Tis the Season!

I can't believe it is almost Christmas already! For a long time I had in my mind that around Christmas = baby time, so to think everyone else is on board with the Christmas spirit now (since I have been since August...) makes me very anxious for our bundle of joy to arrive! Here is how we have been celebrating so far:

Our Church does a big Nativity Celebration every year where hundreds of nativity sets are on display, a live nativity is shown outside (including animals) and many of the Branson performers come and sing from their Christmas shows. My favorite was the group SIX. I was the rep from our ward this year, so it was nice to help out on the inside scene a bit. It was a little strange walking into Church hearing the sheep and donkeys make their animal sounds... not something you hear every Sunday.


I think Ev's favorite part of the Holiday season is eating the yummy sugar cookies we decorate. Check out the guilt on his face from all the cookies he snuck past me! Pam, I am sure you remember that face all too well, too! I decorated one for our little girl... next year Ev will have a partner in crime to sneak more past mommy.

I have tried other sugar cookie receipes that have not turned out that great, but I think we found a winner this year. Yummy in the tummy!

BEST ROLLED SUGAR COOKIES

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened 2 cups white sugar 4 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1.	In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3.	Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely. CREAM CHEESE FROSTING Ingredients: 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened 1/2 cup butter, softened 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Directions: 1. In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.

Other than our Christmas lights hung outside, I have done very little decorating. Since it is the first year we are in our own home for Christmas I just can't get myself to buy decorations knowing they will be like 70% off the day after. So, this is pretty much all I have done this year. Hopefully I can get some goods for next year. As much as I want our girl to arrive now, I would feel guilty not having a tree/decor up for her first Christmas. So stay in until at least the day after Christmas!


Lastly, I usually love making/sending out Christmas cards, but I skipped out this year since I figured we would send out baby announcements shortly after. I know, I know, now you don't have to run to your mailbox daily in anticipation for our card. Sorry! We do wish everyone a Merry Christmas though!

For your entertainment...

I have been trying to upload a number of these old video clips I am laughing out loud at watching now, but only two of them are working. I will keep those other videos on hand though when I feel some comic relief is needed in the blogging world.

It's hard to think this time last year we were finishing up finals for the last time. We often reflect on the fun times in the 'Burg. We sure miss our friends and college life, but I must admit I do not miss the Rexburg weather right now. Ev, as mentioned, I had other videos to upload- but only yours made it. Sorry :).

This first one is when the Beaves upset USC. Yes, Ev was VERY excited to say the least.


So, you gotta love the dances of BYU-Idaho. At first Ev was not thrilled about going to the Valentines Day Dance, but from the look of this video I think he had a great time. When he's feeling it, he does not hold back. Wow...

Thanksgiving 09 (finally...)

I am finally getting around to the ol bloggin' world again. We spent Thanksgiving here in Missouri with my family (which actually hasn't happened in a few years). It was great to spend time with the family, especially seeing my brothers from college. As my dad says, Thanksgiving is all about the 4 F's: Family, Friends, Football, Food. This year was no different.

Thanksgiving was kicked off with the Turkey Bowl, of course.

We enjoyed the traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

Had a little photo shoot session. For some reason Derek is just completely weirded out by the idea of me having a baby inside of me. I can't wait to see his huge hands hold our little girl (he has got some abnormally large hands...). I know he is very excited about being Uncle Derek.

Kailey and Ev were very successful in regards to Black Friday shopping. They got up extremely early and returned with a ping pong table. We have been working on improving my skills, so watch out! I may be a main contender in the next Wilson Family Ping Pong Tournament... that's all I'm saying.

Ev put lights up on our house. It was a big moment since this is the first time we will be at our own home for Christmas.

And now with the baby update... everything is going great. She continues to dance inside me. She is in the correct down position, getting ready for go time! Lately I have heard Ev say numerous times how 'motherly' I am becoming. But, Ev is really taking in the father role, too. Let's just say he was in our childbirth class last night during the first half of the Beaver/Duck game. If you know Ev at all, you know this is a HUGE deal. Other than that, we are just playing the waiting game for the time being...

Baby Shower

It was all things baby, pink and fun last night at my baby shower! It was so fun being with friends and family at this very exciting time. Huge thanks to everyone who helped out with it all!

Here are the girls--My mom (aka Grandma), sister Kailey, me and sister Alissa. They did a great job with planning such a fun party with my friend, Kristi and others who helped out. I also think they need to go into diaper cake making now.



Can you tell they are very excited about this new addition to our family?!


My friend, Melissa, who I grew up with came with her mom and little baby girl. Seems like just yesterday we were livin' it up at girls camp... now we are having babies. So fun! Also, a huge thanks to Kristi who so kindly let us party at her house. She is such a dream! My high school friends Chelsey, Cristi and Amber also made the treck up to the Ozarks for the party. It was great to see them-- they are all so beautiful and fun to be around.



