Our long and last post of the year!

I wanted to do 3 more posts in December before the end of the year. I have been busy the last couple of days and when I looked at the date, I was like "I can't believe it is the last day of the year! I better post what I want so that it could be on my 2008 blog." So I am putting all 3 posts together. 

First things first-Ayla turned 10 months on Christmas. I can't believe that less than 2 months and my little sweetie will be 1. Where has the time gone? Anyways, Ayla has grown a half of an inch since last month so she is 28 inches long and she weighs 16 lbs. She lost 2 pounds. I guess it is because she is all over the place getting exercise. 

I want to document some of her achievements this last month. She has mastered pulling herself up onto her feet and walking around, holding onto the furniture. She has stood up on her own a few times. I have started to feed her table foods, only in little tiny bits though. She has become quite the little dancer too. She loves music. She is a blast!!!

Now for our next part of the post. I wanted to document what we gave for Christmas because I made most of the presents.

One we gave to all was this collage I put together in Photoshop with our family pictures. It took me about 2 tries to get it right and about 4 hours. I am grateful for all the cute pictures Kandis took. 

We gave this picture with all of our Christmas cards and I had some printed out at Inkley's and I framed them for our immediate family.

I gave this out to my close friends. It is a Smuckers jam jar filled with Hershey's Kisses. I made up a tag that says "Smucker up and share lots of kisses this Christmas season." I thought they turned out just darling.

This is what we gave out the most of. I made 45 bags of this yummy peppermint bark. Leah gave me this idea when we visited her and her family in November. Thanks Leah. It was a hit.

I also made 3 simple cakes for my siblings.

I made this shirt for my mother because she loves to wear shirts with her kids and grand kids on them. I took the picture and then photo-shopped it, printed it out on iron-on paper and then ironed it onto the shirt. I think it turned out cute.

And last but not least, the inevitable sock dolls that took me 3 weeks. It was worth every minute of it because I know now that my nieces and my little one have something I made them.

I don't think I will be making things for Christmas again unless they are done by the end of November. It just was too much to do, in so little time. I will be making the bark though. It was the easiest thing I made. One more shout out to Leah, thanks!!

Now I want to show some of the things we got for Christmas. I didn't show everything and I didn't show it if I had ever posted about it before. Let's just say we were spoiled and loved.

Grandma and Grandpa Perry gave most of these books to Ayla for Christmas. Thanks for our new library. I love it.

Grandma and Grandpa Perry also got this tunnel. It came with a Disney Princess castle tent too. Ayla loves to crawl through it and we love to play with her by hiding on either end of the tunnel.

Aunt Marion gave Ayla this bopping ball toy. I love it. I think I play with it more than Ayla does. LOL!!!

Grandma and Grandpa Wiechert gave Ayla this little barn. Notice the cow in her right hand. She carries this cow all over the place. It is so funny. I will put her in her high-chair and sure enough she has her little cow.

Guess what Kurt got? Yes, he got a wanna-be Gazelle. 

It was a late Christmas present because he didn't know he wanted it until he got on Marion's. So we got it on Monday. He also got 2 white T-shirts from me. He is wearing one of them in the picture and he got the movie Toy Story 2 from Ayla.

My friend Melissa gave me this one. The Twilight soundtrack and I love it. I listen to Bella's lullaby over and over on a loop and I think I am driving Kurt crazy with it. I love the song though. It is so beautiful and my favorite instrument to listen to is the piano.

This is what I got from Kurt. I was spoiled. He gave me 6 of the white hand towels I wanted. 

He also gave me the Dvd I wanted of President Monsen, "On the Lords Errand." It is a wonderful dvd of stories of President Monsen and what he has done in his life to serve the lord. It is very touching and I know he has only shared a few of his stories because I know they are sacred to him. He is truly an inspired man. I love him. 

Kurt also gave me three books about being a mother. They are all so thoughtful because they are filled with quotes about being a mother. He also gave me the "Willow Tree" statue and it is called "The Guardian" and she is holding a infant in her arms as if she is guarding the precious little one. I love it.

This is what we got from Kurt's sister Suz and her family. It is a genealogy picture of the males on the Perry side of the family. It starts out with Kurt and goes up to our Great, Great, Great grandfather and it goes up to Ayla's Great, Great, Great, Great grandfather. I love it.

This was something I received and I thought it was so thoughtful and meaningful. I had given a talk in church about a month ago and I had mentioned The hymn, "Where can I turn for Peace" in my talk because I love that hymn. It has given me such peace in my life. Well, the sister service missionary in our ward heard this in my talk and for Christmas, she printed out the words to the song and she had it signed by the author for me. It was such a simple present but it meant the world to me. 

