The Best of 2011

January: 

Brandon reached his halfway mark through law school

Christy spent a lot of time substitute teaching

February:

Counted down the days til our sweet Abbie was born

March:

Abbie was born on the 7th - definitely the best thing that happened during the year!

Brandon turned a quarter of a century (25)

April:

Christy officially graduated from BYU in Elementary Education

May:

Not much- Abbie got cuter

Oh, Abbie went to the Zoo for the first time

June:

Abbie's first camping trip

House-sat for a few weeks

July:

 Park City vacation

Christy turned a whopping 23

August:

 Celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary

Moved apartments- cheaper and smaller

September:

 Brandon started his last year of law school

Abbie sat up by herself

October:

 Abbie's first Halloween, dressed as a darling unicorn

Abbie learned to crawl

November:

 Thanksgiving with family

Abbie started sleeping through the night!

December:

Abbie's first Christmas

Abbie took her first (hesitant) steps

Well it was a pretty good year.
Here's hoping to a great 2012!

Christmas Day

We got home late Christmas Eve and were exhausted. Before going to bed I finished wrapping (can you say procrastination?) and then organized the presents into piles on our living room floor. I had a hard time falling asleep because I was giddy with excitement for the morning. 

Abbie woke us up at about 7:15, her normal wake up time. Brandon fed her breakfast while I pumped and then we were ready to open presents. We put Abbie in the middle of the room away from the presents because we wanted to see what she would do. It didn't take her long to figure out which pile was hers because of the big fluffy bear :)

She seriously loves that bear! At first she didn't get the whole unwrapping idea, but with a little help she enjoyed finding the treasures inside the paper. Surprisingly she liked her toys more than the wrapping paper.

This is Abbie opening the quiet book I made her. Trust me when I say it took a lot of hours to finish. But I am very proud of it, and Abbie enjoyed playing with it at church. I will probably do another post about the book later.

Abbie got the bear, a couple of toys from the DI (I cleaned them up of course), and a couple of books. 

Brandon got  a couple of video games, a yo-yo, and a sorry game.

I got a new wedding ring (finally!!!), a couple of puzzles, and some clothes.

It seriously was so fun watching Abbie. She had a blast. After opening our presents, we got ready for church and put Abbie down for a quick nap. I made some yummy green Christmas tree waffles and sausage.

After church we headed up to Salt Lake for the day. Our first stop was the Crowthers. Abbie got a cute little car that came with a handle so I can push her on walks. Brandon and I got a couple of awesome board games.

The next stop was Grandpa Crowther. He got Abbie a book and us a game. (Can you tell we like to play games?)

Our last stop was my family's house. Abbie got some lego blocks, a princess chair, and a doll. I got a sewing machine and shoes. Brandon got a video game and a movie.

Anyway, we had a wonderful Christmas. We feel so loved. And we are most grateful this season for our Savior who came to this earth and atoned and died for us.
We hope you all had a great Christmas too!

Looking forward to Christmas

We spent the week before Christmas and after finals having fun and counting down to Christmas day. Here are some of the fun things we did. 

We went to Breanna's Christmas dance performance. I love going to dance concerts so naturally I loved it.

Sunday we went to the Cottonwood Heights production of  The Messiah. My mom and Janessa are in it every year, and every year it is fantastic. It's a great way to remember Christ.

We went to look at the lights on Temple Square. We were lucky- it was supposed to storm that day but didn't, so the weather was nice.

Nielsen Christmas party. Santa came to visit and we had a Christmas dinner with all the family there. We always look forward to this every year. Abbie especially enjoyed finding and eating a candy cane and playing with the older kids.

One night Brandon's mom had everyone over for a nice Christmas dinner. Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures. We gave our secret buddy gifts and played a bunch of games. It was lots of fun!

 We went to my family's house for our traditional Christmas Eve.  We had a yummy dinner, opened our Christmas pj's, gave secret sister gifts, read the Christmas story, and enjoyed being together as a family. Abbie wasn't really into the whole opening presents thing.

Just wishing you...

a Merry Christmas!!!

more christmas countdown

Here are some of the Christmas countdown activities that we have done recently:

* Watched a Christmas movie

* Looked at Christmas lights. This house was seriously amazing- this picture is only a small part.

 

* Had yummy hot chocolate

 * Read  “Maybe Christmas Doesn’t Come From a Store” by Jeffrey R. Holland.

 * Made Christmas treats. These are so yummy- peanut blossoms with peppermint candy kisses.

* Went to the Forgotten Carols. I grew up loving the book, and music. Now I love the play too.

 * Made Christmas tree ornaments

 

* Read “What is Christmas?” by President Thomas S. Monson.

* Watched Frosty The Snowman

And of course some cute Abbie pictures:

I found her sleeping like this one day. It was pretty funny because that is certainly not how I put her in there. I wonder what she must have been doing before she conked out :)

At Costco the other day we found this super cute bear and Abbie immediately fell in love with it. So we got it for her for Christmas. She loves hugging her animals :)

Oh, and here is our countdown til the end of finals: 2 more tests (and 1 more semester for Brandon of course)

Yay, can't wait til he can be stress free and enjoy Christmas break!