Merry Christmas!!!!

This year we got to spend the holiday at home. It was nice not having to travel and to relax at home in our pajama's. We first awoke to Rylee's little pitter-patter of feet into our bedroom with a sweet-as-can-be voice saying, "Eat, eat". To her it was any other day. We first had a wonderful big egg and hashbrown breakfast, my favorite...can eat it for any meal.We then proceeded to the christmas tree for a little opening of presents. I got Rylee a $1 little pony and Jon got her a kids laptop...go figure. She loved them both!!! She is still at the age where what she gets and how much does not make any difference. GREAT AGE!!! We then got dressed and took Rylee to the park. Boy was it cold!!! We went on the slides and climbed up to hang. We had a nice relaxing morning.

By the time we came back from the park. Grandpa Nick and Grandma Kathy were there waiting with a huge Dora the Explorer balloon. Rylee loved it! As soon as Christie, Dennis and Blake got to the house we had a big holiday dinner with ham and cheese potatoes. Yum Yum! Grandpa Nick decided to be sneaky and dress up as Santa with a bag full of goodies just for Rylee. She was a bit timid at first, but soon warmed up to him since he had all the fun stuff. She loved that Santa showed up!!!

Here is a picture with Blake! It was fun getting Jon's family together even for a short time!!!

New Lens

I had to showcase a few new pics with Jon's new lens. He loves it and it does a fabulous job!

Of course the bathtub is the best place to photograph...when you're this age.

Zoolander face

Technology

Technology is such a wonderful thing this day and age. With just a couple touches of a button you can talk to someone immediately on the other side of the world or receive mail through the computer instead of having to wait for snail mail. But, I would have to admit, it is pretty exciting when you get a letter in the snailmail box with your name on it. Jon gives me a hard time because I never pick up the mail. Why bother, it's all for Jon..."exciting" bills. Rylee has really turned into a technologic goo-roo. She loves anything that's electronic. Here she is playing a game on my laptop. Baba do you recognize the stool? She fits perfectly up to our coffee table.

Here she is laughing it up behind my laptop!!! She is so silly!!!

Sammy's Graduation

Sammy graduated from San Jose State University. What an accomplishment!!! We all are so very proud of him...especially his wife Renee. (Renee)They are such hard workers and everything is finally falling into place for the two of them with degree's and a career!!! The pictures here don't do it justice, but it was a "to-the-point" ceremony...zip, zip, zip...just the way we like it!! (We could bearly see him also)

Here is Jon and I, goofing off as usual. :-)

Chef's Little Helper

Rylee can be such a good helper in the kitchen when cooking. She loves to be in on all the action whenever she can. She can stir and turn on my mixer. She especially likes to watch the mixer go round and round and round.

Daddy's Socks

For some reason Rylee is really into socks. Not her own, mind you, but Jon's. She loves to put his socks on and off. Here she is with his socks on over her jean pants. It's crazy how the foot part of the sock can go all the way up her leg. She loves prancing around in these things!!!

Family Christmas Photo

We had an eventful day getting Rylee to smile on cue. She is in the phase of where you say, "Now say cheese", and she does the overly dramatic "cheese" face.

We had such a great time trying to get it just perfect!! We look forward to this wonderful xmas season and wish everyone all the best!!!!!Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Thanksgiving Mess!!!

This had to be the "Thanksgiving to Remember"...without pictures, thankfully. To start the holiday off, Oma burned the sweet potatoes over night, because sleep deprivation took over. The hard working woman forgot to turn the oven timer "on". We all awoke to a wonderful aroma of burnt-ness!!! Aimee and Mat forgot the vegetable but remembered the salad.

I guess they have an excuse: Aimee is 35 weeks pregnant with another girl, not to mention they have 1.5 year old twin girls already.

Grandpa Little forgot to bring the pies. "No pumpkin pie?", Jon said, "This can't be Thanksgiving!". So to improvize, Grandpa went to McDonald's to get the $1.00 apple pies. One for each one of us. McDonald's and a fire extingisher on hand saved the day!!!! Thanks for all your hard work in the kitchen...everyone!!! Thank goodness we all have a great sense of humor or we wouldn't have been laughing as hard as we did!!! Soon after we ate the majority departed for Utah for Brittany's second bridal shower put on by her in-laws.

Aaron & Brittany's Wedding

Brittany (the baby sister) had a bridal/lingerie shower at Oma's house and we had such a great laugh! Too bad I didn't get any pictures of her in her dress-up outfit. The Washington crew were able to attend and that made the event even more...eventful!

(Brittany & Aaron)

That same night we went to China Chili's for the rehearsal dinner. The food was great and what a great video of the "Life of Aaron and Brittany".

