Christmas Cookies

We were able to spend Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa in southern Utah and the cousins were there! On Christmas Eve we had to make cookies to leave for Santa. The kids were good sports, helping make shapes and waiting for them to bake and then frosting them.

 

Abbigale wrote the letter to Santa on behalf of all the children. (The plate of cookies represented the "best of the best" because that's what Santa deserves!)

Scripture Pictures

The Primary president in our ward asked for pictures of the children reading scriptures for a project. I had fun taking pictures of the girls in their Christmas dresses reading the Book of Mormon. The faces they made while they "read" to each other were so cute! (Also the pictures where they look like they're legitimately reading, they're actually asking each other to find certain numbers, like "4.")

Christmas Dresses 2015

I had fun wrangling the girls, trying to get their pictures today. Crazy babies just wouldn't hold still! But here are some fun shots I was able to get.

Library Christmas Party

On the day with the worst snowstorm, our local library hosted a children's Christmas party. Santa and Buddy the Elf were there and I really wanted a picture of Aurora with Santa, since she'd been asleep at the ward party. Of course, when we had our first turn in line, she was sleeping in her car seat, but about five minutes later she woke up, so we were able to get this fun picture:

And even though it's not perfect, here is the picture of all three girls with Santa.

Aurora - 11 Months

Aurora is already 11 months old! We can't believe it's almost been a year. And yet, you feel so old. You're trying to say words, you're walking like a pro, you climb up and down stairs all day long, you feed yourself just about anything you want (because you can grab just about everything) and you're holding your own against your sisters.

Speaking of words, you love saying mama and dada but you're trying to imitate other sounds, too. The other day I swear you said "fish" when we were looking at an aquarium. No signing yet, but you love when I make the signs for "more" or "all done" to teach you (which I've been doing since you were only a couple of months old). We'll see if you get them down by your birthday!

Also, your four teeth are getting you into trouble. You LOVE biting me! I have no idea why, but you love trying to nip me on the skin between my shoulder and neck.

Next time I post an update for you, you'll be one year old. Yikes!

EDIT: We did not realize until after Christmas that I'd mislabeled the board "11/13/15" instead of "12/13/15" but this IS the picture for her eleven month birthday.

Meeting Santa

We went to our old ward's Christmas party (Chubbuck 2nd Ward) and were able to catch up with old friends that we don't get to see as often. It was wonderful! They had put together a fun program about the true meaning of Christmas (it's not about the decorations, gifts, or food!) and the children sang some lovely Primary songs. They had Santa and Mrs. Claus there to greet the children, too. The girls were so happy to say hi (YAY! FINALLY!) but the baby fell asleep about three minutes before we got to the front of the line.

 I love seeing Azucena actually getting close to a Santa! We've seriously been trying to get her to do that for her entire life! Hooray!

Elder Judd's Homecoming

Elder Edgar Judd came home from his mission to Brazil on December 9th! Due to a last minute visa issue, he surprised us by coming back in time for Christmas! Our family drove down to Salt Lake to be ready when he came back from his flight. Aurora's sign said "nice to meet you" with greetings in over a dozen languages (since male missionaries serve for two years, Edgar hadn't met her yet).

 After we saw that his flight landed, it was just the waiting game for him to come around that corner and start down the escalator. Mom saw him immediately at the top of the stairs, yelled "THERE HE IS!" and ran to meet him. It was awesome. Hugs all around!

 

 Since he came home mid-morning and didn't have to be at home until nine o'clock that night, we decided to spend some time together at Temple Square. We showed him Clark's tag in the north visitor's center and chatted with some of the missionaries serving there. Plus, the girls wanted to "see Jesus!" so we took him to the Christus statue upstairs.

 It's so wonderful to have him home from his mission and be able to Skype or text or call him! We love Edgar!

(Bonus picture of Aurora at Temple Square for the first time.)

Adelaide turns 3!

 This adorable daughter of mine turned three years old! Here is some information about our
wonderful child!

Birthday dinner: Pizza Pie Cafe
Birthday dessert: double chocolate brownies
Birthday activity: went to the dollar theater to see "Minions"
Favorite color: pink
Favorite dessert: cookies
Favorite cartoons: Daniel Tiger, Little Einsteins, Doc McStuffins, Blue's Clues
Favorite movies: Frozen, Snow White, Cinderella
Favorite toys: camera, puzzles
Favorite songs: the Lion King soundtrack, "Black Spider" soundtrack (music school songs)

Thanksgiving 2015

We were lucky enough to be able to head to Cedar City for the holiday. I was happy to celebrate with my parents for the first time in years and the girls loved being with their Grandma and Grandpa.

 Azucena is unimpressed with her meal.

 Aurora ate everything. Like, rolls, potatoes, yams, turkey, baby food, etc. Yeesh.

 The drumstick was almost as large as her head! Huzzah!

Dad used a nice orange and apple seasoning on the turkey, made a brussel sprout slaw, homemade crescent rolls, and a horseradish yam thing. It was all delicious!

California Trip!

So, I randomly entered a contest to win tickets to the BYU v SJSU football game and won! I felt so blessed, especially because this year was our fifth anniversary and our plans to take a small vacation together had fallen through. Alaska Airlines was one of the sponsors so we were given a pair of round trip tickets and, of course, tickets to the football game itself. We were able to leave and return whenever we wanted but Clark had to work and we had to find sitters for the girls (Clark's parents were awesome and helped us out) so we ended up making it a 24 hour trip! It was our first trip alone since Azucena was born. The morning flight was so early we saw the sun rise over a sea of clouds--gorgeous!

We flew into San Francisco, so we took advantage of that to visit the Golden Gate Bridge and do a session at the Oakland temple (where my parents were sealed). It was a great morning!

After leaving San Francisco, we headed down to San Jose where we spent the afternoon with Janette, Kyle, and Steve. We got to chat and catch up, see Kyle do some karate sparring, and Janette and Steve were kind enough to treat us to a great dinner! Thank you!

The game was pretty late, so we didn't head out until around 7:30 at night, but we got to the game in time for all the opening ceremonial things (national anthem, coin toss, etc.) and found out that our seats were pretty great! We were right in the middle of the BYU fan section, and only a few rows back.

After the game, we stuck around for a while because the players have a tradition of coming to the fan section at away games and giving high-fives to all of them. Clark loved it! He had specific compliments for most of the players and I know he loved being able to have contact with them.

I am so grateful we were blessed with this trip! Alaska Airlines and BYU Football were so awesome to have the giveaway and we really, really appreciated the time with just the two of us and being able to have fun in California.

Halloween Costumes

Halloween has come and gone but the girls really enjoyed celebrating this year! We went to the ISU trunk-or-treat Wednesday night, the Clarion Inn Boo Fest Thursday, the Chubbuck library Friday night, and to the downtown trick or treat walk Saturday afternoon before heading out for candy in our neighborhood and going to the Allen's Halloween party. Wednesday and Thursday the girls wore their back up costumes (Sofia and Anna) and since both were outside Aurora wore her mummy onesie.
Friday and Saturday the girls wore their real costumes (which were picked up by Abuelita and brought to us by Mom last week): Azucena was Princess Belle and Adelaide was Princess Snow White. Aurora used her Cinderella costume that she wore to Disneyland. Azucena had a really rough go with her costume. I had to have layers underneath so that none of the fabrics or stitching would "give owies."