Emma was extremely willing to sit on Santa's lap this year. I think everything is clicking. I think I even heard her say "I love Santa." Generally she is opposed to strange men. Not if they will give her pink laptops and pink dresses.

Deborah left before Christmas to see her family in California, so we had a little early Christmas the night before she left. Emma fell asleep early. But Jane had fun.

Deborah got Emma all sorts of goodies, including some hair glitter and makeup. Let's just say that Emma has glittered everything and everyone. She tried to let Jane in on it but I stopped that fun.

Emma was a climber and it looks like Janie is too. Here she is under the TV (I watched her very carefully, don't worry). She unfortunately also loves all sorts of cords.

Christmas Prep

It was the second year we got a real tree. I was a little skeptical since I had visions of Jane eating the tree, but it worked out pretty well. Somehow she loved the tree without trying to consume it (generally speaking). Notice Derek's cute apron. He's become quite the little baker but I'll save that for another post.

"Daddy's Favorite Present" or at least one of them.

It is so fun to have two little girls. There are certain clothes (like the above shown dress) that I put on Jane and just think "wasn't Emma just wearing these?" I made this dress for Emma's first Easter.

Sunday morning.

Just taking some pictures for Christmas cards. If you didn't get one I apologize...it's probably because A) You live so close to us I figured you see us plenty, B) I didn't have your address, or C) We don't like you...TOTALLY joking. We love everyone!!!

Just investigating our "Charlie Brown" tree.

Hiding from mom.

Half Marathon Update

Alright, I am about a month away from the race. Things are going well. Despite shin splints, being sick off and on for a month, and other barriers, the training is still going well. I am right on track. I have never ran so much in my life and it feels sooo good. It's definitely hard to find a good time to go, but Derek has been very supportive. I've bought my ticket to LA and when I get discouraged I just think of the beach. I ran 7 miles the other night and I just thought, if this feels great, 13 miles should feel really good. That's all for now.

Thanksgiving! and other events

We made some sweet turkey hats for pre-school. Didn't turn out too bad considering all I had was double sided tape (where in the world have my glue sticks gone...Emma?!)

Jane has the cutest little personality. She has started to become quite opionated. For example, the other day I was drinking some wassle. Jane looked at me and started whining so I got her a sippy of water. She continued to whine and stare at my drink. I poured in a little wassle and she just loved it. What a funny little girl.

We thought Emma had broken us in when she was a toddler, but Jane has somehow found things that Emma didn't think of. One of them is the laundry shoot. Jane is border-line obsessed with it. Everytime the pantry door is open she books it over there. I finally thought, "what's the harm. I'll just let her have a good look at it and make sure she doesn't fall down it." She thought it was the neatest thing. Jane is also interested in the stairs to the bathroom, and today I caught her standing up at the toilet trying to get into the water (eeeeew!) Yeah, she got changed and washed after that!

Emma is a little photographer. Here is her self portrait. I've heard there are cheap little digital cameras for kids. Anyone have any good info on that subject? Santa's curious.

So Deborah has been telling us for months that it is freezing here. We all kept saying "just wait." She didn't understand that it could get colder. The other day she said "I see what you guys mean." Yep, it got colder. On Sunday she just sat in the snow.

Emma and Dylan have a lot of fun together. He's kind of the big brother she never had.

Jane never lets me do her hair, but she let me put this clip in.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at Devon and Graham's. Grandma and Grandpa Whipple, Grandma Wanlass, Uncle Dave, and Aunt Cecily all came. It was nice and relaxing.

Our little photographers in training. As a side note, this little Anders is adorable! He loves playing with Jane. I just love seeing little boys play with babies.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We are so grateful for our amazing friends and family. We are also thankful for our Savior, the gospel, and this country we live in.

Emma in her new pj's doing one of her favorite things, eating icecream.

Another one of Emma's favorite things is snow and her shovel from "Cowboy Ranch" (to some known as Cal-Ranch).

Sunny Phoenix!!!

For my birthday we went to Phoenix. We've been wanting to go for a long time. It was so nice to see my grandparents, parents, and Ben.

We flew in Thursday evening and met my parents at In 'n Out. Then we headed to the hotel. The next day we went to Grandma and Grandpa Walkers.

Here's Emma running around outside of the hotel. About that crazy hotel...the employees were very nice. But without going into too much detail, we'll just say that we think Derek was allergic to something in our room and for some reason we just stayed. Afterwards we couldn't figure out why we didn't find a different hotel.

The weather was amazing. Probably a little "cold" for these Arizonians, you know...80's.

Just hanging out at the Walkers.

It was so fun to watch the girls play at Grandma and Grandpa Walker's. I have such fond memories of my grandparents and their home.

It's tradition to leave messages for Grandma and Grandpa on the chalkboard.

Mom got Emma this cute little dress with a matching shirt and shoes.

What's a trip to Arizona without pictures of the cactus?

Ben came in from Tuscon which was so nice. I went to dinner with him while dad, Derek, Emma, and Jane went to a car show. By the time Ben and I met up with them Emma was looking a little frazzled but in good spirits.

Derek was in heaven. There were so many sweet cars.

Ben, Derek, Jolly, and Dad checking out this sweet VW.

It was nice to be able to visit people we hadn't seen in a long time. We visited my Uncle John and Aunt Linda Saturday and on Sunday evening we visited Derek's old mission companion.

Is this a missionary pose or something?

The kids loved each other and played really well while we talked.

Home again after a crazy trip. This picture doesn't do justice. But just imagine us rushing through the airport. I've got a baby attached to me and a kid in a stroller with two bags on the stroller and i'm also pulling a ginormous suitcase. Derek's also pulling a big suitcase and carrying a laptop and two car seats. Travelilng with kids is a little crazy. But we had a lot of fun.