Cabin

The past 2 years we have spent New Years at the Cabin.  This year we spent December 28th - 30th at the cabin instead.  It snowed all day long on the 29th and we had a blast playing in the snow.  Both girls absolutely loved it.  Anastyn was so little last year so this was her first real experience in the snow and she was having a blast.  You could see it in her face.  We played in the snow, ate yummy food, watched movies and just relaxed.  It was wonderful!  (I have a million pictures to prove it!)


Cute girls together.



In the snow cave Gord built for the girls.

Cute Anastyn playing in the snow

Taeya being buried in the snow.

Me and my beautiful girls - I love this shot!

Silly Taeya "exploring" with dad.

Anastyn making a snow angel with a little help from dad!

The girls sledding again.

Anastyn and I sledding, she would just laugh and laugh on the way down.  On the way up she was very content, especially if she was eating snow.

Me and the girls with the cabin in the background!

Skiing With Dad

A few days after Christmas Gordon took Taeya up to Sundance to do a little skiing.  They just spent a few hours at the tow rope.  Taeya was disappointed that they didn't get to go on the ski lift.  She did a great job on the tow rope, she is learning to balance really well and she loves it!

 

Christmas Came and Went

Christmas came and went so quickly this year but we really had a great time.  We started off the holiday with Christmas Eve at my moms house.  We ate a yummy "thanksgiving" type meal and then played games and opened presents.  It was so much fun.  We got home around 8:30 pm.  The girls opened their new pajama's then with a little coaxing it was time for bed! 

Taeya in her cute "warm" jammies.

Taeya and Anastyn with their matching pajamas.  Taeya pointed out that they aren't really matching because her's has a snowman on it and Anastyn's has a monkey!

Christmas morning the girls woke up around 8:30 or so.  We hung out in my room for a few minutes so Anastyn could wake up and to make sure Santa really did come!

Anastyn in a little zone right before we went to see what Santa brought.

He brought Anastyn a Little Tykes car just like Karsten's.

He brought Taeya a stocking filled with lots of fun stuff like work gloves to help me in the yard this spring, make up and candy.

Santa also brought Taeya a big wrapped box with a dollhouse inside!

Mom and Dad gave Taeya a Moxie head so she could do her hair (thought it might take the place of the "hair cutter things").

Gordon and I had a great Christmas too, Taeya took this awesome picture of the 2 of us after the gifts were opened.

Taeya with all the things she got for Christmas - she was spoiled as usual!  Taeya was all about opening presents this year.  We whipped through Christmas in an hour tops, she just wanted to open and open, loving everything she got but not wanting to play with anything til all the gifts were opened.

Anastyn with her loot!  I think Santa could have just brought Anastyn her car and nothing else.  She didn't seem to care about anthing but the car.

All the stuff I got for Chrismtas.  Gordon (I mean Santa) did good this year!

All the stuff Gordon got for Christmas.  I think Santa was pretty good to him too (although it doesn't look like much)!

After all the gifts were opened we had a yummy breakfast casserole, Gordon put together Taeya's new dollhouse and we cleaned up and hung out.  We headed over to Lee and Laura's around 2:00.


The girls got these cute matching outfits.

Our Family at Lee and Laura's

At Lee and Laura's we had some lunch, opened a few presents and played cards.  Afterwards we took Gordon and Anastyn home and Taeya and I went over to my mom and dad's.  Taeya was dying to see if Daylen got his "orange motorcyle."  She discovered that he did, and Taeya and Daylen spent the next few hours playing while I enjoyed hanging out with my mom and dad and Ryan and Kristy.  What an awesome Christmas.  We are so blessed to have so much!

Breakfast With Friends

I made some really great friends in High School who I have kept in touch with over the years.  These 4 girls (pictured below) made high school so much fun.  We haven't all been together for serveral years.  Melissa and Amy live out of state but they both came in town this year for Christmas so we all got together at Kneaders for breakfast on the 23rd of December.  Earlier in the week I actually cut Melissa, Amy and their kids hair so I got to spend extra time with them.  I love all these girls so much and I am so lucky to have them as friends.

 
Mindi, Me, Sommer, Melissa, Taeya and Amy

New Christmas Skirts

Heather and I made Christmas skirts for the girls this year and I think they turned out really cute.  In the past when I have sewn I think about how much time I wasted making this "whatever," when I could have bought something equally as cute, for the same amount of money, and a lot less time.  But this time I actually felt pretty good about it.  I bought the fabric at Hobby Lobby and each skirt ended up being $5 and I think they turned out really great and unique. 

Heather and I have had out eye on this pattern since the summer and we finally got around to doing something with it.  The fabric was a little bit of a pain to work with so as always, it took a little longer than expected, but thanks to Heather I finished both skirts on time! 

