Christmas Eve!

Hello everyone!  Sorry I missed last week.  I had some meetings and stuff at the church, and then I don't think Brooke took a nap that day and there goes all my free time!  It's been a good two weeks, and definitely packed with Christmas!  Last week my work had a children's Christmas party with Santa, and Brooke got an Elmo!  She loves it.

She even did well with Santa!  We explained that he would bring her presents and he was very nice and she was pretty excited to sit on his lap.  To quote her, "Santa never hurt you!"

Elmo quickly became a member of the family, and Brooke has done a great job taking care of him.

We got some paper towels at Costco, and Brooke took half of them out when we got home.  This left some space for Jelly to climb in and have some fun...  I kept a close eye on her to make sure she was safe and put it away after, but not before she climbed in and tried to get a good look around.

We went to the library last week, and to my surprise they have cow seats.  Brooke loves them.  It looked like they were supposed to be put away, but one was out and just up high, so I pulled it down for her.  She had a lot of fun riding her cow!

We also headed back to down town Parker to check out the lights.  We planned to go back sometime since everything was just so crowded during the tree lighting.  We had a lot of fun and even got some frozen yogurt!

They decorate all along main street, and they even decorate the statues.

They also have a bunch of inflatable Christmas things, such as a dinosaur with elves sliding down it's back.

And there's also a permanent fork with mac and cheese!  Our town does a really good job getting kids into fine art.

Jelly continues to drink in the sink like there's no tomorrow.  Sometimes when we're just by a bathroom she'll jump in and lay down in the sink.  I guess it works because when I see her in the sink I turn on the water for her.

We made Christmas cookies to take to people.  Brooke picked which cookie cutters to use, and then she decorated a whole bunch of them.

In preparation for some snow storms that were coming this weekend we got out Brooke's snow clothes, and promptly dressed up bear in them.  Brooke really loves her boots and mittens, and don't call them anything else, because they are boots and mittens (not shoes and gloves).

Our next door neighbor got a puppy for Christmas, and yesterday when we were coming home from the store they were outside trying to teach it to go to the bathroom.  Brooke was so excited and the puppy even ran over to her!  I think Brooke will really like having a dog next door, and hopefully she'll be able to play with it from time to time.

Jelly sure loves to drink water!  Watching her you'd think she didn't have a water dish.  Maybe she just really loves fresh water.  Every time I fill the tree stand she jumps in there to get a drink!  She even comes into the shower with me in the morning so she can drink water when I'm done!

Brooke and I went out to play in the backyard last night and it was pretty cold. Brooke kept saying her mouth was cold so when we finished we all came in to have hot chocolate!  Brooke's favorite part was probably the marshmallows.

Today when we got to church the choir was up singing.  We sat in our seats and they started a song and Brooke said "No that song, sing 'Trim up the Tree'!"  That's the song the whos sing in How the Grinch stole Christmas while they decorate, and yes, we did watch that movie with her this past week!

When we got home from church we grabbed a quick picture together while we were all in our nice Christmas clothes.

Then we went outside to make a snow man!  I believe this is Brooke's first.  The snow was packing together pretty well, up to she size of about a standard snow ball.  Anything larger and it would just explode into pieces, so it took a while to build the snow man, and then to rebuild it after we stuck in arms and a nose!

Brooke loved it, but the sun was in her eyes... so it was hard to get a great picture.

After the snowman, we went sledding in the front yard, which consisted of me pulling Brooke around on her sled.  We did a whole bunch of circles in the front yard.

And with that, I should probably go help Monica in the kitchen!  Christmas food isn't going to make itself!

In this Christmas season I want to share my testimony with everyone that I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior.  I know he loves all of us, and I am grateful for this time of year where we can focus on His birth.  I am so grateful for the Atonement, and that through repentance I can return to live with Him and God again!  I know He lives.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.