Christmas

It is hard to know where to start because this month has gone by so quickly.
We finally did our christmas pictures with Brooke and it turned out great. So I am way behind on getting them out. We were doing the South Beach diet for a couple weeks. This was suppose to help us look a little more in shape for our picture. It was hard not eatting sugar for over 2 weeks during the holidays! Especially with every night with parties and goodies. But I made it! So we put off our family picture until the last minute. Everything else this holiday season was actually on time. We got the Christmas tree up right after Thanksgiving, thanks to Dale's sister kids (Tauni). That was awesome they loved decorating and I had my tree up in minutes. Sweet! Lights on the house were up a couple of weeks before Christmas and the wreath on the door. I bought most of my presents 3 weeks before Christmas. So this year was smooth sailing except for the cards. Also Costco made our picture a little dark so we got another 50 free.... so now we have 150 cards! Let me know if you want one!
It was easy with our kids because they are still young. They are just excited to get candy and a toy to play with. This is the first year Eliza understood Santa and the whole present thing. So I don't know who was more excited to see Santa this year Eliza or I. My ward had a Christmas party at the Bishop's barn. Santa came from the sky in a decorated crane. So it was so funny to see the kids scream as Santa came from the sky. Wow, it is so fun having kids! I think I actually teared up watching them freak out. Ok, so I am a little overly emotional! I practiced with Eliza to talk to Santa about getting her make-up. I laid out the plan for her so she could have it ready. She then chased Santa down as 150 people made a line. She butted in front of the whole line and ran up to Santa to tell him what she wanted. Afterwards she told me Santa said ok to make-up. Way fun!
We got to go to the Christmas lights with both of our families. It was fun but crazy bec there was too many kids and a couple of them got lost. So it was hard to relax and enjoy. But the sunset on the way to the temple was awesome. Arizona has the best sunsets!
We got to go to Eliza's preschool party. Ms. Amylin and Sherri had the kids sing, Rudolph, Silent Night, Up on the housetop, We wish you a Merry Christmas, and one more I can't think of. It was cute. I didn't get a good view so my pictures aren't that great. Then afterward Eliza got to see Santa. It was kind of funny bec it was one of the Dads. So one of the kids reconized him and said that is my Dad. So Eliza came home and said I saw Santa and it was Dad. We decided to take some pictures of us in front of our tree before the preschool party. So wa la!
The big new is that Dale bought me a van for Christmas! He was sweet and I had no idea that he was planning this. He sent me on a treasure hunt on Christmas starting at my house and ending on a maze at his parent's house. I am still in shock and awe of Dale for pulling this off (plus his little elf Suzette). Plus he got me exactly what I wanted! I am so not into having payments so he was able to buy it for the cost of what my car would sell for. So I am excited to start driving!!!
Sorry no pictures yet!