Christmas Giveaway

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme
TodaysMama and Provo Craft are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What 5 items are on your holiday wish list this year?
Cricut Expression
Pedicure
Someone to organize my scrapbook room
Interior decorator/organizer to help me with my house
SLR camera
2. What is your favorite handmade gift you have received?
My diaper bag my mom made
3. What handmade gift have you always wanted to tackle?
I want to make a purse
4. What was the best Christmas gift you received as a child?
Easy bake oven
5. What items are on your kid’s wish list this year?
She's one so probably candy and toys she can chew on
6. What is your favorite holiday food?
English toffee covered in chocolate
7. What will you be hand-crafting for the holidays?
If i had a cricut there would be so many things I'd make I'm not exactly sure yet. Tags for my goodies maybe
8. What is your favorite holiday movie?
ELF
9. Favorite holiday song?
Winter Song by Sara Bareilles
10. Favorite holiday pastime?
Doing the nativity as a family. Holiday baking

Our Christmas Music

Some of my (Steve's) earliest Christmas memories include Christmas music. I don't remember the exact day that it started each year, but some short time after Thanksgiving my mom would pull out her box (was it a shoebox?!) of cassette tapes, set up her stereo in the kitchen, and start baking as the Christmas music rang throughout our home. You couldn't help but become consumed by the Spirit of the season.
The cassettes are long gone by now, and I have discovered an entire new world of music beyond those original Christmas carols, but each year as the Christmas music starts on the radio, on our iTunes, or on pandora.com, I am taken back to a simpler, more innocent place filled with the smell of sugar cookies and a fresh cut tree, where you came through the door to the sound of Mom inviting you to the kitchen to join in the baking and singing, and where you knew you felt safe as you curled up on the couch to watch 'The Grinch' (the original) or 'It's a Wonderful Life,' 'The Christmas Tree Train,' or 'Frosty the Snowman.'
Jillian and I have created a home of our own now, and Addison has added her (literal) touches here and there, but we have embraced the Spirit that Christmas music brings into our lives this season. So, it's with a warm "Merry Christmas" that we add a special play list of a few of our favorite Christmas songs to our blog for you to enjoy, in the hope that these songs may bring joy and peace into your life at this time of the year.


Because Christmas eventually has to come to an end, here is a list of the tracks:
1. Winter Song, by Sara Barielles
2. Merry Christmas Everyone, by Shakin' Stevens
3. Where Are You Christmas?, by Faith Hill
4. When Christmas Comes to Town, from 'The Polar Express
5. Christmas Day, by Dido
6. Baby It's Cold Outside, from 'Elf'

Holiday Happenings

Besides Addison always being sick we are keeping busy! She is so fun and such a sweet little girl! She is good at making messes but we chalk it up to the fact that she is probably learning so much while she is making the mess. Enjoy the pictures


The girl loves qtips


Eating them


Playing in the dryer


Cute new Christmas pj's notice the gumdrops on the bottom :)


She is sassy in her cheetah outfit

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. My parents and sister Courtney came to Utah. So my sister Amanda and her family and Steve and I and my parents all got hotels room at the new Springhill Suites in Salt Lake and spend a few nights and days just hanging out. We started our trip by going to the Salt Lake Temple which was amazing! What a beautiful temple and how wonderful to be together as a family. We missed my brother and his family but with a little one on the way in a few weeks they weren't able to travel. Our rooms were so close and our room and my parents room actually had connecting doors so it was great the kids just ran between the 2 rooms and had fun. It is funny because Kennedy is 4 months older then Addison and has been walking for months now, but as soon as she got around Addison she was on her hands and knees crawling. We had our Thanksgiving dinner at Buca di Beppo, it was ok, I don't like having chicken parmesan as my Thanksgiving feast but it was fun. It was also my mom's birthday on Thanksgiving so it was nice to be able to be with her on her day. We did lots of shopping and a lot of eating! It was great. We have so much to be thankful for as a family.

Addison helping with the dishes before we left


Happy Birthday Mom!


Dinner at Buca's (look close you might see Amanda with her arm in the air)


Addison enjoying the bread, thats all she eats anymore


We finally had to cage Addison and Kennedy :)

Big Helper

We already have Addison doing the dishes. Excuse my voice and all the laughter but I was so shocked to see her doing this.

