Behind the Times

Well since I didn't post my Halloween until after Thanksgiving, what were you expecting with Christmas? :) I guess that is what you get when you misplace a camera cord. So here are a few highlights from our eventful Christmas.

First off we spent Christmas Eve with Kevin's family. Did I mention that there are 10 kids, mom and dad, 7 in-laws and 27 grandkids. Yikes! It is a zoo when we get together. The following video gives you an idea of the masses of people. We had fun with our Christmas gift exchange and program.

Before we get too into Christmas, I wanted to share a pic of us decorating the tree. Our house was very festive and Emma had fun looking at what she called her "Santa tree" everyday.
So being in Idaho for the Christmas Eve party, we went to my parents to spend the night and share Christmas morning with them. I guess Emma was nice, not naughty this year.

One of her favorites was a toy castle. I don't know what is up with the face. She is really into pulling faces for the camera.

Camilla didn't really understand what was going on. She had fun tearing paper. I think she was a little dazzed from getting up so early.

There were a few snow storms while we were there. Emma had so much fun playing in the snow with her daddy. Here they are getting ready to play. Hmmm...like father, like daughter.
They built two big snowmen. Emma likes eating the snow more I think.
Kevin spent a lot of time pulling her around on a sled. She asks me quite often if she can go sledding. They even built a jump in the front yard.
We had a lot of fun seeing family and friends and spending time with those we love. Thanks for a great holiday break! And since I haven't posted for a bit, Camilla decided to start officially crawling when we got back from Christmas. She was army crawling/scooting before. And now she is standing up to things. Her favorite, the bathtub! So here is in honor of 10 months!

New Family Pics

We had our pictures done over the holidays. We were in need of an update. So here are a few. Did I mention how difficult it is to take pics with a toddler? Camilla was great and smiled when she was supposed to. Emma was a pill. So our choices were limited with her. I also got their pics taken in their matching Christmas dresses (thanks mom and dad!). This was their present to Kevin this year. We thought they turned out great!

What can I say? I love my girls.

It's amazing how quickly things can happen. Jen's post on almost wrecking just made me reflect on how precious each day of our lives really is. It's hard not to take it for granted sometimes. My brother-in-law wrecked the weekend after Christmas and last year on Christmas day they had a terrible wreck that sent my niece into a coma. I love President Monson's focus on using the gift of the "present." My Grandpa in law was our sealer and told us the key to having a successful marriage--making beautiful memories. I am so grateful for my three girls. Jen does such a good job with the kids and the girls are just adorable. Every day is a surprise with an almost three year old and a 9 month old. I'm so grateful for my little family. I know Heavenly Father is watching out for us. Happy New Year everybody! Make it a good one.

The Prayer of a 2-year-old

So yesterday there was a huge snow storm that hit us. I had to go to work, as usual. (For those of you who don't know, I am a courier-which is I pick up biopsies at Dr. offices and send them to a pathologist in Idaho.) Which means a lot of driving, but they let me take my kids with me. As we were leaving I thought we should say a prayer since the roads looked pretty bad. I asked Emma to say it (with a little help). We were okay during the whole route and even to FedEx. Our problems came when we were coming home on the freeway from Spanish Fork. I started to drift and tried to slowly correct it (growing up in Idaho, I know that you don't hastily correct on icy roads). The more I tried to correct, the more I was swearving all over the road. I was fishtailing like crazy. Somewhere I had the thought to drive into the snow packed median. My car turned so it was perpendicular with the retaining wall and I continued to slide. The snow finally slowed me down and my car stopped inches away from the retaining wall. I gathered myself together and moved the car so I was facing the same way as the traffic. I drove a few yards. Just then another car started to spin and was swerving toward us. The car came to a stop and had I not moved, they would have hit us. I burst into tears realizing how blessed we are. Nothing happened to us or our car. I have felt very reflective of my many blessings over the past day. I believe there are angels watching over us. And I believe in the simple prayer of my 2-year-old asking that we be safe in our travels that day. What can I say, God answers prayers.

Merry Christmas!!!!

With the rush of the holidays, I have started a very bad tradition. Most years I usually only get about half of my Christmas cards out. It is not because I don't love all of you, I am just not good at getting everything done. So this is my attempt at a Christmas card. So if you don't get a card in the mail, I guess consider yourself carded. :) With our Christmas cards I always send a little update on what has happened over the year.
So here is 2008:
January-Kevin left to California for an internship with PricewaterhouseCoopers. Emma and a pregnant Jen stayed in Utah.
February-Emma and Jen flew out to CA to spend a few weeks with Kevin. (Flying alone with Emma was an adventure in and of itself!) We were able to see a bunch of the cool sites in the area and stay with Byron and Cynthia (thanks again! We had a blast!)
March-Kevin got extended a job offer from PWC, based on graduating. And we accepted!
April-Camilla Jo arrived on the 2nd. And Kevin wasn't there. :( (This was the saddest event of the year to not have Kevin with us.)
May-We were finally together as a family again. Kevin started summer school.
June-More school.
July-Benson and Belnap family reunions...so much fun to see everyone!
August-Family vacation to Island Park! And a Jenkins family reunion in Lagoon!
September-Kevin started school again (or just continued from the summer)
October-Emma broke her arm for the second time this year!
November-Cami got both teeth and started scooting everywhere.
December-Kevin finished his second to last semester!!!!!!! We are enjoying the Christmas season and thinking of all those who we miss and love. Merry Christmas!

Is anyone else's husband this CRAZY!?! And other fun happenings.

We had the opportunity to go to St. George awhile ago (I won't say when so you won't judge me because of my tardiness:) One of Kevin's mission companions was getting married and we wanted to visit my cousin Dine and her fam. So inbetween wedding and reception, we decided to all go hiking around Dixie rock. While hiking, Kev gets this crazed look in his eyes and decides he is going to leap from one cliff to the next. But not before the video is perfectly in place. He is crazy!

At the wedding. Kevin with his mission buddies. 3rd in from the left is the groom.

Us in front of the St. George temple. It is so beautiful!
This is Zack (my cousin's little boy-I love his smile) and Emma hiking around. Emma was a bit nervous-she gets that from me, not her crazy dad. :)

Our little family.

Cami is on top of the world!Kevin loves to hike as high as he can get. He is king of the mountain! He was making Emma pretty nervous.

Emma had so much fun playing with Zack and Luke. Thanks again Dine and Chris for watching them. Emma loves to play dress-up and they have the BEST dress-ups anywhere! This is my favorite. EMMA HAS HAIR!!!Thanks again Dine and Chris for a fun weekend! We miss you already!

We love Camilla!

Starting with solid foods was a challenge with Camilla. She doesn't like anything. But with persistance she has gotten better. She now will eat rice cereal and her favorite is the banana puffs that dissolve. We hope you enjoy this funny video of yet another attempt at getting her to eat solids.