'Twas the Night Before Christmas...

We had a very low-key Christmas Eve this year which was so nice.  My parents were able to join us on Christmas Eve evening for a little fun. Liam had been dying to play the Wii with Papa.  They had to play 5 games until Papa officially beat Liam by winning three out of the five games. I'm telling you, the kid is that good at Wii Bowl, and no one really knows how because he doesn't even really watch the screen. haha

He was very happy to have beat Papa! (see on the screen)

We then went to look at lights this year, when we really should have just stayed home and kept bowling. By the time we got to the lights on Tanea Christmas show there was 3432437 million people there, then by the time we got parked, Addy was screaming and Liam had to go to the bathroom, so we went home and fed the reindeer. :)  Liam and Larry sprinkled the magical reindeer food for the reindeer to come to our house.

Then I tortured my kids some more by making them take the obligatory 'Christmas Even in front of the tree in their new jammies' photo.  They are pretty cute though, aren't they?

I love how much Liam loves his sister.  I love how sincere and pure it is.  It's really wonderful.

Then we put out cookies, milk and a carrot.  Liam and Daddy also put out a rug for Santa to wipe his boots on so he doesn't get my carpet dirty.  My mom says I'm going to make Liam OCD. ;)  We then read the Christmas Story from the Scriptures and The Night Before Christmas.  Then, miraculously, our children went to bed without another peep.

And I just so happened to get a sneak picture of the tree and stockings after Santa came before Christmas morning...  (hopefully I'll finally get around to getting "Mommy" on my stocking before next year. haha)

Happy 28, Daddy!

On December 23, Wes turned 28!  Ben likes to joke that he's getting close to the big 3-0.  :D  Wes lucked out and got an early out from work on his birthday and he spent the afternoon setting up his combined birthday/Christmas gift: his new flat screen TV!  GG and Grandpa-Great then came over and watched the kids while I took him out to the German night buffet at the Nugget. It was delicious. During the day, Liam and I had made a recipe that GG gave to us for a popcorn cake, so we had them over for cake after dinner.  It was very yummy and a successful recipe, which doesn't happen all that often for me. ;)  Happy Birthday, schatz!

Singing Happy Birthday!

My successful popcorn cake:

Addy gave her daddy smiles for his birthday, too.

Sugar Cookie Madness!

The day after Addy's blessing, my mom stayed in town so we could use the day for sugar cookie decorating.  Heather and her kiddos, GG and Aunt Pam came over.  It was a very successful day. I'm pretty impressed that we got all the cookies done with four young children, but we did!  And we had fun doing it.

This is how Miss Addy spent some of her first decorating experience.

Izzy was very into licking the frosting off of her beautifully decorated cookies. We'd look over and she'd be licking another cookie...  Don't worry, we didn't give any of those away. ;)

Our set-up with Addy snoozing away and both Izzy and Liam enjoying frosting. 

Liam did a fabulous job decorating cookies this year! I was so proud of him. He was very meticulous in placing the decorations and carefully thought out who he made each cookie for.

Izzy also did a great job!

Liam with one of his finished cookies:

Addy sleeping in her swing in the middle of the chaos:

We had to snap some cute photos of her in her sugar cookie outfit and to document her first year being part of our big tradition...

I know these look similar, but she's just too cute. I LOVE those smiles...

GG squeeked a few smiles out as well.

Aunt Pam did a great job keeping the older kids entertained.  The cookies would only hold their attention so long. They made some delicious homemade 'naughty and nice' Christmas mac-n-cheese. yum!

Here are our beautiful finished cookies!

Baby Hulk

Check our these baby muscles on this baby hulk! :D

Nana loves Addy

My mom made the most beautiful angel and "joy" sugar cookies for Addy's blessing.  She spent a lot of time after work making these special cookies. I had to take a photo of them and document that she made such a special treat for Addy.

