Home for the Holiday

So, I know I'm a little slow to post this but I thought I'd update you on our holiday doings anyway. We had a Christmas party at Daniel's dad's place in Blackfoot the week before, unfortunately we were having so much fun we forgot to take pictures, but Aliya had a blast playing with her cousins and even got close enough to Santa to take a candy-cane from him!

  On Christmas eve we went to Daniel's mom's house to build gingerbread houses etc.  It was fun and we did manage to take a few pics.

Daniel's mom (Linda), niece (Ali), Daniel, & nephew (Trent)

Daniel's Masterpiece

Daniel's Grandma Nielsen and nephews Bryant and Clayton

  We stayed home for the day of Christmas.  We had our own little feast and I was so proud of myself I got everything done at the same time and ON time! It was strange not to be with our families that day, at least for me, I think Daniel loved it, but it was nice.  Then we went to my family's for the day after since everyone was there this year including Davis & Lisa, and  Elisabeth was home from Portland.  It was so nice to see everyone and spend some good quality time.  

   Aliya loved opening presents this year and she is no longer afraid of tearing the paper :).  It was so cute to watch her be so excited about things. She got a singing teapot and a little people school bus which she loves! We missed seeing all the good friends we left in Rexburg but we hope to be able to visit soon.  Hugs to all, we hope your holidays were wonderful.  Here are a few pics from the holidays

OLD!

Okay okay, so I may have been whining a little about being "old" for some time now, but really it was all in good fun because I happen to be old-er than a lot of friends but yesterday I was finishing my makeup and smiled at myself in the mirror and was shocked to see that I am starting to LOOK old! AHHHHHH! When did that happen!  I thought it was supposed to be more gradual than that!  I suppose it is time for it to start showing since no one ever thinks I'm as old as I am anyway but still...I"M NOT READY!!!

Decking the Halls!

I'm really excited for Christmas this year.  I think mostly it's the fun of watching Aliya experience things and get excited about it.  We got a tree on Saturday and decorated a little bit. Aliya LOVES it. She didn't want to go to bed that night she just wanted to stand by the tree and look at everything. Even today she has to have the tree lights turned on on the "Crimas Twee".  It's adorable! I think that's the best part of Christmas is watching it through children's eyes. Here are a few pics.  We hope all of you are enjoying the holidays.

Prayers

So, we had a really sweet moment yesterday at breakfast....Aliya volunteered to say the blessing.  We've tried to show her before but it hasn't really worked, but yesterday she said her very first prayer!  It was sooo cute and sweet and just!!!! You mommy's know what I mean.  A very warm fuzzy moment.  I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to share the blessings of prayer with her so that she will always have the opportunity to turn to her heavenly father in her life.

Halloween

Haloween was fun despite that I had to work (bah).  The night before we went to a carnival thing at the rec center, which was actually really cool. Aliya's favorite part was the canoe ride through the haunted swimming pool.  She cried when we had to leave without playing in the water.  We almost didnt go trick-or-treating becuase she fell asleep really late in the evening and almost slept straight through, but she got up just in time so we went up and down the block.  I think she was more excited about running from house to house than she was about the candy. I realize now that we didn't take as many pics as we could've but here's what we got.