Chocolate Fix

I was folding laundry this afternoon when Lainy walked into the room holding this. . .

Yes, that's right, a king size Hershey's bar with two big bites missing.

Do I know where she got it? No. Do I know how she managed to unwrap it and break it into pieces? No. Do I know she enjoyed it? Well, just look at her face.

I guess she just needed a chocolate fix. She really is my daughter.

Home for the Holidays

We returned yesterday from our three-week holiday break in Rexburg. What a wonderful holiday season we had!

Here is our recap.

We spent the first part of our break largely with Brad's family. Bryant (Brad's younger brother) married Rachel (my next-door-neighbor) on December 19th. All things associated with the wedding kept us pretty busy for a few days.

Besides the cold and windy weather, it was a beautiful day. They were sealed by Rachel's grandfather in the Rexburg Temple. It was such a beautiful sealing. Bryant and Rachel were both glowing.

It was an especially fun wedding for me because I know both families so well. Their reception was held in the same place ours was almost three years ago, and it was attended by largely the same people. Brad and I had a little bit of fun remembering our special day as we celebrated with Bryant and Rachel on theirs. Congratulations you two! We're so happy for you!

On a side note, Lainy absolutely loved her red velvet reception dress. She pranced around all night showing people her pretty dress, and pointing out her bows. It was adorable!

After the wedding was over, we had fun relaxing and recovering with Brad's family. Brad and I always love being around Dallin and Leslie. We look up to them so much. And their kids are so much fun. Sarah Jane is so grown up, and David is as cute as ever.

Christmas Eve we headed up to Island Park to spend Christmas in a cabin with my family. It was the perfect getaway. The cabin was secluded and cozy. Outside was a winter wonderland.

We all enjoyed watching Kayt (my niece) and Lainy play together. They were so cute! They danced, played tag, and got into mischief together. I think it was good for Lainy to be around a nice little girl - she's had too many run-ins with mean ones.

Lainy woke up early on Christmas morning. I think she knew it was a special day. Luckily, Santa found us at the cabin. He sent me on a treasure hunt which led me to a new, awesome diaper bag. He sent Brad on a treasure hunt to find this: Here is what Santa left Lainy: (the rocking chair was actually made by Brad's Grandpa Boyer. I wonder how Santa got a hold of it...)

We were all so spoiled!

In the afternoon our cell phone rang and guess who was on the other end... That's right, my sister Hayley who is on a mission in St. Louis. It was so good to talk to her! She's doing so well! It's a little hard to believe she'll be coming home in April!

All in all, it was a special and relaxing Christmas.

Outside our cabin snow fell steadily, but gently all Christmas day. Here is a picture of our cars when we thought they were getting buried. And here is a picture of them later that night.

By the day after Christmas we were completely snowed in. We're talking between four and five feet of snow. But who cared? Not us! We had fun cross-country skiing, jumping off the roof into snow drifts, shaking snow off the trees, launching one another into the deep, fluffy snow, and relaxing in the hot tub. Lainy had fun riding in her new sled with her Daddy.

We were a little disappointed when the plow came to dig us out because it meant our magical Christmas was over.

The rest of our holiday break was spent dividing our time between our two families. We love them so much. Sometimes it's a little hard to keep things equal with both families in the same town, but we did our best. We had fun with them anyway!

Highlights with the Hansens: playing games with Richelle and Bryce over Skype, laughing at all the brothers when they get together, watching movies on the new couch downstairs, New Years Eve, lunch at Applebees, and Brad going to play games with the Boyers in Firth (Sadly, Lainy and I were too sick to go.)

Highlights with the Smiths: playing games, watching Lainy get braver and braver with my parents two big chocolate labs, Nazareth Night at the cabin, talking with Hayley, church meetings with all three girls dressed alike, dinner at Da Pineapple Grill, playing Smashbrothers on the Wii, and visiting both sets of my grandparents.

I'll say it again because I really mean it, we are so blessed to have such wonderful families. It was a joy to be around them. We love you all!

Happy holidays everyone! We hope you all had a magical Christmas spent with loved ones, and that your New Year is wonderful!

Winter Wonderland

Saturday morning we woke up to a blizzard!

Lainy was so excited we just had to go outside and play in it!

We had so much fun sledding, building snowmen, and catching snowflakes on our tongues. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here!

Our Growing Girl

Today we went to the doctor for Alaina's 15-month checkup. All in all, she's doing great. She's defined herself on the growth charts as tall and thin - surprise, surprise! (I wonder where she gets that? ha ha)

Lainy has been learning so much lately. I am amazed as I watch her play. What happened to my little tiny baby? Now she's a full-blown toddler, getting cuter every day.

To commemorate her 15 months of life, here are a few cute things she's doing now.
1. She raises her little hand and says "hi-eeee" in her cute little sing-song voice whenever she meets someone she likes, or when her dad comes home from school.
2. She mimmicks the sound of the following animals: dog, fish, lion, lamb, monkey, and sometimes cow.
3. She loves her daddy. She walks around the house looking for him and saying "da-eee" when he's gone.
4. Brad taught her to say "cool". Now she says it all the time. She walks around and points at things and says "cool".
5. She says "baby" when she sees a baby or when she holds a baby doll.
6. When she's tired she'll bring me a book to read, which virtually means "Put me to bed!"
7. She dances when she hears music. It's not just the head-banging anymore. She'll pick up the corners of her shirt/dress and sway back and forth, she'll hold onto the tv stand and lift her leg in a very impressive arabesque, or she'll bounce her knees and wave her arms. I don't know where she learned all of this! It must be inherent in all little girls.
8. When I pick her up when she's sad or upset, she'll pat and rub my back like I'm crying and need comforting too.
9. She likes to be looked at, but not touched by strangers. She'll smile and flirt shamelessly until someone tries to hold her, then she freaks out.
10. Her hair is growing! Now it can be put in pigtails and ponytails. Yay! (Okay, I'm much more excited about this than she is.)
11. She gives good kisses, complete with the smacking sound. She used to give these sweet, but drooley, open-mouth kisses. Now she'll pucker up and smack her lips when she gives kisses.
12. She's convinced she can talk. She jabbers in sentences, waits for my response, then keeps talking. It's really funny. Sometimes she looks at me like, "C'mon Mom! Don't you get it?"

It's fun to be the mom of such a cute little 15-month-old!

We love the Holidays!

We had such a great Thanksgiving. It was wonderful to be with our families! Brad and I kept talking about how lucky we are to have such wonderful families. We love spending time with both of them.

To make a very long entry short, here are a few highlights of our Thanksgiving break:

• Thanksgiving dinner at my Grandma's house. Delicious!
• Spending time with Brad's brother Bryant and his fiance Rachel. They're such a cute couple!
• Watching Lainy warm right up to all her grandparents. She loves them so much!
• Being home for my birthday. I was so spoiled!
• Seeing our good friends Tyson, Audrey, and Daegan. We miss them!
• Sleeping in (because there were people around to watch Lainy while we slept)!
• My parent's hot tub. What a treat!
• Family dinners with Brad's family.
• Games with my family.
• Lainy was so good on both our 9-hour drives. She's such a sweetheart!
• All in all, just being with our families was great!

I just wanted to share a couple of stories.

When we walked in the door to our house, Lainy was so excited she started squealing. We put her down in the living room and she just ran around grinning from ear to ear. She was just so happy to be home! It was really cute. As nice as it is to visit, sometimes there's just no place like home.

To celebrate our homecoming, Lainy and I decorated for Christmas. After we got our tree up we laid underneath it and looked at the lights. She looked so darn cute that I had to take a couple of pictures.

Happy Holidays everyone!