Christmas, Our Anniversary, and the 'Stache'

We had a really good Christmas this year, we were very spoiled! Russell got some power tools, I got clothes and some fun cooking stuff and Josie got a doll named Sophia. She loves her doll and tries to change her diaper, brush her teeth and feed her with a bottle, she is a very good mommy. These two pictures show how excited Josie was for Christmas.

Tara and Josie relaxing on Christmas Eve.

Hanging out with Nicole.

Our presents from Santa.

Russell in his new Timberland boots (yes Afton he got another pair). Tara in her new fishing waders.

Nicole got lots of pop and movies, she was very happy.

Josie's mad face, she wants the camera yet again.

Russell and I celebrated our 3rd Anniversary on the 28th.

The happy couple.

And last but not least. You may have noticed that Russ has been growing a beard. He started about 2 months ago but the other day he decided it was time to shave...

however he decided to leave this gem on his upper lip and is keeping it until after church on Sunday, lucky me.

Our Christmas Card

Make a Smilebox greeting

I know this is super cheesy but I thought we'd wait a couple years until we send out real Christmas cards. Enjoy!

These are a few of her favorite things...

Chips or as we call them chippys...
cell phones...

a comfy chair...

hiding in the closet...

tara's banana chair...

playing in the diaper box...

bath time...

taking pictures with mom, kind of.

Something she doesn't like... taking pictures with Santa. We went to the mall last week to sit on Santa's lap. The 'elf' told us that to take our own picture we had to stand in this crappy spot. They're trying to encourage people to buy pictures because if Santa doesn't make enough money then he can't come back next year. So this is what we ended up with.

The next night we had our ward christmas party. Josie didn't like sitting on Santa's lap there either.

I am Thankful for this Girl

I gave Josie her first purse a few weeks ago, she loves to carry things around in it, especially her cell phone. She likes to walk around and find random things around the house and stuff them inside. Sometimes I find tampons and pads in it, silly girl.

She wants the camera.

This picture is courtesy of Tara (my sister). This is Josie's scrunched nose smile. I haven't been able to get a good picture of it.

Tara came home for a few days last weekend. We went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Then on Friday Tara and I went to Costco for a much needed sample trip.

We celebrated Nicole's Birthday and ate costco chocolate cake, the best cake ever.
And celebrated Tara's Birthday.

I made Tara Black and White cookies....

and Nanaimo Bars.

Russ, Josie, and I celebrated Thanksgiving at the Mower's. We weren't able to stay long but we had a great time and ate yummy food. I made Banana Cream Pie and it was suprisingly delicious. Later we tried to play cards but we were interupted by babies.

My attempt at getting a picture with Josie, she wasn't in the mood. (Oh, I colored my hair this month, I am brunette again.)

Josie was exhausted from our quick trip to Grandma and Grandpa's and slept the whole way home.

Josie loves to go from room to room and pull everything out of the drawers. It's so much fun, especially for Mom.

She wants the camera again.

Happy Halloween and other things...

We've had a somewhat uneventful October. Earlier this month we went to the park and fed the ducks, well Russ and I fed the ducks, Josie just ate the bread.

Josie is getting quite the personality, sometimes she is just out of control and I feel like I'm contantly picking up after her. She loves to pull all the wipes out, throw diapers everywhere, eat toilet paper, and throw things in the garbage, ie. my cell phone.

Last week Josie and Russ were really sick. We took Josie to the hospital on Saturday because she had a really high fever and had trouble breathing, we found out she had Croup. She hated the hospital and freaked out anytime anyone even walked into the room. Needless to say the 3+ hours we spent there were fun. She has since recovered but still doesn't have her voice back. Russ and I think she sounds like Chunk from Goonies, especially when she cries.

When Josie was feeling a little better we took her for a walk downtown to enjoy the fallness, all she wanted to do was push the stroller the whole time, we didn't get very far.

For Halloween we went to our ward party on Friday night, where Josie won the Best Baby Costume. On Halloween night we spent time with my sisters and all their kids. We went trick or treating and ate tons of candy!

Family Pictures

My sister Laura took our family pictures for this year a few weeks ago. Josie was very difficult, which is always fun. However, I think we still got some good pictures. Thanks Laura!