January

January got off to a busy start! I was sad to see Christmas go, but always welcome the new year. Every single year, I get a little sad taking down Christmas but once it is done, I love it! I love how fresh and clean my house feels - and how good it feels to get back into a routine. We had Anton's sister come into town for New Years which is always fun. We went sledding, saw the new Star Wars movie, went Ice Skating, Anton & Nicole even fit in a few hikes and all of us managed to stay up until midnight on New Years Eve! It was so fun having them in town. 

Claire loves to hang random things from her new light in her room. This particular day I thought it was so funny. Notice the sock. Funny girl!

I promised the girls that I would take them sledding over their Christmas break. I have such a love hate relationship with sledding. It is so cold & I hate the crowded hills, but I remember loving it so much as a kid that I feel guilty that I don't take the girls as often as I "should". This particular day, we woke up and decided we were going to go. It was early, and it was freezing cold, but we did it and had a blast. And, we were the only ones on the hill! (If you can't tell, I struggle with "crowds") We ended up taking the Leonard's to this same hill when they came to town!

I took the kids up to the Rec center to let them ice skate. Claire was insistent on wearing Lilly's ice skating dress - and she paid the price. She was so cold, and didn't last long on the ice. Its a perfect little dress for performances, but not great for a long time on the ice. The other kids had a lot of fun, and I was impressed how quickly Truman & Prentice picked it up. 

Lilly & Jack at Jack's baptism. These two have always had such a sweet and special little friendship. I hope they always stay close!

One of my favorite gifts from Christmas is my laminating machine! So nerdy, but so fun! I have used it so much since getting it, and have a whole list of things I want to laminate - including some art & notes from the girls that I never want to get damaged...then hopefully I will put them in a keepsake book or something. Anyway, one thing I was bound & determined to do was to put together chore charts & work for hire charts for the girls. So far, it has been great. Claire has no interest in doing the work for hire jobs - but Lilly does! They each have jobs they have to do during the week and on Saturday, and then if they choose to they can do a work for hire job and earn some money. So far, so good.

One day I got a phone call from Claire's teacher and she said "Claire has something very exciting to tell you"...it was she lost her tooth! The exact same thing happened with Lilly's first tooth - she lost hers while at school too! I knew it was going to happen soon because it was getting super wiggly and the permanent tooth was already on its way in. Both of my girls have gotten "shark mouth" where the permanent teeth come in before the baby teeth fall out. It looks so weird! But, it is quite common I guess. Anyway, she was super excited to show us, and was even more excited to put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy!

Cute Anton. He came home from work one day with flowers for each of his girls. I couldn't get over how sweet that was. He was buying flowers for me, and saw the brightly colored ones and grabbed those for the girls. We put them in vases and put them in their rooms. They loved it, and so did I! The roses he go me were stunning. We are lucky girls to have Anton!!

Christmas 2015

Christmas this year was a little off. And, it made me sad (it still makes me sad). We were a little stressed leading up to Christmas, and then come to find out Lilly found some pictures on my phone of the presents after I asked her not to play on my phone. I was devastated & so angry. After we opened presents and were headed upstairs to get dressed, she asked me where the American Girl doll named MaryEllen was. I asked her what she was talking about, and then it all came out. She saw a doll (and other toys) on my phone and thought it was MaryEllen. Well, it was Claire's doll Julie. Long story short, I was furious and yelled and cried at Lilly. Therefore, she cried. It was a mess. But, I was able to come up with a good story & after all is said and done she is still a huge Santa believer. That was what I was so sad about it. She is only 7...and I felt so guilty for possibly ruining the magic of Santa. I asked her if she ever wondered why some kids get 10 presents from Santa, and other kids get one or two...that lead into telling her that Santa brings the stockings & one or two big presents and the rest come from Mom & Dad. She totally bought it and I felt good about it afterward. When I was telling my brother about it, he said "oh man, yeah, you guys need to give yourself more credit. Santa brings one huge present & the rest are from us"...and Christmas is still magical for them. So, anyway, it was a rough morning. But, we are all good now. I also had major guilt because I was stressed, and felt like I ruined it for Anton. He made the comment that he works hard all year so he can spoil us on Christmas, and to have it be like it was was hard for him. Major guilt over here. When I woke up the day after Christmas I broke into tears (again!)...it was over. And, it was stressful. It made me so sad. Ugh. Oh well, we will try again next year! 

