SLEDDING!!!!!

We decided to take full advantage of the snow on New Years Day and take Jackobi on her first sledding experience! She had SO MUCH FUN!!!!! She hardly weighed enough to keep the sled down and kept tipping over, but luckily she thought that was part of the fun!

Trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue. We couldn't get her to point her face towards the sky and actually catch one. Maybe next year!

She had us pretty worn out by the time she was ready to go inside! That afternoon she took a FOUR HOUR nap! Apparently sledding was hard work for her too!

♥ her ...

Many Changes for 2010

As Nate and I reflect back on 2009, what a great year we've had!! We've made many memories and had many firsts. We have felt an abundance of joy as we've watched Jackobi grow and learn! She brings so much happiness to us!! I can hardly believe she'll be TWO in less than 6 weeks!! We've learned a lot about ourselves and grown as individuals and as a family. In 2010 we hope we can improve ourselves and do better each day! For us, 2010 we already have lots of changes in store! After a lot of thought and prayer we have decided to sell our house. It was a really hard decision to come to [I've actually been in a little bit of denial about it!]. You hate to say that you can become so attached to something so materialistic, but we have. We love our home. We've made so many memories here! Nate built it, it's our first home together, it's where we brought Jackobi home to. We love our Ward and neighbors. Things like that are hard to leave! Regardless, this is something we feel like we really need to do. Although it's not 'officially' on the market yet, we hope to have it listed by the end of January. On the flip side of things, when we sell our house, this brings about another big change for our family. Nate has always had the desire to return to school and further his education. By selling our house, he is able to work less and continue his education. Something that will make him happier and life better for our family in the long run!! We're excited for this change and new challenge!! Sometimes change is hard, but we have been so blessed in our lives thus far, we know that we'll be taken care of!! So here's to 2010!

2010!!

We rang in the New Year with food, games and GREAT friends!!!
What a fun night!!

I can't remember what we had to say to get these guys to smile so BIG, but it must have been funny!!

Yeah, we pretty much STOMPED the guys at all the games!!
[had to redeem ourselves from the couch game!!]

We hope everyone had a fantastic 2009 and New Year!! We're excited to see what 2010 has in store for us!!

Snow Much Fun!!

We've had some snow over the last week so I decided to let Jackobi try out her new snow boots in it!! She had gloves on, but quickly ripped them off to feel the cold snow. She had a blast!! We're supposed to get more snow the next few days, hopefully we can bundle her up and try out that new sled!!

Merry Christmas 2009

CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Well, Christmas has come and gone and I can hardly believe it's over!!! Our day was jam packed, it was a great day full of family and fun!!!

Jackobi's Christmas bed head!!

We got up early that morning so we could have Christmas at our house before heading into Nate's parents for Brian's call. It was so fun to watch Jackobi this year!! She was sleepy at first, but once she saw her stocking and we told her she could unwrap presents, she was instantly full of energy!! She was cute, she'd unwrap a present excitedly and get to the box and hug it saying 'oh wow!' ... she didn't know to open it to see what was inside!! So fun!

I thought this picture was funny, she couldn't get her Play Doh opened and kept saying 'Oh No!' She was quickly distracted with more presents!

Our Christmas morning!!

Brian called at 8 AM, so we headed into Nate's parents house. It was a treat to hear from him! He sounded so happy, it was great. Jackobi even managed to say 'Bubba' a few times and told him 'Bye' ... that was our goal, so we were happy!!

While everyone took their turn on the phone, Nate's dad helped distract Jackobi from ripping into her gifts!

Jackobi snuggling up with the puppy Brian sent home for her!

After Nate's parents, we headed out to my parents house for a few hours .... it was cute, Anna and Jackobi weren't too interested in their gifts by that point, they just wanted to play with eachother! They did manage to rip a few open though.

My dad was easily convinced by the girls to play with them rather than open presents. I'm pretty sure he's wrapped around their little fingers!

Anna opening the bowling set Jackobi got her ... I'm pretty sure these two will be quite destructive with it! Good thing it's for Uncle Justin's house!!

After going home for a much needed nap we headed into Nate's Grandpa & Grandma Christiansens for their gift exchange. It was good to see everyone, we had a great time! But we sure were glad when we finally made it home!! I'm pretty sure we were all exhausted and in bed by 9!!

We had such a wonderful Christmas!! Our day was busy, but we're so blessed to live so close to both of our families and share holidays with them!

Christmas Jammies!!

My mom buys Jackobi and Anna Leigh Christmas jammies each year. It's fun to go over to my parents house and watch the girls on Christmas Eve!! It will be a fun tradition in years to come!!

It's so cute to watch these two together! They absolutely love one another!!

Old Friends!!

I love it that around the holidays there are so many more opportunities to get together with old friends!! Jaclyn was in Burley one night so we all decided to grab dinner! It was great to catch up with her [and Jason too!]

Something freaked Jackobi out ... mid-way through dinner she shrieked a high pitched scream pointed at the wall (they do have some pretty weird decorations in Mexican restaurants!) and was terrified the rest of dinner ... she wouldn't leave my lap! Needless to say, we probably won't be visiting that restaurant with her any time soon!

Thanks Jac & Cros for a fun night!!

Ugly Sweater Party!!

A few weeks ago David and Makyla had an Ugly Sweater party! It was so much fun! We ate, played games, ate some more, exchanged white elephant gifts and all wore UGLY SWEATERS!! We ended up with a really fun group of people and had a blast!

All dressed pretty badly!!
The best part about Tiff's sweater is that someone's name was sewn into the collar! Funny!

Worst 3 guys sweaters!
You can't tell in the picture, but Bud's had leather on it!

Don't you love our rockin' sweaters? So fun!

Thanks Dave and Makyla for throwing an awesome Christmas party!!

First Piano Lesson!

Jackobi loves it when Camille comes home!
She gets to sit and play [and sing] at the piano!!
Hopefully one day she'll love 'real' piano lessons!

Boys Hunting Trip

Nate will look for just about any excuse to go hunting. This year he conned his brothers and dad into going into the snowy mountains on Thanksgiving day! I think they all had lots of fun (I'm sure more fun than helping with Turkey dinner!) Watch out guys, I'm sure he'll try to make this an annual tradition!

Double Trouble!

Last week I watched Anna Leigh for a day so Justin could attend his student's graduation. Boy oh boy ... these two are a HANDFUL!!!! They had so much fun together, it was fun to watch how comical they find eachother. I had to get some things done [like re-decorate my tree!! Anna thought it was just awesome to pull all the bulbs off and 'bounce' them!!!] so I stuck them both in Jackobi's crib with a bunch of toys ... it seriously occupied them for 45 minutes!

It's so fun to watch these little girl cousins grow up together. They absolutely adore one another. Jackobi calls Anna's name instantly when we walk into my parents house to see if her 'friend' is there to play too. It's cute. They give eachother lots of hugs and kisses [even though they bonk heads most times!] and run around holding hands ... so adorable! Even if they do cause mad chaos when they're together!!

OOPS!!

Jackobi LOVES to color, I just didn't know her face was the canvas!!
She rarely sits and smiles for me to take a picture, but thought it was hilarious to look at her face ... so I got a BIG grin!! I guess we'll be sticking to color crayons for a little while!

Sara's Baby Shower!!

Chris & Sara were down for Thanksgiving so Chris' family had a baby shower for Sara since it'll be the last time they're home [in Rupert] before the baby is born!!

Sara has got to be one of the cutest little pregnant ladies I've seen!! We're so excited for them and their new arrival in January!!