Christmas

We had a great Christmas with the Bishop side. Everyone was there and we especially loved seeing our Grossarth cousins after 6 months apart! The kids got along SO WELL this time- it was nice to see improvement in Lyla's ability to share with others. they loved making gingerbread men with Nana. They seriously spent an entire day making and decorating them all.

  

- Lyla was so excited for Santa to come so she could tell him that she wanted a Rapunzel doll.
                                        

 -I got to see Alyssa dance in the Nutcracker 3 times and she was amazing!! Lyla went twice and was memorized the whole time. She did many different parts, I was especially so excited to see her in the romantic Arabian couple dance- my very favorite of the whole show. She was gorgeous!

 -We did our traditional Christmas Eve ice skating. Lyla loved it some moments and hated it at other times, but she was a good sport.

- Lyla was so thrilled to play Mary when we acted out the nativity. 

 -Lyla went and saw baby Jesus laying in the bed of straw that she helped to fill by doing nice things for others

 -Paul went way overboard and got me an ipod- so unexpected!! I love it and Lyla and I use it all the time. We loved our time together and have so many great memories of all we did.

Thanksgiving - Park City

We spent a week in Park City over Thanksgiving. Daddy was out of town for the first few days of the week so the kids and I spent some time with Nana. We enjoyed walking around downtown.

                                     
Lyla went to the high school production of Cinderella with Cassidy and she was so excited to meet all of the princesses before the show!

Lyla's dance

Lyla's dance group performed one of their dances at half time of a high school basketball game this week. I wasn't sure if she would enjoy it or would turn and run when she saw all of the people, but she loved it! She was so excited all day and loved getting all dressed up. Here's a video- she's in the back.

Birthday videos

Here are a few videos from Lyla's b-day week. 

Lyla's 3rd birthday!!

Lyla has been talking and dreaming about her birthday for months, and finally the long-awaited day arrived! She was so excited to wake up to pink and purple balloons, princess decorations, and a huge princess balloon. Daddy had a late night so we sang to her and let her open presents while we ate breakfast. She got a shopping cart and some play food to go with her kitchen, and she spent the day playing with it all.

She wanted so much to have a party with all of her friends who she loves, so we planned a princess one of course! 

She loves every princess, and at the last minute decided that she had to be Cinderella. She has worn this full outfit with the black ribbon, blue headband, and glass slippers every day for the last week. It's a huge fight to get her in warm clothes whenever we have to go outside!

I made a strawberry castle cake with all of the princess on top

We made wands for each child- blue for the boys and pink for the girls. We also made tiaras for the girls

We played a few games with the group- such a cute age!

 And of course we danced to Disney songs. They all loved waving their wands around and the boys even liked jumping around a bit.

Lyla had so much fun with her friends and loves playing with them all. She really has taught me a lot about the importance of close friendships and of forming relationships with the special  people in our lives.


We went to get her three year old pictures- and had to get some in her dance clothes since she LOVES dancing. She doesn't always follow along well at dance class, and is often in her own world, but she spends most of her day at home dancing and gliding around the house.

This sweet girl causes many frustrating, about-to-lose-it moments for me, but she is also my world. About an hour after bedtime (when I start to recover) I start missing her and wanting to snuggling and chat like we often do. She usually climbs in bed with me in the mornings and we just lay there staying warm and laughing together. The other day she asked me to dress up as Cinderella with her so I let her help me find a blue dress, pretty shoes, a necklace and headband. We pranced around the house calling each other Cinderella and it was such a sweet moment with her. Her latest request at bedtime is that I chase her around the house trying to put her pj shirt on. She can be so random but has some pretty great ideas and we have a blast together! She and Trevor love reading books together and Lyla is always wanting to help him walk. I love her more each day and am so grateful that I get to be the mother of this sweet, energetic girl.

Daddy's birthday & Family Pictures

 I found a few pictures from the summer- we went to the State fair in Blackfoot and had fun walking around and seeing all that was going on. Lyla got to choose one ride and she was so excited to ride in this boat.

 We went to a little lake close to our house on afternoon after work and got some sun as a family. The water was freezing but that didn't stop Lyla!

On the way to church a few weeks ago, Lyla found some of my lipgloss and she caked it on. I'm getting a little worried about what she'll be like as a teenager!

 We had a fun birthday celebration with Paul. We had his favorite dinner and some cake the weekend before since he never has much time during the week.

 We did our usual Red Robbin tradition and Lyla especially loved it this time

 Trevor just loved playing with the balloons

 On the actual morning of the big day, naked Lyla opened Paul's  presents while he ate breakfast.

 We took some one year pictures of Trevor. He took his first steps on his own over a month ago and can walk well between two people, but our silly boy is lazy and refuses to walk on his own. It's much faster to crawl or be carried so he constantly begs us to pick him up.

Trevor loves to hug and he especially loves his daddy. He cries whenever Paul leaves and gets SO excited in the evening when he gets home. "Dad" is the word that Trevor can say very best.