December

I'm getting to this post a little late this time.  December was a fun and busy month for us.  It was filled with lots of family and Christmas activities.  This year Mia was starting to understand Christmas a little more.  Whenever we passed a nativity scene she would get really excited and say "Baby Jesus, Baby Jesus."  She had her Santa hat that she loved to run around wearing and would tell you that Santa Claus was going to come.  Of course we had to take her to see Santa.  She was really excited about it until it came time to sit on his lap.  Then she decided Santa was scary.

 A large amount of my mom's family lives in Utah now so we get together and have a Christmas party now.  My parents came down from Idaho and we had a fun filled day at my uncle's house.  We hung out, ate lots of food, and enjoyed each other's company.

 Mia wasn't quite a fan of having to sit down to eat.

 The day after my mom's family Christmas party we drove up to Idaho for my dad's family Christmas party.  It had been a few years since we'd been able to make it and my Grandpa is getting pretty old so we made the 2 hour trip each way all in one day.  I told you Mia loves her Santa hat.

 While we were there we got a 4 generation picture.  My grandpa is now 96 years old.

 Keeping with tradition we bundled up Mia one evening and went to the Christmas Village in Ogden.

 Mia loved all the pretty lights.

 In mid December we ordered some new furnace filters.  Mia thought the box was the greatest toy in the world.

 No December would be complete without a trip to see the lights at Temple Square.

 Once again Mia loved all the "Pretty Lights."

 Mia also got to see all kinds of baby Jesus too.

 Shortly before Christmas we got Mia's hair cut for the first time.  She did great.  We didn't get any pictures during her haircut because she had to sit on my lap but we got a great one with her and our friend her cut her hair after we were all done.

 We had a get together with Mia's birth mom's family.  Her birth mom, birth mom's parents, and 2 brothers all came over for a night of pizza, fun, and gift exchanges.  Mia got her first chocolate ball that night and loved it...even if it looked disgusting.

 Mia got an adorable hat and some really cute clothes for this summer from her birth mom for Christmas.

Every year on Christmas Eve Mia gets to open one present.  It's a new pair of PJ's to wear to bed that night.

 Our house Christmas morning after Santa came.

 Mia had a great time opening presents.

 We enjoyed Christmas morning at home.

 Of course Mia ended up spoiled.

 After opening presents we went to Monty's parent's house for brunch, opened more presents, and spent the day with his family.  Sadly I somehow didn't get any pictures from there but of course once again Mia was spoiled.
Three days after Christmas I took Mia sledding for the first time with some friends of ours.  Mia had a blast and wasn't scared at all and it was a pretty good sized hill.  She enjoyed going down with her friend Eli the most.

 I managed to get her to make a couple runs down the hill with me.

 The hill was next to a school and Mia eventually found the playground.  She wouldn't let a little snow (8 inches or so) stop her from playing in the tubes and on the slides.

 The end of December Mia also took her new crayons and tried her hand at wall coloring.  Needless to say she ended up in her room while I scrubbed the walls clean...Thank goodness for washable crayons!

November

November was a great month.  The first weekend in November we went to Park City for a little weekend get away and stayed at a great little condo.

  We played in the pool and hot tub.  Mia got Mia to jump in to Monty.

  We forgot her puddle jumper so she couldn't swim by herself but had fun swimming with her daddy.

 The girls hanging in the hot tub.

 We played on the play ground at the outlet mall.  It was definitely Mia's favorite part of shopping.

 As usual Mia ended up the spoiled one on the shopping trip.

 Contrary to her face in this picture she loves her new hoodie and always wants her "hat" on.

On our way back from Park City we went to Hogle Zoo.

 Mia had fun running around and making animal sounds.

 Getting a lift from Daddy.

 She was a big fan of the kitties.

After our Park City trip we put Mia in her big girl bed.  My dad made the headboard for me when I was about 10 years old and then he made the bed for Mia.

 After an initial melt down she has done really good in her new bed.

 Although sometimes we never know what to expect we'll find her wearing.  Apparently she put her coat around her legs before going to bed.  Notice all the toys in bed with her too.  That happens on a regular occasion as well.

We also tried going to big girl panties as well.  After 3 days of her making messes EVERYWHERE.  We gave up on potty training and will try again later.

 November brought our first big snow storm.

 Mia loved just walking through the snow and looking back at her tracks.

 We built LOTS of Lego towers in November and continue to do it still.  Good thing grandma and grandpa are getting her more Lego's for Christmas.

 Thanksgiving brought pie night with Monty's family.

What can I say they are teaching Mia bad habits early.



We then went to Idaho to have Thanksgiving with my family.  Mia had tons of fun playing with Grandpa.

 Grandma has cool puzzles that are as big as Mia is.

 Uncle Shawn was making a blanket and tied Mia up with the ends.  She thought that was pretty cool.

 The girls hanging in the hot tub.

We got the house decorated for Christmas but I don't have many pictures of that yet but here is one of Monty putting up the lights.

 Eventually the stockings made it to the chimney.

 Getting in the Christmas Spirit.  Mia is very excite about Christmas.  She will tell you that Santa Clause is coming (although I don't think she knows who he is), every day she gets up and wants the lights turned on on the tree and mantle, and she loves looking at the ornaments on the tree and playing with her little people nativity set.

 Mia has missed playing outside so when we were putting up the lights we let her put her coat on and ride her bike.

Until next month :-)