December

Wowza!! December was packed full of adventures for us. Luckily they were all spaced out so we weren't too stacked, but we did make some great memories! 

On December 8, my good friend Whitney invited me to be her date to the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert. We enjoyed dinner at The Roof, and our table was right by the temple. We were a little late to our dinner reservation because of all the traffic heading up to SLC. It was quite the site to see two pregnant ladies waddling as quick as they could across temple square. I was getting a few contractions and add that to having to use the restroom, that 2 blocks we had to walk seemed like 3 miles. The concert was beautiful and relaxing. It was so nice to have a girls night and do something as the two of us. We don't get to see each other as much as we like because we live in 2 different towns, but we are those type of friends that pick up right where we left off. I can't wait till our 2 little bundles of joy arrive. Our due dates are 6 days apart. She doesn't know what she is having either. 

On Saturday the 10, we headed back up to SLC to enjoy a mini family vacation. We try to make it up to SLC every year just to spend time with one another and the kids look forward to spending time up there too. We didn't have any set in stone plans and did whatever the kids wanted to do. We went to the mall, stayed at the tower (little america), went swimming, went and saw the big gingerbread house at grand america, had brunch (loaded up on lots of crab and ice cream), went to the balls (Children's museum), and looked at the lights at the temple. I love our little tradition of doing this. It really is fun to get away for a minute and do things together. 

She has started to say "Cheese!" when she knows I'm taking a picture. 

On Monday, the 12 we had a neighborhood FHE at our house and built gingerbread houses. We had 4 of the 9 families that have moved into the neighborhood over. It was a house full, but it was fun to do something as neighbors and learn more about each other since we are all new to the neighborhood. When Ty and I picked our house plan, we loved the open space of the the main floor. We wanted to have a space big enough to have people over and not have to be on top of one another. We love having people in our home, and hope they feel comfortable here. I feel bad that I didn't get a picture of everyone together, but it would have taken a lot more work to get everyone all together than I was willing to put in. 

This little girl... 

She came home from school one day in the middle of December with a huge grin on her face. She told me she had a surprise for me. She pulled out this piece of paper and I remember looking at her face as she watched me read what it was. It was a paper telling me that she was chosen as Student of the Month. I was so shocked and I gave her a huge, huge hug. I told her how proud of her I was and that it was such a big honor to get picked. She said that one other person from her class was chosen too. She told me she got to go get a prize from the principal and she also receive a free kids meal at Costa Vida. I had her call her grandma's to tell them the good news and also her dad. We all have her high, high praises. She soon realized how proud we were of her, and she kept this grin on her face most of the day and whenever she told someone her special news. It is amazing to see how much academically she has grown since we have moved down here to Spanish Fork. Her confidence has also grown so so much. We are very lucky to have this little 2nd grader in our family. 

Emmy is such a ham! She really likes to grab Addi's costume stuff and put it on. She also loved to play pretend with little toys. Like I have said, we all laugh at her daily. She is starting to know exactly what she wants too and will direct us in where or what she wants. She is starting to try and say more words, and still babbles like crazy. I know she has so much to say to us. And I secretly don't want her to talk quite yet, because I love listening to her baby babble. 

Once again saying cheese! 

On December 17, we had a family party on the Jensen side. I didn't take many pictures, but it was nice to spend time with them and not feel rushed to go any where. 

I have been a major slacker on taking belly pictures with this baby. In this picture I am 30 weeks. I look at the pictures and I don't look that big, but I feel big. Everything is going great so far with little one. Blood pressure has been in check and is growing right on schedule. 

These couple pictures were taken the day after Christmas. Emery loves pushing round her stroller, and she put the little crib on top of her head all by herself and was walking around the kitchen just as content as could be. 

She also got the little couch and all the kids love to lay on it. This was them taking a break from all the playing of their new toys. I love the look of content on the girls faces. 

And lastly.... 

we joined the mini van club. I am still not sure what to think of this. I am not a big fan of the mini van in general. They are totally a mom car and not the most appealing car. But at the end of the day, practicality won. The automatic sliding doors, the way the seats move around, the DVD player, the price and the space in the back were big check marks for the van.  The kids absolutely LOVE it and were so excited that we got a mini van. We got it on New Year's Eve and it is a Chrysler Pacifica. It is a nice car. I had to tell myself that I don't have to drive it forever and hopefully one day go back to an SUV. But with two tiny ones still in carseats, this will be a lot more practical.