Christmas

Despite the traveling (which I hate) we had a wonderful time in New Mexico with Lance's family. Reagan played with her cousins, wore about 6 different Christmas outfits, enjoyed the white Christmas, and Santa came! We entertained ourselves by playing games, watching all the Avengers movies, making a puzzle, and eating all the food we could find. In other words, the perfect holiday :)

 Sunday best.

 A bunch of troublemakers :)

On Christmas Eve we did a Nativity. Reagan tried her best as the angel, but unfortunately her taped-up hem fell down and really threw her off...

 She really couldn't even walk.

 Mary was very tender...

 ...but Joseph was having some serious issues. I can't blame him. It's a hard job.

Kissin cousins!

 Lance shared the Christmas story (with his pony scepter...?)

 Then it was time for presents from the cousins and white elephant for the adults! We got a blender, so I felt like a winner.

 And Reagan loved her magnetic wooden paper dolls and coloring books almost as much as she loved unwrapping them!

 After some play time, it was off to bed so Santa could come! And he did not disappoint. Reagan must have been a good girl this year, because she got her own stick pony, wooden puzzles, an animal tractor set, and a block train! What a lucky girl! (Not such a lucky dad, who had to carry all the heavy wooden toys home in his carry on bag.)

 Merry family on Christmas.

 After a nap, Reagan enjoyed the Christmas snow. Little did we know what we would come home to find....

18 Months and Family Pictures

Reagan is 18 months old today! I'll keep this short, since she just woke up early from her nap (thank you, runny nose) and I still have lots to do before we leave for New Mexico for Christmas! I can't believe how much she has changed in the past couple months. She talks so much now, mostly single words but a few phrases. She knows tons of words; I can't even keep up! She loves reading and snuggling with her panda and blankie. She gets along well with other young kids, and is adjusting well to nursery! She is such a happy, silly girl who gets into lots of trouble. This morning, while I was trying to pack, I heard her crying/screaming in her room and ran in to find her completely stretched out from the glider to the hutch trying to reach more books. I have no idea how she was balanced so precariously, but she was, and she was stuck. Unfortunately, I had to rescue her before I could snap a picture. Then not even an hour later, when I ran upstairs to switch the laundry over, she got into bag of chocolate pretzels someone had brought us and made a huge mess! She wasn't even sorry, either :)

A couple weeks ago, we had 18 month/family pictures taken, and some of them turned out so good! Here are a few. Love that sweet girl. Can't believe she's officially a toddler.

One happy family :)

Christmas (with) Eve. And Halle

We were lucky enough to have Sharon, Andrew, Eve (or Ve, as Reagan calls her), and baby Halle come stay with us for a couple days this week. Of course, I didn't take any pictures except when we went up to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden, but I got lots there. What a fun pace! I don't want to talk about the fact that I did not get a single picture of sweet Halle, or her parents. Shame on me...

Practicing being King:

And a fireman!

Lots of places for little girls to climb!

 And sit.

 Go to school, kids, and one day you can end up here!

   

Reagan had lots of fun riding the horse and bull in the rodeo.

 

 And she had a great time carrying around the African American dolly she picked out.

And she REALLY enjoyed "eating" in the kitchen while Eve was busy "cleaning". Like mothers, like daughters.

It was a wonderful adventure, but in the end, we're always glad to be home.

The rest of the days, Reagan and Eve played mostly nicely together, and it was great to have a chance to catch up. Until next time! Who knows when that will be...

Birthday Night at the Temple

This past weekend was our niece Grace's 3rd birthday. Her mom had a fun Friday evening planned and was nice enough to include us! Reagan and I took the train to Salt Lake and met up with Meagan and headed (hode?) over to Temple Square to see the lights. It was beautiful! Grace loved it and Reagan tolerated it.

She was not happy about having to wear her big puffy coat. 

After Temple Square, we went for a visit to Build-A-Bear (and met up with Lance)! What a magical place.

Grace picked out a beautiful blue bear.  I wasn't going to get anything for Reagan, but they had a deal for a $5 Christmas teddy- I couldn't pass it up, and Reagan loved it.

We wrapped up the evening with dinner at Z'Tejas, and then hurried home to get to bed since we had our ward Christmas party at 8 am the next day. Yep, you read that right. Yikes. It was a blast though. 

Love this little birthday princess.