Salt Lake City

so notice abby in the UTAH jersey? she picked it out of andrews drawer. then he did something SO sweet- he said "thats my Christmas present to abby. She can keep it forever. I won't ask for it back, because that is my Christmas present to her." those are his most prized possessions- anything Utah is gold to him. so that was pretty nice of him!

a big lightening mcqueen race car that he got to decorate (i helped) but he LOVES it. carter has one too. those boys are so much alike. and so much trouble when they get together...

baby bling. so cute!!! 

she got a dress and shoes from sam and heidi's fam, she LOVES them. SO perfect!

oh how i LOVE these blankets. i'm SO making me one!

let the good times roll...both kids fighting a family shot- we got a few. take your pic...i like different people in each one...need photo shop....

our group minus Dan who was taking the picture

they do such an amazing job with the lights at Temple Square, i can't imagine putting all these up!

tromping around yelling with the other kids...

peaceful night for Isabella. she was a little angel the whole night...

she was pretty happy, following all the kids

it started to be a long night....notice in the next pics he's very unhappily riding in the stroller....

dan had fun taking some night shots with the cam

yes we have wedding pictures right here from almost 8 years ago. dan proposed to me not far from this spot.

first off- i have to note that on the day after Christmas andrew runs into my room "Our presents are STILL there! Santa didn't take them back to his workshop!!" apparently that was a reasonable concern for andrew. haha.
oh and anybody who wants a good movie to watch- 17 Miracles. it was an amazing movie about 17 real miracles that happened during the Willie/Martin Handcart Companies trek west. SO AMAZING. i want it.
oh and my sister audrey gave me her sewing machine!!! i am so excited to have one of my own ! now i can give jen hers back:) they so are handy to have....and i like making things... so im very happy. and mary came into town today so i got to see her. thats so fun to see my own sister once in a while. i remember how hard it was when she went away to college. i hadn't realized how much i would miss her. we emailed each other for a while, and i loved hearing what she was doing. it was just so much harder to have her so far away than i had expected... never in my life had i really been away from mary. growing up she was only 18 months (And still is- for the record) older than me, so i followed her everywhere. i watched her every move basically, and i wanted to do what she did, and be where she was. she influenced me for the better, i kind of always thought "if mary does that then its ok, if mary doesn't do that, then i won't either"...maybe silly but its pretty much how it was. even with little things like harry potter. i thought it would be kind of a stupid book, but she read it and said it was a good one, so i read it, and LOVED them all....anyways
So this post is mostly about our trip downtown today to see the lights at temple square. driving home, i couldn't help look at the little crescent moon and who put it into orbit around our earth...the lesser light to rule the night. sometimes i seems when i look at the stars and sky at night, i wish i could go back to that home where we all came from, and not have to wait until this life of trials is over... how joyous that will be when we can say we are finished! but alas...we have so much still to do. it helps so much to put things into perspective when i look at the stars and the sky. little things really don't matter all that much, like if abby pulls her bow apart and looses it. or if the house gets messy.... those things are so temporary and soon will be behind us. the gospel is real. Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father, and Mother for that- are real. and somewhere out there they are doing what they do... and sometimes i wish i could see them or know exactly where that is. and i wonder just how far little Isabella just traveled to join us here on Earth. i once saw a baby shirt that said "hello, i'm new here". haha i should have bought that. if i see that again i will. so true. anyways, here are some pictures.