Backtrack to Christmas...

Christmas is such a wonderful time. Full of the Saviors love, family, and friends. Sometimes, it also can be a stressful time- worrying about presents, entertaining, and money. Hopefully, everyone was able to really partake of the earlier three, and try to forget about the latter...

This Christmas was really fun for us...

The first Christmas in our new home.
The first Christmas for Allison.
The first Christmas Dallin really understood things.

As some of you know, we celebrate "Christmas Adam". It's a tradition Jeff and I started our first Christmas together. Since we knew we'd be gone with our families on Christmas Eve, we wanted the night before (Christmas Adam- Christmas Eve... Adam came before Eve... :) Got it?) to be the night with just our little family traditions. So... Every year, we have celebrated this night. It is the night that Santa comes (Yes... we're privileged to have him make a special early trip) and we do our own little traditions together with our kids.
Dallin was VERY specific on what he wanted from Santa this year:
"A Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with a glove balloon with Goofy inside and Mickey and Donald". (Thank you EBAY!)
He wrote a cute little letter to Santa and drew a picture of Mickey and wrote his name. He was very particular about the cookies too- The two red ones were for Santa, the blue one was for the reindeer to share, and the yellow one was for Rudolph. :)

The kids got in their cute jammies and headed to bed...

and didn't wake up until almost 10:00!
Jeff and I were more excited than they were! :)

*Just so you know... Dallin DID get the Goofy- but Santa brought it to Grandma's house the next morning. :) Ooops...*
Showing our Christmas Cheer:

Allison didn't understand why everything was in Paper... it took her a few days to really figure out what she was supposed to do.. :)

Later that day, we went over to Cedar to spend some time with Jeff's family. His Dad's family gets together every Christmas Eve and has a big dinner, acts out the nativity, and has a little talent show. Its a lot of fun to see all of his cousins and have a fun time with them. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera... arg...
Every Christmas Eve, Jeff's dad also reads a book called "Why the Chimes Rang". Before Jeff's mother passed away when he was young, she used to read it to them. It's a beautiful story about two brothers and their ultimate charity and love. After the book was read, we headed to bed.
The next morning was different than any Christmas I was used to. We all woke up. Read some scriptures. Talked. Ate a great Breakfast. And then we realized that there were still presents to open. We all were having so much fun together- we just kind of forgot. It was wonderful! We all finally rolled into the front room and had a fun time opening presents.

Jeff in his shirt I got him (isn't he hot?) :), and Dallin with MORE Lightning McQueen:

Later that Christmas Day afternoon, we headed up to Nephi to my Grandma Apple Valley's and Papa Bill's house. (That's not her real name... I just had so many grandmas when I was younger, and she just happened to live in Apple Valley at the time I came up with new names for them all :)... it just stuck). Almost the whole family went up the their house for a big Christmas dinner, presents, and spending the night. I didn't really take any pictures that either... (I didn't do too well in the picture department this year.) I did get this one of Allison and her cousin Connor though. Arn't they cute in their little sweatsuits? :)

We woke up to a wonderful breakfast and headed out with all of their snow mobiles to the near-by mountain. We all had so much fun! It was cold... but they had a little trailer with an awesome heater and hot chocolate! Mmmm! We all had SOOO much fun!

Me and my Allie-Bug... Jeff and I on a ride...

Dallin LOVIN' the snow...

My Mama, Kellie, and Me... Cute Mom and Darrell...

Kellie and Garrett... My Bro...

Papa Bill and Grandma A.V.- Arn't they cute?...
And My Aunt Kate and Cousin Brooke...

Dallin's obsessed with Hot Chocolate... Chillin' in the trailer...

We come back from Nephi on Sunday, stayed the night in Cedar, and headed home the next day after some grocery shopping. On Tuesday we watched Connor for Kellie and Garrett all day and night while they went to Brian Head for their anniversary. I'm definitely glad I don't have twins! :) He was really cute though.

