Happy Birthday Mama!

I have the most wonderful mom in the world. Today is her birthday, and I feel especially grateful for her today. My mom is always so wonderful to her family, always putting everyone first before herself. She is so selfless and loving. I have learned so much from her. She has really helped to shape my life, and I feel that I could never repay her for the goodness she's shown me. Hopefully, I'll be able to be a great mom to my children like she has been to me. I love you Mom! Happy Birthday!

Anna's New Bear

Recently, we realized Anna doesn't have a stuffed animal. So, to start the spoiling off, we decided we had better get one as soon as possible. But of course, there was only one bear good enough for Anna - the BYU Bookstore Bear. However, as you may know, you can't buy the BYU Bookstore bear. No, you have to buy $100 worth of BYU Bookstore merchandise before Thanksgiving to recieve your bear for free. Sadly, Thanksgiving passed and we weren't able to get our bear (who has $100 to spend at the bookstore?) At book sellback, we thought we could redeem ourselves by winning a bear at the "Book Sellback Extravaganza!" But alas, we only won a Rubik's Cube and a CamelBak.

So when we saw the "BYU Bookstore Bears" ad on craigslist, it's hardly necessary to say that we immediately emailed the seller. So here you go Anna -- your very own BYU Bookstore Bear.

Henry Ray Lovelace

Our friends Jeremy and Stephanie blessed their baby Henry today, and we got to be there. It was so nice to go and be there with them. They are such a great family and really good examples to us. Their little boy Henry is getting so big so fast. It makes us both so excited to have little Anna here.

I LOVE December!!!!

We decided to do something fun in the spirit of the Christmas season. I've never made homemade gingerbread cookies before so I decided to give it a whirl. We invited the Harrisons over for some fun cookie decorating. Josh and I had no idea we were inviting over such talented cookie designers. Their cookies turned out WAY cuter than ours. They completely blew us out of the water. It was so fun to make though. This is definitely a tradition we want to carry on in our family. Afterwards we watched Home Alone 2, a classic I know. It was a really fun night!

This begins the cookie making process. We had some pretty cute little guys in there. These cookie cutters were so cheap and so fun. Definitely an investment in my eyes.

Josh has really mastered the art as you can see!

The Harrisons did a great job. We were all very impressed with their colorful display.

I still think ours turned out really cute too, especially Josh's!! I can't wait to do this with our little kids one day.

Decorating for Christmas

Yesterday, Josh and I decorated for Christmas. It was so much fun! Thanks to my dad, we were able to get some great decorations and make our home feel extra special. Thanks Dad! Don't you just love Anna's little stocking!

I got this little raindeer at Roberts Arts & Crafts and spray painted it gold. I love it!

These are really cute little salt shakers.

Josh loves to try to figure out what I got him.

Rocking Chair Redone

The last couple of days we've been working on our rocking chair. I spray painted the wood dark brown and Diana made slip covers to cover up the ugly green. It turned out awesome! In total, it cost $37 - $20 for the chair, $10 for the fabric, and $7 for the spray paint. Totally worth it!

A Wonderful Weekend with my Mom

I have the best mom in the entire world. She is so loving and giving, and I am so lucky to have her as my mom. She never thinks of herself but always puts others first. She was so sweet to come out and visit me this past weekend. It's been hard being pregnant and not having her here to share all of this with. I couldn't wait to see her, and the trip went even better than I expected. We did LOTS of shopping, ate some good food, and just hung out. It was wonderful. One day, I hope I can be half the Mom she is to me. This is the crew at Cafe Rio enjoying Friday night dinner. It was so fun to have everyone together. I wish my Dad could have been there too. I can't wait to see him in January, along with my beautiful little sister Kellie. My brother Bryan is coming too! It's going to be wonderful.

On Saturday we had to watch the football game. Even though the game didn't turn out like we wanted, we still had a great time. Josh made his famous salsa, and we ate some yummy birthday cake. Our friend Kim came out with my mom, and her birthday was the next day so we celebrated during the game. It was fun to have Kim here too!

Josh was outnumbered this weekend. My mom, Kim, Anna, and I took over the house. I think he liked it though!

It was a wonderful weekend!