It's Fall. That is our excuse for taking advantage of the weather and the beautiful scenery lately. Other than being unacceptably cold (but a begrudgingly normal temperature for idaho this time of year), our lives have continued as they usually do:

We interrupted Addi during her morning magazine read:


Addi found these leaves during a Fall walk, and had to stop for a photo op:


A family walk in a scenic part of our Idaho Falls:


An autumn family picture:


We find all kinds of fun things to do now that we can't get outside as much!

Halloween

We had an eventful Halloween with Addison being sick and such but we made the best of it. We even were able to make it to Melaleuca to go trick or treating! We also made it to Boo at the Zoo with Dawn, Nate, and the boys, we had a lot of fun hanging out with them. On Saturday, halloween night Addison ate through a box of nerds and threw up all over her costume so Steve washed it really quick and then we dried it so that she would be ready to help out candy to the trick or treaters. We were so excited that she was a little older this year for Halloween but kind of sad she was so sick. Next year will be great I'm sure!


Family Picture at Boo at the Zoo


Stealing candy from the pumpkin man


Taking inventory on her candy

While Mommy is down

It has almost been a whole week since I got sick, which is a LONG time. I thought I was doing ok but on Thursday Steve forced me to go to the doctor and of course I had swine flu. Steve and Shayla were great helpers while I was down...literally. Friday Steve stayed home from work and I don't think I got out of bed more than once or twice so he was on Addison duty the whole weekend, needless to say Addison loved it. She gave him a run for his money. He kept saying how fast she was and how quick she got into things. My favorite thing Addison did was on Sunday Steve was doing dishes and he noticed Addi was being quiet, way to quiet so he came and checked on her and she found a tootsie pop in my purse and had eaten through the wrapper and was just sucking on this huge sucker. Addi is so smart! Enjoy our pictures!


I must have been sick because this happened while I was in the room I think I might have passed out because the room was trashed


We tried coloring but Addison was only interested in eating the crayons


Notice the blue all over her mouth


More coloring


Had to show mommy that I was eating a sucker


Big girl


Mom didn't feel well enough to do laundry so today I am wearing a costume while my clothes are in the wash


Good thing it is October, if we have to go out maybe people will understand

Swine flu update

So I have swine flu it is official. I am just spreading the word to get checked within 2 days of either having a sore throat, cough and/or fever so that you can get on tamiflu the only medicine made to help you feel better after 48 hours they won't give it to you. ALSO PLEASE STAY HOME!! IF YOU DON'T FEEL WELL TAKE A DAY OFF I PROMISE EVERYONE WILL THANK YOU LATER!!! Addison is going in tomorrow just to get checked and probably to get treated with tamiflu since she has been exposed. Please keep her in your prayers, she is the one I worry about with her little underdeveloped lungs. Love to all!

Addi's Party

Here are a few pictures of Addison's first birthday party!

Jillian made Addison's lady bug cake from scratch! And it tasted delicious too.


Our little family


Addison and Aunt Shayla


Addison's first rock climbing expedition. She climbed the whole thing on her own with only spotting from Daddy. Uncle Braden would be so proud!


Addison's very own first birthday cake.


Mommy taught me how to eat cake, but once I got the hang of it...


I love cake!






Feeding Daddy some of her cake!


Opening presents!

Happy Birthday Princess Addison

Addison is 1 today! Hurray! As I have been going about this busy day I have been so emotional and I just can't stop getting teary eyed. My baby is growing so fast! We have so much to be thankful for. Addison is such a healthy and happy little girl and we couldn't be luckier to have her in our home. A year ago today was such a scary day for us. We weren't sure what the outcome of everything was going to be. I was admitted to the hospital at 8:00a.m after some high blood pressure tests and also blood tests that showed signs of my organs shutting down. We were given the news at about 11:30 a.m that I would be delivering Addison that day they just weren't sure how because my blood wasn't clotting and my organs wouldn't last much longer with the way things were going. Well at 3:30p.m I was wheeled back for a C-section and at 3:51p.m Addison Ella was born. I don't remember much except for being so glad and thankful for the skilled doctors that took care of us. We weren't told how Addison was doing right away so I sent Steve on a mission to let my Dr. finish sewing me up and he was to go check on our little Addison. Addison was such a fighter and is our MIRACLE baby! We found out later Addison had to be revived 3 times but the neonatologist and Dr. Groberg are so experienced and knew how to take care of her! We count our blessings everyday and thank our Heavenly Father for our little Princess! This little girl is so spoiled!!

