Thursday, December 24, 2009

This month in a flash...

December is GONE already! It went by way to fast for me - I like the season leading up to Christmas, and it is such a let-down when the actual day comes and goes. We have been busy this month...here is what we have been up to:

We knew the girls were dying to have Christmas lights on the house, but Cory and I had pretty much decided not to do it this year. The roof line is REALLY high, so we considered hiring someone to put them up but figured the girls wouldn't die if there weren't any lights. I think it was Riley's "but Dad, how is Santa going to find our house" that did it. Cory brought over my dad's extension ladder, extended it as high as it would go, told my brother to hold onto the bottom, and went to work. I was nervous when Cory was up there stringing the lights. I couldn't watch...I told him I would be in the house unless I heard a scream followed by a splat. What a great wife, huh? The end result was that we had lights, no one splatted (is that a word??), and the girls are happy.




We went to the Festival of Trees with some friends earlier this month. It was fun, and the trees were beautifully decorated. Ry liked looking, and Bailey did, too, but she was more concerned with how to escape from the stroller.






Riley had her Christmas/Grandparent's Day program at school last week. The kids sang some cute songs! Ry did great, and was glad that Mimi and Papa could come.


We went to Temple Square to see the lights last weekend. We had wanted to go earlier in the month, but it has been COLD here...I mean REALLY cold. The night we went was still cold, but not as bad as it has been. The kids loved the lights, loved seeing the temple, and loved riding the train to Temple Square. It was fun, but it was cold!




In addition to all of the activities we have been doing, we have been baking, Christmas card-ing, shopping, wrapping, visiting, and just enjoying the season. I guess the hustle and bustle finally caught up with us early this week when both girls came down with really bad colds. Bailey is recovering from croup, and is just not herself (though we have high hopes she will feel better by tomorrow morning for her first Christmas when she knows what is going on!). Riley is feeling much better, too, and is more than ready for Santa's visit! We hope you have a great Christmas...pictures of Christmas morning are coming soon!

Monday, December 21, 2009

A conversation with Riley


A couple of days ago the girls and I were coming back from the grocery store when the song "I Saw Mama Kissing Santa Clause" came on the radio. Here is part of the conversation I had with Riley about the song:


Riley: Mom! Did they just say Mom was kissing Santa?

Me: That is what the song said...it is just a silly song, Ry, don't worry about it.

*Pause*

Riley: Mom! Did they just say Mom was tickling Santa, too?

Me: Yeah (sigh)

*Pause*

Riley: Mom, you would never do that would you?

Me: No, Ry (sigh again)

Riley: Good. Dad would NOT like it if you did that!

Me: Sigh....



Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Family Pictures

We recently had our family pictures taken - Emily (my sister's sister-in-law) has been taking our pictures for the last few years and some how she always manages to get the great shot, even without complete participation from those in the pictures! Bailey was the party-pooper for this photo shoot. She started out happy (kind of), but when we took off her socks for the family pictures, things went down-hill quickly! Who knew she was so attached to her socks! I think every trick in the book was used to get Bailey happy long enough to get a couple of pictures of her. She is definately a Bluth (which translates into NOT a lover of taking pictures!). All in all, we were happy with how the girls' pictures turned out.




Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Just not the same...

Thanksgiving is great, don't get me wrong...but as soon as the dishes are done on Thanksgiving day we are plotting out our plan to get ready for Christmas. We have always gotten our tree the day after Thanksgiving, and this year was no exception. This is the first year we have had our own house since moving from Oregon - and I have to say the whole "getting our Christmas tree" experience was a downer. Instead of cruising up and down rows of Christmas trees at White's Tree Farm, we headed to the garden section of the local Home Depot and bought one from a guy in a nice orange apron (he swore up and down the trees they were selling were just unloaded off the truck two days before...isn't that what all the tree lot people say??). Don't get me wrong, the tree is nice and it smelled good for about 20 minutes (and I think I filled up the vaccuum bag full of needles after bringing the tree inside). It just isn't the same as firing up the chain saw and cutting the tree down yourself. Oh well...the girls didn't seem to mind, and they had a great time decorating the tree. That is all that matters, right??

Ry at the tree farm - December, 2007 (don't those trees look perfect?)

Ry and Bailey decorating this year's tree - nice work, girls!