Post Christmas fun in Utah.

We were able to stay in Utah until January 2nd so the days following Christmas were of course a blast!

Here are a few pictures of the fun...

My cute girls being so good while we pulled them around from store to store making returns.

One of our dates was eating at a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich place.

Oh my gosh, they were amazing!

And we of course had to finish it off by stopping at Farr's fresh for some peach gelato!

Here we are redeeming the boy's gift certificates at Rodizio Grill.

(Michael is not pictured here because he ran out when he heard the words, "let's ask someone to take a picture." So it looks like I am on a date with Winston. But really Winston was the 5th wheel since cute Jill was back home in Arizona:)

Good times, good food...mostly the pineapple. Haha Soph:)

Driving around blasting some tunes!

One night while the boys were at the church playing basketball, my mom, Sophia, and I all curled up downstairs by the fire and enjoyed some citrus chamomile tea and chocolate chip cookies.

What's better than that?!

I have been wanting to take Olivia to see a movie at a movie theatre for a long time now.

(She isn't the best at sitting through movies at home so I have been nervous to try.)

But I heard Frozen was such a good movie and I really wanted to see how she would do.

So my best friend Leslie and I took our littles Hallie and Olivia.

We got popcorn and sat them both on the same chair in between us.

Olivia totally loved it and even laughed at the funny parts.

(I totally loved it too!)

Needless to say we will for sure be taking her to movies more frequently.

And I just have to say, I can't believe Leslie and I are old enough to be taking our own little girls to movies together. It seems like just yesterday we were going to movies as little girls (sometimes 3 in a row) all by ourselves:)

One of my favorite things was going on a date with Grandpa Brown.

He took Michael and I to the Harvest Restaurant at Thanksgiving Point.

I can not even begin to explain how much I love this man.

His stories and laughs have to be the best thing ever.

He has taught me so much about really everything. I look up to him in every way and am so blessed to have him as my grandpa.

Another date of ours was eating dinner at the Thanksgiving Point deli with Ryan and Sophia. 

I'm in love with their fries and fry sauce.

And while we're on the topic of food Michael and I were also able to go on a breakfast date to Kneaders for some cinnamon french toast. This is simply a must do every time we visit Utah.

On New Year's eve we went bowling with Ryan and Sophia. The first game was couple versus couple.

Sadly Ryan and Sophia won, but I beat Michael. So I'll count that as a win!

The second game was boys versus girls. I'm pretty sure I don't even have to say who won that one!

After bowling we had Raclette again and sparkling cider. 

We played charades which was hilarious.

You can ask any member of my family but I am seriously so bad at that game. Especially when it is my turn to act out something.

I have no idea why but being under time pressure and trying to think of how to act out the words is just too much haha.

We had to snap a picture of Olivia eating her peanuts on the airplane.

After all that's seriously all she talks about.

Thank you family for a perfect Christmas break, we can't wait to come back!

Riding River.

Olivia's favorite thing to do while we are in Utah is to go ride aunt Soph's horse River.

Obsessed is not even a strong enough word to describe how she feels about horses right now.

She gets this from her aunt. Because Michael and I are definitely not that interested:)

She plays with toy horses all day every day.

She practices putting the blanket, saddle and reins on.

However her favorite way to ride River is bareback.

Yes she even talks in the horseriding lingo.

It is pretty darn cute.

Here are a bunch of pictures. She is so sweet about helping take care of him.

Olivia loves riding River all by herself!

(Well she thinks she is even though Soph is pulling her:))

Yes... she convinced me to ride with her!

And what's even more shocking than convincing me to ride was convincing her dad.

He had fun:)

Little Clara watching from the warm car with grandma!

How sweet is this.

It is very clear that we are going to have to buy her her very own horse someday:)

Clara's 7 months.

Here are some things about you this month sweet girl...

*You are still nursing a few times a day as well as drinking a few bottles of formula. You have baby food around 5:00 pm. A fruit and a vegetable although you don't eat the whole jar! You love all the fruits and seem to be getting more and more used to the vegetables. You have a big bottle of formula with rice cereal right before bed. And then every time you wake up in the night I nurse you.

* Speaking of sleeping...oh my goodness. You and your sister are definitely not the best sleepers! I am one tired momma. In fact I know I have not slept through the night for over a year. The last months of my pregnancy with you were interesting and then of course after you were born that was the end of sleep:) I love snuggling up with you at night and nursing you. Yet at the same time I find that I am so tired during the day that I am a lot less patient especially with Olivia. That sister of yours has ALOT of energy! So hopefully we will figure something out!

