December

December was a busy month . . . We of course got a lot of snow, which I think is the best Christmas decoration of all! And the cheapest, at least for us! The girls loved playing in it. It was so cute, after we played in it once, Lucy would run over to the shoes, and hold some up and point out the window :) She thought it was so fun!

 The girls loved playing in the snow with dad too. We weren't really able to build a snowman, but we attempted to throw snowballs (the snow wasn't holding at all), and made snow angels, and ate the snow. Oh and of course, made snow cones, the italian soda flavorings, made great snow cones! And all we had to do was open our back door and scoop up the top snow and pour the syrup in. It was delicious!

 Okay, too inappropriate? Maybe for public viewing .... Too adorable? DEFINITELY!


I took some Christmas pictures of Emma, she is such a doll! So sweet and such a great sister. She is the smartest girl, she is starting to do math, and knows addition of the single digit numbers, she is also starting to read some basic short words. Love this girl!

 For Christmas, we went to Arizona to visit the Sweeney's. All 9 grandkids were there, in the same house.... It was crazy. Opening Christmas presents was really crazy too, all of the grandkids were opening their presents at the same time from the three different families, it was kind of sad though, 'cause we felt like we missed watching our kids open things and get excited. It was fun being with all of the cousins though!

 We went to a butterfly museum, and got to watch a 3D movie.....

 and went to a beach pool . . . .

 and went and saw the lights at the temple. Here is a picture of everyone! It was a busy and fun December/Christmas, nice to be home, but our girls missed being a part of a big crowd of kids :)

November

 November passed by too quickly, and with too few pictures. But such random cute pictures of the girls, that really have no story behind them other than that they were being sweet to each other, and I had a camera close by.

 We went to Oregon for Thanksgiving and I got to spend some more time with my brother Curt. But of course I didn't take any pictures on our trip. But the pictures I did take were from Emma's gymnastics class- she has been loving it! It's too bad it's only once a week! Because she would go everyday if she could.

October

 Going down the slide at Baumann farms- this was taken as soon as she came down, and I love that she is just happy.

While Emma sleeps, Lucy plays!

So October was a busy month, we flew to Oregon to help take care of Carter and Maddie, while my parents flew to Slovakia to pick Curt up from his mission. Unbelievably this sign of Lucy holding the sign is the only proof of that. I was trying to soak in all of my time with Curt before we flew home because we only got to see him for a day and a half. The first few pictures were from Baumann farms and Riverfront park where I took the kids while we waited for Curt to come home.

 Halloween was really fun with our girls. It was only two houses that Emma went trick or treating to before Lucy realized that at every house Emma was getting candy. So Lucy started joining her. It was really cute. And Lucy ended up with lots of candy because everyone thought it was adorable that she was walking up to their house and would hold out her bag for them to fill with candy.

 We had the cutest little bumble bee and BYU cheerleader around. I'm sure my girls can't wait for next year.

Emma here is modeling the lipstick I let her wear for her costume. She adored wearing it . . . and I am dreading the years to come until I actually let her wear it (other than for costumes)

Should I stop?

Okay blogging is starting to feel like a burden.... I do it every few months and then I have to play major catch up.... Or maybe I should set a goal this year to at least blog every month so that I don't get so far behind. Well September was a fun month for Lucy, she turned 1! We had a little party for her, complete with her own cake . . .

 She had lots of help opening presents from Emma and her cousins. But she didn't mind.

 And then I took some one year old pictures of her with the balloon banner I made, and I think they turned out adorably, so I thought I'd share some...

 Gotta love those big blue eyes. We love this little girl and all the love and excitement she brings into our home!

Catch up part 2 (Alaska trip)

 We went on a cruise to Alaska, with my mom's extended family- everyone was there except one of my uncles and his wife. That is really hard to do.... get everyone together.

 We got to dress up for formal night....

 Lucy had so much fun with all of my cousins.

 We saw lots of whales.... It was really incredible. They were pretty close too!

 And they traveled in groups, it was really an incredible sight to see.

 Yeah, this is a head, that is pretty rare to catch a head, but we were really lucky!

 It looks like these sea lions are kissing, but in reality, he was trying to get on the buoy, but none of the other guys would let him on, so I think he was pushing him back off. Also notice the guy in the top of the buoy- not sure how he got up there or how he'll get down, but he was definitely alive up there.

 Emma enjoyed spending time with her aunts and uncles and Mami and Bumpa!

 This is Mendenhall glacier behind us

 The entire Christensen family that came, I think they said we totaled 67 people in our group. We were definitely the biggest group on the ship.

 This was on the way to the Yukon. It was just so beautiful!

 We stopped and got to feed some goats

 And some little ponies

 even Lucy joined in on the fun!

 We drove into Dawes glacier, it was ridiculously amazing, we drove right by ice blocks with sealions just hanging out.

 We got to witness the glacier breaking off into the ocean and shooters which break off from the bottom of the glacier and shoot up above the ocean. It was fabulous, and I'm pretty sure this was the highlight of the trip- that and seeing all of the whales.

 Mealtime was a big part of the cruise of course, Emma had the same thing every night- Spaghetti, fruit and bread- and they were happy to oblige.

 But keeping them entertained for the whole time while we waited for the food to come was quite a task- we were lucky to have a lot of help!

The trip was a big success! Emma keeps asking to go back on the big ship! She loved it, and had so much fun with all of my cousins- it was basically a big Christensen party :) Which is the best kind of party!