White Christmas

December was a whirlwind of fun.  These two little girls make life interesting! I have a feeling our tornado rating may go from an F2 to an F3 on the rating scale once Freya is mobile. They look so sweet in this picture though, don't they?

Then you see what happened prior to this photo being taken.  This mess was not made by me and my house does not usually look like this!

  Lillian is your typical big sister, tormenting her little sister in every way possible.  Thankfully, Freya is getting wise to her tricks and there are far less tears.  Just before I snapped this photo Lillian had the shark mask on and was growling menacingly at Freya.  As you can tell from Freya's expression, this is not the first time she has been attacked by a shark nor will it be the last.

Josh was busy as usual in December with work, working extra shifts, his church callings, and hunting.  When he is home Lillian enjoys hanging out with him and helping him with his projects.  When people see us out as a family Josh is often asked if he wants a boy or if he wishes he had a boy.  It makes my heart smile when he tells people he enjoys his girls and doesn't need a boy because he can do all the same things with his girls he could do with a boy.  

At the end of the month we headed to Utah to celebrate Christmas.  We drove all night with the hopes the girls would sleep.  Freya slept just fine.  Lillian was wide awake until about 4:30 in the morning.  She napped until 6:00 AM and then finished out the drive.

She was so excited to go pick out a Christmas tree with Nonna and P-pa.  This teeny tiny tree stole her heart the second we walked on the lot.

We took it home and decorated it.  She took her decorating very seriously.

We had fun decorating our own tree while she worked on hers.  Thank goodness my husband is a burly man and could help me reach the top of the tree.  Ladders are for wussies!

Our other Christmas activities included decorating a gingerbread house, 

 and going to the Ogden Christmas Village.

 Lillian had a blast looking at all the lights but Freya was less than thrilled about being out on a cold winter night.  Her P-pa was there to save the day and made her feel a bit better.

 We also walked around downtown Logan to see the Parade of Gingerbread Houses.  This replica of the Thatcher Mansion was our favorite.

When we arrived in Logan there wasn't any snow.  Lillian was devastated at the thought of not being able to build a snowman.  The evening of our family Christmas party it snowed just enough for us to make a little baby snowman.

A few days later it snowed a ton and the snowman turned in to a snow lump!

All the snow meant we were able to go sledding. Lillian and her cousin Elle probably could have sled all day long all by themselves.  Once we showed them how it was done they took over and had a blast!

I had a bit of fun with my cousins and we actually took some photos of ourselves, not just our kids!

Christmas was even more fun this year because Lillian understands Santa and we have baby Freya to help us celebrate.  Lillian wrote her note to Santa and left him some cookies.  As soon as she woke up in the morning she rushed upstairs to see if the cookies had been eaten.

Lillian was a good big sister and helped Freya open her gifts.  I think Freya was more excited about all the shiny bows than about anything else!

Christmas gifts were put to use as soon as they were opened and everything was enjoyed immensely.

Just after Christmas Freya celebrated her half birthday.  I can't believe she is 6 months already!  She has mastered sitting up, has started eating solids, and gets more smiley by the day.  At her 6 month check up she weighed 14 pounds and was 24 inches long.  She has such a thoughtful, expressive little face. I can almost always tell how she is feeling just by looking at her.  She likes to be part of the action.  The way to keep her happy is to just keep moving!  She wants to face out when you carry her and she will swat her bottle out of the way and sit up if she hears anything going on around her when I am trying to feed her.

The drive home was long, very long, because we were stuck in the storm that brought snow to Tucson over New Years.  At one point during the drive we slid on the ice, did a few 360 degree turns and then slid off the road into a ditch.  When it was all over I looked at Freya sleeping next to me in her car seat and at Lillian wide awake (at 4 o'clock in the morning!) sucking her thumb and I was so thankful our Father in Heaven had kept us all safe.  I asked Lillian if she was OK.  Her response, "Let's do it again!"  Everyone laughed and the tension in the truck evaporated.  Lillian's pure joy and excitement for everything in life is infectious!  It is through her eyes that I want to experience this new year.  Here we come 2015!