12 days of Christmas

Jaycee had the 12 days of Christmas given to her this year. Each night, she got a bag on the porch. This is her opening the first one, and what she had on the last day....Christmas!

Aren't they cute? I thought so, a tiny manger scene.

Decorating the Tree

Jaycee and I were going to set up the Christmas decorations just after Thanksgiving, and my mom showed up, so she helped us put the tree up, too. Here is Jaycee "helping" put up the ornaments. I think she liked how shiny they were. But notice the tongue concentration! :) It's so darn cute!

Boxes of fun!

Just 'cause she's cute.....

Ryan was cooking dinner, and I was cleaning some things up, so I just put her in this box so she could play while we were busy, and she liked it a lot! Funny how such simple things can be so great! :)

Experience at Tepanyaki

Eagle Lake Golf Course, one of Ryan's part-time jobs, had a Christmas party last week and his boss gave everyone a gift certificate, all to different places. Well, ours was to Tepanyaki, and we had never been there before. So, we decided to go last night. Here are a few pictures of our fun experience.

Jaycee watching the fire...This was pretty cool! He was a very talented chef. They cook all your food in front of you. They cooked some shrimp and then toss it to each person to catch in your mouth, as if you were a seal or something. It's pretty fun, but only two people caught theirs at our table! It was very good food, too!She really thought the fires were neat. While sitting in her highchair, she'd turn herself around and watch the flames at other tables too, she really enjoyed it.We decided to take Grandpa Hatch also, and he seemed to enjoy himself!

Ryan trying out the rice with his chopsticks!

Sleepy...

I just thought this was kinda funny! Ryan was playing Nintendo alone while us girls were making some things, and this is what I found when we realized it was awful quiet.....

....he he he! Poor guy, he was so tired, he fell asleep with the controller in his hands, and fingers all in the right place still. He's been such a good daddy lately to get up with Jaycee in the nights while I'm at work, but he's just not used to it yet. Hopefully he'll get used to it soon though, since I'll be doing this for the next 3 months, and then every so often afterward. Anyway, thank you for your help, honey!

Grandma's Birthday!

It was Diana's birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday Diana! We went over for dinner and fun. Mel and Mandy made manicotti, and had beans and garlic bread with it, it was yummy! It's always fun to be there. We played Pictionary later in the evening, and it was girls against boys, and girls kicked butt! :) It was great! I forgot how much I liked that game.

Blowing out candles on her pie....there are 5 candles, but one is a little shorter than the rest. They are supposed to represent 10 years each, but the short one supposedly means a little less than ten years.Grandma and her two girls! They both LOVE to dance, and she has an ornament on her tree that sings, so they play it and then dance with her. This picture doesn't do them justice because Brooklyn usually dances by poking her bum out way far, and Jaycee usually bounces, but her one leg looks like it does all the work. One day we'll have to video them instead!

The Forgotten Carols

Ryan took me to "The Forgotten Carols" on our first date 3 years ago. So every year since then, we have gone to see it, and I LOVE it!!!! If any of you have never seen it, you really need to at least once in your life! I get the chills every year, and it's just a great place to feel the holiday spirit! Some of my very favorite songs are: Let Him In, Homeless, He Was Here, Three Kings Found the Lord, and Arise & Shine Forth. They start off with Let Him In, and I can't help but get teary eyed! I just love the feelings it brings. Micheal McLean is so fun to watch perform, too! He loves what he does and he totally gets into it! It's great! At the end, he has everyone think of someone they love that is not there with them, and you sing a song with him. EVERY year, I cry at this part, thinking of some family members, who are either having a hard time, or who have passed on. It's just a wonderful atmosphere. They even have a CD & DVD of it, if you want to get those instead, but being there is so much fun too!

The first year, we went to Cottonwood High School with some friends and their dates. The second time, was with Steph & Ethan but we were able to make it to the showing at the Dee Event Center in Ogden. The third year, just the two of us went to the Dee Event Center, again. But this year, we didn't know if we were going to be able to go, so we missed the one close to home, and had to go to Cottonwood High, again, which wasn't a big deal, but it just takes longer to get there and back. It was just the two of us, and Jaycee stayed with Mom. One day we'll be able to take our children with us and make it a family tradition for them!

Baby Blessings

Aubree was blessed today, and her little dress is so cute! I swear she changes every day, she just seems to be bigger and more grown up looking every time I see her! She's such a doll.

Sleeping beauty!

The cute little family!

These older girls, Stacy's nieces, loved having a live doll to play with! Kayani can walk now, so they were walking around with her, and then found her a place in the hallway to sit down and play with some toys The rest of the kids played in Ethan's room with all his toys, and he loves it when people plays in his room with him, so they were all in Heaven!

Music & Lights at Temple Square

My cousin, Lyndsey, came up from St. George with her singing group to perform all over Salt Lake & Provo. They were at the Assembly Hall on Temple Square last night, so we met our other cousin, Ali, there and listened to them, and then saw the lights! It was pretty fun! Jaycee just stared at the lights while we passed by them, it was pretty cute to see how big her eyes got!

Lyndsey's group, they did really well.

Lyndsey & Ali

The three of us!Mom, Lyndsey, Perris, Ali, Me, Jaycee & RyanJaycee with the lit tree behind her! She was all bundled up, and warm, and just enjoying life!

The three of us again, in the lit up tree!

Beautiful Lyndsey! I can't believe how grown up and gorgeous she is! She used to be so little......I'm so old! :)

Fun with Friends

Our friend, Randy's birthday was on Dec. 2nd, so we went up to celebrate with him, and some other friends. We had some yummy pizza, and the girls played with each other! It was pretty fun! It'll be great when we all have kids running around playing with each other! Steph & Ethan will have one to join in soon, too! :)

Riley & Jaycee playing together! They're so cute!

Most of us who were there......Steph & Ethan (and baby!), the three of us, Randy & Michelle & Riley, Randy's mom-Jill, and Michelle's two brothers in the back.