Holly Wreaths/Christmas Eve

Every year my Grandma T. would invite all of her grandchildren over and we would make
Holly Wreaths out of Corn Flakes and marshmallows. The past 4 years I've been continuing this tradition, so this year we made them Christmas Eve day.

My brother Kyle stirring the marshmallow mixture

Buttering our hands to form the gooey cereal mixture into wreaths

It was Avery's first time making a wreath but she was a little hesitant about it - she didn't like the texture.

But she loved the sprinkles as you can see from the wreath she made

Enjoying her sprinkles

Sharing with Daddy


The end product

One of my favorite Christmas traditions!

Later that evening, we went over to my parents house for Christmas Eve to spend with the Hull family (my mother's side). We enjoyed eating pizza, yummy desserts like mint fudge brownies, and then enjoyed exchanging white elephant gifts. Some of the gifts included a flamingo pen, a weighted hula-hoop, a 2002 I Love Lucy calendar. I ended up with a 3 piece snowman with candy in each section, and Phillip ended up with a Snoopy toy that plays the drums. So much fun and laughter.

Zoo Lights

Phillip, Avery, and I went to the Denver Zoo lights with the Waken family.
The weather was 60 degrees and so nice. The lights were beautiful and they seem to add more lights each year.



Avery enjoyed looking at the lights,




drinking hot chocolate,


and seeing the animals. In the Pachyderm we saw a rhino, a hippo, and a tapir. The tapir walked towards us and lifted it's snout - scaring Avery, I don't think she realized there was a barrier between us and the tapir. Other than the tapir, she loved the sea lions, giraffes, and especially the bats in Tropical Discovery. She thought they were so funny she was in hysterics.



Avery also especially loved the carousel. It was her first time riding and she had so much fun she didn't want to get off. Luckily she's under 3 and rides for free. She rode the tiger, the rhino, and the zebra.




We had so much fun and really enjoyed the nice weather. Hopefully next year will be just as nice

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

How Mary and Joseph arrived at the Inn

They cruised!


Notice that Joseph is driving

This girly makes me giggle.

26 weeks

Here we are at 26 weeks and growing bigger each day. The baby is becoming more active each day as I become more tired. But we are so blessed that all my check-ups have been good so far. Third trimester here we come.

We went to our ultrasound at about 21 weeks and we were so happy to see that the baby is healthy and everything appears to be okay, on the downside though the baby is breech which explains the horrible sciatic pain I've been having. Not only is the baby breech, but the baby crossed it's legs so we couldn't tell if it is a boy or a girl. I was a little bummed, but actually not surprised. I had a feeling we wouldn't find out right away. So maybe we will find out at the next ultrasound which isn't until the end of December and if not we will just be surprised.

Happy Thanksgiving

This is year I unfortunately had to work on Thanksgiving, so Phillip and Avery spent Thanksgiving at the Wakens house this year. Luckily, my family decided to do a Thanksgiving dinner on the Sunday before Thanksgiving so that I could be a part of everything. This year was my first year actually cooking most of the food and I must say it turned out pretty good. I made the turkey, gravy, stuffing, and rolls. We also as our holiday tradition open up English Christmas crackers at dinner and wear our hats as we eat. For dessert we enjoyed pumpkin pie, apple pie, and a chocolate peanutbutter pie that Dad made. I am so thankful that I was able to enjoy dinner with my family. We also usually go to the movies for Thanksgiving, so this year on Wednesday Phillip took me out to breakfast to IHOP wear I enjoyed some pumpkin pancakes and then went to see Disney's Tangled - love it! Pictures to come

Happy Halloween

This year for Halloween Avery was Rex from Toy Story. This was Avery's first Halloween where she actually was able to go Trick-or-Treating and she loved it.


She didn't like being in her costume at first but once she realized she was getting candy she had so much fun. We went to a few different houses in different neighborhoods and when we decided to be done Avery started crying because she wanted to keep going. We also went to a few Trunk-or-Treats this year. We went to our Woodglenn Ward's, and also to the Webster Lake Ward with Phillip's family. Overall it was a good Halloween and I am so glad that Avery was able to really enjoy it this year

20 Weeks

This week I finally turned 20 weeks. Hooray! Half way there. I'm also excited because that means we will soon find out what we are having. If it's a girl it will work out perfectly because my due date for this baby is March 2nd, and my due date for Avery was March 1st, so the clothes will fit perfectly for age and season. If it is a boy I am a little nervous because my life is dominant with women. I only have one brother, and Phill is the only boy is his family too so I have alot to learn about boys but everyone's been telling me boys are easier so we will be happy no matter what.