Hallelujah!

What a funny looking word! "Hallelujah!" Maybe it's just cause I looked at it too long. This post is dedicated to the 8th wonder of the world: Miles' completed stocking, as of 1:35 AM last night.

Richie's siblings all have this style of stocking, and even made me one last year. Let me tell you, you may 'ooh' and 'aahh' over it, maybe call me and praise me with tears of admiration, but you will never understand what a pain in the neck these stockings are until you make one. Every stitch, every sequin, every tiny little piece....hand done. And while you may think this particular stocking is the greatest thing you've ever seen, just wait until you see the one Richie's mom made for him and the one his sister made for me. Holy Hannah!


I kept pushing myself to finish it last night saying "I'm so close!" and then an hour later, "I'm even closer now!!". Good thing I finished just as I was delusional enough to begin sewing the top of the stocking closed.

I also thought I'd post a few pictures of Christmas around our house this year since I will be taking all these down within a couple of weeks.




Here's our tree. Weirdest thing happened. Much to Miles' chagrin, after we got all done decorating it, it grew about a foot and a half!


Remember the "Thankful 4" tree? Maybe you didn't recognize it after it's incredible transformation by Clinton and Stacy. It's our Christmas card tree now and I think I like it even more this way than with the leaves.



I can't believe Christmas is this week. Time has been flying unusually fast the past couple of days and it's driving me nuts! I try so hard to plan in advance so that I don't feel stressed at Christmas time and I can just enjoy the spirit of the season. I have yet to experience such a result.

I'm not one of those girls...

I'm not one of those girls who walks out of the hospital after giving birth in her regular jeans. In fact, I barely walked out in my sweats. "Who cares", I thought, "if I gained some extra weight. It will all melt off magically once I start nursing, right?" *Cricket chirps* "RIGHT? Please someone tell me it will come off and I can fit into my regular clothes again???" Sadly, this was not the case. True, a lot of it did come off in a few months due to water weight and yes, nursing. But there were those pesky inches that kept me in my maternity clothes and buying bigger sizes than ever. I know a lot of ladies lose the weight in a matter of a few months. Like I said...I'm not one of those girls.

But I'm happy to report that about a bazillion salads and countless stairs climbed, I am at pre-pregnancy weight and pre-pregnancy clothes. I'm not going to kid myself and say I'm not bragging or being proud, cause gosh-dangit, I am! And I expect all the comments on this post to be flowery words of congratulations and much praise. I'd like to thank the academy, South Beach Diet, Richie, for doing much of the diet with me and watching Miles while I went to the gym, and loving me at post and pre pregnancy weight, The Biggest Loser, for getting me pumped up to go to the gym and all the little people. I won't forget you. And remember, if I can do it, anyone can do it.

BUT...(Of course there is a but, albeit a somewhat smaller butt) my lovely, large, bigger-than-average head son caused my ribs and my hips to spread out significantly. Therefore, I am still on my quest to keep losing weight. I would LOVE to hear how you guys have lost your weight. (Pregnancy related or not) to keep me motivated and give me some fresh perspective and ideas.
Happy Gym-ing!

Heeeere's Santa!

Miles met Santa at our ward party last night.
This isn't so bad....

Wait...who is the guy with the fuzz holding me?

Dad!!!! Help!

Gingerbread Ornaments

We had some people from our ward over on Monday for FHE and we made Gingerbread Ornaments! They are easy to make and make your tree smell delicious. We forgot to take pictures of our friends when they were here, so I guess you get these amazing and way flattering pictures of Richie and I. Here's the recipe for the ornaments if you're interested:

10T applesauce
4 oz cinnamon
about 1 t elmers glue

Mix it to the consistency of Play-dough and roll it out like Sugar Cookies to about 1/4-1/8 inch thick. Dust the surface and rolling pin with cinnamon, not flour. Cut out whatever shapes you want and put a piece of paper clip where you'll want to hang your ornament from. Bake at 200 for about 20 minutes, sometimes longer. Then you can decorate them with puff paint or whatever you can think of, and loop some yarn through them! Ta-Da! So easy.




Life is pretty normal up here. Miles is learning to walk and both of his front teeth have broken through. He's starting to climb on things now! yikes. He's also found the toilet flusher and toilet paper to be lots of fun. I babysit this cute little girl a few hours a week and to keep us busy, we like to build forts out in the office area with all the uhaul boxes. What would I do without all those resources? It's pretty fun.

Good Tidings of Great Joy

The other night, we made some "gingerbread houses" with our friends the Christensens. The girls definitely had more fun with it than the boys, but I guess that's expected right? Can't you just see their excitement?? We had 1 cottage, 1 government housing complex and 1 stunningly accurate replica of Stonehenge, lovingly re-named grahamhenge. Who says you have to make a house? :)


I also thought I'd post a Christmas video here to get in the spirit. I haven't posted a "Mormon Message" in a while, so I figure this is overdue. This version of "Silent Night" is one of my all-time favorites. The spirit seems to be present immediately when they sing. Being a parent, even for a short amount of time, has taught and re-taught me some very important lessons, and one of those is a fresh perspective on Christmas and Heavenly Father's role in that sacred night. I'm so grateful for the 'good tidings of great joy' for which we celebrate this season.

This Thanksgiving we.......

Went to the Garners in Bluffdale


Ran a 5k to raise money for the food bank on Thanksgiving morning


Played the piano, fed the neighbors animals and Miles fell on his face, and passed around the flu, because families share. :) Hope everyone eventually feels better!


Richie played frisbee golf to his heart's content and I started a new craft project of Miles' stocking.


My favorite part about this Thanksgiving was that I've been a part of Richie's family for enough time now that even smells in their house bring back memories! I know that probably sounds weird to some people, but it is what it is.