Happy "Hall"-a-days!

We haven't been total scrooges this year, so here's a little of our Christmas festivities. Beware of picture overload (there's going to be a ton and this might not be the most entertaining post ever)....

Baylee (with the help of my sister Annie and myself) decorated her very first gingerbread house. I think she enjoyed eating the candy the best.

Baylee also enjoyed reading to her baby doll (I just thought this picture was too cute).

We went to part of church on Sunday before leaving for our Christmas vacation. Baylee loved her Christmas dress, and we actually got a quick family picture (although not the best one).

After sitting in church for a few minutes Baylee kept yelling that her dress was itchy. So, after a few mintues we went into the bathroom so I could put her button up sweater underneath. It didn't look the best, but at least it worked and got her to stop complaining.

This year we spent Christmas with Ben's family in Oceanside (minus Ryan and Anna and kids), where his parents rented a beach house. Baylee loved being around her cousins, and she especially loved her newest cousin, Cambri. She loved holding her and is going to be a great big sister. Cambri is the best baby ever, and I think we all wanted to take her home with us.  We hope our baby is just as mellow.

One of my favorite things we did with Ben's family was Christmas lights. I dragged everyone down to San Diego to Christmas Card Lane, a neighborhood in the area I lived in growing up. A bunch of the houses make these big wood cutouts of different characters and scenes. It was so fun to go back after about 14 years and take my family to.  The kids all loved posing with their favorite ones, although I'm not sure if the owners like all the kids trampling their lawns....  And thank you everyone for being good sports and coming!

Christmas Eve our sister-in-law, Laura, organized for all the kids to act out the Christmas story.
Baylee decided to just pop into the play whenever she felt like it (like just to see Cambri/when she thought Cambri aka Baby Jesus, needed a pacifier).
I think Baylee may have been the one who caused the outbreak of craziness from the 2 and under club.  It was great to see the Christmas story acted out by all the kids though, and very entertaining.

And of course, what is Christmas Eve without the matching pjs, and kids that won't cooperate to take a picture in them?

Of course on Christmas Baylee opened all her presents that Santa brought.  Ben and I didn't get any presents, we are going to do a trip instead.  I wasn't very on top of Christmas this year.  :(

Ben's parents gave us a baby blanket for our baby, but Baylee decided it would be better used for wrapping her Belle doll that Santa brought her.

Ben reading to Baylee and Belle.

Friday each couple took one of Jenny and Andre's kids for a scavenger hunt.  We had to drive through Oceanside and take pictures of certain items.  We were lucky to have Maddy on our team, and she was great (even if we did come in third out of five).  Here are just a few pictures of our scavenger hunt.  The last one is my favorite, and the people in the background couldn't stop laughing.

We decided to stay an extra day and go to Sea World.  One great thing is that for the one day admission price, we can return as many times as we want through the end of 2009.  We had a great time, even though it was a pretty crowded.  We touched starfish, fed the dolphins, ate funnel cake, Ben and Baylee went on Abby's Seastar Spin, Baylee got a little penguin and of all things picked a giraffe to make (like build-a-bear, they had sea animals too though), and saw penguins and the Budweiser horses.

We also stopped to see the San Diego temple.  It is so beautiful, and Baylee kept asking whose castle it was.

When we got home on Sunday, Baylee had a surprise from Grandma and Grandpa Higgins waiting for her.  She loves her new kitchen!

Yesterday I also noticed a surprise someone left for us.  We need to do a little weeding, but someone decided to decorate our "weed tree" in the backyard.

We had a great Christmas, and hope everyone else did as well.  And Happy New Year as well!

Holiday Parties And A Few Random Pictures

I'm a little behind, but I wanted to just wanted to do a quick little update on our blog. Saturday night we went with my family, including extended family, to my mom's office to watch the Tempe boat parade. A bunch of boats were decorated in lights, and we got to watch them sail by from seven stories up. It was a great view, and beat sitting outside in chilly weather with the crowd. Of course no pictures would come out, but here's the best picture I got from the night of the bridge right out the window. It was fun to see all the boats, I just wish Baylee had been a little more cooperative.