Now it is time to get back to decorating the ladybug cake!


Addison's first few hours


Addison and Mommy first or second day


Addison almost a month old


Our little monkey 11 months old


Addison must of knew today was her big day!

Addisons first plane ride

On July 31 was Addison's first trip in a plane and I was pleasantly surprised at how well she did. We flew on Southwest which we loved! The only thing I would change is that people with children would be able to board first, instead they let the VIP and I'm not sure who else board and then they call for people with children. We sat close to the front next to a mom and her college aged daughter! Addison of course wanted to go to the girl and she was so nice and played with Addison. So during our 1 1/2 flight Addison crawled across all 3 of us and played and had the time of her life. I was also able to get to know this family and they are great, they actually were Steve's Dad's ward until just recently. On the way home 2 and a 1/2 weeks later we actually had our own row to ourselves and Addison did ok. She was way more active and needed more attention but we handled it ok! I'll be posting more about our fun trip to Colorado!

Wide awake and ready to fly



Oh good I get the whole row


Tricked mom into thinking I was going to sleep


Trying to make phone calls


Finally fell asleep as we were landing

We went missing

I feel bad that I haven't posted in forever because there has been so much going on and so many cute pictures of Addison to post that I don't think I can ever catch up at this point. Friday July 31 Addison and I flew to Denver and my parents came and picked us up and took us to our hometown of Manassa where I went to one of my best friends weddings! It was so wonderful to see her and to be able to spend some time with my grandparents and also Aunt, Uncle and cousins! We don't get to see that side of the family very often since we moved, but we used to see them all the time, so it was so nice to visit! Steve was supposed to come to Colorado to join us, pick us up, and attend a play showcase that his play was chosen for. From there he was going to come pick us up and we were supposed to go home on Friday or Saturday. Well, as Steve was driving home from work the car overheated numerous times, so he took it to where he had the oil changed that day to see if maybe they didn't do something right, but they couldn't find anything so they gave him a rental car free of charge, a 2009 Toyota Camry, so he was so excited to drive that to Colorado. Things just didn't seem to go right the rest of the night, though. it was late, he was trying to get ready, and he spread a weed killer on the lawn so it could work while we were gone. Long story short, his cell phone ended up in the washing machine, so he decided that the odds were against him and he just wasn't going to come. So he stayed home and now I'm still in Colorado, which is great because I was able to go back down to the Valley and help my sister Courtney move into her apartment and also have a ton more time to visit with my parents. We figured out a way to get me home though. Steve is in Orlando at a Convention for work and will be back on Sunday morning so I am going to fly back on Sunday morning as well and then we can drive to Idaho together. I was kind of thankful that I've gotten to stay longer. I was able to see Candi, Brooklyn and Mason a couple times and go to the swim park with them which was so fun! I think I am going to plan a trip like this every year!!! Hopefully all goes well and I'll really make it back to Idaho on Sunday!

Crawling at Grandpa Holiday's House!

Grandpa has some very nice grass at his house so Addison had a blast playing on their lawn. We had so much fun visiting with Dad Holiday and Grandma Janice. They spoiled us with their good cooking and we stayed up really late and played a lot of games! We are so lucky to have them in our lives. Now only if they could stay still so we could visit them more!

Addison crawling OH NO!!!

I guess she doesn't crawl like normal babies, she army crawls and it is soo cute! We put her down at church to crawl around the gym and that makes everyone laugh but we love it!

July Post

As you can tell we have been very busy probably like the rest of the world. I just can't seem to catch up. Addison and I will be leaving at the end of this month to go to my cousin(we are more like sisters) wedding. I will be flying from Salt Lake to Denver with my little monster, I am so nervous for that. I'm sure we'll do just fine though. Hopefully we can catch up more. I have sooo many cute pictures of Addison, she is growing like a weed!


Steve, Darlene and Dan before the big 10 year high school reunion



Friends and spouses at the reunion


Addison waiting for the fireworks


Waiting for the parade

Playing in the good ole swimming pool