Happy Valentines!

Valentines Day is always a fun one at our house because we not only celebrate valentines day but we also celebrate Eric's birthday. We usually start the day out with valentines and end it with birthday. It was so fun to surprise the girls on valentines morning with a pink waffle breakfast and a little valentine from Mom and Dad. We are so blessed to have these 3 beautiful girls that bring so much joy to our home. We had a fun day of school valentines parties and then off to Texas Roadhouse to celebrate Eric's birthday. We had a fun dinner and came back to open presents. The girls couldn't wait to give him their favorite present, the game Minute to Win it. We had a fun time playing some of the games and ended the night eating ice cream cake from Cold Stone! I am so blessed to have the best husband in the whole world. He truly is my best friend and he makes me so happy!

Brinley and Hailey

Brinley and Hailey bring such a big smile to my face! They are full of fun and the other day was no exception. One of their favorite things to do is go to Grandma Alldredge's house and put on all of her reading glasses she has laying around the house. Brin asked her where she got her glasses and when she told her the Dollar Store she got really excited! She came home and begged me to take them to the dollar store to get glasses! I was a little hesitant because they do have a prescription in them but we got the really low powered ones and they are loving them. They only wear them for a few minutes at a time but they think they are pretty neat to have the same glasses as their Grandma!

way to go Sadie!

Sadie's team had a great time at their second comp. With a lot of hard work during the week they were able to make a few changes to their routine and took 1st place. Their team won a trophy and sadie was excited to hold it for a minute! Way to go Cheerz Allstars! I am so proud of Sadie. Cheerz is the one place where she can be herself and not be judged by others. She has made some amazing friends on her team and I am so grateful for that.

Go Cheerz!!

Sadie was so excited for her first cheerleading comp. of the year you would have thought it was christmas morning! She had a smile from ear to ear. She has been practicing so hard the past few months they were ready to go compete! What makes it even more fun is that her two older cousins Kelli and Jayci are also on Cheerz cheerleading teams they are just on different ones. Sadie loves and looks up to them so much. They are such great examples to her. Sadie's team did such a great job. I'm always a nervous wreck up there watching but she did great. Her team didn't make any mistakes so when they were handing out awards and her team took 5th place we were all in shock! Come to find out one of there stunts had an illegal move in it and their music was to long, They deducted 20 points ( so annoying!) at least the girls new they did great and thats all that matters! They have to fix everything by next Saturday so it may be a stressful week at practice.

Hailey and Brinley were big troopers and had fun watching. There favorite part was dressing there american girl dolls up like cheerleaders! It was a really long day but lots of fun. I still have a pounding headache from the loud music and it's the day after! Hopefully we will be recovered and ready for next saturday!

Happy New Year!

We made our annual trip up to Soldier Hollow for our sledding on New Years day. We were a little worried about the 6 degree weather but we bundled up and had a blast! The kids had so much gear on they had no skin showing! It was so fun to be with family and spend the day together.

Christmas

We started off our christmas celebration with the Seljaas family party. It is so fun to get together with everyone and was especially fun to welcome home our nephew Nathan from his mission. (I'm so mad I forgot my camera for all of our christmas parties!) We had lots of fun exchanging gifts, playing christmas songs on handbells, and playing games. We even had a visit from Santa. The next day was Christmas Eve and we had a fun party at Eric's Aunts house where we Danced around the Christmas tree and sang a Norwegian song. We look forward to this party every year and love getting together with Eric's cousins. After that party we went to my sister's house for my family party. They had a wonderful ham dinner that everyone enjoyed. Kristi had put together some really neat christmas mormon messages that we watched and then the kids each sang some christmas songs. When it was Brinley's turn we heard a knock at the door and Santa left his bag full of toys for the kids. They were so excited to see what he brought them. Brinley was excited that her singing brought Santa to them! The kids had lots of fun exchanging cousin gifts and were not disappointed with there gifts. I am so grateful to have such wonderful family on both sides and enjoy so much when we get together. We were anxious to get home so the kids could get to bed! They were so wound up they came out 3 times! They all slept in the same room and had a fun night together. Christmas morning when 7:00 hit and they still weren't awake, we decided to go and wake them up! They were very excited to see what Santa brought them. They were very excited to see new American girl dolls, pillow pets, and a new dog!(this is the only dog we will ever have at our house!) Sadie was very excited with all of her cooking supplies and has been cooking us treats ever since. We have been loving our new WII game Just Dance for kids, and Brinley has been everyone's school teacher over the break. Aunt Brooke new just what Brinley loves to do, play school. It has been so nice to have a break from our normal routine and we have been loving staying up late and sleeping in!

Christmas Traditions

This time of year is so fun with all of the family traditions that go on. We started the month off with remembering my Dad on the day that he passed. It is amazing that it has been two years. We always go and visit his grave and the girls make a special card to put on it. We still miss him so much and our conversations frequently include memories of grandpa. My mom is so amazing and she told us that she didn't want that day to be a day of longing but she wanted it to be a day to look forward to each year. She has started a tradition of giving me and my siblings a gift each year on Dec 4th as a gift from my Dad. She is always thinking of her children and we are blessed to have her.

The next week we had fun at Grandma Alldredge's Gingerbread party. The kids love this party and look forward to it each year. Grandma read them a christmas story and they all intently listened. We have quite a group now and it can get a little chaotic! We ended the party by playing christmas songs with hand bells. They were all sad when the fun was over!

Of course each year we ride the front runner and trax into temple square to see the christmas lights. We decided to go on a monday night for FHE. We weren't the only ones that had that idea! It was so crowded but we had fun and it was actually a pretty warm night.

With Christmas approaching soon the kids are excited to have 2 weeks off of school. There excitement of christmas is infectious and we have lots of fun together baking, going to christmas parties, and being with family. I love this time of year and the special feeling of Christmas.