christmas 2011

Our Christmas Card

Christmas.

It was a splendid one, I think Matt and I were more excited than Grace on Christmas morning.

It was magical for us to watch how happy she was!

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve (my very favorite part of Christmas)

with all of the build up for the big morning. 

We ate delicious food and sipped eggnog while we

learned more about Christ's birth and shared our feelings of Him.

We opened Christmas pajamas and it was off to bed for the little one while 

we excitedly set everything up for the next morning. 

Christmas lights, this is definitely a tradition now.

Christmas morning.

The little one slept until around 7:30, we were up earlier getting ready for church (we had 9 a.m.)
in hopes that our morning would feel a little more relaxed.
She played with her gifts from Santa Claus right up until we left for church and loved every minute.
There were a few tears as we left. :) 

Church was wonderful, I loved being reminded on the day of the reason of Christmas. 

We ate a big breakfast when we got home and enjoyed the rest of the day opening presents and talking with our parents and siblings.

Thanks to all of our friends and family we were WAY spoiled this year
(you know who you are, thank YOU!)
Grace had so many presents but we were happy to see her play with each gift after she opened it,
she really loved all of them!
We didn't finish opening presents until late Christmas day. 

It was fun to spread it out and just enjoy it. 

That night we went to our friends for a delicious Christmas dinner.  We loved it.

Grace was really happy about her princess doll from Luke and Sam.    

All of the excitement of baby girl bushman coming so soon

slightly overshadowed the season, but not too much.

We really missed our family, but it ended up being a wonderful Christmas. 

Here is a little video that captures a bit of the magic of our Christmas this year.

We hope your Christmas was filled with happiness!

Happy third anniversary to us...

I can't believe another year has gone by, it seems as though we just celebrated our second year of being married.  Crazy.  We were just talking the other day about how it feels like we have been married for forever.  I scored and Matt was nice enough and agreed to take a few anniversary pictures with me, although he looked a little confused and asked, "anniversary pictures?" ha ha poor guy! 

Honestly, being so huge I haven't been in the picture taking mode either, but it was actually a lot of fun and I'm excited to keep it going until we are old and wrinkly. 

(our little ring bearer was pretty excited about this picture)

Lucky me, I married such a handsome guy. :)

    

I remember so well exactly how I felt when I knew that Matt was the perfect one for me to spend eternity with, I remember it well because it is the same feeling of reassurance I still have so often.

 It usually comes during random moments of the day,

whether it be watching him play and laugh with Grace or when he makes me laugh until it hurts.  

When I was single I remember my aunt Sherri telling me one day that I just needed to find someone that I could laugh with, because life gets challenging.  That was precisely the thing that stood out most when I first started dating Matt.  I would come to him after a long day of work with 7 year-old children and tell him about some of the hard moments of my day, and by the end we were usually laughing so hard I forgot all about how frustrated I felt.  He makes life so fun, and if you have ever heard him

laugh you understand how lucky I am to hear it everyday.

Ironically, this great quality is the very thing that has carried us through: almost the entire three years of law school (woo hoo!), moving more times than I care to think about, almost two babies (yay!), definitely two pregnancies, two miscarriages, work, photography, living as students below poverty level :), and all the adjustments that come with living in a new state.

As I look at past three years I can't help but feel overwhelming gratitude.  All of the things I just listed have been such cherished blessings and have brought us much closer than I could have imagined. I am amazed everyday at how hard Matt works.  It takes a lot to keep up amazing grades, work to provide financially for us, and take so much time to spend with us as a family.  I can't count the number of times he has told me to sit down and relax while he cleans the house until it is spotless.  I have always felt encouraged to pursue my interests, he really has brought out the very best in me. I honestly could go on and on, but I'll sum it up by saying three years ago today I received the greatest gift...so perfectly fit for me.
I love you so much Matt, thanks for making my dreams come true.

Christmas-ing

We are loving this holiday season so far.  I thought I would hate being so pregnant at Christmas time, but luckily I have enough energy to keep up with fun activities and little enough slow down and spend more time soaking it all in.  I am completely a tradition kind of person,

and this year we will be having our own Christmas so I am thrilled to start. 

We are loving the excitement of receiving christmas cards and packages (thanks mom!) in the mail.  There is just nothing like this time of year. 

I thought President Monson really nailed it when he said

Christ gets lost in Christmas, we are trying to study more about Him and his

characteristics this season as part of a new tradition.

These are some cookies we made and delivered to dear friends, so fun!

Grace has the cooking bug lately, it's cute she has now become my big helper when I try and cook anything.  She likes to pretend with a variety of sprinkles.  She had me taste "it" about ten times and asked what I thought. Ha ha, she makes me laugh.

Our stockings...

( I know.. msg :) thankfully, I bought another cute letter that we'll add next year)

Our Christmas countdown! 

I had so much fun making it, this is where a lot of our fun traditions come into play. 

Each day we do a Christmas activity.

It has been so much fun really introducing Grace to Christmas for the first time.  We've checked out a lot of fun books from the library to help her understand and she loves them!

  I can't wait to see her on Christmas morning. :)

Our singing girl

This picture makes me happy. 

Miss Grace is quite the singer these days, as I have previously documented.  Here is a little sampling for you, although I must say for some reason she wasn't as into it as usual. (curse of pulling out the camera)  You'll get the idea though. :)  Her personality is one of a kind.

(for whatever reason, she is mildly obsessed with this song:)

Yes, a microphone is on the Christmas list for this girl.

47 days...

 ...6 weeks + 5 days to be exact and our princess girl will be HERE.  It's been awhile since I've taken a picture of my growing tummy, so Matt was kind enough to take some for me.  

He is quite the photographer, no? :)

I've been doing pretty well all things considered.  I have had a couple rough days lately with my sciatic nerve pain, but other than that I've been feeling good!
My cute friend Tracy is going to take more 3D pictures next week,
can you tell I am just a tiny bit excited to find out what she will look like? :)  

I just finished up all my photography sessions so I am hoping I will have oodles of time to nest and get this little girls nursery done. All I can say is thank goodness we are having another girl, I don't know how in the world  we would be able to afford another wardrobe...blessings.  Another blessing is that I will have the hubster around to help me, as of this Thursday morning he is DONE until January 9th.  HOORAY for that!

 Here's to a healthy and productive 6 weeks.  Crossing my fingers.

celebrating

 

 I believe in celebrating, especially when it involves the ones you love the very most and food. :)

Today I made a mint grasshopper ice cream pie, mmmm.  We are celebrating a huge success on a huge law test for Matt and for Grace, NO MORE DIAPERS! 

We bought her a book about going potty and suddenly she is super interested.  

The princess underwear came out today, and hopefully are here to stay. 

Finally, we are celebrating this beautiful little girl...

Oh boy, I can't wait to meet her!  My induction date is January 28th 7:00a.m. 

If she decided to come earlier I wouldn't complain, just not too early.:)

a wedding post

After three and a half hours of enduring a root canal this morning this couple was just what I needed to make my day!  They are so fabulous and you can see more of them here!

deck the halls

We've been having way too much fun getting Christmas up this year.  

We watched it's a wonderful life, ate cinnamon rolls, 

and laughed at Grace's excitement over the lights as we decorated the tree.

She is loving every minute of this holiday hoopla, 

and we are reminded again of how magical children can make holidays.  

I love Christmas more than anything.