Christmas 2012

We had such a great Christmas this year! It is so fun watching Emery and how magical and exciting every little detail is to her. We started out Christmas Eve with dinner. No one was really in the mood for the traditional Ham and Potatoes dinner that we usually do so we had Chinese instead! I made Honey Walnut Shrimp, my mom made Sweet and Sour Chicken and on my way home from Layton earlier that day I got some noodles and rice from Panda Express. It was delicious! After dinner we did the traditional Christmas Eve pajamas. 

 

 For weeks we have been telling her "no" every time she tries to touch the presents (a few didn't make it to Christmas unwrapped..haha). So when we finally handed her a present and told her she could unwrap it. She was thrilled. 

Emery has to test every thing on her nose to see how soft it is. 

Every time Emery opens a present she has to run and show it to grandma. haha. 

Her other favorite thing to do...climb on all of the presents!

After opening presents we played games until it was time for Emery to go to bed. It still ended up being about 2 hours after her bedtime!

Emery was pretty excited Christmas morning! We slept in and went to my parents at about 9. Had our traditional big Christmas breakfast with the neighbors. Then headed to presents. As soon as we walked in the house and she saw this horse and jumped right on. She was so excited! It was her homemade present my her Great-Grandma Kilmer. My mom and dad got my Grandma and new Kindle that she had been wanting! 

After breakfast we set in to open presents. Emery was so excited in the beginning, the excitement of being able to open the presents wore off after a little while...to me that just means she had WAY too many presents. I didn't realize how many she even had until we were actually opening them. Next year we are going to cut that number in at least half!

Jake opening his new slippers he had been begging for. Emery opening Grandmas present. 

This was probably Emery's favorite present. Her dolly. She has really been into dolls lately. So we decided to go ahead and get her one. She was so excited she kept tickling her nose with her hair, kissing her head, and giving her hugs. She stuck her in her stroller and pushed her around and around. She also stuck her sippy cup in the stroller with the dolly and gave her her blankie. She really loves her dolly. Some other presents she got was her Fur Real puppy. She LOVES puppies. So much. She really likes this puppy too. It barks and moves and she just laughs, kisses it, and tickles her nose with it's fur. She got 4-5 books too. She loves books lately. We got her another small doll and stroller. It ended up being really poor quality though so we'll just let her use it until it breaks and then probably go get a better stroller for her bigger dolls! Grandma and Grandpa got her a new Minky Blanket that is SO soft. Emery tickles her nose with it all the time. Also a new quiet book for church, some new super cute clothes, and I can't remember what else. I should've written it down but I didn't think about it. Like I said she got WAY too much stuff! She is spoiled rotten :)

Tickling her nose :) She really does this with EVERYTHING. 

Really trying to be patient :)

My dad got Jake this really nice Browning hunting knife. I don't know a thing about knives, but Jake was pretty excited about it. I also got him a new work coat that he has been wanting for a few years now. He was completely surprised. I love being able to surprise him and get him something that he doesn't expect at all, but really wanted!

The big present of the day was the present my mom got for my dad. He had mentioned that he would like to get some hives and bees a while back, but I don't think her really expected my mom to get them! He was really excited though. He got a bunch of hives and is going to be ordering his bees any day. Looks like we have a new beekeeper in the family. I'm just excited for all the fresh honey!

Overall we had a wonderful Christmas. I'm sad it is over. I feel like the one thing we majorly failed at this year was keeping the true Spirit of Christmas around. We were so busy with everything else that we got really caught up in it. That makes me sad. So next year that is my big goal. Emery will be older so hopefully we can help her understand better. But we live and learn right :)

Merry Christmas to you all, I hope you had a wonderful season! 

