New Years Eve

Usually New years eve at our house we have friends and family over to play games, chat, eat food, and enjoy one anothers company. This year was no different. The only difference this year was the fact that it was very quiet. Usually there is alcohol involved. But this year we made punch [not spiked either] I guess this means that we are growing up, which is not a bad thing whatsoever. We had our good friends Derek and Randi and their little boy over. Jeremy's brother and his girlfriend and their 4 kids and Jeremy's parents. We played wii and enjoyed the company.
 

     I have never been one to make a new years resolution so I think that I will stick with tradition and make no such thing this year. I  believe in living life day to day and taking nothing or no one for granted. I will do my best to remain a good wife, mother, friend and boss. So here is to a wonderful and happy New Year to 2011. May it bring everything that you are looking for!

Christmas Day

So obviously I have gotten alittle behind with the holidays and all so I will try and blog a few things. Christmas Day in our house was a great one this year! We were able to sleep in, came downstairs and had a great breakfast [cooked by Jeremy I must say] And we actually had to wake Presley up, this is something I know wont last forever but it sure was great! I had to get a picture of her in her stocking cap that Grandma bought her, she looks like a doll to me

Presley had a great time opening her presents. It was of course all about tearing the bows or paper off just so she could see what it tasted like. Babies are so fun at this age.

Presley with all her goodies from santa and mom and dad

We didnt have to leave the house until 1 o'clock, thats when the traveling began. We had to go to jeremy's Uncle's house to see his grandparents and the like, then it was off to his parents house for a bit, then to my moms house for awhile and last but not least my grandparents house. It sure is hard being the young ones as you feel like you have to try and see everyone but there is just not enough time in the day to see all of our family. We are able to see a good amount and those we dont see on Christmas day we make sure we spend time with them on Christmas Eve. Presley got spoiled which was not a suprise. I really enjoyed the day. And look forward to many more memorable Christmas's with my wonderful family. I hope that everyone enjoyed their Christmas and took a moment to reflect and feel the spirit of the holiday season. I know that I did!

Christmas Night

Oh and on a wonderful side note i have to say that awhile back I was not sure that there was ever going to be a night that we actually got Presley to sleep in her crib or that we would ever get a full night rest. The best present given to me this christmas was actually from Presley! she slept all night long in her crib. It was a Christmas miracle!

Presley's Blessing Day

Sunday was sure a busy day in our household! We decided to have Presley blessed at home instead of at church. We invited only close family (ie: parents, siblings, and grandparents) it turned out to be alot of people jammed into our house, but the company was great! Presley looked gorgeous if I may say so! My mom made her blessing dress and it was perfect in every way. I was so glad that she was willing to make it. Presley was so good too, about halfway through taking pictures (which of course my mom was in charge of, she has developed quite the talent in the photography department) after having her blessed she decided that she had had enough and fell asleep in my arms. I was alittle bummed because we werent able to get pictures of her with everyone, but what do you do right??? My grandpa did a great job blessing her. It was sure nice to have family share in this special moment in Presley's life. And nice to feel the spirit in our home.

Below is a beautiful picture that my mom took of Presley in her blessing gown.

Now we move on to the next few days, finishing up last minute things for Christmas! I made  A TON of banana bread for family, friends, and neighbors so I guess I better get those taken to their homes. Hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas to remember!

Tis the season

Well it's that time of year again, and this year is going to be a completely different experience. we are looking forward to Christmas with Presley this year and lets face it, it's totally self indulgent for us this year since she is so little and Christmas to her is just going to be a busy day seeing lots of faces she rarely if ever sees. But none the less we are excited for it. We have done some shopping for her and while in the toy store over the weekend Jeremy says to me "lets get out of this *@#% hole." I laughed and said that this was just the beginning! Year after year for the next while we will be making the dreaded journey into Toys R Us, Tis the season! :)

    Over the weekend we had my dads annual Christmas party, which is always fun and intimate. This year Colleen decided that the couples were going to decorate Gingerbread houses, what a riot this was! My Grandpa was the star entertainer of the evening, he could not for the life of him get his gingerbread christmas tree to stay up , and he broke it a few times! I have included a few pictures for your enjoyment!

 

Everyone had a great time making thses and here are the final pictures...


Jeremy & Cassie's house




Grandpa Burke & Grandma Kathy's house



Amanda's House

After building our houses we headed downstairs to open gifts. Presley of course got spoiled! We really enjoyed getting together with my dad and Colleen, my grandparents and my sister and her girlies.

