Second Christmas!

My sister came into town today from Minnesota. She wasn't able to come for Christmas because she is the new man at her work. Adam had come in last week, and came back from St. George to be with her at our house. She got in this afternoon (after many delays and stupidness on the part of the airlines) but her bags were not on the same flight as her. So finally at 10 o'clock at night, we were able to have Second Christmas! We had been teasing that we needed to have second Christmas because she wouldn't be here for the real thing, so we saved presents to her and Adam and they brought theirs for us as well.

The last present Nat had my mom open was a music box that said something about grandmothers on the top. She thought nothing of it (because I was having a baby so of course she was going to become a grandma) until she opened it. Inside was an ultrasound picture of Nat's baby!!

She's due July 24th so our babies will only be 4 months apart! We're all so excited and feel so blessed to welcome both of these long-awaited babies into the family.

New Year's Japanese Dinner

My Mom, my Dad, and both of dad's brothers went to Japan on their missions. My mom and two uncles all actually served in the same mission. So needless to say, they have shared the love of Japanese food with the rest of the family and their children. For New Year's this year, we all got together with the Walker side and had our "traditional Japanese dinner". I use quotes because I know it's not really traditional Japanese, but it's our traditional food. Everyone made gyoza (pot stickers) so we had three different varieties, and then we had egg drop soup and ham fried rice. It was so yummy! I loved it.

I also loved getting to see family. We don't get together nearly as often as we used to, and we're all growing up and starting our own families, but it's always fun to see each other.

Wendi & Breckin - 9 months, Marci & Kamri - 1 month, Me - 6 1/2 months

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve was pretty low key this year. We just stayed home and played games and hung out. My brother-in-law Adam came into town that day and came over to hang out before going to St. George to be with his family. I won a game called Easy Money and Brian snapped this picture of me.

Christmas Eve & Christmas

Because Christmas was on a Sunday this year, the Glad's chose to celebrate it on Christmas Eve. So we got up early and headed over to their house to open presents and have breakfast. Unfortunately, no pictures were taken. (Probably for the best as none of us really got ready.)

Our big presents this year were a new camera lens for Brian's camera. He convinced me he needed it by saying it would be perfect for taking pictures of a new baby. Sold. And he got me a Kindle Touch. I love it!
After presents and breakfast we hung out for a while, but then had to head home because we still had the Barlow Christmas party to get ready for.

Many pictures were taken with Brian's new camera but I'm sure you don't want to see them all. Here is just one to document how big I was and that my mom and I have the same faces. :)

We had an ugly sweater contest (which I refused to participate in because who wants to be wearing an ugly sweater when they already feel huge?) and a gingerbread house building contest. Having Brian the architect on our team definitely helped.
We had the traditional pork roast dinner and white elephant gift exchange. And then of course brownie pudding and Christmas carols. I love traditions!

Christmas morning we woke up really early so we could talk to my brother Brad in Madagascar. It was so good to hear his voice. He sounded so happy.

Then we had breakfast with the Walkers, opened our presents then went to church. Then we went to the Glad's ward. After church we headed over to G&G Merrell's to spend time with the extended family.

Christmas Parties

Dec 20th - Lorrie Merrell's Christmas Party - We headed out to Draper for this party. Lots of good food, and entertainment provided by everyone who came. (That's how you paid for your dinner, by performing.) Brian and I sang in a last minute quintet.

Dec. 21st - Madrigal Christmas Party - In High School, Brian was a Madrigal. I was in choir, so I also go to know the Madrigals pretty well, and following Brian around to his performances probably aided in this. Anyway, we haven't been able to attend any Madrigal get together's since we got married because Brian's always had school and projects getting in the way. It was a ton of fun to see everyone again and just laugh all night long.

Dec. 22nd - Gingerbread Houses w/the Bowen's - Ok, so it's not a party per se, but we had fun anyway. We drove up to Layton and made gingerbread houses while watching Elf. You can't see it in the picture but Brian also built a car out of candy. I know I'm a bad wife, because this is the first time we've done this activity since we got married. And yes, I know I married an architect. He had a blast. This will now be something we do every year.

Dec. 23rd - Glad Christmas Party - Soup, Stories and Singing. We had a good time chatting with family and catching up. We had the traditional "non-traditional" Christmas stories read by the uncles and then had our gift exchange and caroling.