Merry Christmas!!

I hope everyone had a delightful Christmas Day! We certainly did at my house. It's the first Christmas that Phil and I have had in our own home, and we are incredibly blessed to have family close by to invite into our home to share the spirit of Christmas with us.

We got up pretty close to our usual time on Christmas morning. Lacey looks like she wasn't quite ready for the early morning festivities.


She got lots of cool things in her stocking, like bubbles an socks. She was pretty good at getting the stuff out, too.


Daddy really doesn't look ready for early morning festivities. He got heads for his toothbrush in his stocking. And some other stuff.
Uncle Brad came over to play on Christmas Morning. He looks so glamorous wearing Lacey's star glasses, doesn't he?


We got my whole family together on video chat to open presents together--my parents and other younger brother in South Carolina, my sister and her husband in Alaska, and us and Brad in Utah. It was really nice that we could be together that way for Christmas morning since we're all so far apart.

Brad and the Christmas tree. I wonder if he knows that there's wild animal eating his face... ;)


Oh, there you are, Perry. Lacey loves her Perry doll. In case you don't know, Perry is a platypus featured in Disney Channel's Phineas and Ferb. He's actually a secret agent working to stop the evil shenanigans of Dr. Doofenshmirtz.

Lacey obviously thought that Perry needed some glamming up.


In the afternoon, we had Phil's sister and her family over for dinner and playtime and presents. It was so delightful to have them in our home. Lacey is definitely getting better at sharing her toys. She got a really cool magnetic fishing puzzle thing that all the kids (and adults, I think) thought was pretty neat.
We gave the kids pillow blankets as gifts. They're just regular old blankets that have a pocket sewn on them so that they can be folded up and turned into a pillow. But I guess that they make a good cloak, too, as you can see.


Here we have Lacey playing with her little talking turtle. It tells stories, sings songs, and says its ABCs! And in her hair is one of the bows she got from her Aunt Erin's family.

Lacey loves all of the gifts that she received and we are grateful that our circumstances allow us to give so many gifts as well, to our family and to others. And most of all we are grateful for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for His life, example, and atoning sacrifice. Merry Christmas, and God bless you!

Thanksgiving

Well, now that Christmas is almost here, I suppose it's time for me to get Thanksgiving over with!

We had an excellent Thanksgiving filled with fun and family. We had dinner at my Uncle Scott's house AND at my sister-in-law's house. Yes, two Thanksgiving dinners. Both were delicious. And thanks again to Scott's family for allowing us to show up rather unexpectedly. You see, we showed up at our original destination and no one was home. So we hopped on over to my Uncle's house just in time for dinner. We got to see Lacey's great-grandparents and Uncle Brad, too. Then we headed back over to the Bobo dinner and got seconds. It was actually a Bobo-Graham dinner (although most of the kids were Oliphants and Edwards). Lacey had so much fun running around with her cousins and friends. We didn't hawk over her this time to make sure she didn't do anything dangerous. So she was probably doing plenty of dangerous things, but she didn't get hurt and we didn't know about them. At one point, she was playing in her cousin's bedroom, and went and peeked in on her, and she saw me and immediately came and shut the door. We stayed out WAY passed her bedtime, but it was worth it to have that time with our family. She was so tired out that she took a four hour nap the day after. That's a pretty intense nap for our little one.

Lacey's cousin Johnnie was having fun with Grandpa's camera. There were lots of pictures of people's midsections... Here's he's taken a picture of Lacey and is showing it to her.

Here I was trying to get a picture of him taking a picture of me, but he just smiled for the camera instead. What a cutie!

Daddy and Lacey reading a story.


Aunt Em gave Lacey a candy cane. Needless to say, Aunt Em was also responsible for cleaning the sticky off the baby.

And then they read a story together. Lacey loves stories! And Aunt Em loves Lacey, so it works out nicely.

Speaking of our little one, she's really not so little anymore. She's pretty big, actually. At her 18 month check-up, she was in the 80th percentile for weight and 85th percentile for height. She talks up a storm, and occasionally there's a coherent word in there. She still sleeps 12 hours at night and takes a 2 to 3 hour nap during the day. She almost knows all the letters of the alphabet (her favorite right now is W), and she loves to help Mommy empty the dishwasher and sweep the floor. She LOVES nursery. She has never even looked back at me when I've taken her in, which is a good thing. I love my little sweetie and I'm so glad she gets to be a part of my life!

Stuff Stuff

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, but before we get there, a few things since I posted last:

Lacey found this shirt of mine in the laundry, and she insisted that she put it in. Of course, she's at that stage when she puts something on and then wants to take it off 4 seconds later, and then put it back on 4 seconds after that. It gets old. But she's so cute.

Daddy came home one day to find Lacey surfing Facebook. Shame. I don't usually let her play with my computer. I don't remember why I was allowing it this day. It was kinda funny, though, and she looks so delighted to be doing it.

Lacey has a fascination with shoes at the moment, as I think most kids do at this age. She finds it much easier to put on Mommy's and Daddy's shoes than her own, so that's what she does. She does pretty well walking in them until she wants to turn, then she gets stuck and screams.

We were delighted to have a couple of Lacey's cousins over to play while their mommy went to her uncle's funeral. They had fun playing together for a few hours

I was making dinner one day, when I turned around and Lacey had stolen a bag of broccoli from the counter and was chomping it down. Luckily, it had already been washed and cut. I learned two things from this experience: Lacey likes broccoli, and Lacey is big enough to grab things from off the counter.