Presley opening one of her gifts

New Bed

I thought that as babies got older things got easier, this is not the case in our household at the current moment! Presley has never been a fantastic night sleeper, but I must say I am not getting much sleep anymore :( She usually has her last feeding at 9 or 9:30 and goes right to sleep... great most of you would think, but then she wakes up around 12:30 and cries so hard and loud that I have to go downstairs to try and calm her down, by now she should not need to eat at night so I try my best to soothe her back to sleep, sometimes it works but most of the time not. I end up caving in and feeding her to get her to sleep only to have her wake again a few hours later and the cycle continues. So needless to say my new bed has turned into the couch or the floor in her room while she tries to catch some shut-eye in her crib. I am not sure what causes her restless nights therefore I see no light at the end of the tunnel. She has started teething and is cutting 2 teeth on the bottom. So we put baby orajel on her gums to help ease the pain hoping that's what is wrong. Then I wonder if the foods we are introducing are causing gas pains or something so we are going to hold off on that stuff for a few days and see how things go. And last but not least I am trying to get her accustom to not being swaddled anymore, I have tried leaving one arm out and am not sure if this is just TOO much freedom for this little one. I have had many conversations with her letting her know that mommy really needs some sleep but this little stinker thinks that I can run on just a few hours of sleep a night! I sure hope that things get better sometime soon! I told Presley this morning that its a good thing that she is so dang cute and that I love her so! Oh the joys of being a new mommy! (but I know I wouldn't trade it for anything in this world!)

Thankgiving and such

Well this year was our first Thanksgiving with Presley and we had a great one. We were invited to my grandmas house this year and what a sweet grandma she is, Due to Presley's intolerance issues my diet is VERY limited and my grandma did a great job at accommodating it. I was very appreciative of it! The food was as usual fabulous and the company was great, my great aunt was in town to celebrate with us. And I must throw in the fact that she was more interested  and excited to see Jeremy rather than me! I got the first hug from her and mention so and she said it was because Jeremy got a long one! what the heck! :) We then went to Jeremy's parents house for dessert. I made my first homemade apple pie (well almost all the way homemade, the crust we pre-made) and everyone sure enjoyed it! there was no leftovers! I am already planning on making another one or some turnovers for Jeremy and I to enjoy! I missed being able to see both of my parents on this day but we just cant be everywhere at once and they know that we love and appreciate all they do for us! Let me finish off this post with a few things that I am thankful for... I am thankful for the wonderful caring family and friends that are involved with our lives, I am thankful for a wonderfully devoted husband and our absolutely beautifully perfect in every way daughter. I am grateful for the life that we are able to live and the home that keeps us warm and safe. I hope that everyone took a moment on Thanksgiving to reflect on the good fortune that we have here. Most of all I am thankful for our lord and savior, without him we would not be here!

Halloween Weekend

We had a very busy holiday weekend! Friday night we were the hosts of an adult halloween costume party, which was pretty crazy! Let me just say that being the sober one among 20 something drunk people does not equal a fun time. Although watching drunk people act like total idiots without even knowing it was entertaining it's not so entertaining to see your house be destructed. Our poor carpet was the victim to drunk dancing, luckily the stains seem to have come out nicely. I am not sure that we will be the hosts of another drunk party again.
   I was told that night that we had officially had a party at our house and that we should be proud of it. Let me rewind just a bit and say that I had a lovely chat with a police officer in my driveway, he told me that they had recieved a few calls about the loud music and people in the backyard. He said if he had to return that I would recieve a ticket, so I went back in the house and told everyone that we had to tone things down.
     It was fun this year to dress-up, Jeremy had chosen to be the Mad Hatter so I decided to follow and be the Queen of Hearts. I did both of our make-up and must say that it turned out very good, everyone was tripping out over my lips.
     Saturday Jeremy paid the price of the previous nights fun, so Presley and I drove down to my dads house for their Halloween party. I finally got to meet Colleen's kids (I know kinda sad since they have been married for 5 years now), we had navajo tacos and then there were games for the kids to play. After there we were on our way to my mom's ward party, we visited for a bit then came home. We had no trick-or-treaters come to our door either :(

     Sunday we had birthday parties for Alyssa and Jordan, and visited with Jeremy's family. All in all it was a great holiday weekend, And Presleys 1st Halloween!

Our Lil Stinker

Mad Hatter & Queen of Hearts