Christmas 2009

We had a very nice Christmas again this year. We hosted Christmas at our house for my family and Brad's family. Unfortunately, this is one of the only pictures that I took that actually turned out. Maybe I should have asked for a camera for Christmas!

Anyways, I hope everyone else had a great Christmas.

One Thing Leads to Another...

Why is it that one thing can lead to another and another and another??

It has been really cold this winter and I haven't wanted to run outside which leads us to buy a treadmill, which leads us to make a space for it, which leads us to need to get rid of furniture that no one will buy, which leads to spreading it throughout the house in random places...

Oh, and all this furniture arranging and rearranging is all done last night when I get home from Rapid. And, of course, all this movement of furniture from room to room leads to more messes which need to be cleaned up. Man, am I tired!

So here is what we've done so far...

This is turning into our exercise/dance/Wii room.



This is my new desk area in my office.



And this is a new sitting area in my office that is a great place to read.

It's a good thing Brad has decided to take tomorrow off of work so we can finish getting this house ready for our Christmas party! It seems like we always decide to take on some project right before a holiday, whether it is painting, remodeling, or rearranging furniture.

Girls' Weekend Trip

The girls and I went to Rapid City Sunday for a short weekend girls' trip. My friend and her friend and daughters all went and we stayed at the Watiki Waterpark. Unfortunately, we spent too much time (and probably money) at the mall on Sunday afternoon and we missed out on swimming Sunday night. We checked in at 5:15pm and the girl said they were closing the waterpark at 6pm instead of 8pm. We were bummed, but it was okay, we went to eat at Olive Garden and then shopped at Target. Monday morning the girls had fun at the waterpark from 9-11 and then we shopped at Sams Club and headed home. The drive home was not fun for the first 50 miles or so with dense fog and only 1/8 mile visibility. We made it home in 3 hours instead of 2. And now the race is on to get everything ready for hosting Christmas with our families!





This is unbelievable...


Seriously?? How much stuff can 3 girls pack for one night??


Surprisingly, all of this stuff fit into the front passenger seat of my car to make room in the back for all the Sams Club stuff.

Aww, Miley, you're such a good sport!!

Wow, the time sure is flying by! I know it has been awhile since I've posted; I've been so busy getting things ready for Christmas. Anyways, last weekend we stayed with mom and dad in Newcastle and enjoyed their hot tub. Miley got to enjoy playing with Alanna...again! This time she got to ride around in the shopping cart like a baby. It must not have been too bad because she did fall asleep while she was in there.

By the way...

everyone should be able to leave comments on my blog now!

Trying to get a decent Christmas picture taken...

is a lot harder than I thought it would be. The other night I thought we should try taking pictures in front of the Christmas tree so we could send out our annual Christmas cards. I've come to the conclusion that pictures usually turn out better when you are not trying so hard to take a good one.

Trying out the auto timer...

First family pic in front of the tree (we even managed to have one of the four pets in the picture), but Alanna moved right in front of Makenna when the shot was taken. Otherwise, I think this could have been the best one.

Okay, but I thought Alanna's arm looked kind of funny in this one.

Not bad...

This one's not too bad either.

Getting bored with the whole picture taking ordeal...

This experience brought out the crazy in all of us...

Makenna actually wanted her picture taken, and she smiled.

Makenna telling Alanna Santa what she wants for Christmas.

Uh-oh, Santa lost her hat!

I told you we were crazy by the end of this picture taking session and there were many more pics taken during this session that I did not post because blogger is soooo slow at uploading them.

Anyhow, after all of this, we did manage to put together a nice greeting card with our pictures. Oh, the joys of the holiday season! There's always so much to get done; I'm just thankful I'm here and healthy enough to do it!

Alanna's School Christmas Program

Alanna's school program was last night. Having the new school this year, they decided to try something different with the programs; the fourth graders performed in one show last night and the third graders performed in a separate show, both in the gym. It's great having such a nice gym with bleachers in the new school, but this just didn't work out very well for a concert. It was very crowded and very bright. Who knows, maybe they won't do it this way again next year. It sure is a lot different from the good old days when I was in school and everyone would dress in their best Christmas attire and stand on the risers in the auditorium. At least in this program they got to take turns getting off the risers to play instruments and dance.

The Nutcracker

Last night the girls danced in the Nutcracker performance here in town with the David Taylor Dance Theatre. Alanna played a little boy in the party scene and Makenna played a dancer from Mother Ginger's skirt. It was a very nice performance.

Out to Pasture...

Move over trusty gray steed! There's a new pony in town! Brad put his trusty gray steed out to pasture over the weekend to make room for the new little black pony...

Out to pasture


New little black pony

On our way home from CO this past weekend we stopped and got a 2010 GMC Terrain and I got to drive it home! I love this car!!

Thanksgiving Break 2009

We traveled to Denver last Wednesday for Thanksgiving. Matt and Kristen hosted Thanksgiving this year because Matt was on call and could not leave town. We ate plenty of good food and enjoyed the beautiful 65 degree weather. The girls had tons of fun, as usual, playing with Addie. While we were there we even got some Black Friday shopping done. On Saturday we came home. It was a great Thanksgiving break!