Catching Christmas

    There's nothing like Christmas in Utah surrounded by family. Adding a brand new baby this year made this Christmas even more special. Sometimes the hardest part about living away is thinking that this precious baby won't grow up knowing her family and them knowing her. 

    We were so happy that we got to spend 3 weeks in Utah.. and the best way to sum up that time is through pictures. With the blessing of modern technology, society has the opportunity to document their lives through taking pictures. It's a modern form of journal keeping and in so many ways it is a big big blessing! 

     I feel like with Lydia I just want to capture all my favorite things about her. Her squeals and smiles when I get her from her crib in the morning. Her spasms of energy when she gets really excited, and even her pouty face when she is about to cry... things that I know will quickly disappear.

    Whenever I see these two pictures, I just can't help but feel a twitter in my stomach from all that cuteness. I just want to squeeze that cute face! I loved having my family meet and see this girl in all her glory!

    She sure loved seeing her aunts and giving them big smiles. And I think Lydia was obsessed with all the Christmas lights on the trees and houses. She loved to just stare at them all.

 
      Grandpa Kendell and Lydia.. (the lights from the tree reflected on my camera lens and reflected back on them.. whoops haha)
    Holding my baby girl helped me imagine a bit more about how Mary may have felt holding baby Jesus and the love that she felt for him, I too feel for this baby girl.
   Christmas Eve we had our traditional "Gingerbread house making" which pretty much just mean taking graham crackers and candy and build something awesome. We saw some great things this year!

Brooke made an awesome beach house, Raquel and Brad moved into their first home over Christmas and so she made a graham cracker version while Brad made a fourwheeler. Camille made Noah's Ark, complete with animals ha. My mom made a Christmas tree. Claire was making a barn but ended up eating more than she put together and Ben made a stadium! All were pretty clever and well done!

     I still think my last year's topped all I have ever done.. last year I did the Salt Lake Temple.. This year's was pretty fun though.  I made Quidditch complete with a teddy graham keeper, 2 chasers, and a harry potter diving for the snitch. Brian made Teepees complete with a chief!! Even Lydia made an appearance in her swimsuit ready to go hot tubing-just in time for a quick picture!. 

Up close pics of Harry Potter and Chief Powtan. Ice Skating the night before-with Brooke doing some Michael Jackson moves.. 

   Lydia and her cousin Jace that is 4 months older. And then some more cousins below. It was so fun to have Lydia meet them all! Kyler stayed home from school so he could play with her and Claire kept saying, "Oh I wish my name was Lydia! I wish I could keep her!" 

We went to Christmas Village and to the Ogden Temple. Boy is it beautiful! It was chilly but it was so fun to bundle Lydia up and walk around with that cute girl!   

I had to take a picture with her by the light-up moose since that is my nickname for her. Christmas Eve we also went to Speedway and got real with the go carts. Phew! The Kendell Clan is one competitive group of crazies! What a blast! 

     Christmas Day we got the chance to talk to my brother James who is serving in Seattle Washington on an LDS mission. What a hunk! "The relationships you build with Christ at the foundation are the strongest. (dang...that was a good one...you can quote me on that if you want.)" -Elder James Kendell

      He couldn't have said it any better. That is our family perfectly... So grateful that we can all be together forever through the sealing power of the temple.

 

Then it was off to spend time with the Larson's. Here are the adorable granddaughters altogether! Such beauties! 

Olivia and Lydia are 8 months apart! Already best little friends!

Oh how we love our Larson's! The was the first time we were all in the same place for a very long time. It was an energetic bunch and full of so much love! Love all these people!

     "It is a glorious thing to have old St. Nicholas in our hearts and in our homes today, whether he enters the latter through the open door or creeps down the chimney on Christmas Eve. To bring happiness to others without seeking personal honor or praise by publishing it is a most commendable virtue. . . .

     Good old St. Nicholas has long since gone the way of all mortals, but the joy he experienced in doing kindly deeds is now shared by millions who are learning that true happiness comes only by making others happy—the practical application of the Savior’s doctrine of losing one’s life to gain it. In short, the Christmas spirit is the Christ spirit, that makes our hearts glow in brotherly love and friendship and prompts us to kind deeds of service."                                                                                              -President David O McKay

What a MERRY 2014 Christmas!! I hope to catch a bit of this Christmas spirit and love and keep it in my heart all year long.

Sleepless Nights, Morning Snuggles, and Chubby Toes

    "Enjoy your sleep now" people would say when I was 8 months pregnant, "you won't be getting sleep for awhile when you have that baby!" I knew that I would be getting up to feed the baby a few times a night, but I guess I didn't add in the whole 'not getting more than a 4 hour stretch' part. 

    So, it's true that we are flying through life on not much sleep. This little moose is down to bed from 7:30 pm-8:30 am... and while that sounds like a great 13 hours.. she's is up to eat every 3-4 hours. She has a late night feeding at 11, she's up at 2:30, then back up at 6:30 and then sleeps in til about 8:30. She had some great 6-7 hour stretches a few weeks ago-but then she got a cold and then traveling in Utah.. and well, that hasn't happened for a while.

