Christmas 2011

For Christmas 2011, we went to California and spent time with my family. Brek and I flew out the week before, but Joe was busy playing for Annie, so he couldn't come out until Christmas Eve. My sister and her family weren't able to make the trip out from Indiana either, tho I did my best to make her feel guilty about neglecting me. Sadly, it still didn't work and we had to settle with iChat to "unite" the family for the holiday.

Still, it was a nice vacation. Brek had his cousins, my brother Mark's girls, around most of the time. That was both a blessing and a curse. Brek and Anna fought pretty constantly. And I was able to see and reconnect with a lot of friends. I didn't take many pictures, and none of those I got to visit. I hope that someday I'll be better about that. Anyway, on to the pictures:

Brek getting ready to see Santa

It obviously didn't go well. Here's to next year!

A series of pictures of Brek at the piano. He had a blast, and was just so darn cute!

Love that he's so proud of himself.

For the first week, Grandma was busy sewing away on Christmas dresses. And Brek loved to "help."

I know these pictures show them getting along all peach-keen. I mean, they're taking a bath, right? But I promise you, they aren't all angelic. Mind you, back in April Anna taught Brek all about "defending" toys, aka taking them away from others, and despite the fact she has 2 older sisters and lots of cousins around, she's not a fan of sharing. Especially with Brek. So the minute he came near her, she started screaming. See, not his fault. But then he'd start pulling her hair. We actually have one of those moments on video, but I haven't learned how to upload videos to the blog yet, so you'll just have to imagine it. Brek is actually quite the tyrant when it comes to pulling hair. It's ALMOST ALWAYS long blond hair, but he's also proved us wrong on that statistic. But with Anna, it's just because he can. Devil Children. Man I love them!

Christmas this year was quite a bit different than the way we Normally do it. We still had our traditional fondue dinner on Christmas Eve. (To be honest, I have no recollection of that being a tradition, but they say it is, so we do it.) I got a lot of slack for choosing a "different" sort of cheese dip. But it was the favorite, and oh so yummy! They all thanked  me later.

Then Grandpa read the Christmas story from the New Testament. Each of the kids were given Little People characters to contribute to the Nativity scene while Grandpa read. But Anna didn't want to share them and Brek just wanted to throw them, so it wasn't the most reverent and respectful pondering of the Christ-child that one would have hoped. :) And we sang Christmas carols. That was fun. Not something we did growing up, but since we started doing Christmas on our own, (meaning just my immediate family and not with the extended family) we have done it and I really enjoy it. Not that we're all awesome singers, but Christmas is just a fun time to sing and be joyful.

Brek in his Christmas PJ's

And then the kids (and Joe & I) got to open our Christmas PJ's. Normally we open all of our presents on Christmas Eve and Santa comes on Christmas morning. But like I said, we did it differently this year. So just the pj's. Then the kids went to bed, and I was given a paper airplane making lesson by my dad (because for some reason I never got one as a kid) while we waited for Santa to make an appearance.

Such a happy boy!

All the kids in their Christmas PJ's

Christmas morning the kids got to see what Santa brought them before we all got dressed and headed off to Church. I also made my awesome cinnamon rolls the day before. Made an awesome Christmas morning breakfast!

Anna with her loot from Santa

Brek reading his book from Santa.

Looking so studly in his outfit made by Grandma

This is just an awesome picture of my brother David that I had to include it, even tho Brek it's looking up at the camera. Brek LOVED to rub Uncle David's beard. Very cute! 

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An attempt at all 4 kids in front of the tree before going to church. Didn't work too well from my end. I'm hoping my brother got a better one; if he did, I'll post it later.

I LOVE these dresses that my mom made. My sister's 3 girls have matching ones too. I think they are some of the best work she has done. And they are just SO PRETTY!!!

After Church we came home to tackle the wrapped piles around the tree. At my request, we all got back into our pj's, cuz they are so comfy. And then we iChat-ed some more with my sister, and between the 7 kids, had them take turns opening presents and showing each other what they got.

Brek almost had to delay opening his presents, but after a bottle, he was much happier and the nap was post-poned until they were all unwrapped.

Unwrapping a present.

Anna opening a present from her daddy.

Brek opening a present from Grandma and Grandpa.

He got his very own laptop! We're still trying to teach him that he gets this instead of the grown-up computer.

After Brek went down for a nap, Joe and I were able to open our presents. I felt very spoiled by my family, as we got practically everything off of our "hopes and dreams" list. We thought just one item would have been generous, but were pleasantly surprised as we continued to unwrap. Most excited items were a new camera and camera case, a portable DVD player (so that Brek could watch a move AND we could still use the computer), new sweatshirts, new work pants for Joe, a new wallet (also for Joe, which will no longer put holes in the butt of his pants), and an upgrade on Finale. We also gave each other chocolates - chocolate covered cherries for me and Costco truffles for Joe.

FIRST picture taken with the new camera. Maybe I should have prepped my subjects better.

Picture of Joe taken WHILE recording a video. So cool!

Joe's first time behind the camera. This was the 26th.

Mom worked hard on Christmas dinner too; we had a Turkey with THE WORKS! Yummy, yummy food. Gotta love all the good eating that takes place around the holidays! And my mom was AMAZING! Especially considering how much she doesn't care for cooking. She's dang good at it!

Grandma's reaction to post-Christmas Dinner.

 A few more shots: Brek's game from Santa this year was a bucket with bean bags. It seemed fitting because EVERYTHING gets thrown. Brek's favorite thing to do with it is this:

Brek with his head in the bucket and Katie playing on his laptop.

