The Holiday Season

We enjoyed the holiday season up in Spokane this year. We spent a whole week stomping around in 4 feet of snow, eating, playing, shoveling and just having fun with the fam! Grace was totally in her element with tons of people to play with her and give her loads of attention. Though the drive up and back was treacherous we had a blast and we are so grateful we got to go!
Grace was thoroughly entertained by her cousins the whole week.

Christmas Eve feast...Mmmm.Here is Grace on Christmas morning enjoying her present from Santa and then the one from us. She also got all dressed up in her Christmas party dress for dinner (she was in it for like one hour, before stripping down to take a more comfortable nap!) and also played a little dress up with the Gonzaga University cheerleading outfit my sister Rachel gave her.


Above is a reunion with the Spokane Lilac court from 2003. It was fun to get together and meet significant others and the new babies!
Below was partytime at Jared and Danielle's after we got home!
Above is Grace up to her latest shenanigans. Over the holidays she reached a few milestones:
- Her first tooth! Plus two others at the same time and one more just popped up yesterday!
- Crawling! It took her awhile to get motivated since she was a speedy log roller, but I think being around a bunch of kids encouraged her to really get moving!
- Pulling herself up on stuff, like our entertainment center.
- Talking! Ok that isn't true, but seriously a lot happened in two weeks I wouldn't have been that surprised.

Now that Christmas and New Years is over I am ready for the snow to be gone, anyone else feel that way? I am ready to go swimming, go on walks and take Grace to the park. Once again I find myself wishing for the current season to be over and the next one to start...I need to learn to find satisfaction in the now!

Weekend Getaway

This past weekend Dave and I went down to St. George for a night...without Grace. It was our first night away from her and I have to admit that I was a bit apprehensive about it. I tried to remember that she would be in Great hands with her Grammy and Pops and cousins around to entertain her, but I was freaking out a little. I gave Sally a ridiculously long paper with information about Grace and stressed about her having enough milk (since I still nurse her and she pretty much refuses to drink any formula). But in the end they of course took excellent care of her and I am told she was pretty happy while they had her(Thanks again!!!).
After the initial worry I was able to calm down and have a good time away with Dave. We went down fro Dave's work party, so we have known and been looking forward to this for awhile. They put us up in a hotel and got us tickets to Christmas in the Canyon at the Tuacahn amphitheater. We had dinner with his work people, so I was happy to match some faces to the names I had been hearing. After the concert we just vegged out in the hotel with Jared and Danielle (we shared a room). On Saturday morning Dave and Jared went golfing with the men from work and Danielle and I went shopping. At noon we hopped in the car, got a couple Jimmy John's sandwiches and drove home to get the munchkin and get back in time for our ward Christmas party. That night we had a great time with our ward friends at the party and came home ready to relax. Saturday was a very rushed day, but of course ended up being tons of fun. I am glad we have made that first step in leaving Grace for a night because now I know she can handle it and equally as important, that I can handle it! We had such a good time seeing a show at Tuacahn that we have plans to go back and see another concert in March! This time we are making it a family affair and inviting all of Dave's siblings to join us.

I failed to take pictures while in St. George, but here is one of us at the Christmas party.


Also here is one of Dave and Grace just lounging on the couch...they are cute.

Sour Puss

Grace is very sensitive to any sourness in the fruit she eats and makes this hilarious face almost every time she takes a bite. It is very entertaining!!

Two peas in a pod

Grace is always making us laugh, she is growing up at what seems like lightning speed and we are loving every minute. She lights up when Dave or I walk into the room and does a little "happy wiggle" on the floor. Mostly she sure loves her daddy. He knows just how to make her laugh and Grace is always fascinated with everything Dave does. In the morning when I get her out of bed and bring her into my room to eat she never fails to look around for Dave. When he is asleep she still smiles at him and pats his arm and when he is gone she will not eat until she is sure she has looked everywhere for him. These two are so cute together and Dave already is like Steve Martin in "Father of the Bride." I love my two dimple twins.





That last one is on Grace's latest funny face, her crooked lips :)