Sleepy heads getting ready to head downstairs and see all of the presents! They got what they asked for & a few they didn't ask for. I love that my kids are still asking for toys instead of electronics. We will drag that on for as long as we can. We did end up getting them a Kindle, because the tablet we had for like 9 years, finally broke. We figured Lilly loves reading so much, that this would be a perfect gift. It was a fun surprise for them! We also got a telescope for the whole family. Lilly loves space (so do we), so we thought that would be a fun thing for us for years to come. I can't wait to use it! Anton spoiled me this year. He got me the things I asked for, and a few things I didn't ask for. My favorites...my laminating machine, my gel nail polish kit, new sunglasses and my new purse. But seriously, Anton gets every present right. I love everything he picks out! I gave him a subscription to Audible, a Bose speaker & a really nice sweater for work. We don't hardly buy anything for each other (including the girls) throughout the year, so Christmas is always so fun to spoil each other. Christmas is definitely our favorite holiday!

Getting Ready For Christmas

I was really looking forward to the holidays this year. Unlike other years, this year we weren't packed with activities. It was so nice! The week after Thanksgiving we went to go get our Christmas tree...which is one of our favorite things. Our house feels so Christmasy and cozy once we get it, and not to mention how good it makes our house smell! 

We were invited by some of our friends in the neighborhood to go see The Nutcracker. It was just me and the girls, their little friends and their Mom. The show was seriously the weirdest thing I have ever seen. It was like a "current" version of the Nutcracker where the girl wants an iPhone. So weird. It was a fun night though, and we got a good laugh over how weird it was! Hey, it was free though, so no complaints here!

The next night we went to Zoo lights with our good neighbor friends. It was such a pretty night because it was snowing. It was fun to get bundled up and do something a little different, and then afterward we got hot chocolate. It was such a fun night!

Claire was super excited to see Santa. I love getting their pictures taken with him, then framing them!

CHRISTMAS EVE

On Christmas Eve we had the girls do the Gingerbread house we bought them. They absolutely loved it! It was really fun! After that, we made sugar cookies and decorated them so we would have cookies to leave for Santa. 

That night we had my parents over for dinner & games. I made a turkey with mashed potatoes & rolls. It was delicious and so fun. Anton ran a couple plates over to my granny & Uncle George. Then, we ate, played games and let the girls open a couple presents which were given to them by Elizabeth in Montana. The girls were getting so wound up and hyper...and toward that evening, they were driving me crazy! But, I can't blame them. They were just getting super excited about the next morning. 

This was funny. My parents gave Anton a present, which was the funny sweatshirt my Dad bought on our trip to California! We got a good chuckle over it! As soon as my parents left, we read stories with the girls. While we were reading Polar Express, we heard Santa's bells as clear as day. Lilly burst into tears because she wasn't in bed, but we calmed her down saying that he was just flying over, and wasn't stopping in Salt Lake just yet. It was absolutely darling seeing them react over the bells. It gave me chills! (Let's just say, we have the greatest friends who helped make that moment magical) We didn't have too much to get ready for, so we had a low key evening after putting the girls to sleep. We were looking forward to Christmas Morning!!