One of my favorite gifts we got for Christmas was being able to spend time with family.

But the best gift was the birth of our Savior. It was so wonderful to feel his spirit during the holiday. 

I hope you enjoyed the long and last post. I know I could have done 3  posts but I didn't want to. I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year!!

Happy New Year!!!

Ayla's 1st Christmas!

I wanted to share our Christmas with you and to document Ayla's first Christmas. So here goes: 

On Christmas Eve we went to Aunt Marion's for a Christmas party with my side of the family. We were there from 5:30 pm until 6:30 pm. We ate Sloppy Joes and opened presents from each other and spent time together.

Ayla with Aunt Marion. 

This was her first gift of the night. It was a baby doll from Grandma and Grandpa Wiechert.

L to R Johnny, Monty, Ayla, Marion and uncle Ernie.

My nephew Lane opening a present. It is always so fun to watch him open presents because he always gets so excited. Jasmine is sitting next to him. She is my cousin Harriett's daughter.

Ayla with her daddy, opening a gift from Aunt Marion. It was a Sea Turtle night light. Super cute!

Ayla had found Aunt Marion's plant and tore a leaf off and was playing with it.

She was trying to put the leaf in every one's mouth. She didn't get in my mouth though the picture looks like she did.

She succeeded with Grandpa, though. LOL!!!

I had to get a picture with my dad! 

If you click on the picture you can see that Ayla still has the leaf in her hand. She cracks me up.

Kurt had followed me downstairs because I had to do some laundry and he found:

This.

He liked it so much that he wants one now.

I had to get a picture with my cousin Harriett because ever since I was little, people always told me I looked like her.

I had to get a picture of us leaving with Ayla in her coat. Notice that her coat matches Grandma Chris's coat. Grandma bought Ayla her coat for that exact reason.

After we left Marion's, we went to Kurt's parents for the rest of the evening. We had some honey baked ham and some Lion House rolls again. Just like Thanksgiving.

And I got a cute picture of Baby Kurt just like I said I would in an earlier post. He is wearing a sleeper that says "My first Christmas." Yes, it was his first Christmas too.

Morganne loves to play with her uncle Kurt. 

Notice how they are doing the same movement. I not so sure what they were doing and I think Ayla is trying to figure it out.

Of course Ayla wanted to play with Baby Kurt. 

She loves babies and she loves Baby Kurt.

This is our niece Brooke when they arrived. We waited until everyone was there before we opened gifts. 

I was so happy that Brooke loved her sock doll.

Morganne likes hers too. 

I had to get a picture of Ayla opening one of her presents from Grandma and Grandpa Perry. Too cute. It was an animal toy train. She loves it. 

Grandma and Grandpa Perry bought Morganne and Brooke these adorable night gowns with matching teddy bears. I had to get a picture of Morganne in hers. Isn't she just a doll?

After the wonderful evening with Kurt's family, we headed home so we could get the kiddo to sleep so that Santa could come.

And he did. 

This is what Ayla woke up too.

She loves her little Giraffe bike.

Ayla opening one of the books she got.

 She got two books, a pair of pants and an electronic ball that lights up and makes animal noises. Thanks Santa!

Then we let her open her dolls from Mommy and Daddy. She loves the hair.

Like I said she loves the hair. 

I actually had to put the dolls up because she pulled a lock of hair out of the little one. I guess she is too young for them but she will know that Mommy made them for her for her first Christmas. 

We relaxed most of the day and then I had to finish up some cakes I made and then we headed out to my cousin Harriett's house for their Christmas party they have every year. The crazy thing is it was only raining when we headed out there and we were there for only an hour and then my cousin Harriett said, "Wow! look at the blizzard out there!" She was not kidding. It was a blizzard. I freaked out and said "Let's get home!" So we packed up and left in a matter of minutes. I was so freaked on the way home. I was glad Kurt was driving. If he wasn't, we would have stayed at my sister's for the night because there is no way I would have driven through that blizzard. I hid in the back seat with Ayla and I could not even look up. I have anxiety as it is being in a car and driving and it gets really bad when it snows. So I don't drive in it if I don't have to. Plus, I think I am getting worse the older I get.  Kurt did a great job and got us home safe. Thank you honey! We had a wonderful Christmas because we got to see all of the family and we got to spend time as a little family. That was the best part.

Two cute little clips of Ayla!

I don't and I won't usually do this kind of a post because I like to print out my blog but I wanted to share a couple of clips of Ayla. 

