Before we were released at the beginning of the new year we taught the Valiant 9 class in our ward. Let me tell you, these kids were great. We decided to throw a Christmas party for them to thank them for being such an awesome class.
Here they are making their gingerbread (graham cracker) houses.
We had a total of 4 girls and 1 boy.
Seth found his place with Taylor and the skate boards.
These kids LOOOVED Mercedes. Thanks guys for being such a great class!
I believe this picture was taken on Christmas Eve morning. Getting Mercedes ready for a late-morning jog as a family.Christmas morning we woke up with great anticipation and opened our presents. Who knew it could still be so fun for grown-ups!?
We got Mercedes her first doll.
She now carries it everywhere and loves it like her own baby. I think she will be a fantastic older sister.
Later in the morning we headed over to Taylor's parents house. We then spent the rest of the day opening presents and having lots of fun.
Love. :)
Grandma Tammy and Grandpa Galen got Mercedes the coolest little walker thing. She loved it right away. (Notice the excitement in her eyes!)
They also got us a cool child carrier. We're definitely going camping and hiking this summer.
Mercedes did FANTASTIC despite the fact that she hadn't napped all of Christmas day. But by the late afternoon as we were driving home to get her ready for bed, she was out like a light. (Notice her droopy face). Christmas was an awesome day.Now for some random photos...
Mercedes painting with me. Well, I painted while she thought she was painting.
Here I painted her toe nails for the first time. It was a rough attempt but we'll get better. :) I love having a baby girl.
One afternoon we babysat Mercedes' friend Preston for a couple of hours. Mercedes wasn't really used to having other babies around but overall I think they had fun.
These two are exactly 2 weeks apart.
Gotta love babies.
I used to think it was cute when Mercedes first started pulling things out of cupboards and making little messes. Now there are so many messes everywhere I turn. I don't think it's cute anymore.
But I DO think this face is unbearably cute!
This little girl LOVES her bunny. And she also loves sticking out her tongue and making funny noises with it. Cracks us up constantly.
She helps with the dishes. Or, at least we let her think she's helping. Actually, we really just try to keep her from climbing into the dish washer.
Life is gooood!AND that's my smattering of the last 40 days or so!
Now let me just say that I am so excited to begin the new year!!! A lot of exciting things are happening this year! Here are some of the things I'm overly excited for...
On February 26th Taylor's brother Jonathan is marrying the most fantastic girl, B.J. We couldn't be happier for them both!
In the beginning of March my beautiful sister-in-law Ana will be having a baby boy! I can't wait to meet my new nephew!
See these two people standing next to my hubby? These are my wonderful parents whom I love so much. This picture was taken the last time I saw them. This picture was taken about two years ago. Yes, TWO YEARS. My dad has been serving as the Mission President of the Kiev Ukraine mission and they have been gone since June 2008. Taylor and I went out to visit them in March of 2009. They will be coming home in JULY!!!!!!!!!! I think about it every day and I'm practically jumping out of my seat with excitement right now. 5 months are nothing compared to 3 years.
They will also be bringing home my two youngest brothers. (Morgan, the one at the top of the stairs, and Slade, the one standing in front of my parents). I chose this picture out of all of the family photos I have because this portrays real life in our family. We're all kind of random and weird. Morgan and Slade have pretty much grown up. Morg is a man and Slade's voice has changed and he has passed me in height. I have missed them all more than I can say.
And last but not least, my brother Jordan will be coming home from his mission in Santiago, Chile at the end of August!!! I can't wait!!Gosh this is going to be a fun year. Anyway, wow what a long post. Hopefully it didn't take you as long to read it as it did for me to post it!
