he opened his mouth and spoke...she was a goner. She started to cry and buried her head into my chest. A melt down easily resolved with one caramel sucker!

As a side note, she was completely in love and enthralled with the gigantic stuffed reindeer on the Santa set! Go figure. Perhaps if Elmo were dressed up as Santa...we would have had a very different story to tell.

Snow, snow, snow...

Well, we finally got snow here in Utah! Unfortunately it's been soooo cold all week that I haven't wanted to take Reese out. But it finally warmed up to the 30's today...I know...when did the 30's become "warm"?? Anyway...We decided to see what Reese thought of all this crazy white stuff!

"Come on Mom & Dad...let's go outside already...I've been waiting forever! I'm even wearing my hat, and we all know what a sacrifice that is for me!"

"I'm not sure what to think of walking on this stuff...seems pretty weird to me!"

"What in the world is dad doing with that big shovel? And why is he heading towards me with it?"

"Ummm...I don't think you should touch that dad!"

"Wait!!! I don't know how I feel about this...it's sooo cold."

"Ok, I can handle this...now that it's cleared off."

"But wait...where do I go now?? I'm trapped!"

All in all Reese wasn't a huge fan of the stuff. When some got on her boots, she freaked out. It was pretty funny. On the bright side, we shouldn't have a problem keeping her out of the street for the winter. Something tells me however, that as soon as some of the neighbor kids and friends show her how to have fun in the snow...her attitude will probably change.