Christmas and New Years

Life has been so crazy lately with tons of Christmas parties, Tyler's new schedule and lots of snow to play in. Christmas was great.

Christmas Eve Eve I got to open an early Christmas present, which was by far the greatest gift ever. Tyler took the money I earned taking pictures for Ironwood, chipped in a bit of our own, and bought me the camera of my dreams!!!!! I've been wanting a fancy digital camera for probably 8 or 9 years but always put it off because it wasn't a 'need' and far to expensive to justify, well now I have my dream camera and I take it everywhere with me.

We spend Christmas Eve with my brother Michael and his wife Danielle. They took us to this fantastic sledding place up American Fork Canyon. The kind of place you dream about going, where the hills are huge and there is 4 feet of snow. Unfortunately being pregnant and having a nearly 2 year old along, Alex and I didn't do a whole lot of sledding. It was a great place for pictures though and i think we all had a lot of fun. We lounged around the afternoon watching 'Om Shanti Om' (our gift to Michael) and eating delicious ham and goodies, then had a family Christmas party at Tyler's parents

.

The sledding crew.

Our sledding location.

Here is my 5ish months pregnant picture. You can see that I can no longer zip up my snow pants.

Michael and Danielle, all cute and such.

Tyler, after going down a HUGE hill.

Alex gets sort of lifeless once you put her in a snowsuit. It was pretty cold though.

Here we have Big Archie and little Archie Brady.

The Christmas Eve party gang.

Christmas Day Tyler and I were up at 6:30 waiting and waiting anxiously for Alex, who slept in until 8 for the first time in her life!!!! We fed her breakfast in her bedroom and then she was so content she didn't want to come out! after about 5 minutes of bribing Tyler finally carried her into the living room where she was in shock, and then so excited about the baby stroller "Santa" got her. We spent the rest of the day at the Brady's, eating wonderful food and hanging out with family. It was a great Christmas.

Alex thinks eating at her "big girl table" is the greatest thing ever. She has gotten quite good at eating one handed because she refuses to put down her dolls and stuffed animals at breakfast.

She has spent a LOT of time pushing babies and animals around in her stroller since she got it Christmas morning.

New Years Eve, Tyler took Alex and I on a drive up the canyon 'chasing' the blue moon. We stopped in a snowfield up a canyon in the middle of nowhere and read stories and ate pizza and candy, then were promptly in bed by 9 and asleep way before midnight.

New Years Day was spent sledding behind 4 wheelers at Great Grandma Jake's house with 23 relatives. It was fun to see everyone, and to take pictures of them all.

Now that it's all over, it's sort of nice to be able to get back to normal. Alex has gotten through she sugar withdrawls and is behaving herself again. Tyler and I have goals to read the scriptures, write in our journals and eat healthy. Life is just good.

Grandpa Brady and Alex.

I love this picture because it shows what poor Susan has to deal with all the time, entertaining both little kids. Here she is dragging Alex in the sled, and Archie by one arm, because he decided he didn't want to walk, or sled.

View from Grandma Jake's house.

Ben and Arch

My sweet friend Brianna sent a care package for the new baby and sent Alex a stuffed bunny which she ADORES, you can see that here.

I get Alex smiling on camera about 1 of every 30 pictures.

Our Christmas Tree

She really loves to scowel at the camera.

Oh, and she got a big girl bed for Christmas which she loves. Especially the Elmo sheets. Here she is her very first nap time in bed, she even pulled the covers up over herself. So cute!

Our Christmas Family Picture.

The baby goose story

When I was a child, my parents got a goose egg for us to hatch. My little brother David was probably only about 18 months old at the time and communicated mainly through screaming. He was always screaming to be held up so he could see the egg, which sat in a box on the counter right next to where his high chair was. When the goose finally hatched, it responded to his screams the way a baby chick might to it's mothers call. Since it had grown so familiar with his screaming while in the egg, it was only natural for it to follow David around the house while he screamed for attention, etc.

I can only imagine that this same sort of thing is going to happen when our new baby arrives. She will have spent the entire 9 months of her developing life, listening to Alex scream and cry. Other than the vacuum, this is probably the only noise loud enough to breach her little chamber of solitude. While she will not be able to chase Alex around like a trained goose, hopefully they will be able to bond over this, a source of constant frustration for the rest of us.

December Adventures

I can hardly believe that Christmas is nearly here! Life has been so busy, and Tyler has been gone all the time ( 6 of the last 8 days), so we have been spending a lot of time at the Brady's! Tyler's older Brother Sam, and his family arrived in town for a month of fun and so it seems like there is always something going on, or someone to play with!