Grandma Ballam Funeral

Antons grandma Tacy Ballam passed away the Sunday after Thanksgiving. It was a sad thing for Anton to loose her, because to him, this was like loosing the first grandparent. He was/is really close with his Mom's parents, so it was a little difficult for him to have her pass. But, the thing that is the most heartbreaking for Anton is to hear how hard his Grandpa is taking it. It is so sad...I have watched my granny go through the exact same thing, and it is awful to watch. My heart is heavy for Oral.  Tacy's funeral was the following weekend up in Cache Valley. It was a cold day, but a beautiful sunny day. The funeral went a little long for our liking, but it was nice. After the funeral & graveside service Anton's grandpa wanted to take everyone out for a late lunch. As we were leaving for the lunch, Anton mentioned how sad it was to have everyone walk away and to have her still there. 

p.s. My mom made the outfits for the girls. They were darling, but Claire's skirt fell off about 4 times. That would only happen to funny Claire! 

November

Claire isn't supposed to suck her thumb....but I am sucker for her doing it. It makes her seem little, and it is no surprise I don't want her to grow up! I thought she looked so snuggly and cute lying there watching TV that I needed to snap the picture. She melts me. 

The girls got their haircuts and they loved them! It was fun for them to go to Haylie (their babysitter), and to go to a "real" salon rather than the kiddie one.  They looked so cute afterward, but Lilly looked so grown up!

Both girls were in Ice Skating this past session. I was surprised Claire wanted to do skating again, but I was happy when she wanted me to sign her up. I am always happy to sign them up for an activity if they are excited about it. They had a little Christmas program at the end of their session. Claire loved it, and they both did a great job!

Why are boxes so exciting to kids?! I don't get it, but I will take it!

Thanksgiving

This year we had Thanksgiving in St. George with Anton's family. We knew it was going to be a little different this year, due to Anton's grandmas health. Right before we headed down we heard she had gone downhill, and was approaching the end. Anton's mom has been caring for her parents the last several years, so we knew she would be preoccupied and that this Thanksgiving would be a little different than normal. We made the best of it, and it was really good for Anton to see his Grandma before she passed. 

We decided we would host Thanksgiving at our place, and it was fun! It was my first time "hosting" Thanksgiving. Jeremy & Nicole were a huge help in making & bringing half of the food. It was delicious, and great company - as always. We took some food over to Anton's aunts & grandpa, which they seemed very appreciative of. It ended up working out great to spend Thanksgiving down there this year. My parents house has a casita, so Anton's aunts were able to stay with us - but have their own space - while they were spending time with their parents. The weather was great, but cool! I felt like I was cold the entire time! I didn't take a jacket, or coat, and that was a mistake. Oh well. We ended up going on a fun hike, which was stunning. I couldn't get over how beautiful it was! It is always nice to get out and explore - and spend time outdoors. It is good for the soul! 

I have so many things to be grateful for. First and foremost, the sacred calling of being a wife & mother. I hold that calling so dear to my heart. There is nothing in the world I would rather do, or have than what I have right now. My heart could burst with happiness and love for my little family. I am so thankful for Anton, and the hard work he puts in to support our family. He is so good to me, and he is a great dad. It is fun to see how much the girls adore him - especially Lilly. I could go on and on about the things I am grateful for, but when I think of what I am thankful for - my family first comes to mind. My family, my extended family & parents, Anton's family...I am a lucky person to be surrounded by so many wonderful people!!

Random Claire

Claire is my little shadow. Seriously, I can't go to the bathroom without her following me. I know someday I will miss her following me around and will miss her randomness. She still loves to dress up in funny outfits, and old Halloween costumes. 

My parents took the grandkids out for dinner and to a Halloween store to pick something out. Claire came back with this most random costume from Wild Kratts. It is her favorite show so when she saw it, apparently she didn't put it down and carried it with her the whole time. My parents didn't fight her on it, and they also didn't check the size. Hence the size 2 costume!!! So funny!! She wears this everywhere....the gas station, to bed, to neighbors houses. I love it. And I love her!

Claire is a little bit of a clumsy girl. This is her second black eye. I am actually surprised she hasn't had more injuries. When she gets tired, she gets more clumsy. We were at the zoo, and she fell down about 5 times. While we were leaving, she fell into a pole and it smacked her right on the face. She woke up the next morning, and had a pretty little shiner!