Christmas Angel

I wanted to get some good photos of Adelyn in her special blessing dress made by her Grandma Stephenson. She did such a beautiful job and I hope that it's something that Addy can pass onto her daughter.  We received so many compliments on the dress and she truly did look like a little angel on her blessing day.  Here are my favorite photos of our little Christmas angel:

A Very Blessed Little Girl

On December 19, 2010, we welcomed Adelyn to the world by blessing her at our church.  It was a beautiful day and I couldn't think of anything more perfect than blessing our little angel during the Christmas program.  Here's a recount of her special day:

We had a bit of a rough start before church. Addy had quite the tummy ache and wanted nothing to do with pictures or her beautiful dress that her grandma Stephenson made for her.  This is me trying unsuccessfully to soothe her.

If you ignore poor Addy's screaming face, this is a pretty good photo. :D

Thankfully she settled down when we got to the church and went to sleep for her beautiful blessing. We had so many wonderful family and friends attend the Sacrament meeting.  It was a full house!  Addy is a very blessed little girl to be surrounded by so many people who love her.  Her daddy gave her a beautiful blessing.  The moment her daddy took her up there in her beautiful white dress and all the Priesthood surrounded her, I just felt the Spirit so strongly.  It's a wonderful thing to have such good men that love Addy be able to use their Priesthood to bless her. One thing I distinctly remember from her blessing is that she will love her Savior.  I've always wanted for my children to have a love for the Savior.  Her blessing gave me reassurance that she will always know the way that her Heavenly Father wants her to go and live and that she will fiercely love her Savior.   There isn't much better than that.  It was beautiful and our sweetheart slept right through it all. 
The Christmas program was beautiful. We enjoyed the music and talents of members of our ward. One song in particular that I enjoyed was "Mary's Lullaby" which you don't hear very often, but as I sat in Sacrament meeting holding my sweet new baby, it made me feel connected to Mary as a new mother and how much she loved her newborn babe. 

After church we snapped a few photos before our dear friends, the Finlays, headed off to their ward.  I don't think we've ever taken a photo of our families together, so I'm so glad we got one.  It meant so much to have them there.  We love you guys!

Here are the priesthood holders that participated in Addy's blessing. (L to R) Jake Finlay, John Darrington, Bishop Scott Darrington, Wes, and Jason Aguilar.  Again, we are so thankful to have such wonderful men that love our sweet girl.

Here is our bishop, Bishop David Giles. He's a wonderful man! It's funny because he actually knows many members of our family through his work. He's a podiatrist and goes to Schurz every so often, so my mom knows him. He also knows my Aunt Carla because he works at the VA.  I'm so glad he popped over for a quick picture with Wes and Addy.

Here Addy is wearing a bonnet that my Aunt Pam gave to me when I was a baby. My mom always loved it because it is so sweet and soft, so it was perfect to keep her head warm on such a rainy day. Plus, she looked pretty darn sweet.

Here's a better attempt at a family photo after church. :D

After church, we had a lovely luncheon at our home. It was so wonderful to have so many family and friends gather in honor of Addy's special day. Here are a few photos of the afternoon:

Scott and Addy:

Liam, in the middle of the action, as usual! 

Brent and Elise Adams joined us as well.  They are such kind, wonderful people. I've worked with Elise for 5 years at the Oral Surgery office and it's wonderful to have them as a part of our life.  Addy was sleeping when we took this pic, but it's a great picture of them with Liam.

Addy and her G.G.  Or should I say, G.G. and her Addy? :)

Our family with the whole Darrington gang.  I know I'm sounding redundant here, but we just love them so much and feel so grateful to have them in our lives.

I just loved this picture that I snapped of sweet Izzy. :D

Nana and Papa:

The whole Fawcett/Stephenson/Cannon gang!  We are truly blessed.

Aunt Pam and Uncle Bill.  They made us the most beautiful gold, sand dollar ornaments to remember her special day by.  Thank you!

And with G.G. and Grandpa-Great and Izzy checking out my toe nail polish. :) 

For some reason, we didn't get a photo with Cousin Larry Fawcett, Uncle Larry Smith, Miranda and Courtney Smith, or Uncle Danny and Aunt Carla Smith. :(  We were so happy they were able to join us though. 

Just going back through these photos just reminds me how richly blessed our life is by the things that matter most.  Having her blessing this time of year was a very special reminder of the true reason for the season.  We are so blessed to have such amazing family and friends and for the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ.