Christmas with the Carlile's!

We had a great Christmas. On Christmas Eve we attempted our tradition of matching PJs, but I'm not very adept and the first pair I made for Abe were way too little (nightmares from last year) and the second pair were huge. In fact they looked like MC Hammer pants. Needless to say, no one else got jammies this year.
I'm grateful that you can't see me trying to get Abe to dance. If you look close you can see my feet kicking.
This video is Abe's first reaction to Santa's loot. You can see in his face that he just woke up. I love the talking we captured. He babbles like that CONSTANTLY. It is so cute. We have a longer video we are going to post on YouTube for interested parties, I'll post the link once we have it up.
It was just such a wonderful day to relax and spend together. Thanks to G & G Carlile, G & G Tucker, the Davis', and Cole Brock and Zane for all the gifts you sent. We loved them. Below are some of our favorite pictures of the day. Ken recieved a weed whacker and rake from Santa and I got a bread machine, not only from Santa, but a second one from my mom! Luckily Santa saved his reciepts and I can return one for something else.

The first present he went for under the tree was this plane.

One tired kid. Helping Dad open the Little People Zoo. Thanks G & G Carlile! The zoo is awesome. We all loved playing with it. This is Abe's awesome apron from the Davis family. We all got one, they are great. We can't wait to use our Paula Dean kid's cookbook too!I love the frog my cousins sent me! Nice choice Cole, Brock, and Zane!This present was addressed to Abe, but I think it was more for Ken than Abe. (If you can't see, the shirt reads: I've got an awesome Dad)Reading my new book. My mom made these awesome animal pillows for all the grandkids. Abraham loved his monkey!Fresh bread on Christmas! I loved my present!

Tag

I've been tagged several times, on several different tags and I must admit, I've never done any of them. My sister in law Andrea tagged me on this and I've seen a lot of people do it and it is pretty fun, so here you go. It is the 4th picture in your 4th folder and the 6th picture in your 6th folder. Since Abraham starts with an "A" all my first few files are about him (Abraham birth, Abraham 2007, Abraham 2008, Abraham 1st birthday, etc). That is no fun, so I went from the bottom up. Much more interesting.

This is (duh) from our wedding. Ken and I were married June 16, 2006 in the Bountiful, Utah temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.


So, this was after the first day of our vacation to Utah and Texas last August. Abraham was so tired from flying and jet lag that he just conked out. We completely changed his diaper and put him in jammies and he never woke up!

Gingerbread (aka Graham Cracker) Houses

On Sunday we hosted a big Home Teaching Extravaganza at our house. We had an interactive Nativity with the kids and then decorated Gingerbread Houses. Yes, we use graham crackers, not real gingerbread...it is just SO much easier that way. Then the men played some fuze ball and the women chatted and the kids ran wild and played. We had a really fun evening, although Abe lasted all of 10 seconds in making his house. What's the point of putting it on the house if you can eat it, right? He loved having so many friends over at his house though!This was as good as we could get with the whole Nativity together. Abe and the other little girl were the sheep for the shepards. It was too cute, but they weren't too sure about what was going on.
Yummy candy!!

Happy Birthday Ken!

Saturday was Ken's birthday. I decided to celebrate by having birthday week. Starting on Monday, every night I cooked one of Ken's favorite meals for dinner and he got a little present and a candle to blow out. He was able to have Friday off work, and although he spent a good part of his day trying to renew his driver's license at the DMV, it was nice to have him around. For his birthday we went to lunch at Red Robin (they send you a coupon for a free meal on your birthday) and then got a babysitter and went to a Christmas party at a friend's house that evening. He got some nice presents from both of our parents as well. Instead of cake, Ken got a cherry pie. Oh, and just to share some new found wisdom, sticking wax candles into a hot pie is NOT a good idea. Happy Birthday Ken, we love you!

The cherry pie! I even whipped him up some cream for it, yum yum!

Ken and Abe's favorite way to spend time lately, sitting in the rocking chair reading books together. The little dog Abe is holding is his new best friend. He loves to carry "dogger" around. I think it is adorable.

Gordon and Jessica go Marbles!

My brother Gordon and his wife Jessica flew into town last week for an early Christmas. We've had so much fun having them around. Today we went with them and Tami to the Marbles museum. We had SO much fun. Abe would cry when he had to leave areas because he thought we were going home! His favorite was a little red car that you could sit in and pretend to drive. No matter how many fun things I'd show him, we'd always end back up at that red car. It was a great day and I can't wait to go back and take Ken with us!

Tis' the Season

We were a little behind in putting up our tree, but figured that December 1st was as good a time as any, so for FHE tonight we broke out Christmas at the Carlile house. We started just a little before Abe's bedtime and let him participate in just putting up the tree. He was anxious at first until we turned on the lights and then he was fascinated.

After we put him to bed, Ken and I continued with ornaments and other decorations. The missionaries showed up (and Abe woke up) just in time to celebrate with eggnog.

Can I just say, I know our tree isn't the fanciest or best put together, but I just love it! I love getting out the carefully packed ornaments and arranging them all together.

Each year I hit the after Christmas sales and get something new for the next year. Last year I got place settings for the dining room table and I was so excited to put it out this year.

Happy Holidays everyone!