December Wrap-Up

Phew! This is a really long post which sums up an entire month's worth of bloggage into one post. Sorry if I loose any of your attention!


* Baby Shower cake Sara and I were hired to make this baby shower cake for a very special friend of ours. We play bunco with Nikki and she goes to church with us. She and her husband have tried to get pregnant for years with no success. Last year they completed their adoption classes and have just been waiting for a phone call. They finally got a call for the most perfect situation imaginable. A healthy, very young couple chose them to raise their son. The baby hadn't even been born yet. Nikki and her husband we able to be there for their son's birth and have been his parents every second since. It is such an amazing story and I get teary-eyed every time I think about it and how amazing God is!

*We went camping! In our very own living room, nonetheless. We left the tent up for nearly a week, which was way too long. One of the days Bran was wrestling with the girls (a favorite pastime of theirs) inside the tent when Rae got clocked by the coffee table hiding, unseen, behind the tent. She was left with quite a shiner! It didn't totally disappear for nearly three weeks!

*Lianne's 29th Birthday Friday the 12th we went to the Brown's for dinner and cake. Then on Saturday Lianne and Sean had an open house/birthday party at their new house that just closed Escrow the week before. The house is too cute and we couldn't be happier for them!

* Went to Disneyland!!! I have been dying to take the girls to Disneyland. The last time we went was when I was pregnant with Rae and we went with Bran's entire family. I figured if we tried to get his whole family, then my whole family would of course want to be there for the girls' first Disney adventure and then I just felt overwhelmed. I just couldn't imagine pulling that together! So I finally just decided that our little family would stow away on our own and do a spontaneous trip. I got cheap tickets on Craig's List and we went for the day on the Thursday before Christmas. I figured that was the week before schools were out and right after a big rain storm so it should be the perfect day. Of course it was perfect, but still a little more crowded than I would have liked. We got the girls their first pair of Mickey ears and enjoyed many rides. Rae and Kams were both tall enough to go on the Matterhorn, but one of us had to stay with Evie, and the ride was only two to a sled, so Kams stayed with Bran and Rae and I went...BAD move! She was terrified and didn't trust us for any of the rides for the next two hours- at least! She finally warmed back up and we thoroughly enjoyed the park in all its Christmas splendor! I was a little disappointed, though, that we didn't get to see and meet more characters. Only Pluto in Toon Town and we waited in a terribly long line to meet Mickey. Not one princess, which is what I was really looking forward to. Both the girls loved Small World, which is completely changed for Christmas and sings Jingle Bells, and was so beautifully lit up with lights. Kams was obsessed with Sleeping Beauty's Castle, which was also gorgeous and magical with all the lights. And I think Rae's favorite was the Tea Cups.

Mickey Ears!

Meeting Pluto

Meeting Mickey! Obviously the worker who took our pic didn't know what she was doing...

Small World

Sleeping Beauty's Castle

Video: The Tea Cups! So fun!!!

Feeling sleepy...

Passed out!

* Wedding Cake We did a Wedding cake for a couple on Saturday the 20th. The groom is the brother of a girl whom I went through school with and also worked for a couple years with at Baskin Robbins when I was much much younger. I also was neighbors with her for about a year when we lived at our old house. Right about the time I had Rae, she moved to Texas and I only talk to her every now and then on MySpace. It was so neat that she recommended them to use us for their cake!

I hand-rolled each of these little roses surrounding the topper

* Brandon's 34th Birthday & Kerri's 31st Birthday On Sunday the 21st we celebrated more birthday's! We BBQed carne asada with my family at my house (and drank plenty of Margaritas too!). Then we headed to the Brown's for the combined party where we enjoyed BBQed avocado burgers and cake...mmmm! On Tuesday the 23rd the girls and I went to lunch with Kerri for her birthday.

* Christmas Eve We went to the beautiful candlelight service at church, which is always amazing! After the service everyone came back to our house for lasagna, salad, and garlic rolls (which has become tradition). Usually we get a family pic, but somehow that slipped this time around. The highlight was when:

* Kerri announced her pregnancy! We were surprised to find out on Christmas Eve that Kerri and Marshall are expecting their second baby! I am going to be an Auntie again!!! It was a surprise for them as well and their two babes will only be 16 months apart! Everyone is thrilled to death and I even feel a tinge of jealousy. Although at the same time I just can't even imagine getting pregnant right now (if ever again)!

* Christmas Day! We had the best Christmas yet! It was so fun to see the girls reaction Christmas morning when they ran to the living room and saw it full of gifts! I was doubled over in pain, courtesy of AF, so Bran brought all of our gifts from the tree to where I was sitting in the living room. Doped up on ibuprofen, I was able to enjoy the rest of the day. The girls wrapped a gift for each other and were both so excited to exchange - funny thing is they picked out the exact same gift! They loved every gift and were perfect angels. Then we headed to my parents house where we had hot chicken salad pitas for lunch and the adults exchanged a few gifts and the girls opened the majority. Perfect again! Then off to Bran's parent's where they had ham and turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, and salad. We did stockings with the adults there and then again, the girls and Luke opened the majority of the gifts. I couldn't have asked for a better day to celebrate our Savior's Birth!!!

Kams and Rae and Grama Z's

Evie and Lukey (I can't believe he's gonna be a big brother!) at Grammie Jannie's

* Nikki's surprise 30th Birthday Saturday we had a little surprise picnic for our buddy Nikki at a park near her house. It was so fun to see her face and the kids all had a great time on the playground and we all enjoyed delicious burritos from Rubios!

* Rae knows her alphabet! A few months ago I mentioned that I was worried about Rae and her knowledge of the alphabet. I also mentioned how amazing The Letter Factory was. Only a couple weeks of watching the DVD and she recognized every letter and knew every sound. Now she is obsessed with writing out her alphabet. I find pieces of paper with the ABC's all over the house. I couldn't be more proud!

* Evie looks just like Bran Lately, I can't believe Evie's resemblance to Bran's baby picture...just a little (a lot) more slender is all!

*Something New: I ate an Elk Burger - and I liked it!