Christmas 08

What would Christmas Eve be without the kids acting out the nativity. Notice Morgan (Mary) has the baby Jesus in her dress as she is large with child.

Here she is delivering her son. She dropped the baby with a thud on the ground, and baby Jesus entered the world. She thought she was so funny.

On Christmas Eve morning, Morgan decided she needed to sing a solo of Silent Night that evening for the family. She didn't know all the words and did a good job of staying focused enough to learn it before going to Grandma and Grandpa's house. It was lovely!

Then the kids made cookies - with LOTS of sprinkles! Santa loves sprinkles.

Then it was time to go home and get ready for Santa to come. First we needed to put reindeer food on the lawn so the reindeer would want to stop at our house.

Then the kids got their traditional Christmas Eve Jammies. Myles was pretty excited to change it up to Spiderman after wearing batman jammies for the last month. Then it was off to bed.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Santa found us.

One of the favorite gifts were blankets that Grandma Dehner made for the kids. Morgan got an adorable Olivia blanket.

Myles got race cars on his with flames on the back. Cool!

The kids have been glued to their rooms because of their new doll houses...

Myles got a boy version of a doll house from Grandma & Grandpa Beckstead. He's in heaven with all the gadgets batman can use to get the bad guys.

The cousins gave the kids Build-a-bear gift cards and we just had to fight the crowds and go the next day. Myles picked a bat-dog... big shocker there...

And Morgan fell in love with this Hello Kitty. Yes - we went to Easton Mall with Morgan in a princess dress with all the accessories. Another little girl came up to her and just stood there and stared... I think she was wondering if Morgan was really a princess. SHE IS!

The best gift EVER... according to Myles

We had our ward Christmas party on Saturday night. Part of the festivities was a white elephant exchange game. We ended up with this picture. Myles thought it was the best gift ever... In fact, someone snatched it from the hall while we were cleaning up and Myles cried on the way home because someone stole his present. When we got home it was sitting on the porch and as we pulled up into the driveway Myles started screaming, "My present here, my present here!" He carried it up to his room and had it sleep next to his bed. He's been carrying it around for a couple days now and he thinks it's the best gift ever. (I think the walls have a few new dings from the frame, but oh well, even though it's as heavy as he is, he loves carrying it around.)

The second part of the activity made Morgan's day. Santa came!! She's really into Santa this year and was thrilled to see him. In fact, she was so excited to see him, she forgot to tell him that she wants a princess bike for Christmas. Once she realized her mistake, she had to get back in line and wait to tell him. I love that my kids are so into Christmas this year.

Morgan's Preschool Program

On Friday Morgan had her preschool Christmas program. She was so excited to wear her new Christmas dress and candy cane tights from Grandma Dehner.

Even though her preschool is Christian based, there was only one song that said Jesus in it... And it was Happy Birthday to Jesus... What is that about?? Oh well, it was super cute to watch them wish us a Merry Christmas.

Morgan felt like a million bucks because of the crowd that showed up to support her. Grandma and Grandpa were there and so was Aunt Kate!

Thanksgiving 08

Thanksgiving this year started out super fun. I turkey trotted with AnnDee for the second year in a row. This year we wussed out a little and did the 2 miler instead of the 5 miler. We didn't think our pregnant bellies would be able to handle the 5 miler... 2 ended up being just the right distance. We trotted at a respectable pace and make it in the top 100 and came home once again with a pumpkin pie. (You can't even tell AnnDee has a 7 month pregnant belly under that bib number - she did awesome).

After our run, Mike met up with the men and played in the turkey bowl. The kids were in the car watching Mike play (it was too cold outside) and waiting for me to pick them up after the trot. This wouldn't have been a problem if Mike had take Morgan potty before leaving the house, and not given her 2 full mugs of lemonade before leaving (daddy's make the best breakfast). Poor Morgan couldn't wait any longer and got out of the car and was crying in the parking lot. She held it long enough for a "nice man" as she said, to go get daddy to come take her potty. She said it was so hard to wait and her tummy hurt holding it in, but she was proud of herself and her bladder control.

Then we had dinner at Mike's parents house. This year I made my first rolls. I have always wanted to learn to make rolls, but haven't really attempted it until this Thanksgiving. It was on my list of things I wanted to learn and after I felt like such a domestic goddess.

This Thanksgiving was special to us because we spent it with family AND friends. The Nadaulds came up to Mike's parents to eat with us. Unfortunately about 10 minutes after getting to Grandma's, Morgan started saying her tummy hurt. Soon Morgan's 12 hour puke fest began.

While Morgan was resting, we decorated gingerbread houses.

Morgan tried to come and help, but only lasted a minute. There's always next year kid-o.

Memphis Marathon... Check!!

Well, he did it. My man ran his first marathon. Can you tell I'm beaming with pride? Mike and I left the kids for 3 days with Aunt Kate and Uncle Chad and headed to Memphis. Did I mention we left the kids?? Flying without kids is the greatest thing ever! Once we got there, we had to find his name and bib # on this massive list of 3,000 marathon runners and 8,000 half-marathon runners.

Then it was time for Mike to carb load (although I think I ate more than he did). We heard there was a Spaghetti Factory nearby so we went out to catch the trolley. Even though it was freezing cold outside and I was scared for our lives while we stood on the tracks in a dark alley waiting for the trolley to take us home, it was one of my favorite dates! After standing in the cold for way too long, this was the best sight ever... Our trolley coming up the tracks..


Usually the trolley was somewhat full, but this particular time we had the trolley to ourselves. It was a fun way to get around downtown.

The next morning, Mike got bundled up in his SHORTS and NO GLOVES to go run 26 miles in twenty-something degree weather. I on the other hand got some hot chocolate and bundled up in many layers and headed out to see him along the course. Here he is at mile 3 looking around to see who the crazy person is screaming his name and taking pictures.

This is during mile 13.

And here he is at mile 26. It was an exciting finish as the runners ran into the AutoZone Park Baseball Stadium to cross the finish line.

It was so cold they were handing all the runners emergency blankets to keep them warm.

He was a little sore...

Even though he was sore and swollen from drinking too much water along the way, he came through with a smile and a well deserved gold metal for his accomplishment.

I couldn't be more proud.