Christmas morning 2008

Gotta love Littlest pet shop. Kaitlin wanted this so she could be as "cool as Eden."

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Santa brought Kaitlin a big wagon for Christmas (inspired by several zoo trips last summer). Mike and I stayed up late on Christmas eve putting the wagon together, and between trying to watch Dark Knight (way too creepy for me by the way) and really bad wagon directions, it took forever. I should point out of course that Mike was doing the assembling and I handed him a hammer occasionally. Anyway, a few hours and a lot of almost cussing later, there was a pretty green wagon waiting on Christmas morning. When we tried it out with Kaitlin in it on Christmas morning, we realized that we put it together wrong--something about leaving the washers off the wheels. So, Mike was really sweet to pull the wheels off and put it together all over again. It's perfect now, and we're so excited for some fun zoo trips this summer.

Ward Christmas Party

Michael's mom made a Santa suit a few years ago, and so Michael ends up playing Santa Clause often for ward parties and the random visitor that stops by our house/his parents' house on Christmas eve. This year Kaitlin has been so incredibly excited for Santa to come, and I wondered how she'd react to this "familiar Santa" at the ward Christmas party. Even some of the other parents around us in line were making remarks like "I hope Kaitlin doesn't scream out that it's her daddy!" I don't know how much longer we'll be able to get away with it, but she didn't make the connection at all. In fact, after the party she told me how sad she was that daddy had missed Santa.

Getting ready for church

Just had to include a cute photo or two of the bitty girl all dressed up. It's a small miracle for her to keep her shoes and tights on all the way until we get to church, so we had to document it.

More new puppy

The new puppy

Okay, so she's not really ours. Michael's parents bought a new silky terrier puppy, and they stopped on the way home from the airport to let us say hello. She is adorable and "tiny enough for your hand" according to Kaitlin. I think Kaitlin and Scylla practically frightened the poor thing to death, but she was a trooper. It's almost enough to make me want another puppy - almost.

First snowfall

We were still in Utah for the first true snow, and Kaitlin was ecstatic this morning when we had a fresh new coat. I managed to put her off until 9:00 am, but we did finally bundle up and head outside. She is such a brave little girl. We were playing on the drainage hill (which apparently doubles as a snow hill) in the winter. She kept saying things like "it's okay mommy, don't be scared, you can do it mommy, the hill's not as big as it looks." It just made me chuckle - I think those are supposed to be my lines. Granted I'm very pregnant and my balance is somewhat questionable, but still, she leaves me in the dust when it comes to snow.

Riding the 4 wheelers at Thanksgiving

What can I say - if it's a trip with my parents some sort of recreational vehicle will be involved. We visited my grandmas in Utah this year, and this was the first time we've ever been away from the Fort Collins/Loveland area since we've been married. It was fun to see some relatives, hang out with some old college friends, and of course, visit all of the Utah stores for black Friday. Kaitlin fell in love with the little rocker at RC Willey, and after 2 hours of waiting in that horrendous line it came home with us. I think that puts us on some sort of "cool parent" list.