Taeya was so excited to wear her "lady bug costume."  She got ready quicker than she usually does because she was so excited.  We even tried putting her hair in sponge rollers for the first time.  Doesn't she look so cute?!

This was as good as I could get of the girls together.  Anastyn's skirt ended up being really long, so she will be able to wear it for a few more years!!

We took our own family shot right after church.

I liked this picture better cause you could see the girls skirts but our little Taeya was being silly and not smiling!  Oh-well.

School Christmas Program

Taeya had a fun program at school again this year.  They performed serveral songs they have been working on for the past several months, then we got to go visit with Santa.  Taeya did such a great job.  She sang so well and paid close attention the whole time.  I think my favorite song was "Here Comes Suzy Snowflake."  That song get's stuck in your head really easily!
 

 (Nana came to watch and I had a really cute picture of the 2 of them together but for some reason everytime I try to load the picture, my computer freezes). 

As you can see from this picture, Anastyn was a little bit afraid of Santa.  Taeya was happy to sit on his lap.  She asked Santa for a real puppy.  We keep telling her that Santa can't bring a real puppy on his sled.  It would get smashed in the big Christmas bag!

Taeya and Ashlynn  (this picture makes Taeya look like a giant compared to Ashlynn, while Taeya is taller, she's not that much taller!)

15 Months Old

Anastyn is 15 months old.  Her official stats:

Date: 12-14-2010

Weight: 20 lbs. 14 oz (25th

Height: 30.5 inches (50%)

Head: 47.9 cm (95th %)

I finally tried her hair in piggies.....she looks so adorable, and like such a big girl.:( She has so much hair that sometimes I think she looks alot older then she really is. It's really fine and tangly and she hates for me to comb it.

The pictures were actually taken at 14 months, but I never did a 14 month post.

Here are some things about Anastyn:

She is a mama's girl - she cries when I leave her still

She is a monkey - she climbs on everything

She loves to jump - she is learning to jump and she can actually get a few inches of air

She says a few words:

daaaa (dad)

maaa (mom)

mah (more or milk)

bah (ball or ballon)

buh (book)

dah (dog)
oh-o

She signs mom, dad, hat, shoe, all done, more, eat, milk, water, please, thankyou

She loves books

She takes 1 or 2, 2ish hour naps

She has a bottle of milk in the morning and at night

She sleeps from about 8:00 pm to 8:00 am

She loves watching Babie Signing Times, and Baby Einsteins (whenever she sees a tv she points to it and says a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a, over and over again until I respond)

She gets so excited when Gordon comes home from work

She loes toothbrushes - and sometimes actually lets us brush her teeth

She has 12 teeth

She folds her arms during prayers

She's a little tease

She loves to pick up Taeya from preschool and gets excited to see her

She usually cries when she seems me after I have been gone

Christmas List 2010

This was the official list:

A Doll House

Repunzel Barbie

Rocket

Originally the only thing on Taeya's Christmas list was the "hair cutter thing." She asked for this last year but anta was worried she would really cut someones hair so he chose not to get that for her.  This year she asked for it again, but after having a little chat about it Taeya really did think she would be able to cut someones hair.  When we told her that she couldn't she decided she didn't want it anymore!  We convinced her that she might want a new doll house.  I'm not sure were the idea for the rocket came, I think she had been watching "Toy Story" right before she filled out the official list.

Mr. and Mrs. Claus

Each year Mr. and Mrs. Claus come and visit Ultradent, this year they came on December 8th. The HR department does a great job. While the kids wait for their turn to go visit Santa all sorts of activities are provided. There is cookie decorating, ornament making, picture coloring, countdown calendar making, a movie watching, and carnival type games to play. This year we didn't go until towards the end of the evening and we had to rush through all the fun stuff because Mr. and Mrs. Claus were getting anxious to get back to the North Pole. We ate a cookie, started working on our countdown calendar and then it was our turn.

As you can see, Anastyn was not a huge fan but Taeya sure was! She asked Santa for a Dollhouse. The verdict is still out, is she's on the naughty or nice list?

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving the Whitmers invited the whold Andrews family down to their house in Arizona. Gordon only has 2 days off of work for Thanksgiving and it is such a long drive so I decided I would drive down with my parents and Gordon would drive down the wednesday before Thanksgiving and we would ride home together. The plan was to leave the Monday before Thanksgiving and drive straight to Arizona. The friday before Thanksgiving at about 10:45 pm I get a call from my mom (I was suprised to see my mom was calling since she isn't a night owl and I would never call her that late). She said that she and my dad had been watching the weather and a storm was coming so they wanted to leave Saturday instead. I still had a few errands I needed to do for Kimberly and I had to work at the salon Saturday morning from 8 am to 11 am. To make it work I stayed up til 1:30 am packing and my mom agreed to run the errands for me in the morning, and Gordon drove to Salt Lake to pick up a new car seat for Taeya. I did my 2 appointments at the salon, Gord met me at my mom and dads with the girls and we were on the road at about 12:30 pm. Phew!

