Christmas week.

Our Christmas was super relaxing this year because we didn't have to travel. I was a little sad about spending my first Christmas away from my family, but it was really nice not having to go to the airport Christmas morning to do 2 Christmases. We started off with Christmas Eve lunch at Jade's parents' house. Jade's mom made traditional German Christmas food for everyone. We had the whole spread- potato pancakes with applesauce, brats, sauerkraut, stollen, brotchen, everything. I love honoring their heritage, and I love the tradition of it, but I really am glad I'm American, because I couldn't survive on that stuff (I'm just the teensiest bit picky, you could say). I did love the rolls and the pancakes (without the applesauce), but I was really bummed I missed out on my family's traditional Christmas Eve dinner of turkey/stuffing/mashed potatoes. After lunch and lots of chaotic family fun at grandma's (keep in mind there are 16 kids under 12 in our family), we all went home for the night. We let Peyton open Piper's and her matching Christmas jammies, then Jade and I thought it would be fun to take her to the Portland International Raceway to see the 20 minute drive-through light set-up they have. WRONG. About 45 seconds into driving through, Peyton asked Jade, "Can I play Monkey Preschool Lunchbox?" Peyton had absolutely no interest in the lights, whatsoever. Such a waste. Then Jade told me we had a secret stop to make. He left us girls in the car, and came back a few minutes later with some bags of food, from a restaurant I had never heard of. When we got home, we put the kids to bed and Jade got my surprise dinner all ready- my traditional (Thanksgiving) Christmas dinner!! I literally cried I was so happy. It was the greatest surprise, and it tasted unbelievably good. Hubers Cafe everyone- check it out. Then we watched Elf (still one of my favorite movies) and played a game of Sequence and went to bed. Christmas morning we all slept in a little (probably thanks to Peyton's late night Christmas Eve). Jade went downstairs and got the lights turned on, the hot chocolate started, the [Pillsbury] cinnamon rolls in the oven, and the Amy Grant playing. We had Peyton (and kind-of Piper) sit on the stairs and then let her run downstairs to open her stocking. She was absolutely hilarious. She took everything out one at a time, carefully unwrapped each trinket, then wanted to talk about it for 5 minutes. Jade kept reminding her to hurry, or she wouldn't finish presents before the rest of the family came over. After she finished her stocking, we ate breakfast, then went back to the tree to open gifts. Peyton was so cute. She wanted to play with the presents as they were opened, so it took a while to get through them. Jade and I opened our gifts while she played. One fun thing Jade's family does once in awhile is a gift scavenger hunt. I was so excited this year because Jade did one for me. I only got about 3 of the 7 clues without help. Mommy brain. It was so fun. We video-chatted with my mom and let her watch Peyton open her presents, which was almost, but not-even-close-to, as good as her being here. Then we had most of the family over to our house for the traditional Swedish Christmas morning breakfast of rice cereal. (I have to interject: it sounds like baby food, but it's SO good; rice boiled with a ton of milk and maple and brown sugar... Heavenly.) Everyone left to go to church, which was great because they had a special Christmas program, and it made me wish Christmas was always on a Sunday. After church we all went over to Justin and Ashley's for Christmas dinner. Ashley had gone all-out with a formal, themed table and a kids table with favors and pens for coloring, poppers, everything. It was the Cutest Christmas dinner I've ever been to. Pretty tasty, too. After dinner, we let the cousins exchange gifts, and played Christmas songs with the chimes. Then we put the littlest kids down for bed and sent the older kids to watch a movie while we did our gift exchange. It was such a great Christmas. Monday we decided to be a little bit Scrooge and take down Christmas. Usually I like to leave it up until New Year's Day, but this year I just wanted to be done, so that I could have a head start on getting back to post-holiday break life. We met the adults for dinner at P.F. Chang's that night to have a meal without the kids. Tuesday we took the whole family to the Wings and Waves waterpark that is about an hour away from Portland. The kids had a fantastic time, and it actually wasn't that bad for the parents, either. Next time we'll go on a day when school is in, so it won't be so crowded. Wednesday Jade went out of town for work, and I did errands and cleaned. Thursday Jade came back in the afternoon, and we went with all 5 siblings, plus 5 spouses, plus 2 parents to the temple. It was the first time we had ever all been together, and it was such a cool experience. We did a sealing session, and it was neat because it was just our family, and the sealer was an old family friend. After the session, the boys went to play basketball and the girls went to Ashley's and ate junk food and visited. Friday we took the whole family to OMSI, which was packed, but really fun. It's so great to go places with Peyton's cousins, because the kids entertain each other, so can sit back and relax a little. Friday night we met up at Jeremy and Kristin's without kids to play games and say goodbye to Jerai and Phil, who went back to Idaho this morning.

