Merry Christmas Time!

Our family had such a great Christmas! We were able to visit with so much family it was amazing. We went to see Karl's side at the Bajada's on Christmas. Almost everyone was there! Grandpa spoiled the kids good and the food was so yummy. Karl took some video that I will hopefully be able to share with you all soon.

The next day we headed back out and saw my family at the Wilson's. Kathy out did herself with beautiful decorations and a delicious seat down dinner. Everyone had so much fun playing games all day. The cousins couldn't get enough goodies and playtime.

The day after that, we went to see more of my family at the Root's. We relaxed munching on food and baked goods all afternoon and evening. Us girls were able to gather around the piano and sing our favorite Christmas carols and songs from when we were growing up. It was so much fun. The kids had a great time seeing each other for the second day in a row and got competitive in front of the Wii.

Christmas in the Making

Karl and I have been having so much fun getting ready for Christmas. Karl and Stephen did a great job putting up new lights outside and even in the trees. Of course Karl saved most of his shopping for Christmas Eve but regardless of the last minute rush everything has been wonderful.

This year Natalie went to her dad's and Stephen to his mom's for the first part of their vacation. Natalie went up to the snow and had a blast sledding. We are looking forward to having both boys home the day after Christmas.

While it was just us parents and Kylie around, I baked up a storm. I made tons of sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodles, brownies, and salted peanut chews. After Natalie came home we all went to visit friends and share our baked goods. We had fun over at the Agbayani's and Rabuco's. Kylie is getting so big that playing with other kids and their toys is now very exciting.

I also got the chance to go up to Roseville and celebrate my friend Chrissy's birthday. Again, Kylie had so much fun playing with little ones! Then an old friend from high school was down from Idaho and came over to introduce my family to hers. We all had a great time watching our little girls play. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family to share this holiday season with. I can't help and think of all the family that live further away that I don't get to see this year. Hopefully this spring and summer will allow us to get together.

This Christmas season has been very special for us as Natalie has been taking lessons from missionaries from the LDS church. It is really neat to see her learning about the Savior and his plan of happiness. She was really excited about getting her own Book of Mormon and will have the opportunity to get baptized after her 8th birthday.

Now we have opened all our gifts and are looking forward to the next few days of gathering with our family to share good food and making great memories. To all those we don't visit - know that we are thinking of you and wish you all the happiness this season brings!

Holiday Season Fun

I have been so excited to this holiday season. Usually, I wait two weeks before Christmas to really start getting things rolling. This year has been different. Maybe it has to do with getting the family doing traditional things so we can really start feeling normal again. I think Karl has been the same way. He wanted to get a Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving! No worries, I stopped him from getting too eager. In fact, we are just now finishing up getting the outside of the house done!

So, to start out our holiday adventures, we went with Grandma and Grandpa Wilson to see the Christmas lights at the Oakland LDS Temple. We had a great dinner before hand and bundled up to see the beautiful lights on the temple grounds. Inside the visitor's center was really neat. Karl really enjoyed the high tech gadgets and we enjoy a musical number as well.

Then I got really ambitious and made gingerbread to create our own homemade gingerbread houses. As I started laying the cut outs on the cookie trays, I had a feeling it was going to be harder than it looked. Yep, as the pieces of the house come out of the oven I realized there must be some real good tips to making homemade gingerbread houses that I obviously didn't know about. Then, when I bit into the first gingerbread man, I knew things were going to be bad. They were rock hard! Last year they were as soft as the sugar cookies and twice as tasty!! So out went the cookies and I tried to focus on the houses. Yes, the pieces were crooked and lopsided, but there was still hope for really cute decorations, right? So on to making the mortar to put the pieces together. Well, silly me, didn't read all the directions and had to throw out the first attempt and try again at mixing sugar and eggs. Okay, done. Now to put the house sides up. Well, the lopsided, crooked pieces weren't too happy but with lots of mortar filling, we made it work.

The next day was on to decorating and making sugar cookies! Danicia came over to help the family out, and keep my spirits up. Thank goodness! The kids really did do their best at decorating the houses I prepared for them, though I have to admit they didn't look like the ones I imaged. The sugar cookies turned out perfect. After a few hours of rolling, cutting, baking, and frosting - we were all done! Though I still had to get the roofs on the houses - that was going to wait for another day.

Sadly, that day came and I really saw how mediocre my construction attempts were. Not sure if I'm going to do those next year....

Our family went out and got our Christmas tree, the most perfect one I've ever seen. We had a nice time putting up decorations together, listening to Christmas music, and drinking apple cider. So, with the tree and house decorated and yummy treats to eat, we were celebrating in style.

Kylie and I have been keeping busy picking out presents for the family and doing our best to hide Dad's presents from him. Not an easy task! Kylie is a pretty good assistant when it comes to wrapping. She keeps getting me new wrapping paper by digging into the box to find new ones!

Through all of this fun, Kylie has been rapidly developing. She started to take her first steps in the middle of November. This month she has been walking on her own and for longer and longer periods of time. No longer does she grasp on the my legs and following me around. She gets herself up and is going where ever she wants to go! (Usually to Dad's office.) It is amazing to see her getting better and better at it every day. Her personality is growing so much too. She has such a sense of humor! She is so friendly too. She waves to most people in the stores when we are out and isn't shy to be held and fussed over. The cutest thing she says right now is "Uh-oh". Anytime something falls she says it. Then she will make it fall again and again just so she can say it again!

After the cooking disappointments I'd already experienced, you will be surprised to know that I decided to cook my own Christmas dinner. We are so blessed with family and friends nearby that I have never had to cook my own holiday dinner. Well, I wanted to enjoy leftovers and turkey roasting and pie baking in my own home. Let's just say that I now have a whole new level of appreciation for the wonderful and delicious meals that I have enjoyed over the years and will never take another one for granted! It was good practice and a nice opportunity to take out the cloth napkins.

We are now really looking forward to the next half of this month as we get together with more friends and family. Hopefully I can take lots of great pictures and get back to you soon!