A very long time ago...

...We planted a garden. I am now remembering the "law of the harvest," aka "patience is a virtue," or "good things come to those who wait," etc.

But, we are faithfully taking care of it and I can't wait for fresh peas, carrots, spinich and lettuce. And in the meantime, we are using our fresh herbs. In December. Have I mentioned that I love Arizona?

As you can see, Brynn is a big help. And this is how Bryce helps. Since he has to have Mommy or Sister in his very constant sight, he keeps us entertained outside on the blanket.

Oh, and by the way, Happy Thanksgiving!

We had so much fun this year. Marty and I have always said that November is so beautiful in Arizona that we are not leaving it for Thanksgiving and we would love to see our families as often as they can possibly come...but this is the one holiday where people are gonna have to come to us! So anyway, my parents flew out and I finally got to have Thanksgiving dinner outside! It's something I'm been wanting to make a tradition for a while and just haven't done it yet.

It was a good day. :)

Confession time: Something I like to do when I am in a bad mood is take Brynn to Ross and let her try on dresses. I know, and I don't want to hear it!!! Honestly though, she LOVES it! They have great music to dance to playing in the dressing room. So Brynn puts on a dress and dances around for a while, which is my FAVORITE thing to watch Brynn do. And then she'll say, "Ok, new dress, want that one." And she dances in another dress. And usually picks a favorite, which we don't buy. But since Grandma was in town, Brynn might have talked her into buying one. Or two. :) Sigh, I'm creating a monster.

Awe, no I'm not, look at that sweet face!

The Utahns spent plenty of time in the sun, of course. How bad do you want to pinch those cheeks?

One day I left the kids with Grandma and Grandpa and I got to visit Marty's seminary classes. I love to take a day and team teach with him but with two kids it's been getting a little more complicated and I just didn't get a lesson prepared. So we just sung together instead and I drove back and forth between the school and our house between singing. Which included lunch at Taco Bell which is an Oldham/Johnson tradition. There is really fun music there that Brynn dances too also. Man, I'm really going to have to post a video of her dancing!

This is definitely the most fun I have ever had decorating a Christmas tree. The rumors are true, Christmas with kids is SO MUCH FUN!!!! Brynn has this Beauty and the Beast Christmas movie where they sing a song about Christmas while decorating the tree. We opened one box and took out one ornament and Brynn knew exactly what to do. She started singing the "Belle Christmas song" and hanging ornaments, and now THIS is what our tree looks like.

I suppose we won't worry about having a perfect tree with perfectly spaced ornaments for a while. Especially since she is forever rearranging them.

And speaking of arranging the Christmas decorations, I finally broke down and started taking pictures of her little Nativity set that she is constantly arranging. This is my particular favorite, with the lamb and the donkey kissing the baby Jesus.

We had lots of fun again at the Queen Creek Christmas parade.

Yesterday, the kids found my sun glasses.

And Brynn was surprisingly gentle when she was putting them on Bryce.

And look!!! Two teeth!!! Boy, am I happy to see those finally emerge after such a long and miserable attempt at cutting them.

Bryce so far has been good with the Christmas tree. He tugs on it occasionally, but hasn't managed to tip it over while laying on his tummy. However, he is scooting like crazy and taken a couple...what do you call it, crawling steps? Anyway, he is so close to crawling, I am just crossing my fingers that he'll wait until after Christmas to start crawling for real. He is a pretty strong little guy (big guy, actually) and I absolutely think he could tip over the Christmas tree if he put his mind to it.

Well, since I am tiring of apologizing on every post that I have not been posting often, I'll just say right now that there is a good chance I won't post until after the holidays. So, we'll just take this opportunity right now to say:

Merry Christmas!