Halloween

This year, we celebrated Halloween on the 29th, since that when our church Halloween party was. Lacey dressed up as a fairy, thanks to Grandma Welker who made her this adorable fairy costume.


These pictures are actually a week or two before Halloween, but I'm glad I took them then, since it was cold on the 29th and she had to wear a turtleneck under her costume. Anyway, we went to our church Halloween party and ate chili and corn bread. Lacey was a bit wary of the costumes at first, especially after a kid in a mask jumped out and scared her. She warmed up after a while, and really enjoyed the trunk or treating. She didn't get a lot of candy, which is good, since Daddy and I are the ones eating it.

Lacey and Grandma

On Grandma's last day here, we realized that we didn't have nearly enough pictures of her and Lacey together. So we went outside for a photo shoot. Here are some of our favorites.

Visiting in Manti

After the surprise birthday party, Lacey, Grandma and I went down to Manti for a few days. Daddy had to stay home to go to work and school and stuff. Mostly we just sat around and chilled together. It was really fun for Lacey to get to know her great-grandma and great-grandpa. We took a lot of pictures, of course. It took a little while for her to warm up, but when she did, they became good friends.

Here, Lacey is sitting in Great-Grandma Simmons's rocking chair, that she got when she was a little girl. So cute.

She loves to talk on the phone, and even though she's never seen a phone like this before, she knew just what it was for.


Reaching up to play with Grandpa's really old typewriter, since I wouldn't let her play with Grandpa's computer.
Lacey with Great-grandpa Simmons.
And with Great-grandma Simmons

Lacey eating some fruit. I just thought this was a funny picture.
Lacey stealing some treats. There's always treat at Grandma's house. I ate way too many of them. Those little pumpkins were also a hit for Lacey. She spend half her time playing with them, I think.

And she LOVED the stairs. That's how she spent the other half of her time. She figured out how to slide down on her tummy, and would say, "Weeee!" all the way down. And if you're wondering if that room is really that orange . . . yes, it is.

Lacey learned real fast that if you hold a magnifying glass up to your face, it makes things look funny. I don't know if she realized that SHE looked funny, too.
We had to get some pictures in Grandpa's garden. This is one of my favorites.
Lacey kept hearing a dog barking and making this funny face at it, so I copied her.
And then she tried to stuff this flower in my mouth.

I thought this was a good picture of Lacey.
Before we left, we got a nice four-generational picture.

PARTAY!

The most exciting thing that happened this month was my mom coming to visit. She and Lacey had so much fun getting to know each other better, and I had fun staying in bed longer in the mornings. :)

The Sunday after Grandma got here, we had a small gathering of friends and family who wanted to visit--us, Grandma Welker, Grandpa and Grandmother Bobo, Uncle Brad, and the Hos. My cousin also stopped by later for some good times. It was fun to another little rugrat for Lacey to run around with.

Most of the pictures that we took came out kind of fuzzy, but a few are decent.

The whole time, Lacey wanted to climb up into my chair. It's hard to eat dinner with a little kid trying to grab at everything. So I think that Grandma invited her over to her chair eventually. And Lacey stole my water bottle. Oh well.

Uncle Brad being Uncle Brad.

And Lacey playing with Grandpa Bobo. I just love her little pony tail on top of her head. She doesn't usually let me touch her hair. And actually it was a fight to get that one in, too. But it's so darn cute!

On subsequent days, we did lots of fun stuff. Lacey was a bit wary of Grandma at first, though I think that may just be because she wasn't feeling well. I thought she was teething, but I think she had a sore throat, since a few days later I woke up in the middle of the night with a killer sore throat, and then my mom woke up with a sore throat. And then, we talked to my aunt in Arizona, and SHE had woken up with a sore throat, too! We decided we must have texted it to her.

Anyway, one day, we went to the park. Grandma and Lacey had a little bonding experience over the wood chips.


Another day, we went out to lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Simmons and Uncle Brad. Lacey was extremely well-behaved at the restaurant, for which I am extremely grateful. She played with a straw and a cup of ice water the whole time, and told stories to everyone at the table. I tell you, she's a hit wherever she goes. We didn't get any pictures at lunch, but we did get some cute pictures of Lacey playing with Uncle Brad.


We went to the farmers market at the football stadium at BYU. It was actually lots of fun. I'm excited for next year when it will be bigger. Anyway, we got some cute little things for Lacey--some finger puppets and a cute little red tote bag. Evidently, when Lacey's mommy was little, she would put little books in her purse and carry them around like a big girl. Lacey loves carrying around her purse, too, and even has her own keys and cell phone to put inside. You can see the bag there, and Lacey reading with Grandma.

And then, on Saturday we went to a birthday party for Phil's mom. It was a surprise birthday party, too. There was much sneakiness that went into making it happen. Grandmother Bobo was very surprised to open the door to 8 of her 13 grandchildren. I'm pretty sure that Lacey's favorite part was the balloons. And this purple witch's hat.

And here's Lacey with her Aunt Emily. Emily gave Lacey that cute little purple dress that she's wearing. The ukulele was a big hit with all the kids, and here Lacey is having a turn with it, too. Lots of purple going on here.