A great Christmas!

This Christmas was a little hard for me. Whether it was from economic difficulties, trying to figure out a new collicky baby, or just feeling "grinchy," it was hard for me to get into the Christmas spirit this year. However, a little late, but worth the wait, my feelings did change, and this Christmas has been probably one of the best that I can remember. It seems like there was a series of things that did the trick for me. Here are a few:
I told Mckinley that Santa wasn't going to come to her this year unless she picked out some toys to take to the DI so that a "poor little girl" could have a nice Christmas too. This was actually meant as a way to clean out the closet space to make room for some of the new things she would be getting. However, I was very touched when after spending quite some time in her room, she came out with some of her most cherished things. "Is the poor little girl my friend?," she asked me. I was tempted to quietly put her special toys back in her room and replace them with some I knew she wouldn't miss, but in doing so, I knew I would be taking away her sweet gift. I rushed the toys to the DI that day, and I know I wasn't too late to give a "poor little girl" a nice Christmas. Especially if I was the poor little girl.
I also had the opportunity to play in the Messiah this year. I grew up on the music and each year, I think I appreciate it more. Handel must have known the Savior. His music is probably some of the best known in the world. That's not by chance.
We got a Christmas card from the Holliday's this year. We are always so glad when they think of us. David got misty eyed reading the card and he didn't really know why. But I do. It was the words, "In fond memory of our beloved Daniel." There's something very beautiful about a family who hasn't given up on their son. How significant at this time of year to remember that the atonement is going to work for all of us.
I found myself choking back the tears when my mother was telling me about a little three year old girl with her mother getting some things from the local care and share. It turns out that a broken heart is actually a good thing. But be careful. You never know what you will do when you have one. My mom took a load of food to Care and Share twice this year.
I loved Alison's story about her hospital stay. She would have pulled out every IV they put in and probably wouldn't be here now if it weren't for the Relief Society sisters who came to the hospital to help her heal simply by holding her hands.
My dad is an artist. And I never knew. Christmas morning my mother handed us a journal he has been drawing in. David has been drawing his whole life and says he can't even draw like that. I went through the whole book looking for one thing. Erase marks. I didn't find any and so I've had to conclude that this is just another way he has of expressing himself. Maybe it's as natural as talking. I don't know. But one thing is for sure. He didn't need an eraser.
I wonder what Christmas looked like through my Aunt Elaine's eyes. This is her last Christmas and she knows it. She only has a week or two left. She would've had a much different perspective this year. Probably one we should all have.

Christmas. I've been told before that it means "more Christ." I got it this year. Maybe for the first time.

Well, I guess this is my last post for this year. 2009 is about over. See you next year!
Cheers!

Mckinley is 4!

Mckinley turned 4 last week and we can't believe how fast time has gone by. She has really grown up fast and it is kind of sad for us to see her acting so grown up because we thought she would always be our little baby.
Anyway, if you know much about four year old girls, you probably know how important it is to have a birthday party with just the right cake, and the right outfit, and fun friends to be with. So THANK YOU to everyone who came to see her on her special day. She was so happy and excited about her party.(if you remember, we didn't do a party last year because she was sick.)
The day started out with David and I singing happy birthday to her just as she was waking up. We took a candle in for her to blow out when we were done singing. The night before her birthday, I wrapped her little gifts and set them on a chair in the middle of her room so that they would be the first thing she would see in the morning. She was very excited when she woke up. Her main gift from us was a doll head that you can comb and style her hair and do her makeup. Yikes! We are already starting this! The funny part was that she picked this doll quite a while ago and she was calling it her "chocolate girl," because she is a black bratz doll. She also got some jammies and Pinkalicious, which is a book about a girl who eats too many pink cupcakes so she turns pink.
After she opened her gifts, we had a special birthday breakfast. She wanted "eggies" and "meat." Her daddy did a good job making things just how she likes them.
Later, in the afternoon the doorbell rang and it was a special delivery from Grandma and Grandpa Holmgren.(always timed perfectly. How do you do it?) Mckinley used to watch the Velveteen Rabbit when she was a baby and she was so excited to open the new version of the movie and the book. Thank you for reminding us of that fun time in our little girls life. Grandpa Kurt also knitted Mckinley a gorgeous sweater and a hat. (I'm a little embarrassed that I thought that the little yellow sweater was for her, when it was actually for Dolce. But you should see how cute it was on her. Haha!)
Later on it was party time. We decided to do an open house style party because I was a little intimidated by the idea of having everyone all at once. (It's weird the things you find out about yourself. I guess I'm a little overwhelmed by large groups.) It turned out so fun and Mckinley loved seeing everyone. I think she changed clothes in between every guest arrival. She loved all of the gifts and couldn't believe that everyone was giving her all those things. She hasn't stopped playing mermaids, Cooties, and wearing the bright green Tinkerbelle outfit. Thanks everyone! We served Wassail and Gingerbread with whipped cream, and of course ice cream and cake with the most amazing pink and purple Icing I think I've ever seen. It was a great day. Happy birthday, Bearsy! We love you!
This is a picture of Mckinley reading Pinkalicious to Dolce in her crib. Dolce was listening so carefully. Mckinley knows this book by heart now.

a few baby pictures

I took some new pictures of the new little one today. I thought they turned out pretty cute. I'm still having the blurry problem with some of the pictures but here are a few that turned out ok.

















