Lexi was cheesin' it for all the cameras! Christmas was great. It was so fun to watch the kids open presents. Well, Lexi didn't open very many after she found her chocolate Santa sucker. She has a very big sweet tooth! After Hadley opened each of her presents she would say, "I've always wanted this!" Then she had to put them one by one on the couch after she opened it. I thought we were going to be there all day. We left a little earlier than planned because we thought we were going to be snowed in so that was really hard on Hadley to leave all her new toys. She finally agreed to leave only because she didn't want to miss out on more presents at Grandma and Grandpa's house. It was a fun day. It is so fun to watch the magic of Christmas unfold in the eyes of the kids. Tonight for New Year's Eve we are going to Tyler's parents house. I can't believe another year has already past. I am so very blessed to have this wonderful family that I have. 2008 was a great year. We did a lot of fun things and I am so grateful that we have the opportunity to start another great year. I have the 2 cutest little girls ever and an amazing husband. We are very blessed, we have a roof over our heads in a great neighborhood. We love it here. Everyone is so great, we have a lot of good friends and there is always someone available for a play date! We have great families on both sides who are always there for us no matter what. We really couldn't ask for more. Although sometimes we do, but in reality life is pretty great. Happy New Year! I hope everyone has a fabulous 2009!

Hadley loved her new salon and Lexi loved her chocolate sucker!

I just freaking love my girls!!!

Our little family

A Busy December...and Christmas hasn't even come yet!

Hadley and Mrs. Clause!

Lexi enjoyed her hot chocolate!

Hadley loved seeing Santa again.....again Lexi not so much

The Polar Express! Hadley has been asking for months to go on a train ride. I'm not sure where she got the idea but she wouldn't let go of it. So we decided to surprise her and take her on the Polar Express up in Heber. She was really excited about going on a train ride when we got there but when I told her it was the Polar Express she got really nervous and wanted to get off. She's seen the movie a hundred times and it is kind of a scary ride in the movie. I convinced her that it was not going to be scary and after a little while she started to like it. It was definitely over priced and I wish we would have left Lexi at home but it was still fun. We sang songs and ate cookies and hot chocolate. Then when we got to the North Pole, Santa came on the train and gave all the kids a bell. Hadley was really excited. Before we got off the train, Mrs. Clause came on to say hi to the kids. It was a fun night and no matter the cost, you can't put a price on the excitement on the kids faces.

Cute winter hats! my aunt Melanie made Hadley her hat during the summer. She said it was a rough draft, she wanted to see how it would turn out. We just happened to be at her house one day so we got away with the cute hat. When it turned cold enough for Hadley to wear it, I decided I had to have one for Lexi too. So Melanie was nice enough to get right on my request. They are so cute. Lexi just got hers last week so I had to take pictures. Oh yeah and the scarfs to match. Thanks Mel, we love them!

Hadley and Emma making snow angels.

My little girls!

Hadley and Emma ready to go down the hill

Daddy and the girls!

SLEDDING!!!! Hadley has been asking to go sledding since the first day it snowed just a tiny bit. Every time it would snow she would look out the window so excited and ask to go sledding. She had so much fun last year sledding at the cabin and hasn't forgotten about it. So the day finally came that she got to go. We just took her to the neighborhood park, it has a perfect little sledding hill. All the neighborhood kids were there. She found her friend Emma and hung out with her the whole time. Lexi went down a couple times but she just loved watching Hadley go down. She would laugh hysterically every time.

Gingerbread Houses are a must every year. Hadley loved it! Tyler kind of feels the same way about it as he does pumpkin carving, although I think this is a little better. Lexi slept through the construction and woke up just in time for pictures.

We did get to see Santa this year after the disappointing Christmas party when he was suppose to come and didn't show up! Hadley was all about Santa this year.....Lexi not so much. Hadley is asking for a salon this year and so far that is pretty consistent so we are in good shape. Now let's hope she likes the one Santa got for her because it's not the one she's seen on TV. Lexi wants everything Hadley has so she'll be happy.

My grandma's birthday was a couple weeks ago, so we went to spend the day with her. Hadley was really concerned because there wasn't going to be any other kids there and there was no actual birthday party. But she was on cloud nine with great grandma Kunz. She has her wrapped around her little finger. We had a good time and Hadley even got away with some treasures before we left. It was a fun day. A couple days before that, my grandma went to the doctor because she hadn't been feeling well and he told her she could have a stroke at any time because her blood pressure was so high. She's doing better now and is concentrating on taking care of herself. We love you grandma! Take good care of yourself, we still need you!

It doesn't get any better than this

Hadley had her first dance recital Thursday night. It was seriously the cutest thing I'd ever seen. All the girls did such a great job. I was so proud of all of them, for their first performance ever, they really held it together well. It was the funnest thing ever to watch my little girl get up there and strut her stuff. I was really relieved that all went well. Their teacher, Mrs. Brittany was up there with them to help them along the way. She is great! Good Job Hadley, I am so proud of you, I love you so much!! You're beautiful!

Nothing really to say...just some pictures of my girls

Hadley was really excited about her beautiful hair that she let me curl

She builds a great castle

Hadley loves to do Lexi's hair, they play together so good lately

Lexi and Grandpa Carlson at the cabin

Hadley and Taylor taking a ride on the Rhino

Just Cute!!!

Lexi loves to sweep up

GO UTES!!!

So the big game was this last Saturday and I had a very happy husband! Congratulations to the Utes and their 12-0 season...soon to be 13-0! Congratulations also to my husband, the way he acts, you'd think he was part of the team! I'm doing this post pretty much to get brownie points, we'll see if it works. Tyler doesn't look at our blog much. GO UTES!!!

Halloween

my purple (princess) witch!

2 cute witches

my little ladybug!

Halloween has finally come and gone! This year seemed like Halloween went on forever. It all started with Hadley's field trip to the pumpkin patch, then the Barnyard Boo. Those were a bit before Halloween, but still related to the holiday. The weekend before Halloween my sister invited us to her ward trunk-or-treat, then that Monday Hadley had a little Halloween party at her dance class, Tuesday we carved our huge pumpkin, Wednesday we had our ward trunk-or-treat, Thursday Hadley had another party at school, then finally Halloween was actually here! Thank goodness! Halloween is definitely not my favorite holiday but the kids sure do love it. They had a great time and we now have plenty of candy. We went to Tyler's sister Aimee's house and had some yummy taco soup and homemade doughnuts. Of course, I left feeling sick from all the doughnuts, but it was well worth it. Thanks Aimee! Now we can look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas! My 2 favorite holidays. I can't wait!

Holy Freaking Huge Pumpkin!

It's that time of year again....pumpkin carving, or pumpkin "scarving" as Hadley calls it. So she had to pick the biggest pumpkin she could find, thanks a lot dad. He needs to grow some normal size pumpkins. Anyway, so this is not Tyler's favorite thing to do in the first place, so you can guess how he felt about this thing. It is massive! It seriously took about a half hour just to cut into it. Then when the knife wasn't working, Tyler had to go get some reinforcements, a hammer and chisel. It was a long night. Tyler broke the biggest knife I had in half trying to cut through this thing. I told Hadley, next year I get to pick the pumpkin!
It did turn out pretty cute though