This first one is of her chewing out her dad. If you notice, she will point her finger in his direction and then point to the high-chair then back at him again. It is almost like she is getting after him because he had just moved a toy off of the high-chair and onto the  floor. Enjoy. It is super cute.

This next one, I want to dedicate it to Christmas. Being that it is Christmas Eve tomorrow, Ayla is dancing to "The 12 Days of Christmas."  

I hope you enjoyed them as much as we do. We love Ayla!! 

I also want to add that, I am sure I will not be posting anything until after the holiday.

Merry Christmas!!

Our Saturday!!!

We had a fun filled Saturday. We started the day off at Denny's restaurant with my family for breakfast.

Ayla couldn't decide what to get.

What are you getting?

Then she realized she couldn't get anything because she doesn't know how to eat table foods yet. I am going to start her on them though. Sorry Ayla. Maybe next time.

After Denny's, my family and I took off to the mall so that Lane and Ayla could see Santa and have their pictures with him.

They took 3 pictures and this was the best out of the 3. Ayla looks like she is wondering what is going on? Lane looks totally stiff. I think it is cute anyways.

I really liked the Santa because he had a real beard.

After the mall, Kurt, Ayla and I took off to Grandma and Grandpa Perry's to visit. We also brought our niece, Brooke, because my sister and I had a fun filled activity for our nieces and nephews that night. Krista had come up with Morganne and Baby Kurt. I wish I had taken some cute pictures of the kids but Brook and I were only there for an hour and I didn't think about it at the time. Oh well. I will get some cute pictures of them on Christmas Eve.

After my in-laws, Brooke and I headed to my sister's house to meet, Lane, JD, Alissa and my mother and, of course, my sister there. 

My sister came up with the tradition of taking the nieces and nephews out to look at Christmas lights. We have sugar cookies and hot chocolate and go driving around looking at the Christmas lights. We did it last year and had a lot of fun, so we did it again this year and had fun again.

Everyone in the car!! I don't know what Lane is doing with his hands but every time I took a picture he would do this. It had me cracking up!! LOL!! I love you Lane. 

If you notice Melissa came and joined us too. She is in the back with Brooke and Lane.

This is a picture of my favorite house. 

We went there first. The only problem is, now the yard is starting to be taken over by the inevitable blow up Characters. I am sorry  and I hope no one takes offence but I am getting sick of the blow up things. I liked them in the beginning but now I just find them annoying. Just my opinion. Though I do still love this house because it is so lit up! 

I hope you can see the carousel in the picture. I know you can't see the farris wheel. It is moving so I couldn't get a good picture of it. Those are my two favorite items in this yard. Such a cute house.

My mother was such a sport to drive us all around. You can kind of see her hair in these two pictures.

We then went to Christmas street but I could not get any good pictures of it because the van was moving the whole time. 

We then went to another street in Magna that was lit up. We got out at this street and walked it.

Everyone at the first house. 

LtoR top: Marion and Melissa

bottom: Alissa, Brooke, JD and Lane.

This was in the yard of that house.

I took a picture of this house because I loved this house. I thought it was a beautiful home. Though, I think it is too large for me. But it's still beautiful.

I was so happy a blow up was right by the side walk so I decide to take a swing at it.

I got everyone in on the rage.

And this is was the after math of some of the ones I got a hold of.

NOTE: No worries, no blow-ups were really punched or harmed in the making of this post.

This was the last house on the street. It had snowflakes all over it. I love the big one on top of the house. 

After that street, we called it a night.

When I got home that night, I came home to:

This!!!

My mother-in-law had just recently bought this Nativity. I fell in love with it. I had been wanting a kid one so Ayla could play with it instead of mine. Ayla loved it too and so my mother-in-law gave it to us. 

Ayla plays with it all the time now.

It is so cute. You press down on the Angel and it plays the song "Away in a Manger" and it has a light that glows down on Baby Jesus. 

I love that Ayla loves to play with the Baby Jesus. If she is drawn to any of the pieces, I am glad it is Baby Jesus. 

CHANGE IN OUR DECOR.

This should probably be on its own post but I added it to today's post because time is getting really slim right now because of the holidays.

I am sure you remember this picture from the last post. I had mentioned I loved all my mantel pieces but that they didn't match everything else. Well this kept bugging me and so I did something about it today.

I went and bought some Garland and some lights, added some of my extra tree ornaments to it, put my red table runner on the bottom of everything and wa la!! 

I love it now. It matches our tree!!

It looks real pretty in the dark. This picture doesn't do it justice.

And now this is what our Christmas corner looks like with the new nativity and mantel. Plus, I had to raise the ribbons with the cards because Ayla got a hold of one of the cards.