No baby shower would be complete without some wacky games. I had no idea they made so many kinds of baby food! Really, who feeds their kids some of that nasty stuff? Some of it was more like cat food! No thanks! The prizes were sure cute, too!


We got very spoiled with all kinds of great gifts! From diapers to bows- she has it all and we are very grateful for those who were so generous to us! I'm thinking she will be the best dressed baby around.

Ev made a guest appearance at the end of the shower. I think he was scared to come in...

Thanks again to everyone! We are very ready to have her join our family... just about 7 more weeks!

Photoshoot

Ev and I got to be models yesterday for Capture the Moment Photography. She sells her photos on istock (I believe that's what it is called), so she is always on the lookout for models, and we just happen to want some pics so it was a great fit. These are just a preview of some of them. She was nice enough to e-mail me a few right after the shoot. Fun stuff! And Ev was a great sport through the whole process!

Time Out for Women

This weekend I was able to attend Time Out for Women with some of my friends from Church. It was my first time going and it was a lot of fun. It was held in Kansas City so we were able to do some great shopping, eat at Cheesecake Factory and PF Chang's on top of the actual Time Out for Women event.

I'll just share a few highlights from those things talked about at TOFW. Kind of long, but I wanted to jot a few notes on the blog about it.

Jenny Oaks Baker performed Friday night. She is such a talented violinists. She was a lot of fun to listen to and incredibly talented! I got her 'Best Of' CD which I have already listened to numerous times today. A funny story she shared: She was in a singles ward, and like most single wards- was spotting that right guy to sit next to. She ended up finding a good one to sit by. As he was trying to impress her, he shared how his dad was a Bishop, Stake President and now a Mission President. Jenny thought he seemed a little too confident in this and replied, "Well my dad's an Apostle." His response was that that was cool... so she knew he was a keeper and they ended up getting married.

Michael Wilcox then spoke to us. You can tell he is very knowledgeable about the gospel. One night he was marking his scriptures and his young son came up and starting coloring his scriptures, too. After a while he looked at his sons page and it was an exact replica of the marks on his page (which, you can imagine, wasn't just one little word highlighted, but a lot more detailed). The son then started to cry and said, "my lines aren't as straight as yours." Michael then explained that sometimes we feel the same as this with the Savior, but that we will get 'our lines straight' with time. Another comment he made was that of a great lesson he was taught and can change your life. It is when you realize that the woman you love, loves you. He said the same thing goes with Heavenly Father. The God you love, loves you.

Emily Watts spoke on Saturday. She also was a great speaker. She spoke about various parts of motherhood, including how when you become a mom, you become an obsessive counter. I thought this was so true of moms... having to make sure everyone gets not only the same number of skittles, for example, but the same number of reds, greens, and yellows. She said, "Everything I know about charity, I know from being a mom." She spoke a lot about the 'fruit' of being a mom, usually meaning kids. She asked the question then of what if the 'fruit' of being a mom, is me {the mom}? She shared that this will change the way you think/parent. She also told a story of when her daughter and her were prom dress shopping. We all know what a treat this is when you are trying to find a modest prom dress. They ended up finding one that was pretty decent, it just was barely too low cut. She told her daughter she thought it would be fine. Her daughter said that it would be fine if she was going with someone other then the specific guy she was going with. Emily said she wanted to call up that boys mother and say, "thank you for raising a son that makes my daughter want to be modest." I hope I can raise our boys to be like that, especially in these times when it is more important then ever!

John Bytheway {I hyper linked some quotes from him on some website} was not scheduled to speak to us, but Sheri Dew was unable to make it so he took her place last minute. Personally, I think this was a great fix! I read his books to teenagers growing up, so it was great to hear him as an adult. He quoted Sister Hinckley who said, "Decide what's important and move at a pace comfortable for us." He also had us ask oursleves, "What's it like being married to me?" I plan on focusing on this question, because I know it must be difficult! He had a lot of great stories and quotes, but I will not do them justice here!

Wendy Ulrich then spoke. You can tell she is just the sweetest lady. One thing she said I thought was interesting was that we've all heard, "If a thing ifworth doing, it's worth doing well." She took it one step further and said that there are something worth doing badly... and be willing to do better (motherhood, missionary work, etc.). She distingished between sin and weakness which I think sometimes we mix up.

The last speaker was Kris Belcher. She was great! I don't think I've laughed so hard in a long time as I did when she spoke. SO funny! She has such an amazing personal story. I would encourage others to read her books or listen to her speak if possible. Too many great stories to tell here. Loved it! Some notes: Our will and Heavenly Father's will need to become one, and his will is not going to change. There is purpose in struggle, that helps us get through the day and look forward to tomorrow. She is a living example when she said that bad things will happen but that we need to find ways to work through them (one way she does this is through laughter). She said we are commanded to have joy!

Overall, great weekend. Now I better go eat some food!