She's a pretty cute little girly.

4 Weeks Old!

These pictures are a little bit blurry for some reason, but I said I would post a picture of how she snuggles up her legs. They look kind of like a heart when she does this and I think it is so sweet. This was the reason her pediatrician thought at first that she had clubbed feet, but it seems that this was just the way she had her feet while she was inside and so they must have just molded to fit. The middle picture is a sneak peak at her temper. I took her to the Dr. yesterday to make sure that she didn't have something hurting her because we had several nights of her screaming and crying for a couple of hours at a time. We are trying some Zantac now because she has acid reflux. Hopefully it helps.

Our Christmas Tree

Putting up the Christmas tree always reminds me of when David and I got engaged because David proposed to me the day after we had decorated the Christmas tree in my apartment. Now that we are married, we still make it a fun family date night by making dinner together, decorating the tree and then watching a Christmas movie. (This year we watched Lampoons Christmas Vacation.) Our house now smells just like Christmas evergreen boughs with blue twinkling lights on the branches.

The Childrens Christmas Festival

Cedar has all sorts of different festivals throughout the year. One of the really fun ones is the Childrens Christmas Festival, which is a week long celebration with all sorts of fun events celebrating Christmas. This year, we went with JJ and Valeena to the North Pole and Santaland exhibits. It was a lot of fun. The kids were pretty enchanted to see all the different trees and Santa Clause was even there. What fun! Look at some of these trees:

This was my favorite. I thought it was so creative.

This was the Firefighters tree. The ladies did a great job. You can't see the bottom but the tree skirt is a hose roll. I loved it.

I've got to get Jesse to autograph his famous "wink" for me. Someday he will be famous for it.

I hit my head really hard on an igloo going into this display. It was not made out of snow.

Thanksgiving

I was not a very good photographer on Thanksgiving and forgot to take a single picture while we were at dinner. But I wanted to write that we went to my Grandma Riddles for dinner and it was such a good time to be with everyone. I was so glad that Sunni and Shawn made it down for the day and it was fun to show off our new baby to everyone who hadn't met her yet. The little girls wore their new sweaters that Grandpa Holmgren knitted for them, which is the main reason I'm mad that I forgot to take pictures. Everyone was amazed at how beautiful the sweaters are. I will remember to take some late pictures of how cute the girlies are wearing them and post them so don't forget to check back.

It was such a yummy Thanksgiving with so many things to be grateful for.

Christmas tree hunting

The day before Thanksgiving, we went and cut down our own Christmas tree with my cousin Josh and his wife Angie. David had said a few weeks ago that he had never had a real Christmas tree and so we thought it would be fun to have one this year.( We usually put up a white artificial tree that is such a peach to put together every year.)
If you have ever chopped down your own Christmas tree, you might be aware that there is more to the experience than just cutting down any old tree. You have to find the PERFECT tree and how will you know it's the perfect one unless you have looked at every other tree on the mountain? The perfect tree might be right next to the road in an ideal location where you could chop it down and have it land easily in your truck bed, but you have to make sure that there isn't a better one out there.
This year, it was a day of fun that started in Duck Creek village where we shared a pizza at Hot Mamma's. Then we drove over to Mammoth Caves. We went through one of the caves which was a new adventure for me. I can't believe I have lived here forever and never even knew the caves were there. One of the caves is blocked off because of some dangerous drop offs in it, but we went through one that was pretty cool and had some tight squeeze through parts. Mckinley really loved it and wanted to go through it again when were done.
Josh and David tried to convince us to get a Cedar tree because we live in Cedar. But Angie and I both held out and got pretty blue spruces. I originally wanted this one, but David thought it might be a little too tall. This sled was a good idea. Mckinley got to have a ride through the snowy parts.
"The PERFECT one."....and the tree is a good one too.
Josh said that he might look like a nerd with the headlight, but at least he would have his hands free to fight off the bears inside the cave. Mckinley thought he was serious about the bears. Haha.
David and Mckinley at the mouth of one of the caves.

We had such a fun time. Thanks Josh and Angie!