Christmas and Beyond

I don't even know where the holiday season went. We tried to do so many Christmas activities, and we have all been sick...it just flew by!

One of our favorite activities was McCormick park. They do the whole train park up in Christmas lights. We got to ride the train and Braelynn loved her 1st ride on the carousel. While Elmo is her favorite "person," the real one walkingaround the park was another story. We finally got her to say hi to him, from about 10 feet away.

We also went to San Tan Village and took a Carriage ride, watched the light show, and and took in the busy, last minute shopping energy.

Then there was my birthday. Sick. End of story :(

Finally, it was Christmas! Braelynn really wasn't sure about the whole thing. The idea of Santa terrified her- she would growl every time we talked about him. Seriously, she would growl. She loved the Grinch though!

We woke up in a time crunch, since we GOT to go to church that morning, so I was a little hurried and stressed. Braelynn loved her Tickle Me Elmo...and then took the next 3 days to open the rest of her presents. Unfortunately she figured it out at the tail end :(

After church we went to Tucson and spent the night with my family. Braelynn loves her big cousin Chloe, and the 2 of them ran around together 'till they had nothing left in them.

I still can't believe it's over. I guess I should finally pack everything up tomorrow :(

We spent New Year's and Kent's birthday in Sedona with my parents. It was a lot of fun, in spite of us all being sick STILL/AGAIN. It's never ending...however Brooke's explosive diapers really made the weekend interesting!

2012 holds a lot of mystery for us. Hopefully things will pick up for Kent in the Business Brokerage world, since everyone has been on Holiday mode since September. It would be really nice to have a company again!

We Get "Snow" and Santa...Even in Arizona! :)

Not So Traditional

Our Thanksgiving this year was a little out of the ordinary, but boy did we love it!

Last year we had gone to Utah and froze for 3 days...it was that trip where we decided we were done with winter holidays anywhere north. Why would we leave a paradise of 72 degrees?

My brother had come the 2 weeks before Thanksgiving, so we already did a turkey with him, since he hadn't been home for Thanksgiving in 8 years! My step-dad, Ken, had back surgery the week before, so my parents were in no condition to travel or host.

What were we to do???

Play outside, watch movies, go to the park, go shopping, and decorate for Christmas! The weather was beautiful making it just perfect!

Here's Brooke helping me in the kitchen

Kent and Braelynn watching Megamind

Let's eat! Steak, baked potato, roasted pesto veggies, and yummy sourdough with butter, garlic, and cheese

Kent definitely approves of the new holiday menu!

More bread Braelynn?

Brooke barely made it through the prayer!

Peek-a-boo Brooke!

Ahh- get a load of that sunset!

I love my little sweethearts!

How's the view from up there?

Yes ma'am! Flip-flops in November :)

And now onto Christmas!

So in Love...

I know, you are probably thinking that this post is about Kent and the last 4 blissful years. Well, that post is coming in a couple of days, but in the meantime I just gotta tell you how much in love with Braelynn I am!

She drives me absolutely crazy many days, but there are so many days that I could just eat her up!

Sunday. She was just so cute! All of a sudden, our little mess-of-a-girl has discovered how much fun it is to get girly. We do ponytails and now we're even getting into curlers.

Call my crazy, but I'm even obsessed with the peach fuzz on her arms. She's not a baby anymore!

She's never been one to "crash" anywhere...until she decided she was too big for naps!

She was definitely a fan of the Halloween candy!

Silly girl! Daddy doesn't need curlers :)

It's so fun counting with her, and singing the alphabet.