Christmas 2014

We opted for a quiet Christmas vacation at home in Redwood City, with a couple of trips across the Bay to Danville to spend time with my family :) Daisy had a lot of fun with the Christmas tree and re-arranging all of the (gratefully shatterproof) ornaments, and she got SOOOO excited each time we saw Christmas lights on houses. Holidays truly are more magical with kids, especially once they start to understand what's going on!

"helping" set up the Christmas tree

The Menlo Park stake does this AMAZING creche exhibit each December, with nativities from all over the world. I took Daisy, and we spent most of the time in the kids' room playing with the baby Jesus dolls in the dress-up nativity area. All five of them. She was obsessed with babies and was not good at sharing them. Haha.

This is also the month that Daisy became obsessed with her "by-oooh
 shirt. She loves BYU and the cougars! Chris is so proud.

It rained a TON in December too. Our front sidewalk had the most glorious puddle.

Daisy and "The Ben", her favorite baby friend. Our friend Steve and Stacey's 3mo son!

I lost my wallet in December, too :( and on one of our trips to search for it, Daisy befriended this random waitress at a restaurant we walked past, all for the purpose of seeing this Olaf statue.

Christmas Eve with friends! The power went out, but that didn't stop us from sourcing candles and flashlights and still having a great dinner :)

How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Shari is a captivating storyteller!

We acted out the Christmas story from Luke 2 with all of the kids....Daisy was a wise man, With a stogie and one shoe missing. Of course.

cutest little nativity kiddos! I didn't get great pictures, as I was elected to play Mary. Probably had something to do with me being "great with child", haha. My friend's 5yo son was Joseph and he was adorable. 

We didn't put presents out until after bed on Christmas Eve. It's my favorite part.

And I also love seeing all of the Christmas Cards from friends and family!

Christmas morning! We were FaceTiming with Grandma and Grandpa Rydalch while we opened presents :)

New dolly from Grandma Great!

The glorious unwrapping aftermath.

We also celebrated our 3rd anniversary right after Christmas! It was a Sunday, so we just went to church, Daisy looked too dang cute, and we enjoyed some nice snuggle time on the couch afterward. We introduced Daisy to The Incredibles! The night before Chris and I went out to Danville so my parents could watch Daisy and we could go see The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies. Each installation has come out right around our anniversary, so the past 3 years that's been our anniversary date :) hashtag nerds. hashtag we're in love. hashtag mushy.

The BEST part of the Christmas season, though, was the birth of our niece!!! Sarah and Adam's baby girl was born on December 30th. Lily Marie is the cutest and we LOVE HER. It's so much fun being an Aunt and Uncle!

Thanksgiving 2014

We chanced our first big car trip with Daisy and the CRV, and it did not disappoint! It's a 10-12 hour drive from the Bay up to Corvallis, OR where my Grandparents live. Daisy was a champ at entertaining herself! My brother, Jacob, rode with us on the way there and that was super helpful too.

Daisy had so much fun playing with all of Grandma Adams' toys (especially her pop beads!). I kept myself busy baking with my cousin Alina (6 pies!). Chris entertained himself by teasing Grandpa Adams and taking Daisy back to our hotel for daily naps. Every day it took her less and less time to fall asleep on the car ride to the hotel. Alina and Auntie Bekah were fabulous Daisy entertainers.

Pop beads with Great!

Alina was Daisy's favorite :)

Gettin' comfy watching Signing Time in the morning. Hahaha.

Apple pie in progress!

ALL THE PIES! Pumpkin^2, cherry, salted caramel apple, pecan cobbler, Dutch apple, and blackberry!

Taking Bekah to Ulta for a makeover and makeup buying fun!

So many car naps.

Again, I completely missed all of the important photos like, say, ones of my whole family. Haha. It was really great to be with everyone - we don't all get together often and it's always a blast when we do! I love my cousins, aunts, and uncles. My Dad's family is the best. We're having a full family reunion next month and I can't wait!

Halloween 2014

Daisy is a big fan of Pooh Bear, so we dressed up as characters from the Hundred Acre Wood for Halloween! Chris was Christopher Robin, Daisy was Pooh Bear, and I was Kanga (plus Roo).

I made our costumes for the most part - with the exception of Chris' (thank you, Kohl's clearance!) and the ears for Daisy and I. It was so much fun. I am a big fan of Halloween costumes. Daisy's Pooh Bear is essentially a fuzzy bubble skirt with a modified Wal-Mart t-shirt attached. It was comfy and she loved wearing her "Pooh dress". Mine I made from a vintage maternity dress pattern and a vintage stuffed animal pattern for the Roo head (which is slightly creepy when not attached...but it's Halloween right? haha). It bugs me now that I chose the "wrong" brown for the Kanga costume, and I wish I had gone with something lighter, but hey! It's just a costume. I only wore it once. Haha. 

We didn't take Daisy trick-or-treating this year, but we did go to a couple of fun parties with our little friends :)

Utah fun

After the celebration, we hung out in the Beehive state for an extra week or so. And it was lovely!

Daisy loved picking "flowers" outside Grandma and Papa's house

We got together with some of my BYUH friends! And only one of us is holding our own child here. Haha.

BYU v USU game....very sad. But still a fun experience. My first college football game!

Hauling my pregnant butt up to these seats was not so fun but the view... *heart eyes emoji*

Saturday Morning Conference! BFF's for 16 years! Lots of blurry selfies! I stayed with BriAnne in Provo after the football game so we could take the train up to General Conference in the morning, while Chris drove home to Roy that night. It was my first night away from Daisy, which was weird. But I'd never been in the conference center before, and it was a lot of fun!

 German deli in downtown Salt Lake for lunch. Yum.

Daddy+Daisy selfies while I was away <3

There were lots of other people we saw things we did, too, that I didn't get pictures of. But that doesn't mean it was any less wonderful. It's always a great time when we visit Utah!

Happy Birthday, GG!

Chris' Grandma, Sabina, turned 75 last year. Her husband and children made the entire year a celebration for her - each month they would get together and do something with just the 6 of them. It was so sweet! One month they went out to get pedicures, and even Grandpa and Uncle Lynn got their toes done. They're a fun bunch :)

The crowning glory though, was a get together with the entire family (with the exception of Samantha and her hubby who got stuck in Germany at the last minute! We missed them!) We took family photos, had a big dinner, and celebrated this amazing woman. She is such a firecracker, but you'd never expect it from her calm voice and demure appearance. When she challenges you to a game of strip poker or talks about "needing a good murder" (murder mystery style, she hasn't actually killed anyone...I think) it totally takes you by surprise. At least until you know her better ;) Sleepovers with Grandma involved learning how to gamble with pennies, and Chris was forever scared out of bedwetting because she once told him offhand, "Big boys don't wet the bed, especially not at Grandma's house". I am especially grateful for that last one ;) We love you, GG!

Here are just a couple of the photos I have copies of. They turned out beautifully!

Del and Sabina :)

Sally and her parents

Our family (duh) - Hunter's even in there too! I felt super pregnant but obviously didn't look it. Haha.

Sally+Matt and family :)

Del, Sabina, and (all but one) of their grandkids!