Christmasy Things

The days leading up to Christmas were SO busy! Here is a crude attempt at documenting some of it! Wednesday for YM/YW we took the youth down to the Christmas Lights at Historic 25th street in Ogden. We went to dinner at Pizza Factory first, then the lights, then Hot Chocolate! It was FREEZING! It had been snowing the few days before so it hadn't been too cold, but that day it had cleared up and we thought we were going to freeze. It was about 20 degrees in Ogden, but once we got back to Morgan it was only 13. Way too cold for me :(

Thursday night we had Jake's work Christmas party at one of my favorite restaurants, The Timbermine. It was Jake's first time there, but delicious as expected! They had some pretty cool gifts, one being a laptop! Sadly we didn't get it..But we did end up with a Gift Card to Applebees. The next morning my mom, aunt, and I got together to make Christmas candy and treats! We made Fudge, Caramels, Chocolate Dipped Pretzels, and Cherry O'lettes. It was so much fun and delicious!

My brother gave Emery his old Superman shirt :) She was pretty proud. 

Saturday morning Jake went shooting with some friends, the Allens. Then we had our Thatcher Family Christmas party at my parents house. It is always so good to see everyone! Emery has lots of cousins around her age on that side so it is always fun! We found out that morning Emery was cutting 2 molars so we  had to have  little bit of Tylenol to get through but after that she was happy as could be!

She absolutely loves pushing her dolly around in her stroller. She does it for hours. 

My mom and her brothers Kevin and Gary, and sister Terry Lynn. Just missing Uncle Gordon and Aunt Lisa! We miss you guys!

Playing games, opening presents. 

I absolutely loves this time of year. More than anything I love the time that we get to spend with family. It is the best. I wouldn't trade mine for the world! Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. 

Christmas post coming soon! 

Around here lately...

This post is only about ah I dunno 2 months overdue...I majorly slacked with blogging in November. Plus I have a bunch of random pictures that didn't have a particular place is a specific post. So here they all are...

The beginning of November was my little sisters 16th birthday. It was also her best friends 16th birthday. They requested cupcakes at Cheerleading practice. So this is what I made. Shayli's favorite colors obviously pink and purple, Shelby's yellow and black. They turned out cute. 

Preparation for sick season with Freezer Meals. 

Emery just playing outside. She runs and runs and runs. Everywhere. I let her in an attempt to wear her out. It rarely works. 

I love this one of the wind blowing her hair. Haha!

As many of you already know I was called into the Young Women's Presidency in our ward at the end of October. My first project I was put in charge of: Evening of Excellence. It turned out cute! I had a lot of fun with it. I designed all of the invitations, programs, labels for the CDs, and the note tied on. I didn't do the Storms print out in the frame. I found that one and it saved me a lot of work so I was happy!

This girl loves olives. But they always have to be on her fingers. Even sliced olives she puts on her fingers and then eats them off. 

Snacks on the bench Great Grandma Kilmer made for Em's birthday. She feels so big having her a chair her size. 

Dinner at Steph's one night while dad was working late. 

 For another Young Women activity we did a float for the Lighted Parade. It was a Christmas Service project this year. There were prizes for the top 3 floats and we decided to do the float and if we won the prize all of the money we would give to the bishop to give to a family in our ward in need. It turned out really good! And we took 2nd place and got $200 for the bishop to give!

Emery was a big fan of this parade. 

Santa came to our ward party. Needless to say, Emery was not a fan. Haha. Maybe next year. 

Lately we've been working on feeding herself with utensils. The only one that I feel safe enough right now is a spoon, but she is doing really well! She ate this entire bowl all by herself. She doesn't even get too messy. Her face yes, but she keeps the high chair clean. Can't believe how big she is getting! Growing up too fast!

This is the one event that I'm kicking myself that I didn't get more pictures, but it just didn't work out! We were talking and catching up and before we knew it, it was way past Emery's bedtime, we had a long drive home, and it was time to go. But anyway, Jake's brother Josh and his wife Chantel and their little girl Madeline came to Utah to visit! Madeline and Emery are the exact same age, only 2 weeks apart, and this was the first time they met. They weren't too interested in each other, haha. Emery went and played with the big kids, which she thinks she is. But some day they'll be friends I'm sure. Just a little young to understand right now.