Brek learning to throw paper airplanes.

Cute naked bum.

And even cuter giving loves to daddy.

Let's see, other things I don't have pictures of...

I got to be at my Biggs Family Christmas party. Very fun to see cousins, aunts, and uncles. Brek LOVED being in the middle of the kids game of freeze tag. He really thinks he's a big kid.

I was in the guest room/office/sewing room. Brek came in to find me. My dad came and stood in the doorway. Brek pointed to me and said, "Mommy." My dad asked, "Who am I?" Brek pointed to him and said, "Papa." SO CUTE!

A couple days later Brek wasn't feeling too well. My parents were in the office/sewing room and Brek wandered in there. He held up his hands to Grandpa. Grandpa picked him up. Brek laid his hands on his shoulder and they cuddled for 10 minutes or so. By the time I realized it, I couldn't get the camera fast enough to capture the moment.

The last day we were there we ventured out to see Grandpa's shop, look at some fish, and then went to the park. We didn't last long before Brek had a COMPLETE meltdown on the swings. It was weird.

We weren't planning on staying up on New Year's Eve. We broke out the sparkling cidar and counted down with the east coast. Then we played chicken foot and watched Big Bang episodes. So we made it to midnight after all. It really was a fun (and low-key) night. I loved it!

Hope everyone else had a nice vacation and holiday season.

An Attempt at Family Pictures

We originally intended to take this on Thanksgiving. But without mentioning names, someone got grumpy, took a nap, and then we lost all our daylight. Darn it Joe! :)

So, since we got a new camera, we handed it to my mom and crossed our fingers, Brek wasn't particularly cooperating, but these aren't bad. Not planning on printing any one of them off and hanging it on the wall, but at least we've got a documentation of our family.

Blurry, but it's the only smile we got out of the small one.

I cut my hair

Brek wanted in on the picture-taking.

Looking at the before pictures it's not as long as it felt. But I was ready. It was inspired by my friend Jessica. Love her. Hadn't seen her in years. Had a wonderful time at lunch with her and her mom Kay, another beloved friend. Anyway, loved Jessie's hair. The first time I ever had my hair cut and styled, Jessie and Kay were the ones that talked me into it, because I was terrified, and Kay even went with me and practically held my hand. Since then, I'm not so afraid to do it. While we were all having lunch and I voiced aloud that I might cut my hair, Kay right then and there called her favorite stylist, and set up an appointment for the next day. The stylist happens to be the mom of girls I grew up with. So that was fun.
My cut is shorter than Jess'. I'm still getting used to it. The biggest difference is the sweeping bangs. I'm using lots of bobby pins these days. I like it best when I use the flat iron, but I'll admit it, I don't do it often. Hardly ever. I'm just too lazy and don't care. So the natural body takes over. Some days I really hate it. Other days it doesn't bother me as much. Most of it fits in a pony tail, or a clippy. So it works. I think come another month or so it will be the perfect length.

But yeah. There you have it. I cut my hair.

A Sad Excuse For Being Caught Up

So, I'm not sleepy, should be asleep, but am trying to be productive with my time. So I figured I'd update the blog. It is in fact, December, almost Christmas, and I haven't added anything since the end of October. I plug in my camera and upload my pictures, only to realize that I have been really bad at taking pictures. I mean, REALLY BAD. So please forgive me.

But of the few pictures I have taken, here are the ones I felt were worth sharing and documenting:

Calvin & Hobbes

Brek "fishing" at the ward Halloween party

Just a cute face Halloween morning

Going trick-or-treating for the first time, with cousins Rose and Nora. And yes, I am dressed up as a Tic-Tac-Toe.

The first house.

Playing scary Halloween music on the organ with Aunt Suzette

A close up of our cute tiger

 In November, our good friend Ben came into town with his boys from California. Brek and I got to join him for touring around Temple Square in Salt Lake City.

Brek with the Christus statue.

Brek has created a new game: Mom or Dad usher him to come somewhere, and he grins mischievously and runs the other direction. (It should be noted that neither mom or dad are fans of the game.) Unfortunately, on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, the game resulted in a minor flesh wound.

But after just one week, the scab fell off, the swollen lip is gone, and the wound on the gum has healed up nicely. Now we're just hoping this scar won't be noticeable for the rest of his life.

Still cute and adorable

I guess for non-photographic related news: We moved back up to the Salt Lake area, closer to Joe's work. We are all really happy about not having a commute. And the past few months he's been super busy with the school musical and playing for Annie this holiday season, so being closer to home has been great.
We bought our first washer and dryer. I have mixed feelings about the quality, but at least my laundry is getting done. Now if I can just figure out what exactly is leaking on the washer, that might improve things.
I finished a huge, very complicated cross-stitch project. It took me 11 months. Someday when we get it framed I will post a picture. For now, I'm just excited that it is done.
Our family is growing - we are adopting again! We are hoping that in April we will have a 10-year-old girl from Ghana that will join our family. I'll keep you posted as we learn and hear more.

Well, that's it folks. I know. Lame. Maybe this will motivate me to do/be better. I will admit that there have been other times I have pulled out the camera, and then Brek has stopped doing what was so noteworthy. I hate those missed opportunities, like him climbing on boxes and getting stuck, or getting tangled in the stroller, or me getting poked in the eye or the baton going up my nose while Brek is conducting Joe's orchestra, or those inappropriate moments that I can't actually capture when he's laughing at his jiggling body parts. Good times as a parent. Seriously. :) 

Happy Holidays dearest friends!