Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve and my family's house. We all enjoyed a yummy dinner.

The little girl "diva" table

Santa Claus came!! All of the kids were so happy to see him!

Layla climbed right up on Santa's lap and recited her Christmas list.

The kids with Santa

Enjoying some time with Grandma Karen

and lots of fun presents to open!

Snowy Day

A couple of days after we arrived in town, Utah got a really good snow storm. Layla was so excited when she woke up that morning to get outside and play in the snow. Kat borrowed a snow suit from one of her neighbors for Layla. It was a couple sizes too small but it worked out just fine. I didn't have any snow clothes so I had to watch most of the action. Kat wins best aunt/mom of the year award. She was outside with Layla and Brynley for almost 2 hours! She was pulling them up and down the hill in the sled. She helped them build a snowman and she taught them how to do snow angels. Then she built a really great sledding louge in the front yard for the girls to sled down! The girls had so much fun. Kacie was nice enough to bring me some snow clothes the next day but of course the snow had melted by then and never came back.

Santa!

Layla was really into Santa this year.....I think the whole "polar express" had a lot to do with it! Anyways, she kept asking to go see Santa. While Kacie was in town we braved the mall to do a little Christmas shopping and Layla saw Santa. There was a pretty long line but she insisted she really wanted to see him. Kacie was nice enough to stand in line with her while I ran to a couple stores. I was worried we had waited for nothing and she would change her mind once we got to Santa but I was wrong. She climbed right up on his lap and had a nice long visit. When she was getting off his lap, she sneezed and Santa said, "bless you Layla." She talked about that for days!

Layla's Surprise!

:)

We are super excited to announce the newest member of our family who will be arriving early June 2011!! Due to some early complications we have been able to see this little one lots of times. Everything looks just perfect and the baby is measuring about 5 days ahead. It seems we have another photogenic little one joining Layla because the ultrasound tech couldn't stop taking pictures of this little one.

Hello Everyone!

Sweet baby feet!

We weren't exactly sure if we were going to find out the sex of this baby or not but at our 13 week ultrasound the tech got a really great shot "between the legs" and was 99% sure of the sex already!! We weren't expecting to have to make the decision so soon so we had her tell us what she saw. We will wait and share that news and those pictures later!

the Polar Express

Last weekend we took Layla up to Williams Arizona to ride the Polar Express. We weren't sure if Layla would be old enough to understand what was going on but boy were we wrong. She had pure joy on her face the entire time we were there. We rented the movie on Thanksgiving so she would know what to expect. Of course she wanted to watch the movie again on the way up there (and the way home too!). Layla fell asleep on the drive and woke up just as we got into Williams. It was snowing and she was convinced we were at the North Pole. It was so freezing cold I thought we were there too!!

Layla got a chance to visit with Mrs. Claus. She walked right up to her and started rattling off her Christmas list...."my want a scooter, a zhu zhu pet, a dollhouse...."

Then we wrote a letter to Santa and put it in the mailbox
Lots of beautiful Christmas lights
And trains of course!
After dinner we dressed Layla in her Christmas jammies (then bundled up) and were off to catch the train

On the train we had yummy hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies baked by Mrs. Claus
We read the story of the Polar Express while we rode to the north pole to see Santa. He came on the train and gave Layla her very own bell. Then we sang Christmas carols the whole way back to the hotel.

I thought Layla would crash once we got back to our room but she was so wired. It took her forever to fall asleep. She kept talking about all of the fun she had.
Such a fun tradition that we hope to continue!

Hess Family visit

Layla had such a fun weekend with her cousins. They were here for Kevin's Ironman race. Unfortunately for Kevin it was a cold and rainy race day for him. He still did amazing! It was a quick visit but we were able to squeeze in protein pancakes (of course), a trip to the zoo, some shopping and lots of race watching/chasing.

Mmmm.....our favorite breakfast spot!

It was so cold and rainy but everyone still enjoyed the toasty hot tub.

Dancing Queen

Layla had her first dance class yesterday. Pretty sure there isn't anything much cuter than a 2 year old in tap shoes. She had so much fun and of course there were a few tears after the class was over. She was trying to put her tap shoes back on to stay for the next class!

Fun at the park

With Brooklynn and baby Mckinley




Off to feed the ducks

Silly ducks wouldn't come anywhere close to us.

Halloween weekend

We started the weekend with a trip to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin to carve. The pumpkin patch is actually a farm so there were lots of great animals to see.
New baby chicks


Cows, Sheep and Goats. There were even new baby pigs
Layla on the hunt for the perfect pumpkin


The whole gang posing with our pumpkins

The girls patiently waiting to get their faces painted



Layla posing with her "Little Mermaid" pumpkin

Layla dressed in her bumblebee costume ready to trick or treat

Layla had more fun handing out candy than trick or treating herself

Layla trick or treating with her neighbor friends

"This house looks like it has good candy Daddy!" (ps Juan decided to put on all his old costumes and just be a crazy looking person)
Sage came over to trick or treat too!
Happy Halloween everyone!

Whoopsie!

"We only color on paper."
I was cleaning up the kitchen and realized Layla was pretty quiet. Its not that uncommon for her to play quietly by herself but I remembered she had been coloring at her table with crayons. My gut told me to go check on her. I found her in the pool table room coloring yellow crayon all over the arms of a chair in there. So here she is cleaning up her master piece (ps a nice paste of baking soda and water cleaned it right up without too much scrubbing).

Weekend without Daddy

Juan had to be in San Francisco to work a conference so Layla and I were without Daddy for 4 days! Luckily we found plenty of things to do to keep us busy while he was gone.

We went to a fun Halloween Storytime at Barnes and Nobles.

There were lots of fun craft projects to make too


Layla's friend Katrina was shopping with her mom and showed up to read some books too

And there was lots of snuggling in mommy and daddy's bed