Christmas and Sledding

We had a wonderful Christmas this year.  It was a great opportunity to spend some time with family and enjoy what the Christmas season is truly about.  The Sunday before Christmas we got together with Mia's birth mom, her parents, and two of her brothers.  Mia had so much fun playing with them.  We had a pizza dinner complete with chocolate balls for dessert.  It's the first time Mia's gotten a chocolate ball and she really enjoyed it.

 After cleaning up we exchanged presents.  Mia's birth mom gave her some adorable shirts for next summer and a hat that she is absolutely in love with.

It was a really good evening with lots of fun pictures that we will always treasure as a family.
Christmas Eve Mia got to open her first present, new PJ's.  Mia definitely understood the concept of opening presents this year.

We got a good picture after Santa came and before the destruction began.

 It took some persuasion to get Mia to open her stocking because she wanted to play with her new kitchen.  Don't mid my zombie looking face, I worked Christmas Eve night.

 Mia had lots of fun opening presents and had to make sure that every little piece of paper came off the presents.

 Of course she was spoiled again this year.  This is a picture Christmas morning before we went to West Jordan, and she came home from West Jordan with lots more presents, a tent, clothes for her baby, a new color book and color crayons, an ugly doll, a ride on horse (that stays at Nana's house) and many more goodies.

 Speaking of new crayons, thank goodness Aunt Trina got her the washable kind because she tried out her artwork the next day.  I still have no idea when she snuck away to accomplish this but she did.

It ran all the way down the stairs with another little drawing on the door.  Needless to say I wasn't happy.
Friday after a couple of days of lots of snow I took Mia sledding for the first time.  We went with our best friends and Mia had a blast!

 She would squeal on the way down the hill and get to the bottom and just keep saying "Again, again."  A few times I got her to go with me but mostly she preferred to go with her friend Eli.

It was a pretty good size hill at a local school.  Mia didn't mind if she rode in front or back just as long as she got to go.

Mia also spotted the playground at the school.  Not even a foot of snow could keep this girl off the toys.

Christmas Activities

With the Christmas season approaching we have been very busy.  Every year we have taken Mia to get her picture taken with Santa.  This year she was really excited to see Santa until it was her turn and Monty went to put her on his lap.  She decided this year that Santa is a little scary.  She loves to wear her Santa Claus hat though.

 My parents came down from Idaho for my mom's family Christmas party. 

 We had lots of snacks, dinner, and just kind of hung out.

 The next day we drove up to Idaho for my dad's family Christmas party.  The Heslin family (my mom's) is loud and crazy.  The Cobbley family (my dad's) is the exact opposite.  Everyone just sat around quietly eating their food.  Mia was the only one there with much rambunctious energy.

 While we were in Idaho we got a 4 generation picture.  My grandpa is 96 years old now, and still surprisingly sharp for his old age.

 The past few years we have gone to the see the Christmas Village in Ogden.  It is at a park in downtown Ogden and there are a bunch of Christmas lights and little houses/booth type things each with a different Christmas scene in it.  We bundled Mia up tight and headed out again this year.

 Mia did really good for about 45 minutes and then she looked at us and said "Done."  She told us she was done a few more times and then really started throwing a fit before we made it all the way through and headed back home.  However she was still toasty warm when we put her back in the car...unlike her parents.

 Mia has a new favorite toy.  It's the massive box that the filters for our furnace came in.  She has spent a lot of time playing with her new box.  Both in...

 And on top.

We also bundled up to go to Temple Square to see the lights there.

 Such a beautiful sight.

 Mia liked the nativity scenes and would point and say Jesus at many of them.

 This month Mia also got her very first haircut.  She had to sit on my lap because she thought the chair was a little scary but she did great.  She looks so much older with her haircut and it is so nice to finally have her hair out of her face.  We knew Susan from our student ward when we lived in Ogden and she does such an awesome job!

The rest of November

Apparently I've been a slacker lately keeping up with the blog.  We have just been staying busy and getting ready for the holidays has just kept me distracted I guess.  We had our first snow storm and Mia got all bundled up and went and played in the snow with Monty.

Mia loved just walking around in the snow and looking back at her tracks.

 We've been building lots of Lego towers at our house lately.  Mia loves to build them up as high as we can get them and then knock them over and laugh.  We just need to get some more Lego's so we can build a taller, more sturdy tower.

 For Thanksgiving Monty and Mia went to pie night at Monty's parents house (I had to work).
The Borrowman's love eating whip cream from the can and they are teaching Mia early.

 Mia loves her some pie!

Her cousin Sara was very helpful in the clean up.

 Thursday morning when I got off work we headed up to Idaho and spent 2 1/2 days up there.  We had a great time.  We went shopping on Black Friday, ate lots of food, and played lots of games. 
Mia used Grandpa as her own personal horse.

 Grandma has some pretty cool puzzles that are almost as big as Mia is.

 Uncle Shawn was making and blanket and tied Mia up in the scraps.  She thought that was awesome.

Mia definitely loves her uncle Shawn.

No trip to Idaho is complete without a trip to the hot tub. 

 This year we put Christmas lights up on the house, and when I say we I mean Monty.  (THANKS HONEY).  I still need to take a picture with them on though.

 Mia kept herself busy riding her bike.

 Mia helped out with the decorating by wearing the stockings.  Eventually they made it to the mantle.

Mia is all ready for Christmas.