Since we got such a late start we knew it would be a little rough driving all the way to Arizona, so we decided to stop in St. George and stay the night with Ryan, Kristy, and Daylen. It was an added bonus to visit with them. Taeya and Daylen always have so much fun to gether, I didn't mind breaking up the long drive, and we were able to go to the "Jubliee of Trees." It was very similar to the "Festial of Trees." All the trees were donated and the money went to charity. We had a fun time getting into the Christmas spirit. Taeya and Daylen got to sit on Santa's lap for the first time of the season.

Taeya was more than thrilled to get her face painted - even more exciting than seeing Santa!??

Back at Ryan and Kristy's Taeya and Daylen played with toys while we watched the movie "Bounty Hunter." We were on the road again by 9:00 am Sunday morning. We didn't arrive in Arizona til about 5:15 pm. (My dad was pulling a heavy load for work). Wow, what a long drive!

Monday night we got to go to Kenzly's violin recital. Thank goodness the weather wasn't too cold since I spend the majority of the evening outside with the little kids. (I just can't figure out why they wouldn't sit and listen to the concert??!)

Kenzly did an awesome job and I should have taken a picture of her. I did get a cute one of Kierra though. She was so funny, she kept asking me to take her picture.
The kids sure love Papa, Karsten and Anastyn sat and enjoyed the concert for a few minutes on his lap.

Tuesday night Kent and Kimberly took us to a yummy steak restaraunt. (I got the salmon, which was delicious!) This place was really cool. You could either sit inside or outside. Inside was a normal restaurant, outside you lit your own fire and enjoyed some live entertainment. Unfortunately since in was a Tuesday night the kids were our only entertainment! They enjoyed playing on the stage and supplying us with plenty of firewood. I didn't realize we would be eating outside so we weren't dressed appropriately for the cooler weather. Thank goodness for the fire which kept us nice and warm. Too bad I was paranoid the whole time that Anastyn was going to burn herself. Besides that, everyone had a great time.

I couldn't resist posting this picture because of my poser, Taeya, and cute little Karsten, he is usually not a fan of the camera! (Kimball, Taeya, Karsten, Anastyn, and Kierra)

Kierra has all day Kindergarten so on Monday and Tuesday we picked her up after lunch so she and Taeya could play together. Kierra made these Pilgrim and Indian costumes at school. Thought I should get a shot of the girls in costume since it was thanksgiving!
Anastyn loved playing with all the new toys, this car was definitely one of her favorites.
Karsten and Anastyn played so well together. The bad thing is that they both suck on the same binki and Karsten really loves his "B," and Anastyn's too! I had to keep hiding them. It was cute and suprisingly I don't think I lost any. (I brought at least 5!)
Thursday morning Kent had a bounce house delivered for the kids, the boys started driving R.C. cars in the empty lot across the street, and the women all worked together in the kitchen. (Kierra, Taeya, and Cael in the bounce house)

Thanksgiving turned out to be a "blast!" Kimberly couldn't find the rocker to her pressure cooker. Her mother-in-law told her she could stick a match stick in place of the rocker. About 10 minutes later, which was way too long but we were all pre-occupied with other dishes for the meal, we had a pressure explosion. Because of all that stored up pressure the match stick finally blew out, but along with the match stick came a grean bean mist that went everywhere......the floor, the counter, the stove top, the backsplash, up inside the hood over her stove, on the rising rolls, and it even broke the light about the stove. We laughed it off by deciding that it would be good for the rolls - sneaking some veggies in!
Me and my girls - missing dad, this was the 3rd year in a row we haven't been together for Thanksgiving - I am beginning to wonder if Gordon prefers it that way! He had the house to himself for a whole week - that sounds nice.
Thursday night we went swimming at Chantel's hotel. Some of the big kids braved the pool but most of us just enjoyed ourselves in the hottub.

During the day on Friday us ladies went to the Chandler Mall, that night we ate leftovers and played games with prizes. (back: Chantel, Cael, Cynthia, Mom, Dad, me, Kelly, Taeya; Front: Collin, Kenzly, Kimberly, and Cameron; missing: Kent, Garrick, Chelsea, Kimball, Jayne, Karsten, Anastyn ).

What an awesome week we had. We had all been looking forward to this fun visit and it did not dissapoint! The girls were so great in the car, and we really loved our time with family. Maybe next year we will all be together??!