Archie got a sweet box for Christmas from his Grandpa(there was a rocking horse inside), and both the kids had a hay day crawling in and out and all over the box!


Alex discovered a new best friend in her oldest cousin Nicholas. He is so sweet with her, always asking her to play with him, sharing his toys and food and even reading her stories. Alex is just in awe of this big kid and loves to follow him around and do whatever Nicholas and Christian are doing.

And this is my beautiful quilt!!!!! Last March for my birthday, I asked Tyler to have this quilt made for me. I saw the fabric online and HAD to have something made of it, but I couldn't choose which one, so I decided a fun quilt with ALL of them would be best. There were some skeptics who weren't sure about the craziness of the pattern and all the fabrics, but I LOVE IT!!!!
It was 9 long months in the making and when it finally got finished 2 days before Christmas, Tyler couldn't wait to give it to me (since it is technically my Birthday gift from last year)! So many people put in so many hours to make this possible, and it is the most wonderful, perfect thing ever. The best birthday gift i can remember ever getting. I love that, even though it's not a "practical" quilt, Tyler still had it made just how I wanted it, even though he was a bit skeptical about how "noisey" it is. So thanks to everyone who made this possible, I adore it. It is my happy place and when ever i lay down on it, i can't help but smile and think wonderful thoughts!

Where's waldo. Alex is a fan of the awesomeness.

The little soccer player in my belly is a..............

GIRL!!!
Although Tyler was really hoping for a little boy, we are so excited to announce that we are having a little girl! With 3 brothers and no sisters I figured that I was destined to raise a family of boys. Looks like the lord wants me to learn how to do things differently. Tyler is the perfect father for a family of little girls, I think he is just a bit sore because we made a deal that if it was a boy he could name it, and if it is a girl, I get to name it. So yay, I win.

pictures

It's whenever Alex looks cute, with her hair all done up and everything, that she refuses to pose for pictures.


Brady family chocolate dipping. Here Alex is snitching a pretzle.



After the annual chocolate dipping fest we had pans of chocolate EVERYWHERE. It was fun, and Alex was in awe of all the delicious brown stuff.

Alex and Archie atop a donkey at the Lehi live christmas nativity.

Tyler, Alex, Ben, Archie and Kate out on a freezing night.

Kate and I made the tomato bruchetta from "Julie and Julia" It was wonderful and we've made it 3 times since, with plans to have it again tomorrow. This is amaizing coming from tomato haters like us. It is wonderful.

Alex posing by the Brady's chrismas tree in her sweet cowboy boots.

Catch up and pictures

So our computer decided to die at just about the worst time ever. I never realized how often I use it and for all the random things it comes in handy. Hence, I have not been able to keep up on blogging like I would have liked. I have many pictures to post and just no time with the Internet to do it. Also, our vacuum decided to die today, I tried to fix the problem and discovered a thousand pine needles stuck in it. apparently it does not like the Christmas tree.


In happy news, although Kate was sick, I took our stuff to the Boutique on Saturday and we were able to make $10 even though it was a wet snowy, raining mess outside and it seemed not many people came. It was thrilling to have someone buy something that we made with our own hands, and our small sales inspired us to keep going. Hopefully I can post some stuff on Etsy today and show off our products. We are very excited.


I feel like so much has been happening and I've been running around with my head cut off. But now that I try to recap the last few weeks, I'm coming up with a big blank as to what in the world I've done besides shovel the driveway 30 times! Like the computer and vacuum, I'm realizing how much I miss having Tyler around now that his schedule is no longer 8-5. It's only been a day and a half, but I miss him like crazy.


a close up of the headbands, hot pads and apron

Kate's sweet bird mobiles

Our bread and chocolates for sale

What was left of the flower clips

Our table.

Come to the Christmas Boutique

This Saturday December 12th. from noon until 2 pm. Kate and I have the opportunity of participating in a Christmas Boutique at a home not far from where we live. We are very excited and have been crafting like crazy to get ready. You should all come if you are in the area!!!! The address is.... 114 North 2560 West. There will be jewelry, aprons, baby gear, custom cut vinyl, chore boards, mary kay and much more!!!!
Kate and I are submitting these great flower clips, headbands, chocolates and cinnimon swirl bread!!!! We would love to see you there!

Also, in very exciting news, Kate and I have launched our very own ETSY shop!!! It might be a couple days before we post much. Check us out at.... kandyapplekrafts at..............

http://www.etsy.com/shop/kandyapplekrafts