We had such a fantastic week with our whole family. This truly is my favorite time of year. As a mother, the love I have for my children is immeasurable, yet I know it's just a fraction of how much love our Father in Heaven and our Savior have for us. I'm so grateful to have this special time of year when we celebrate and honor Jesus Christ. I feel so blessed and so lucky to know of a loving Heavenly Father and His Son, who sacrificed everything for us. I often think about that infinite Atonement; that was for every single one of us, but I am so humbled to know that He still would have done it, even if it were just for me. Merry CHRISTmas!

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Enjoy picture overload...

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Opening up the jammies

Christmas morning

Stockings

Tinky looks like Max from The Grinch

She couldn't finish opening up presents until she had on her new Belle dress

Piper and Layla. Sometimes I call them "the twins"

These aren't even Christmas-related, but I loved her outfit so much, I had to take some pictures.

She is SO tall. Maybe she just seems extra big to me because Peyton was so tiny.

Jade likes to start them kind of young with the *safe* rough-housing.

This picture makes me laugh, only because Peyton was the one who took it. All by herself. I was just loading pictures onto my computer and saw it. Jade didn't take it, and I know I didn't take it. I showed it to Peyton and she said, "I took that picture!"

Busy

We have been pretty busy here at our house lately. We've been trying to beat the winter blues by going to Pump it Up, Jr and Munchkin Playland lots. Peyton finished up her term of gymnastics, and on the last day they let the parents sit in class and watch. It was so cute to see her in a class environment. I got the "all-clear" to exercise, so I've been spending as much time as I can manage at the gym. Peyton went to her first no-mom party; at her friend Michael's house, from church. They decorated gingerbread houses. His mom told me that she tasted every candy, and if she didn't like the taste, she wouldn't put it on the house. She also told me that she tried to eat the icing out of the tube. My girlfriend gave us a gingerbread house to do for family home evening, so Jade and Peyton decorated it together. The girl was on sugar-

overload. We did our annual family Christmas service project, which was a really gratifying experience. We tried really hard to explain to Peyton what we were doing, but she still didn't quite get the point. Oh well, maybe next year! Peyton's preschool has winter break, so on the last day before the break, the parents were invited to the class for a special "holiday" program. They opened the door for the parents, and all the kids were sitting in their spots with these cute reindeer-antler-handprint hats and then the teacher counted to 3 and the kids all sang "Jingle Bells" and rang little bell bracelets. They gave us presents they had made for us in class (which Peyton immediately informed me I wasn't allowed to open until Christmas). Then we got to do a little snowflake Christmas ornament craft with them and had a snack. It was so cute. Jade made Peyton's day by surprising her and showing up to the class. She was so happy he came. Jade, Piper and I went to our friends' Christmas party- it was a white elephant gift

exchange. There were some hilarious gifts. My favorites included Chaz Bono's autobiography (with a letter about how inspirational the book was during my brother-in-law's gender reassignment process as a gag), "Oops, you just touched your genitals" hand sanitizer, and 6 gifts that my brothers-in-law wrapped and signed Jade's name on with absolutely hilarious notes about how great Jade is. Our Primary kids sang in Sacrament meeting for a missionary farewell, and since Peyton has been coming in to Primary for 2 weeks (to get adjusted for January, when she graduates to Primary) she knew the song. She really wanted to go with the big kids to sing on the stand, so I let her. It was SO cute! She didn't know very many of the words, but she totally sang the parts she did know. She was so grown up! Other than that, we've just been getting ready for Christmas, and trying really hard not to get too caught up in all the hustle of it all.

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Peyton's most recent projects

Munchkin Playland (also known as "sit and eat while kids run around like crazy")

Gymnastics

With Coach Mo

Jade had a Young Men's activity where one of the members of our ward brought in his original Book of Mormon. There were only 5,000 printed, and they estimate there are less than 500 left today. Jade got to hold it and look through it.

Little reindeer

Piper dressed in her cute little Christmas outfit for the party, and I couldn't resist a photo-op

I LOVE little girls in Christmas dresses!!

Blessing

We had Piper's blessing yesterday. It was a fabulous day. I feel so blessed to be her mommy. Jade gave her a beautiful blessing, and my Grandpa Gene was able to be there (her namesake). The blessing circle included: Jade, Great-Grandpa Gene, Grandpa Dennis, Uncle Justin, Uncle Jeremy, Uncle Nipper, and some great family friends- Richard Metz, Jon Dorrough, Frank Banton and John Foland. It was a day I will never forget. After church, we had dinner with all the families of the afore mentioned gentlemen. My mom made chili and everyone helped by bringing stuff for a salad bar and cornbread. It was a crazy chaotic dinner (it always is with our large, FUN family!) but it was a good way to end a great day.

Most of our family and friends. Missing are Sam, Norma Metz, Layla (who was actually there, but you can't see her), all the Banton kids, John Foland and Sara Dorrough

These girls are so stinkin' cute!