Tuesday night was Ben's work party, so he got to come home at 2! It was nice to have a night off from Baylee (thank you so much Mom and Dad!) and to meet some of the people Ben works with. The food was good, and the play was entertaining. We had a great night.

Here are just some random pictures of Baylee we have taken in the past few days.

Our house was so cold the other night that we actually had to turn on the heater (something I never thought I'd have to do here). Baylee was even cold, a rare thing for her, and wanted to wear one of my hoodies. I thought she looked so cute in it.

Baylee is in desperate need of new shoes. I guess she thought this would do for now. Hey, it probably fits her better than her current shoes do (ok, they aren't really that bad, just starting to get a little tight). In case you can't figure out what that is, it's the cover for one of our Wii remotes.

When I went to load my pictures onto the computer Baylee decided to take pictures. I got the camera back and got this picture of her, stealing my granola bar

More Christmas

I actually left the house this weekend (I know, surprising! but I am slowly starting to feel a little better), and almost everything we did was Christmas related. Friday my grandma called to invite us over to help decorate for Christmas. Baylee is so excited for Christmas and had so much fun decorating our tree, I knew she'd love it at my grandparents. My grandma fed us dinner, and then Baylee "helped" Ryan decorate the the little tree. I don't know how much help she was though. She's still having trouble figuring out how to put the ornaments on the tree, so she just kept sticking them on the tree skirt. I think Ryan was getting frustrated because Baylee also kept pulling off all the ornaments he was putting on the tree. I love how patient he is with her though, and love that he puts up with her. She loves Ryan, and everytime we are around him she tries to follow him around the whole time.

Saturday I was still feeling a little better, so I actually made it out to do a little Christmas shopping. It was only to Target, and it was also grocery shopping, but hey, three less people I still have to buy for! That night we went to Mesa Temple to see the Christmas lights. It was a little on the chilly side this weekend, so yes, I am wearing a blanket in Arizona, but Baylee was cold too, so it must have been a little chilly. I know, I'm crazy.

We are excited for Christmas this year, and love that Baylee is so into it as well. It's fun to hear her singing her version of Jingle Bells, and talking about what Christmas is. As much as I want Christmas to hurry, please take your time. I'm not quite ready for it yet!

Holiday Fun

We had a great Thanksgiving with my family, including grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I've been really sick, so I never leave the house (going anywhere in the car is just asking for trouble), but I toughened up to go to my aunt and uncle's for the Thanksgiving festivities. We had fun being around all my family, and ate some very yummy food!  We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Ben still had to work Friday. Somehow Baylee knows it's Christmastime, and can't stop talking about Christmas. So, Saturday morning she helped her daddy put up our Christmas tree (I think this is the soonest we've ever put it up, usually it's a few days before Christmas or before we leave for Christmas somewhere). 

Baylee was super excited to be helping. She even carried the top part of our tree in all by herself. She likes to drag things (especailly cords) and pretend they are dogs. I constantly hear her saying "Come on, boy!" while doing this. I can't remember if that came out of her mouth while bringing in the tree or not, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Baylee stopped to show me the top of the tree.  Like the mess in the background?

Baylee and Ben setting up the tree.  Love the cheesy grins from both of them.

Baylee had a lot of fun putting the ornaments on the tree.  Since we have finished the tree she's had a lot of fun taking the ornaments off of the tree.  Now basically the top of the tree is decorated and the bottom of the tree is looking a little bare.

Baylee cuddling her and Ben's stockings.  She loves that they are basically stuffed animals.  She can be found carrying one or both around the house a lot.  She also makes sure that the tree is lit up all day long.  She talks about Christmas all the time.  If you ask her what Christmas is, she will tell you (very excited too) that "It's Jesus' birthday!" and that for Christmas Santa brings everyone presents.  She has been singing Christmas songs all day long, including the one in the video below that she made up herself.  Christmas should be fun for us this year!