   And to mention--- those few long stretches had me up checking on her to make sure she was still breathing. So while she may have slept long.. I on the other hand was still doing the 3-4 hour stretches. Ha.. I swear I will get this mom thing down one of these days.

    But getting up with her has not been that bad.. Heavenly Father knows his stuff. He helps give us moms extra energy to run on little sleep and still run the household. He knows that these darling babies better be cute for us moms to keep waking up to their beautiful perfect faces.

   He helps us to love and adore them so that even when we should be sleeping, we sit beside their crib and just watch them sleep.. just because we want to capture that moment and hold on to it forever. 

    Seriously though.. Sometimes after I feed her each night and she falls asleep in my arms, I just hold her close and stare at her beautiful angelic face and listen to the little squeaky snores. If I could hold on to these moments just a little longer I think I would give up all the sleep in the world. This girl has my heart more than I imagined she ever could.
    Lately I've been "trying" to sleep train her by giving her, her binkie at the 2:30 am feeding instead of feeding her. So far... not so good. Trying to stick to the book Baby Wise isn't as easy as the book makes it seem. But again.. I'll figure it out someday, for now.. I really am just loving this mother thing.
    I love the small details about this girl that I-as her mother-get to notice every day. Like the way she gets so happy to be picked up in the mornings that she throws her hands back and squeals, the way she smiles with her tongue covering her gums, the four rolls on her left thigh and the 3 rolls on her right, and the way her adorable chubby toes curl from all that chunk.

   Morning snuggles are the best. Pulling this bright-eyed girl into bed with me in the mornings is so tender and it is the best way to start the day.

    Well, and this man.. this stud right here.. Boy am I one blessed lady to have that handsome face to wake up to as well as the beautiful toothless smile of my daughter.

I wouldn't have any of this any other way. Those eyes and all that chubbyness just make my heart sing!!

Can it be 3 months already?

    I remember the last time I was saying this.. almost 4 years ago when I couldn't believe that Brian and I had been married for 3 months. Now I am looking at this darling little human thinking the same thing.. Has it really been that long?
    It is very true that babies change so quickly. Looking at the difference in Lydia's growth astounds me. She looks like a completely different baby!

    This last month has been a blast of new experiences for all of us. We've enjoyed most of it in Utah visiting our family. We have loved having our family experience this beauty's life with us.

          After jumping from party to party and grandparent's homes to sibling's homes.. we have decided that Lydia is sooo social. If there is something going on, she wants to be apart of it-for as long as her little eyes can stay open.

Happy 3 months my darling!

A Name and a Blessing:Lydia Larson

   On Sunday December 14, both sides of our family gathered at my parents house in Huntsville where Lydia was blessed by the power of the holy priesthood by her daddy.

    “Every member of the church of Christ having children is to bring them unto the elders before the  church, who are to lay their hands upon them in the name of Jesus Christ, and bless them in his name” (D&C 20:70).

    It was such a beautiful and incredible experience to be surrounded by all those that we love and admire. This beauty was full of smiles (except when she pooped during the blessing and got mad about it ha).

    Her daddy and I were moved to tears and the spirit that we all felt was definitely very real and wonderful.

   

4 generations (Allred, Johansen, Kendell, Larson) 

     How grateful we are for the love that we have felt in blessing our sweet daughter and the support we have received from all our family and friends. My little family is forever and how sweet that is! I am so happy to belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and have the true and everlasting gospel restored to the earth today. I am grateful for a worthy husband who holds the priesthood and can bless me and my baby. I love him and am so happy to have him by my side. 

   I loved blessing Lydia at this Christmas time and feeling close to how Mary may have felt holding her sweet baby Jesus in her arms. It was a special connection that I hadn't quite felt before. What a merry merry Christmas!! So happy to be home and to have our families meet our sweet Lydia!

A peek inside my life..

   4 years ago on this night, Brian asked me a question that changed the direction of my life. Where I was then, surrounded by roses and chocolate and twinkling lights and a sparkling ring to where we are today-4 years later-is quite the change.

In the reflection of an ornament on my Christmas tree.. this is what you would see:


I spy..
a trash full of dirty diapers
last night's dishes piled in the sink
a lazy cat basking in the twinkling lights of a christmas tree
2 weeks of laundry, half-folded on the couch
a beautiful nativity with a happy baby Jesus
a forgotten granola bar
bows, wrapping paper, string and tape pushed aside
poopy baby clothes soaking in oxyclean from that morning's blow out
burp cloths, blankets, and binkies littering the floor
bills and Christmas cards partially opened on the counter
a camera chuck full of the same posing baby at every angle
messy wrapped Christmas presents that didn't quite make it under the tree
and a mom with greasy un-brushed hair, still in her pjs, tickling, smiling, and gushing over
a grinning and giggling perfect big-eyed, blue-eyed baby girl

 


Life is perfect.