Christmas in utah

Christmas did not disappoint this year.... because we were in Utah with family. It's been 2 years since we've been able to enjoy the holiday in Utah. We flew home Christmas Eve and enjoyed a nice 4 hr layover in Seattle before touching down in Utah. (Which by the way Harper is an incredible flier... I couldn't ask for a better baby for our trips home. Even on the day fights, I time it just right with her naps.) Then we spent the holiday with my family before taking off to St. George for a few days to be with Jeff's family. We, especially Harper, were spoiled by both families and we feel so lucky to have the families that we have.  

Being around cousins is always a blast, especially now that Harper is getting older and can interact with them. The following pic makes me sad because Harper is no longer the baby of the family... but she sure did love Lucus.

Before we headed south to St. George, Tip and Lola met us for lunch in Utah County. We were sad this was the only time we got to see them... we sure love being around them and were sad we didn't venture north this time home. They mean so much to us and are the most thoughtful, supportive grandparents ever.

Christmas with the Harris's didn't disappoint.... well what holiday would with all this family around. We soaked up as much time as we could with late night chats, family breakfasts, bowling, movies and just relaxing while the kids ran wild. Harper loves older kids so to see her reaction to them all was priceless.

 

And what family get together doesn't end in a talent show full of super heroes??? That's completely normal for all families... right :) Well the tears of laughter were worth it all... sure love the Harris family. 

And of course we can't go to Utah over Christmas and not see the lights at Temple Square. It was a fun last family outing with my family where we enjoyed dinner at Rodizio Grill then a quick walk around temple grounds before it started to get really cold. 

November/December

Nothing new is going on with us. Harper though is just growing like crazy and is developing the cutest personality. Jeff and I just can't stop kissing her soft cheeks all day long. 

Sundays are homemade carmel popcorn night and Harper was facinated with our popper. Unfortunately she is to young to enjoy the goodness.

A girl and her dog... she is obsessed with Chewy and we love the interaction they have together. They are going to become best friends.

I would love if this girl took on my horse obsession... although living her in Alaska we don't really have the means to enjoy horses. So I attempted to let her enjoy this rocking horse and she wanted nothing to do with it. I would take her off and she would stop crying but the second we got close to it she would cry... silly girl.

Our favorite time of day is playing on the bed... I don't know what it is but Harper loves our bed and usually goes crazy on it... thrashing back and forth, jumping and all to often almost falling off (ok actually she has fallen off a few times but the second we lay her back on the bed she is fine)

 Jeff and I look TERRIBLE but I love this moment of us all hanging out.

One day I was running some bath water for ME and I ran to the kitchen to grab something and the second I came back I saw  this. Apparently Harper didn't agree with my plans to take a nice relaxing bath... alone. This girl is so hard to keep out of the bathroom whenever tub or shower water is running.

This girl is so content playing in her room. As you can tell she goes from one thing to the next, but this is the one room she is allowed to wreck havoc in. She is also obsessed with books and is often found sitting quietly reading to herself. We truly have been blessed with such a self entertaining easy little girl. I don't know how we got so lucky.

Seriously.... i know I'm her mom but she is just so gorgeous. I love dressing up my baby girl.

Getting ready for christmas pictures with Santa. It is so fun having kids during the holidays! Harpers face was all smiles until Santa decided to move her closer to his beard and she didn't know what to think... but luckily a cookie from Santa's elves fixed that and we ended up with a darling family photo in the end.

Thanksgiving/Black Friday

We really enjoyed our Thanksgiving this year.  My Aunt and Uncle invited us to their house and I'm so glad I finally didn't have to work this year and I could actually enjoy the holiday. It was so nice to be around family. We had great conversations and laughs with my cousins and all their kids loved Harper. It was a great day and I wish we took advantage of having family around more often cuz it's truly what makes the holiday season.
I did terrible at taking pics... in fact all I got was Jeff and I driving out to dinner and sadly none of Harper in her cute outfit.

The next day we didn't miss a beat with our Black Friday traditions... this year with Harper we just didn't wake up early but you better believe we were out of the house by 10 am, went to breakfast, shopped, had lunch, shopped and didn't get back home until 7 pm. It was a very long day but we had a blast and Harper was an incredible trooper. We didn't really buy much, just odd and end stuff but it was so fun to be out and about and enjoy the tradition. Then the next day we did our traditional decorate for Christmas and wrap presents. Harper was very helpful at unwrapping presents and taking down Christmas already... it's going to be a long season with decor up and a toddler around :0

Last but not least our traditional additional to our Christmas Village... a white trash camper (in remembrance of the trailer we bought this last year, although it's very nice, not white trash:) and some ice fisherman.

Happy Halloween 2013

Holidays are way more exciting with kids. I can't wait for christmas this year but then again I don't want it to come because then it will be Harper's 1st birthday and I'm not ready for that. I wanted to get the most out of Harper and her cute owl outfit so the Saturday before we went with friends to Trick-or-treat Downtown, which consisted of walking through all the little shops. It was fun to get out, see so many kids and Harper just loved the stroller ride. Afterwards we went and hung out with Jeff at the body building expo that he was working at.

On Halloween, Jeff took the day off and we hung out as a fam all day... which I always look forward to. Before trunk or treat started we went to the Halloween store, walked around Lowe's looking at Christmas decor then hung out at Petsmart (a favorite with Harper). We then hit a 3 ward trunk or treat with the Ruggles in Eagle River, which was really fun. Harper collected her share of candy but she has yet to have any sugar and Jeff and I aren't big candy buffs so I just tossed all the candy the next day. My goal for next year is to dress the whole family up in some sort of theme... if Jeff had it his way we would all be star wars figures every year :)
Harpers only form of candy was chewing on the wrapper

Jeff goes to Utah

Jeff and I have been talking for awhile how nice it would be to fly to Utah to surprise Scotty and watch one of his football games since he is a senior and Jeff has never seen him play. With Jeff's work scheduled nothing has really panned out and we kinda dropped the topic. Well one morning I woke up and randomly looked at flights and with using miles it was a no brainer to have Jeff fly home. So I called him at work and asked what his schedule was like. I told him what I had in mind and he said I guess I can make it work, I'll get back to you. Well I could tell in his tone that he really wanted to go so I just went ahead and booked his flight... 6 long days in Utah by himself!!! It felt weird booking a flight for him and not Harper and I. Jeff doesn't get to do anything like this, minus his hunts with his brother. He just doesn't get time off (actually he doesn't give himself the time off, he is such a hard worker) So when he came home for lunch that day I told him his flight was booked and he would fly to Utah in 5 days (yeah, it was a last minute thought, so glad it worked out!)
I'll post the pics and let Jeff write about his stay. His whole family was so excited to see him. It didn't end up being a surprise (although I did just tell his mom and told her not to tell anyone) but Jeff was too excited that he told his dad and his brothers. I was super jealous that he got to go spend time with everyone but he really had a great trip and loved all the time spent with his brothers so I'm glad he went alone.