*We were able to go to Utah this year to spend time with my side of the family for Christmas. You went on your very first airplane! You were an angel and just snuggled with me on my lap the whole time. You were pretty friendly and very smiley. The only person you seemed to be afraid of was your uncle Winston. But he never gave up and after a few days you decided that he was okay:) Your dad and I were able to leave you and Olivia for long periods of time with grandpa and grandma. Grandma absolutely loved giving you your baths and putting you to bed. You were able to meet your uncle Emerson over face time who was of course flipping out over you. It's hard to believe that you will be almost two when he gets home.
*You were so brave and sat on Santa's lap. In fact you were so brave that Olivia decided that if you could do it, so could she! You loved unwrapping your presents on Christmas and of course tried to eat not only the wrapping paper but your presents as well. You are at the stage where anything you can get your hands on goes right to your mouth:)

*So I really need to get some baby pictures of me and put them on the blog but while we were in Utah we looked at some pictures of me when I was your age and we are definitely little twinners. All my aunts and family members that knew me when I was a baby said that you are a "mini me." It's funny because everybody said that Olivia looks like Emerson which means she looks like me because Emerson and I look a lot alike I am just so much darker than him. You have this one smile that you do though that reminds me exactly of your dad. I love it!

*You still can't sit up for longer than 5-10 seconds at a time. You do better if you are leaning on something. As far as rolling over goes, you can do it that's for sure but you rarely do!

*You are such an easy going baby and are just happy doing whatever. You are so sweet, so smiley, and so giggly. You love to snuggle. You love your toys and sometimes get so excited when we give you one that you bust out laughing! So the only thing we need to work a little on is getting you to sleep longer at nights:)

We love you so much Clara. 

The joy you have brought to our little family is indescribable.

Christmas Day.

On Christmas morning everyone woke up around 7:30 am. Of course we were all freaking out to open presents but Emerson was going to face time at 8:00 am so we decided to wait and open them after we got off the phone with him! 

There aren't words to describe how fun it was to talk to him. His mission president gave them a lot of time to talk as long as it was okay with the members. So Emerson was actually able to participate in our Christmas breakfast as well as opening presents!

Before I forget I just wanted to write about where Emerson is. He is serving in a little beach city in Narragansett, Rhode Island and is absolutely loving it! Who wouldn't?! He has a great companion and the members in the area are great as well and are so good about taking care of the missionaries. We are so proud of Emerson and know that he is not only blessing the people's lives of Rhode Island but his family's back home as well. 

For breakfast we had homemade cinnamon rolls, a breakfast bacon, cheese, and hash brown casserole, and orange juice. And then as far as opening presents we of course took turns starting from the youngest and moving to the oldest.

Everyone was completely spoiled. Michael bought me a bunch of makeup that I had been wanting. Having a makeup artist for a sister has been super fun. I told her I wanted to get some new makeup because mine was all old and I also wanted her to teach me some natural ways to wear it. Michael got some running gear and movies as well as a gift certificate to eat at Rodizio Grill.

For lunch we had some garlic pastry knots, an avocado, tomato, and feta dip, and a spinach artichoke dip. Yum!

After lunch we were able to talk to Matthew on the phone. He is currently serving in North Carolina waiting for his visa so he can go to Brazil. One of my favorite parts of talking to Matthew was hearing him bear his testimony at the end. One thing I love about Matthew is how he is always trying to be better. He has always given me such good advice and motivates me to do and be better every day. Getting emails and letters from these missionary brothers of mine is the best thing ever. I feel so blessed to know them and could not be more proud of them. They have blessed my life more than they will ever know and I am so grateful to them.

We had a relaxing afternoon, the boys were able to go play basketball at the church while we prepared dinner. We had a ham, cheesy potatoes, and rolls, with raspberry cream cheese pie for dessert. Oh my goodness on the food today! 

Enjoy the pictures below!

Santa came!

The yummy cinnamon rolls.

Hello Elder Farr!

There's little Emerson on face time talking to us while we open presents!

The boys all opening their gift certificates. Good thing us wives got to join in on that goodness:)

Olivia opening her presents. She was in heaven and definitely had a hard time waiting her turn:)

Taking a quick little break while she waits her turn.

She especially loved her new cowboy boots!

Looking stylish in her new sunglasses.

She was especially excited about these since when we were in California over the summer she accidentally dropped her old ones in the ocean and we never could find them. Since then she has been talking non stop about wanting sunglasses.

We are super excited about the kindle. It is time for some learning games!

Clara was surprisingly good at opening her presents!

And trying to eat her presents...

And the wrapping paper!

Olivia is going to have a blast on that cute scooter of hers!

And then we found Clara trying to eat some more wrapping paper:)

Olivia and all her presents!

Spoiled little girl:)

Baby Clara and her presents!

Here is my new makeup! I am beyond excited!

This pie has to be my favorite.

Olivia decided that Pa would be River and so she put the reins on him (yes she did that) and rode him around the house thinking it was the best thing ever!

We definitely had a very merry Christmas! 

I think my favorite part of the day was watching my perfect girls excitedly open all their gifts and of course talking to my two missionary brothers. 

I am so grateful for my family and friends as well as for a loving Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. 

I am beyond blessed.