Going Private

I have always wanted my blog to be an open blog, but I have gotten one too many random, spam comments that are just plain rude. So, I have decided that I am going to make my blog private. If you would like an invite leave me your email address (I will put the comment moderation on so your address doesn't show.) One of my friends that has a private blog sends an email out when she updates- I think that I will try that and see how it goes. I wish there weren't rude people in the world!

January Happenings

PHEW!! I finally got all the December posts done! What a BUSY, but fun month it was. January has come and gone and has been a lot more laid back! Brooklyn started back up in gymnastics and was able to move up a level- she is doing really well and loves it. We received a letter from the school telling us that she had been chosen as the "Citizen of the Month" for December. We are so proud of how well she is doing in school academically as well as socially. She had quite the crowd there to see her- as she sat down from getting the award, she said to my cousin, "Half the town of Newton came to see me!" (Such a crack-up!)

Gracie is also doing really well in preschool. It is so fun to see the learning and knowledge that is come to her. She wrote her name by herself for the first time in December and continues to love to write her name and other letters. Last Sunday, she started screaming that her ear hurt and that continued on for several hours until she finally fell asleep. I got her into the doctor the following morning and she had a nasty ear infection. Poor thing! It took her a good couple of days until she was really feeling better, but is doing much better now.

Ella continues to grow right before our eyes. I can't believe that she is almost 9 months! Pregnancy drags by SOO slow and then they get here and there is nothing you can to to slow down time! :( She has mastered crawling, although she still does lots of face plants. Last Sunday, she also went from laying down to sitting up all by herself. I love all these milestone that babies hit. She is loving her cereal too and is finally starting to like fruits and veggies. For awhile, she wanted nothing to do with them and just preferred the cereal. In November and December she went through a naughty phase of starting to not sleep through the night- we are talking she was up like 3 times a night. Not a nice thing to do to her mom! :) So we did the dreaded make her cry it out in her crib. The first night was bad- she cried for an hour straight. I would go in every 5 minutes or so and give her her binkie and then leave. Finally, after the hour she fell asleep and slept through the night. The 2nd night wasn't as bad, I think she cried for maybe 20 minutes. And then that was it and she sleeps through the night again and the crying it out really wasn't that bad! I think that moms can do anything if they have the right amount of sleep.

Don't mind the banner being upside down! ;)

Gracie has turned into a little crack-up- I was trying to get a picture of her and she was doing anything but smiling!

The gals put on their cute aprons that Chels made them and did some baking in the Easy Bake Oven- (I wanted to drop kick the thing through the window before it was all said and done!)

There she is ready to take off!

(Her poor hair is all over the place these days!)

Christmas Dresses

With Christmas Day being so busy, I didn't get a picture of the gals in their Christmas dresses. (I should also have a picture on here on the burn damage my pinky received while making their bows.) I love that I was able to get matching dresses for them all- thank you Carter's- sadly I think this might be the last year of matching dresses. I sure love these gals!

New Year's Eve

We had our annual New Year's Eve party at my Uncle Ric and Aunt Paula's. We had yummy food, good company, and good times!

My mom and dad had gotten the kiddos these cute matching outfits for Christmas- we tried to get a picture of them in them- it was not a success!! We even tried changing positions and still no luck!

I love this picture of Brooklyn- my cousin Jan made her homemade root beer- the kiddos always love playing in it!

Ric opened up his hot tub for the occasion and it was by far the highlight for the gals! Gracie talked about it ALL day before she finally got to get in!

We may of may not have turned to MTV and counted down with New York City- and we may or may not have had to rewind and forward several times until we were actually ready- thank you to DVR!

We always do a toast and Gracie and Garrett were LOVING this!! They loved to "cheers" their glasses together- they were quite hilarious!

And to end the night- my cousins dog cozied up to the most non-loving animal person I know- my mom! It was pretty hilarious! The picture doesn't do it justice to just how unimpressed she was! 

Here's to a great 2012!!!

