*Way back in November, Daniel took me to a nice hotel for two nights and we left JoAnn with our neighbor. It was so fun to get away for a few days and just spend a few days with Daniel. The hotel we stayed at had a beautiful Christmas tree in the lobby, so I made Daniel pose for a picture in front of it...
*We didn't do much on my actual birthday since we spent time at the hotel right before, but I officially turned 27 last month...it still sounds crazy for me to say that since I always picture myself as much younger.
*Around that same time our condominium building put up their Christmas decorations and JoAnn LOVED them. We would take her on walks through the lobby so she could look at all the lights and "bubbles" (aka ornaments).
*The weekend before Thanksgiving we had a big dinner with a bunch of missionaries in our mission where we celebrated together. I had a lot of fun eating all the favorite holiday foods without having to cook them all myself. Since we celebrated early, I just made a couple of my favorites (stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy) for our family for our actual Thanksgiving dinner. It was my first time making Thanksgiving dinner for ourselves since we are usually with family or friends and I had a lot of fun. I already can't wait to make some of my favorites next year.
*Since this is the first year since Daniel and I have been married that we didn't travel over Christmas, I talked him into getting a small Christmas tree for our place (our first ever tree). I had been casually looking at them for a few weeks before I actually went to buy one in the beginning of December. By the time I got to the store they only had a few trees left. I guess they didn't restock any of them once they sold. Luckily, I was able to get the last tree in the entire mall that was less than 7 feet tall. (I would not have had any room in our place for a tree that big.) It was my first time ever putting up a tree on my own (real or fake). I waited to take a picture until we had some presents wrapped and under the tree, but I love it and really don't want to take it down. I really wanted JoAnn to be in the picture with the tree, but this is the best shot I got.
*These next couple pictures will be some of my favorite memories from this Christmas. I decided since we were going to be home this year I wanted to make cookies and other treats for the holidays. Usually, I just make one or two things and end up eating whatever my mom and/or Daniel's mom makes. So, when I started thinking of what I could make, I ended up going a little overboard and made a bunch of stuff. I ended up giving a lot of it away, but also ended up eating a lot of it too. I'm curious to see how much weight I have put on over the holidays. The doctors here still tell pregnant women that they should only gain about 20 pounds and I think I was at about 15 before all the cooking. I may end up getting a lecture when I go in after the new year.
(I have no idea how she ended up with the flour all over her face, but I think this picture is hysterical.)
*I forgot to look at the forecast on Christmas Day, but on Christmas Eve it was 87 and sunny, so I took JoAnn for a swim that morning.
*That night our neighbors had some of the little kids from the building over and gave each of them a present. JoAnn got a bucket full of fake McDonald's food. She loves it, especially the fries and "hammermer". It was fun to have all the families get together and celebrate Christmas together with the other families. It made it feel a little more like home. These are the girls that were there that night. There were two more little ones that didn't get in this picture.
*On Christmas Day, I made us wait until after we ate breakfast together and Daniel read the story of Christ's birth from one of the children's books we have before we could open the presents under the tree. JoAnn did great at being patient, I'm guessing that was because she is still sort of young to really get the whole concept of presents so we'll see how that goes over next year. But anyway, here she is patiently waiting to open her presents.
*That night we had Christmas dinner with two other families that have young kids. I was very thankful that we didn't have to eat by ourselves. Not that it would have been awful to spend Christmas with just us, but because it meant that I didn't have to spend the whole day in the kitchen and could actually enjoy being with Daniel and JoAnn. Anyway, dinner was great and we had fun letting JoAnn play with the other kids and all their new toys.
Alright, that's good for now. JoAnn is up from her nap and I don't know how much longer I can hold her off.
