arizona

Here in sunny Arizona we are enjoying family, warmer weather and NO SNOW!!!! Our coats are at the dry cleaners and I forgot to pick them up yesterday. We have just been going without coats, which feels so nice. This is also why we are out of the blogging world- to many other things to do. The rest of my family is trickling in today and tomorrow and then we will be complete and ready for Christmas! Merry Christmas to all.

surprise!

We woke up and went downstairs this morning and surprise- Santa had left a couple of things for us. He left a note saying that he knew these things wouldn't fit in our car when we come back home from Arizona, so he left a table and chairs and kitchen set for the girls.

Caitlin has been cooking up a storm ever since.

We also opened our presents from the Will family to lighten our load of things to take on our trip. Everyone was so kind and far to generous, we appreciate all the wonderful gifts and the girls are excited about their fun toys. We head out Monday as long as we have a bit of cooperation with the weather.

little toe-heads

Caitlin was 1 in 1000 in New York, as blond hair blue eyes was so uncommon there. But here........not so uncommon. She played with her friend, Kayden, today who is blonder than her. They play so good and cute together. We are thankful for our new friends we are making here.

winter wonderland

This shoveling thing could take forever.

Good thing Dad is helping.

We just had our 2nd snow storm of the season. Because we haven't had much snow, we didn't even buy snow shovels until last week. Caitlin was so thrilled to buy her very own shovel. And than even more thrilled to be able to use it a few days later.

ah- girls

No reason behind the pictures, just cause these girls are great.

Its Christmas Time

We decorated for Christmas earlier this week. We are leaving for Christmas in Arizona in just a couple of weeks, so we opted for no tree this year. Instead, we made one out of paper and hung a few of our ornaments on it. Caitlin loved bringing all the presents to put under the tree. She loves to look at the presents, and Chris told her which are hers. Today she dragged a bag over to me and said "this is mine, Mommy". And then she opened one of the bags and showed me her new dress.

Ashlee is holding toys a little bit now! And everything gets a nice coat of slobber.

New Direction

Who is the handsome devil behind that beard? It is Chris, the director. "Into the Woods" is now over, and has been for over a week, I just didn't have time to post this earlier. Is there significance in the beard, hat and ball that he is holding? Chris would say no, but I have my doubts. Chris has some superstitions as a director, just as an athlete may have about a game. He wore the hat every rehearsal and every show, and was never seen without the baseball either. He says that beard had nothing to do with the show, but he started growing it a couple of weeks before the show opened and then.............

shaved it the day after it closed.

Okay, he only shaved it because I asked him to because we were going to have family pictures, so maybe the beard wasn't part of the superstition. I guess the "safety" items worked though because he was a great director and created a superb show.

Time in Colorado

We spent the week in Colorado with Chris' family giving thanks for many things:

great family

new park toys

warm weather

a date!

good food

a chase bank

lots of love

great sales

delicious soup

dogs

a christmas parade

"Tessa" (Santa)

time spent together

Caitlin loves her Uncle Nate and Bampa. She had so much fun the whole time she was there, she really didn't want to come home. She said "No go home" and "by Mom and Dad", as she took a seat in Bamma's lap. We convinced her that she would probably miss us, and she got in the car.

Ashlee loved her Aunt Amy, who had a talent for getting her to laugh. Amy will be a great Mom in April!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and loved all our time we had with the Will family.

sneak peak

I went to a bow party the other night. That is hair bows. A lady in my ward makes them and was having a clearance party. I found lots of cute bows, which include a couple of really cute hats. The hat she buys, and then makes a flower to go on the hat. I got a hat for Ashlee, since she has no hair still and can't wear bows, and a hat for Caitlin, just because. Thy are for Christmas, but that is the great thing about having young kids. You can show them their Christmas presents, even try them on and they don't know and don't remember!

Thanks turkey

We made a thankful turkey for family home evening this week. It was a fun thing for Caitlin to help with, but, truth be told, is was probably more for me. I needed an extra reminder of what I really am thankful for. It has been a stressful, and busy, and alone, and difficult time the last couple months as Chris was working so much getting his show up and is even still doing things with the show and getting things ready for next semester. Despite the trials, I am thankful for him and his job. He is amazing at what he does, and his students just love him. And I love him. Even though I am thankful for things all year round, I do apprieciate this time of year when I can be reminded.

staying home

After working full time for the past 5 years, I feel so lucky and grateful to be able to stay home with these 2 beauties now!

What exactly do I like about staying at home? Reading stories, singing songs, seeing their faces when they wake up from a nap, quiet time during naps, getting them dressed, doing Caitlin's hair, teaching, laughing, going on walks, eating lunch with Caitlin, feeding Ashlee and not pumping, seeing Caitlin's enthusiasim for learning something new and her excitement in helping me do anything, playing with Ashlee and seeing her smile at me, teaching the gospel, helping Caitlin learn right and wrong, hearing her polite manners, cooking, seeing 2 beautiful faces each and every day, playing, running, chasing and being chased, being home when Chris gets home, hearing "I love you Mommy" many times everyday.

I love you Caitlin and Ashlee

windy wyoming

Have you ever seen these wind turbines? Well, if not then come to Wyoming, they are all over the place here. And for good reason, it is soooooooooooo windy here. It is windy all over Wyoming, but I have always thought that Rock Springs (and Rawlins) are exceptionally windy. The wind has been blowing unbelievably strong since last night. It is suppose to be 20-30mph with 50mph gusts today and I would say it is at least that. We went to a play group this morning and Caitlin just about got knocked over by the wind twice. I just hope our fence is strong.

bunk beds

After putting it off with the busy summer and move, we finally ordered bunk beds so we could move Caitlin to a big bed and out of her crib. The beds came on election day in 5 boxes, and the mattresses came in another 2 boxes. Chris had such a busy week, last week, putting his show up that we didn't get the beds put together until the weekend.

Caitlin slept in her bed for the first time last night. She was so excited she wanted to go to bed at 6pm. When she did go to bed she stayed all night and called to us in the morning to come and get her. She also went right to her bed at nap time because she was so excited to take a nap in her "big bed".

She says that the crib is Ashlee's crib, so I would say she made the transition really well. I am now very glad we waited until now, I'm sure it would have been a struggle if she was younger.

Chris's Office

This is my new office. I love it. And I love my new job. The kids are GREAT to work with.

spiders and such

We got a couple of great post Halloween finds- a witches broom and a child witches hat. At 75% off they were each about $0.50. Caitlin had a lot of fun playing with them before I put them away for next year. I taught her how to cackle like a witch and ride the broomstick, but she was more interested in sweeping the floor with it.

I pointed out to her that there was a spider on the top of the hat, which she thought was pretty neat. But then she thought she saw spiders all over the floor and started hitting them with the broom. She cried and wanted me to get one of them, which was just a piece of string. Caitlin has a fear of bugs in the house ever since she saw a huge cockroach in our NY apartment days before we mover, who can blame her really.

A couple pictures of Ashlee. The right picture is my attempt to capture her excitement when she wakes up in the morning and I go in and get her out of bed. Not that great of an attempt but she sure is always so happy and excited to see her Mom in the morning.

And lastly, for all those who were just dying to hear how opening night of Chris' show went. Well.........it was fantastic. The show I mean, there were some technical glitches which come with opening night, but the show was great. The set and costumes looked amazing and the actors were great. The show was serious and funny and sad and just really enjoyable. He put together a good show and I enjoyed every minute of it. I would get you all tickets to see it if anyone lived in Rock Springs, or even lived close enough to make the trip.