Temple Square

Why oh why can't I keep up on this blog? I am still trying to get through our December activities. Gracie had seen a picture of Temple Square and decided that she wanted to go. So, we headed out on Friday the 30th before they turned them off on the the 1st. I think that every other person in the state had that idea too because there were about 5 million people there plus the weather was heavenly!! It was in the high 50's- we had brought all our warm gear and the gals ended up walking around for some of the time without their coats on.We talked about going to eat at Lion House and our plan changed when we got there and the line was out the door so we headed to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and ate there. We went up and saw Temple Square from the top- the gals thought that was pretty cool. We had such a great time and we were glad that we were able to squeeze the trip in before they turned off the lights!

And this is how Ella enjoyed seeing the lights!

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas morning. The gals woke up little before 8 and since we didn't have church until 1 we were able to enjoy the morning before heading to church. The gals were so fun to watch. They loved every minute of it. I love how when they would open a present they would yell, "Thanks Santa!" Ella loved the sound of the paper and loved being able to rip a little piece off and then eat it. It was great to go to church- to celebrate the true meaning of the season- the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. After church we headed to Newton- to Nat's- we had a wonderful breakfast and then opened presents before it was time for everyone to head to the in-laws. Grandma and Pops spoiled us!! My sister-in-law Chels had made all the kids aprons and cute little hats. The gals loved their presents from Garrett and Abby as well. In the afternoon, we headed over to the Maynard's- we had a yummy dinner and then once again we were spoiled! On our way home, we able to stop at Paula's house and visit with them for little bit. It was such a great, family filled day! I feel so blessed that we are surrounded by our family and so many people who love us and love to spoil our gals- thanks everyone!!

I love how they are holding hands

Gracie was so exhausted she fell asleep playing her LeapPad with her stylus in her hand

Christmas Eve

 We had a fantastic Christmas Eve day and Christmas Eve. We drove out to Stone to Sean's grandparents and spent the day there. We always have such a great time out there. Sean' uncle Kurt and aunt VaLyn and their boys were there- so Brooklyn was in Heaven- she has always loved to play with these boys and they are still cute and will play with her even though they are now all teenagers. The gals love to play in the snow, but since there was no snow this year, they went up to the canal and slid around on the ice. They had fun doing that and loved it when Tre fell in. They were also excited because they saw 2 Bald Eagles flying around while they were there. Sean's grandparents spoiled us, like they always do- his grandpa made Brooklyn a jewelry box. It is beautiful- and I failed to get a picture of it. Soon it was time to head out and go to the annual Maughan/Wright Christmas party! It was a TON of fun! The Nativity was a success with Brooklyn playing Mary, Gracie doing her part as an Angel, and Ella filled in as Baby Jesus! There is also a program where the kids (or adults) can perform if they would like. Imagine my surprise when my sweet little shy Gracie got up and sang "Rudolph" she got stuck on a part and ended up singing it 3 different time before she moved on. It was so funny! And when I thought it couldn't get more funny, up comes Garrett. I will forever laugh anytime I hear this song now!! He did his rendition of "Christmas, Christmas" from the Chipmunks. He had all the dialog and everything- the best part was when Dave yells "ALVIN" Garrett yelled it so hard that his little face went red and his whole body was shaking. It was epic. Brooklyn and cute little Ashlyn got up and sang "Silent Night" and did a cute job. And then to my astonishment Sean got up and sang- he does a mean Jimmy Durante- and sang "Rudolph".  It was such a fun party- "the best ever" as my grandma Ila would say. Soon it was time to head home and get ready for Santa to come. My sister had given us a phone number we could call that was from Santa that would give updates of his whereabouts- it was SOO fun! When the gals went to bed they were so excited to hear that Santa had left South America and was headed the the United States! They did get to open one present before they went to bed, the annual Christmas Jammies- thank you Carter's for making a matching set in all their sizes! The plate was prepared and we were ready for Santa...

You can see in the background Tre's pants down- after he had fallen in

The performers- (gotta love Gracie's snow boots- she wouldn't wear anything else_

I love these gals!!