Ring in the New Year!

We spent New Year weekend at Cocolalla this year and got our fair share of snow!

The night that we drove there it rained the entire way. When we woke up the next morning we had a fresh blanket of snow. In fact, it continued through the day and dumped at least a foot of snow all around us!

Eliza was pretty excited about it...she even did some sledding herself.

Talia spent most of her time inside...sleeping (with a princess).

And playing with princesses...unknown to big sister!

Eliza and Darran having fun in the snow!

"The train" of sleds was big or small depending on how many of us were outside. But either way we have an awesome sledding hill...right outside the door!

Aunt Audrey helped provide some of the entertainment over the weekend by introducing us to Elefun! Eliza loved it...and for some reason felt the butterfly net made a perfect princess hat.

Well, we say goodbye to another year...it was a wonderful one! And again we look back on all the blessings we receive and reflect on how full our hearts are. Welcome 2011! Happy New Year!

Eliza at 2 years...

Before I start posts for the new year I had to include the photos we had taken of the girls in November.

The following pictures are the many faces of Eliza...

...not sure if this qualifies as silly or shy

...cheesy...but cute

...you're joking me right? This is the face that I see too often...

...and "I've had enough."

Even though it sometimes feels like this 2 year old is going on 16 we sure do love her to pieces!

Talia at 8 weeks...

These are the pictures of our sweet little Talia.

And our two sweet girls together...

Christmas Day!

Our Christmas day was wonderful! It started at home with Eliza coming down the stairs and seeing her new kitchen Santa left first thing. She walked right up to it and said, "I like it." She was just as excited by the fact that Santa and the reindeer ate the treats she left them! We thought we were going to have a hard time pulling her away from the kitchen but as soon as she started opening more presents there was no stopping her!
She was just as excited for Talia's presents as she was her own! What a fun Christmas morning with our two sweet girls!

A little more playing before we headed over to Grandpa and Grandma's house.

This was the level of enthusiasm Eliza showed us most of the day! A little excited...yes.

The girls with Grandma...Eliza has on her new princess bracelet. After we had breakfast and opened some presents with Grandpa and Grandma we headed over to see Nana and Papa.

You can see how excited Talia is about being a princess!

Nana and Papa got new dress up clothes for the grandchildren so Eliza tried them out. And as always she must involve everyone. Grandkids have a way of getting their grandparents to just about anything...right Papa? Eliza was just a little disappointed the dress didn't quite fit him!

Eliza got a new scooter too. Dad showed her how to try it out in the kitchen (mom is really excited about that). What a great Christmas for all of us! We loved being able to spend it with so much family! Eliza can't wait till next Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Baby Maddox entered the world on December 20th. We were thrilled to have him join us just in time for Christmas. I'm not sure what Talia is thinking in this picture but I'm sure they are excited to be together on earth with their families! We spent Christmas Eve at Chris and Missy's house this year. We had an extremely delicious dinner and then acted out the nativity.

Eliza was torn between being a sheep with Kaden or Mary with me...ultimately she decided she'd like to be a pig. Why not...surely their were pigs in the stable too!

All the cousins...excited for Christmas! Ok...maybe not Ethan. Such a serious face!

The cousins exchanged their gifts and put on their new pajamas before we headed home. I'm not sure Eliza knew exactly what was going on but she could feel the excitement in the air. When we got home she set out cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. She was ready for Santa to come!

Lunar Eclipse

The night of December 21st Darran and I went outside before going to bed to see if we could see the lunar eclipse taking place that night. And we did! It was actually one of the few clear nights in December. Darran took a pretty nice picture. It was amazing to watch...and fun to see our neighbors outside in their robes late at night too!

Happy Birthday Elayna!

The day after all the "college kids" got home we celebrated Elayna's birthday. Grandpa and Grandma Great even joined us after their temple shift. Happy Birthday Aunt Elayna!
Elayna's birthday also fell on the same day as BYU's bowl game...thus all the BYU clothing. This picture cracks me up...Talia actually looks chubby...but she's not!

Elayna started a "soccer quilt" over the summer. She gathered up and cut out a bunch of her soccer shirts to sew together. School started...she left...and the shirts stayed. So I sewed them together to make the top of the quilt for her birthday. It did get all the way finished...but I don't have a picture. It turned out awesome...thanks to Elayna, mom, Cassie, and Sis. Mishko!

Happy Birthday Elayna! We love you!!!

Gingerbread houses...

We made gingerbread houses with the Prices this year...they turned out really cute. The kids added as much candy as they could...but I was surprised Eliza never asked to eat it when it was on the house.
After they were done all the kids and the dads went hot tubing (the moms stayed inside with the babies...we'll have our turn someday!) Thanks for a fun night!

Tree decoration party...

We had our annual Christmas tree decorating party with Grandpa and Grandma. To my siblings despise we bought a fake tree this year. I think I'm going to like it...though I will miss the tradition of going and finding one as a family. We eat lots of yummy food as we're putting up the decorations.
This is what Eliza calls her "silly face." I actually think it looks more like a scary face!

Tree all done...let the festivities begin!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Darran celebrated yet another year gone by the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Here he is with his girls that morning.

It started off with he and Eliza playing with their new Christmas geotrax.

Then they went out and played in the snow...pretty good snowman!
And did a little sledding around the backyard!

What could have been a fun afternoon kind of turned into a let down since BYU lost to Utah...but that's ok cause we're still loyal fans!

It was great to have Uncle Dallin and Aunt Cassie home for Thanksgiving. They joined us for the football game...you would have thought all our family spirit would have helped the Cougars in some way!

Aunt Elayna came home too! Eliza loooooves her Aunt "yayna." After the game we enjoyed some dinner, mud pie, and a couple rounds of Ticket to Ride! Quite the day...Happy Birthday Daddy! We love you so much!

Black Friday...

Instead of using our black Friday for early morning shopping we took it easy, enjoyed family, and did a little shopping. That night we all went to the American's hockey game. The whole gang...Grandpa and Grandma Great are avid hockey fans and this game didn't disappoint!
Eliza and Grandma enjoying the game.

Talia cheering on the Americans!

After some minutes of hesitation Eliza decided the hockey game was fun. And since cheering comes quite naturally to her (she's had to cheer during many football and basketball games with dad) she enjoyed encouraging the Americans.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We gathered for Thanksgiving dinner with the Hague family. We were so glad that everyone got home safely with the crazy amount of snow we received! Dinner was delicious as always! Unfortunately, Eliza is not in this picture because she was taking a well needed nap! But she had a very fun day too!
And what do we do best after dinner? Sleep...thanks to Uncle Dallin!

And more sleep...just cause they can!

We later joined the Moodys for dessert. Arabella, Eliza, and Emma...she loves her cousins! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our families! We are so grateful for all that we have. Happy Thanksgiving to all!