Christmas Card 2012

This is for any of those that we were not able to get Christmas Cards out to this year. We still love you! We hope that everyone had a very enjoyable Christmas and took time to think about the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

(It looks kind of orange here, but it was red, promise!)

A Little Pre Christmas Celebration

This year we went to Utah for Christmas to be with my family (more on that later). We deiced to invite Tyler's parents over for a little pre-Christmas present opening. We gave Addelyn her presents that were to large to take to Utah and opened some from Mom and Dad B.

Addy's main present from us this year was a dollhouse. She is in love with it! We got it at Costco and it looks a lot bigger in our tiny apartment.

Preschool Christmas Program

One of the benefits of having Addelyn in a Christian Preschool is the fact that they can teach about Jesus.  The Christmas program was so cute!  Addy was Mary and did such a wonderful job!  It was so fun to watch her.

Addelyn Nicole

This girl never ceases to amaze me.  At three and a half, she is reading!  Not just reading, comprehending as well.  No idea how this happened.  Last night Tyler went into her room to get her pajamas and diaper on (she can read, but still wears a diaper to bed).  On her bedroom floor she had spelled out the word "BED" with letters from her alphabet puzzle.  He thought I had done it with her and proceeded to ask Addy what it said.  She then sounded out the "B" "ED" and then put it together to say "BED".  He called me into the room and we proceeded to create words with many different endings and beginnings.  After she sounded out a word she would say what it meant.  For example: "WET!  like daddy when he exercises!"  I'm not sure what we are going to do with her smartness.  Hopefully she won't use it against us when she gets older.  :) 

Addelyn also had her first real phone conversation with her Nana R last week.  For some reason she refuses to talk on the phone!  She will pretend ALL the time, but when it comes time to do the real thing she freezes up and won't say a word.  However, she talked to my mom and carried on a conversation without being all shy about it.  So proud! :)

Family Pictures

We got family pictures done in Mid-November. Good timing, because it was starting to get super cold and there were still pretty leaves. They turned out pretty good. I wish our faces weren't so washed out, but other than that I am fairly happy with them.

"Tis the Season

I love Christmas time!  When I pick Addelyn up from preschool or nursery I ask her what she learned about and her answer is "Baby Jesus being born!" every time.  I love that!  It's also fun to start traditions with her this year.  We got an Advent Calendar and she loves it!  She knows what day comes next and she knows that when we get to Day 21 we will be leaving for Nana R's house!  Addy loves the candy inside the doors and has enjoyed the activities.  We have gone to festival of lights, made sugar cookies, watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional, went to our Church Christmas Party, made snowflakes, and have more activities coming up soon!  She knows that when Dad gets home for lunch is when she gets to open it and that is now the first thing she does when he walks in the door.  We've also started the "Elf on the Shelf" tradition.  Addelyn named our elf, his name is Fred.  She loves finding him every morning when she wakes up!  She screams, "there he is!" and then usually laughs.  It's hasn't necessarily changed her listening habits, which is what we were hoping for, but he's fun to have around any way.  Sometimes he's a bit mischievous, but not very often.

This is Addelyn and one of her new friends, Max, she loves playing with him!

 Following Santa around before he headed up to the stage. 

 She cut everyone in line and sat on his lap before I was ready to take a picture, so she got to do it twice!

 In her "Christmas sweater".

 Ready for festival of lights.  I was really impressed with it for such a small town! 

Welcome to the World Halle Paige Bendixsen

Tyler's brother Cameron and his wife, Camilla, had their second baby girl! She is so cute! Camilla will be here with both the girls in just a little over a week! Can't wait to meet her! Being an aunt is fun. Halle was born on November 26, 2012 at 10:15 pm. She weighed 7 lbs 11 oz and was 20.5 inches long. Congrats to Cameron, Camilla, and Kennedy on the new addition.