Christmas Morning

4:17 AM Exactly...Melissa pops her head up and says...did you make it to bed BEFORE santa came? Of course was my reply before she realized that it was Christmas morning and upstairs was an explosion of Christmas toys and fun things for everyone!! She jumped up and knocked on Steve's door...if there was any question on whether he was awake or not and they awaited anxiously at the bottom of the stairs for the words, ready, set, and GO!

I walked to the top of the stairs and unknown to me, mom was JUST turning off the lights and was hoping to lay down for a few minutes before the Christmas morning flurries. SORRY!! They weren't waiting. I barely got the camera ready before the whirwind came running up the stairs into the awaiting assortment of toys. I love seeing Melissa so excited. She was ecstatic with every little thing she got, down to the slinky and ceramic bear in her stocking. As the other family trickled in and we opened presents she was more than grateful for everything. She made sure to thank everyone personally who gave her a present. It was pretty cute.

We had lots of fun, playing games, playing barbies (She got a lot of them) and combing their hair (I know Jana knows what I'm talking about) I could still spend hours combing barbies hair. Although she woke up with a fever and a terrible cough, she did pretty well, and as the day went on the 4 hour nap helped a lot!!

I personally had the best Christmas ever. I really enjoyed buying Christmas this year. I was able to help a lot of people and the meaning of Christmas was burning deep for me this year. As excited as Melissa was about her princess Barbies, I was just as excited to help the people that I helped this year. It was the best part for me. To tell you the truth, I really didn't look in my stocking for a good hour after everything. I didn't play with my Christmas toy until about 9pm last night. Melissa and I played a Disney Princess Wii game for an hour before bed. I had a lot of fun with her. It's been really fun this year!!

Christmas Party

This was a crazy night. I am so grateful that the Ward Christmas Party turned out so well. Tyler Rogalsky was a lifesaver by helping at the last minute. I am so glad that party is over, but even more glad when I look back at how much help I received from everybody. I'm very grateful. We had lots of fun!! Mom, Steph, and I sang a song which was a little scary! I thought we did a good job though. Melissa asked for a pink unicorn (so random) from Santa. I think she has seen Santa 3 times this year. Crazy...she asked for something different everytime she sees him. She even asks the blow up Santas that are on display at Walmart. She yells up at them (like they are going to answer) to tell him what she wants. She has even started asking the fake Santa's what she thinks I want. She keeps telling them I want the black bird barbie. 3 guesses on what that is...She cracks me up sometimes. She is at a fun age. I'm always surprised what comes up next.

Zoo Day

This is the best sour face I have seen in a while. Steph and her kids and Melissa and I went to the zoo that day because it was free admission. We all got huge tubes of sour sugar powder and that is what we were eating. By the end we were so tired of it. Steph mixed all of her flavors together and Melissa got a taste of it. She had sour candy up her nose and everything. Her face is priceless.

Fall Semester Happenings

I finally figured out how to do this blog thingy so I'm excited! Not that there is a whole lot to tell you about. After I sold the house in September, I decided to wait and decide later what I will do. I'm still at Mom and Dad's house and quite happy for the moment until we decide what the next step is. It really helped a lot being there this semester with Melissa starting preschool and me going through another semester of school...

Melissa loves preschool! She is learning so fast and is so good...her teachers tell me they nicknamed her "the Count" from Sesame Street because she counts everything in sight! She does really well in math, thank goodness because I wouldn't be able to help her much. I did pass my math class this semester though, I know it's a miracle!

We went to Salt Lake for Thanksgiving and had an absolutely fantastic time. Melissa figured out how fun it is to swim with arm floaties on and without me so that was a relief. We went to the Hogle Zoo and watched the animals eat their Thanksgiving dinner which was really cool. We checked out the Clark Planetarium, the Children's Museum and walked around Temple Square to see all the Christmas lights. Needless to say, Melissa was begging to go to bed she was so tired. We had a great time. It was hard to go home.

We can't wait for Christmas and be able to enjoy the holidays this year. The semester is almost over so it will be nice to have a breather.

December 8, 2008

This is our birthday trip to the cemetary on the 8th. Every year I take a picture to show how much she has grown within the year. She has grown so much! She made me laugh though, she doesn't like to go without kissing the headstone, and this year she sat right by it and sang Happy Birthday to Joe. She is always so full of questions and tries to understand, I'm doing the best I can to answer them for her. I hope it helps!