Momma

My mom was amazing and flew my grandpa and herself up to Portland for the weekend, so they could be at Piper's blessing [more on that later]. They were only here 3 days, which was WAY too short, but we managed to squeeze in some quality time while they were here. Friday we went to the mall and had the girls' pictures taken with Santa. They looked ADORABLE, and after taking up more than our fair share of Santa's time, I finally got a picture that I was satisfied with. We had lunch at Nordstrom Cafe- my very favorite tomato basil soup! Then we came home and took a nice long nap. My mom made us dinner (love that woman) and we turned in early, knowing that Saturday would be a busy day for us.

Saturday we ran errands to get stuff together for the blessing and dinner afterwards. Then Saturday night we had our ward Christmas party. It was "A Night in Bethlehem". For anyone who hasn't had a Bethlehem Christmas party, you are missing out. Everyone dresses up in

Biblical clothes and you eat on the floor on blankets. Those parties are some of my very favorite memories from when I was a kid. And now that I'm a parent, I realize that it really is all about the kids. We had a great time.

Sunday was Piper's blessing. It was fantastic, and the only thing that made me sad about the whole day was knowing that my momma and grandpa were leaving at 4:45 the next morning. Sad. Their trip was far too short, but I loved every minute of having them here.

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My Grandpa Gene, holding Piper Gene. You wouldn't believe the number of women that stopped to talk to my grandpa while he was holding Piper. I teased him that she was a real chick magnet. Seconds before I took this picture, he was asleep, too. If only I were a little faster...

Since we haven't figured out the scanner on our new printer, you get the picture-of-a-picture:

Our Bethlehem costumes

Okay, so almost everyone tells me Piper looks like Peyton. I don't see it because I'm so close to the two of them that I can't see it objectively. Also, Piper is so much bigger than Peyton that it's hard for me to see the resemblance (Piper is a pound and a half bigger than Peyton was at her 2 month appointment). In this picture, I totally think she looks like me as a baby! (Besides being about 1,000 times cuter than I was, and also her head is about 10 times bigger than mine was. I was always a very shrimpy kid.)

Unfortunately, this isn't even the worst picture I have of myself at this age :)

Guys' Trip

Jade's brother's brother-in-law is the offensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks, and he and his wife were nice enough to invite the guys up for the Thursday night game. Wednesday they got a private tour of the facility and Thursday they were able to be on the sideline for the pre-game. They had a fantastic time and were all so happy to have been able to experience it.

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The guys

If only he was looking at the camera...

Jade secretly dreams of being an NFL coach

Dad and his boys (Justin looks fantastic in this picture)

Jade and John

Thanksgiving weekend

Wow! It's already Christmas time. This year flew by way too fast. We made it back from Hawaii just in time for Thanksgiving. We had a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner with the Neffs and Jade's parents and Mutti. The food was absolutely delicious, the company was great and we even managed to put Peyton to sleep, so we could stay late and watch a movie. It was a very happy Thanksgiving.

The day after Thanksgiving, our friends Bryce and Nicole (plus Nicole's belly) came over, since they were in town visiting Bryce's family for Thanksgiving. It was so good getting to spend some time with them. They brought their new baby Larry- a teeny tiny Yorkie. Peyton could hardly keep her hands off him. I felt bad for the poor little guy, but I guess she was just preparing him for what he was in store for in about 2 years when their new baby girl-to-be is a toddler.

I couldn't wait to put up my Christmas decorations, so the day after Thanksgiving, Jade and I took Peyton to choose one. She thought it was great, but only wanted a "baby one". She didn't get her way. We ended up with about an 8-footer. I absolutely love Christmas time, and I always try to get all my "to-do"'s done in November, so that I have all of December to focus on my family and the true meaning of Christmas.

I had Piper's 2 month checkup. She weighed 11 pounds, 7 ounces (67th percentile), she was 23 inches long (75th percentile), and her head circumference was 40.25 centimeters (wait for it---85th percentile!) She is so big! Of course, I'm comparing her to Peyton, who has always been really small for her age. I finally have a baby with chubby little cheeks I can kiss. The doctor said everything looks really good, and he was really impressed with how strong and alert and responsive. I feel a little like I was cheated out of a "typical" newborn, because she hasn't been sleepy and cuddly since we got home from the hospital. The doctor was asking me if she has good head control yet and I told him yes she does, and she also rolls over. He was really surprised (almost a little disbelieving, like maybe I was embellishing a little bit). Then he was checking her while she laid on her tummy, and she rolled right over. It shocked him. He said, "Oh! Oh wow. You're not supposed to be able to do that yet." Pretty funny. This is a bad sign for me- I'm worried it means she's going to be an early crawler, which means early trouble maker. I guess I'll just baby-proof early, and be very thankful that she's so healthy!

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Thanksgiving family shot

At the dinner table. Bad lighting?

Charlotte, Lucy and Peyton. So cute! The hugs lasted about 10 seconds, until one of them got a toy that the others wanted.

My little reindeer.

Peyton wanted Larry to take a nap with her. We compromised by letting him lay with her for a couple minutes, then taking him out.