Then on Wednesday, we finally got to have Christmas with my Dad. Kellie and Garrett came back to our house after Brian Head and my brother Scott was here also. We made a Ham dinner, and watched movies, opened presents, and talked. My dad also made a yummy waffle breakfast in the morning. It was really relaxing and nice. Again... I didn't take any pictures and I was really bummed. We only see my dad a few times a year... Luckily, Scott- who was riding home with my dad- forgot something at our house and I ran outside to snap a quick picture of them (and my dad's dogs) before they left.

We really did have a wonderful Christmas! We are definitely blessed with much more than we need and family so close. We are very blessed by the Lord. I'm thankful for him and this wonderful time of year we have to celebrate his birth.

U. G. L. Y...

One thing I love to do, as I've mentioned before, is throw parties! Jeff and I decided that there wouldn't be anything better than throwing a party to try to get us unpacked. And it worked... For the most part. :) We decided to have an Ugly Sweater/Sweatshirt party. I was pretty excited. I tried to find some hideous sweaters here locally... but there wasn't a very big selection in our small little area.

I did find one of the ugliest Sweatshirts around for Jeff though! :) This was sure a doozy! A beard made of lace, with pearls stuck on all over with sparkly glue. Unfortunately, he wouldn't wear it. Thankfully my friend Ann was a good sport and modeled it off for me...

We had so much fun filling up our house with people and enjoying some holiday snacks! I think I'm due for another party here soon! :)

November in a Nutshell...

November was quite a month.
Mostly full of'
Packing...
Moving...
Remodeling...
Cleaning...

But there were definitely some fun random times thrown in there!

1. Dallin looking so cute as my little Indian (with his friend Angela)
2. Allison turned 8 months!
3. Dallin went to the new fire station in town & tried on some gear.
4. She definitely became a girl on the go with crawling!
5. The kids having a ball "packing".
6. Thanksgiving outfits. So adorable! :)
7. Our little Missy already has a real love for the Piano!
8. Dallin enjoying Hot Chocolate at the annual town tree lighting.
9. Me and my Great Grandma Ilean after Thanksgiving dinner :)
10. My little fish! Allison LOVES the water!

November went by fast, but it was a great one full of changes!

Farewell!

This house was home to many many wonderful memories to us!

I am so grateful that we found this home the first day we came to Orderville. Our friends Brent and Chantelle drove us around after the interview was over to show us some houses that were up for rent. We looked at a few that were ok... But the moment we saw this house, I knew I had to call the second we got home! I am so glad I did. We were there for 4 years and it definitely served us well. Plus, we had amazing landlords, that are now our adopted grandparents. There were so many fun little things about that home that I will never forget...

The AMAZING view off of my back porch. Dallin and I loved to go exploring back there in Norman's old barn. We always found the coolest stuff! And I loved our old fashion BBQ too! I never baked some bread in it like I wanted too... Oh well...

The sweet colors of the Kitchen. They actually kind of grew on me. :)

The quirks about the kitchen. I always thought this little shelving unit but the sink was so cute. :) But there were only three plugs in the kitchen and you had to use adapters on all of them. Also the washer was upstairs (you had to reach the cord across the kitchen to plug it in) and the dryer was downstairs! (OK... I am not going to miss that! :) The house was built before either of them were invented, so they tried to fit them in where they could.


The old fashion door knobs. The one in the bathroom had an awesome keyhole too.


All of the closet space! This house made use of every nook and cranny! If I ever build a house, I definitely learned a thing or two about storage!


My Front room. I loved it. Big. Open. Loved the huge front window. Both of my babies had lots of pictures taken in front of this window. It's a great "newborn baby" window because it lets in great light! Also loved the fireplace! That thing gave out great heat! And Dallin gave lots of great concerts on the step. :) Also loved the fun window on the front door. And the cool arch you went under when you came into the house. Always wanted to hang mistletoe there. :)



On the last day, after cleaning everything up, Dallin, Allison and I had a little picnic in the kitchen. Jeff was at school. :( But it was a fun little last memory.

This little home will always have a special place in our hearts!
Farewell 71 W. 100 S.!