(Grandpa & Baba)(Aunt Becky & Aunt Kim) - 2 wild and crazy girls!

(Aunt Janet, Uncle Kevin, Mckinna)

We then departed for a little good night sleep before the main event. The morning was hectic with getting ready...you know how girls are. Jessica did a fabulous job on Brittany's hair and there was no crying from the baby sister!!!! Yipee! She couldn't have planned it better!
(The Family...minus Tommy - still in Uruguay)(Girls will be girls!!!)

The bride was gorgeous and the groom was handsome. The ceremony concluded with "Yes Sir, I do" from Brittany. There was food and dancing. Thank goodness the grooms cake wasn't a "bleeding armadillo" (Steel Magnolias) because we were a bit worried. The little grand-girls had a fabulous time dancing the night away. Rylee didn't want to leave. By the way, what would I have done without a hot glue gun!!

Congrats to Aaron & Brittany!!!

Blake's Band Works!

If any of you have heard Blake drum, you'd be impressed!!! For such a little guy he has a lot of power in those hands. This is one thing that definitely brings Blake to life!!! He can drum with the best of the celebrities!!! Here we are in Berkely at one of his concerts. He did a fab job and even tried his hand on the bass guitar. Though it was loud, Rylee loved dancing to all the songs!!! Good job BLAKE!!!!

Tattoos!!!!

So if any of you know Jon, he has been dying to get tattooed sleeves up both arms. I tell him I love him just the way he is, but who listens to me. So one day when Jon was on the computer and studying hard for his engineers test, Rylee and I decided to get a bit creative with her washable markers. I then asked him if he liked tattoos on his daughter. He said he LOVED THEM!!!! We had a great laugh!!!!

Happy Birthday Jon!!!

Well, it was Jon's 29th birthday and boy he is almost over the hill. His family decided to come up for the day and celebrate with him. Blake and Rylee had a great time chasing each other and kicking around the balls in the backyard. Here she is pictured as "One Eyed Willie" from Goonies!!!

We then had dinner at Strings and back to our house for Jon's favorite...German Chocolate Cake!!!! Soon after Rylee was serenading us with her singing and dancing. "Once there was a snowman, snowman, snowman, snowman....". She loves to do all the hand motions especailly to Jon's favorite song,

"I'm so glad when Daddy comes home, glad as I can be.

I clap my hands and shout for joy and climb up on his knee.

Put my arms around his neck, hug him tight like this.

Pat his cheeks then give him what, a great big kiss!!!"

It was great day!!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

We started off the celebration by going to a Trunk or Treat with our ward the weekend previous. There was a chili and cornbread cook off!!! I brought cornbread, which was fabulous I might add!!! I didn't end up winning because they only did prizes for the chili, bummer. So I got Rylee all dolled up with make-up and glitter, the works!!! She loved puting on make-up especially the lipstick!!!! Such a girl. She was a pink fairy for the evening. After eating all the various chili's and cornbreads, the kids played games and then as it got dark, the adults opened the back of their decorated trunks and handed out candy to all the passer-bys.

On Halloween, we went to a 1st birthday party for Addie!!! All the kids dressed up in their costumes and looked so cute!!! Rylee had a great time with all the other kids...watching them eat the cake. She suprising was not interested in eating the cake at all.

After a long afternoon nap, Rylee was ready for the night. Again she got all dolled up with pigtails, bows, glitter, wand, make-up and costume!!! She looked so cute in person. She didn't mind the outfit except for the fact that it was a little itchy. Here I am getting more and more pregnant. Moving around isn't as easy as it used to be!!!She loved going from house to house to see what she could fill her bucket up with. She refused to let either Jon or I hold her bucket full of candy because she thought she'd never get it back...despite the fact she could bearly lift the thing.Here she is pictured with her heavy bucket of candy. Proud halloweener!!!!! Some people were not home and just left out a bucket of candy for the kids to take. Rylee didn't want to listen when we said, "Take just one". She interpreted it to mean a couple handfuls. Since it was getting cold and late, we decided to venture back home and inventory her candy. We let her have 2 pieces. She chose a butterfinger and a sucker. She loved the butterfinger better. The next day I took her remaining candy to work. She never knew and still hasn't asked for it. Thank heavens!!!!

Generation of Aprons

I left the kitchen for a few minutes this evening and Rylee decided to dig through some drawers. She came up with the apron my mom had made me when I was a little girl. She wanted to put it on and she thought she was hot stuff. My mom had also made the very same apron for my older sister Aimee, but her's is blue. Remember???? I can't believe we used to be this little.