The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

We stayed home for Christmas this year, and my parents and Blake came to celebrate with us! This picture is of Sariah 'reading' all the names on the presents. It was hard to keep Sariah out of the all the gifts, but luckily she just liked to transfer them around the house, not tear them open. She didn't know what wonderful surprises lurked behind the wrappings.

Ah, my beloved sander I got from my folks. Love it! Thanks guys!

It's was so wonderful to be with Mom, Dad and Blake for Christmas. Good times!

This is the present that River decorated and wrapped for Papa Brent. Pretty snazzy.

Grammy and Sariah

Daddy and the babe. Too cute.

The girls had so much fun with Uncle Blake. After he went home Sariah kept asking, "Where Unca Blake go?"River and Sariah both got big art kits from Santa. And it's a good thing too, because they burn through crayons and paint like crazy. It seemed like I was buying crayons more often than groceries!

White Family Christmas Party

My favorite part of the Christmas party is THE NAVITY PLAY. I love that Cameron's family has this tradition. River really, really wanted to be a shepherd. Doesn't she look adorable? Heck, they all look adorable. Aftynn, the lovely angel, bringing good tidings of joy. River and Gabby, shepherds watching their flock.

Sariah was a cute little manger animal. Like a horse or a camel or something else cute!This picture kills me. Sariah, I mean, the camel, is crying her head off, and then there is the donkey, who is pooped out from trodding all the way to Bethlehem. The animals always get the hardest jobs. Ah, gotta love kids.

This is Jacob in an awesome wiseman costume.

Mary and the shepherd are tight.

Santa also came to the party. River asked him for "a pink purse with a heart on the front, a it has lots of toys inside." We actually saw Santa 4 times this year and River asked for the same thing everytime.

Sariah wouldn't sit on Santa's lap and cried when I tried to put her on his lap. At home Sariah loves putting on our Santa hat and saying "Ho Ho Ho!" so I don't know why she was scared of Santa. She did like the present he gave her, however.

I Painted My Chandelier Lime Green....and other fun stuff.

What can I say? Green makes me happy. I actually LOVE the way it turned out.

Oh! I can say thank you to Cam for going along with my crazy schemes. Thank you!

I also loved the way this earring-hanger turned out. I made it for a friend's Christmas present. Now I want one for myself.

I am sorting through a MASSIVE amount of Christmas photos and videos, but I did download these pics of the gingerbread house River and her grandparents made. A little ramshackle, but cute none-the-less.

I love the pictures of River and Papa. They are ALWAYS silly!

More Christmas photos to follow. Sigh.

Our Family Sculpture: A Masterpiece

Our neighbors helped the girls build this snowman replica of our family. Adorable.

Our neighbors are amazing.

Today they took us sledding up at Sister Grimm's house. We had a blast.

Then Came the Indians...

River loves her pre-school, and Sariah loves it when she comes HOME from preschool and has to stick close to River for the next hour or so.

I had to post this picture of Sariah and Daddy. It's their ritual every Sunday afternoon to have a nice long nap together!

I still think she has Cameron's mouth!

Our Pilgrim and Wheels on the Bus!

Thanksgiving in preschool is so cool! The kids got to pretend to be pilgrims and have their own Thanksgiving Feast. I just love River as a pilgrim! I asked her what her favorite part of the feast was and she said, "The Hamburgers." (they were really turkey sandwiches on a roll...maybe we've been going to McDonald's too much.)Speaking of McDonald's, Sariah can say it perfectly every time we drive by. She can also say all of our neighbors first and last names, but not River's name. What?! She'll look out the window and say, "Danny Johnson", "Nathan" "Leah", but we can't get her to say "River". Maybe it's all the r's? She has been using more sentences too. Such as;
"Where daddy go, mom?"
"Again, mom!"
"I drink too. I drink too."
"I want treat too."
"Clown scary." (Cameron has an old jack in the box she is terrified/in love with. She loves to watch it pop out, but doesn't want to be too close when it does.)
"No, mine!"


Sariah says "Flag big!"
I say, "Yes. Is that a big flag?"
Sariah says, "No. Little, little."
I say "Oh, a little flag."
Sariah says, "No! Big flag. Big!"

I love it when kids start to talk. It's so amazing how fast they learn. River took this picture of Sariah. Is it just me, or do her eyes look green in this picture?

This is just a picture of the girls playing in the snow. It was falling so beautifully and slow...

Another of Sariah's favorite things is a Sesame Street Monsters on the Bus book. River loved this book too, in fact I have video of River singing the same song when she was Sariah's age.

River has been saying some funny things lately too.

Me: Thanks for waiting so patiently. River: That's my pleasure!

Me: How was nursery? River: Nursery is fun, but not as fun as candy.

Cam: I'm going to trap you! River: Dad, you are the best entrapper!

River: Mom, look at this Thanksgiving turkey I drew. It's not going to get eaten. It's going to join the circus and run on top of a big ball.

Halloween and Running

Happy Halloween!!!

River wanted to be a witch this year and she wouldn't hear of anything else. She even had the witch cackle down. Eee hee hee hee hee! I painted her fingernails black but she scrapped it all off because she "wanted to be a nice witch, not a mean witch!" River with all her friends at the preschool parade. They marched around and sang us Halloween songs. It was adorable if I do say so myself. For some reason all of River's friends are boys. Lincoln is the Mario, Morgan is the Wolverine, and Canyon was the Red Ninja.This is Sariah and River at the ward trunk-or-treat. Sariah looked so cute in the ballerina costume in the first picture, but it was too cold to wear on Halloween. It was raining so we decided a warm, snugly, tiger costume would be better for the occasion. Sariah is really starting to talk now and whenever we saw a monster or a ghost she would point at them and say "Scarwey, scarwey".

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The Halloween Half Marathon, Provo Utah

I ran the Halloween Half with my friend Tylee and her sister Shayna. We had to get up at 5:00 in the morning to drive down to Provo for the race. When we arrived there was a huge line of people(the race had over 2500 runners) waiting to get on the buses that would take us to the start. We stood in line in the freezing cold for almost 2 hours, but it was worth it! Once the race started we ran past the tunnels and Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon. It was beautiful! We dressed up in Gothic garb because we thought it would be easiest to run in. I mean, who doesn't have black running clothes? There were other runners in full costumes including a pink mad-hatter, Rainbow Bright, a bunny, Princess Leah, and a lot of superheros. I kind of wish I ran with a cape. That would be sweet. Cameron and the girls drove down to watch us cross the finish line. I was so happy they came to support me. This last picture is funny because Sariah is kicking River with her boot. River's face kills me. Poor girl!