Christmas!...... a bit late

We spent Christmas Eve in Las Vegas, opened all our gifts, then woke up at 4am and took a flight to Montana.  We had a great time visiting the Lay side of the family and hanging out in Helena.  It was a great time with great people.  What more can I say?  ps- start at the bottom if you want the pictures to go in order.  If you start at the top they go backwards in time.  

This is Cecily in Montana with her classic excited face on.  

In front of Grammie and Papa Lay's Christmas tree.

We got her the purple vest for Christmas- so cute.

We're going backwards in order here, but oh well.  THis is CJ with her new doll on Christmas Eve when we opened gifts at our house.  Her pj's matched her new dolly.

Cecily got an apple in the toe of her stocking this year, not an orange.  Mom didn't have any oranges........ so she got an apple and Mike and I got pomegranates.  MMMM, tasty.

3 little stockings, all in a row.

Again, we're going backwards through the month here........... This is CJ all bundled up to go outside in Las Vegas the day it snowed and snowed (the 15th?).  It was so funny to see everyone here freaking out about it.   

Here's our tiny little Christmas tree.  We didn't do a ton of decorating since we're moving in a few weeks, but we HAD to atleast have a little tree.  I thought it was nice and festive.  It made me happy to plug the lights in every night and open the blinds.  

Freaking Out A Little

Calling all you Utah-ans! We're officially moving up there on the 17th of January! Naturally, I'm just a little crazy right now trying to get my house packed up and everything clean in time, but that's actually the least of it. We don't have a place in UT to live quite yet.... that's the real reason for the freak out. Here's the dilemma: We have a TON of stuff, and would like to keep a lot of it (like our furniture) 'cause we don't want to buy new if we decide to buy a house in utah. That, and we're pack-rats, I'll admit it. What we're planning on doing is signing a 6 month lease and looking/deciding if we want to buy. If anybody knows of a good deal on a rental, let us know. We're looking for either a 3 bedroom, or if it's a 2 bedroom, we kinda need a garage to put our crud in. I know, pathetic, huh?
Hope you all had a merry christmas! I'll post some pics from our trip to MT soon! Lots of love!

Lucky

So, today is Michael and I's 3rd anniversary.  I'm gonna try not to get mushy, but I feel very lucky to have him as my hubby.  Have you heard the new Jason Mraz song that he sings with Colbie Callait?  It's called Lucky, and pretty much describes how I feel about Mike.  He's my best friend and I feel lucky that we love each other so much.  I never really get sick of spending time with him, and life is more fun when he's around.  3 years and 1 super cute kid later, I don't see how life could get much better, but I'm pretty sure it will.

When God closes a door, somewhere He opens a window.

It's official!  We're moving to Salt Lake City, Utah.  If you would have told me that 2 months ago I would have laughed at you and said you were crazy.  It's great news, though, and we're all really excited about it.   Wish us luck!

CJ's New Game

I know I probably shouldn't be encouraging this.......

Where to Start?

Lots has happened for our little family in the past 2 weeks since I last posted. Mike decided not to take the job in Idaho Falls, so that little dream didn't come to pass. We were very sad, since we have friends and family there and buying a house there would have been great. The Lord has different plans for us, though, and we're in the midst of trying to figure out where He wants us. Mike had an interview in Salt Lake a few weeks ago, and that firm seems very interested, so we'll see what happens. Mike really liked them and we feel really good about moving there. We'll keep you posted.

The day after we got back from SLC, our friends, the Kay's, invited us to a little Christmas charity event here in Vegas called the "Magical Forest". Businesses sponsor it and they decorate trees and put up Christmas displays throughout this little "forest" on a college campus. They had a little train that you could ride through and see everything on. They also had a carousel and Santa and other fun things. It was just the best night. It was a great little escape from Vegas. There's some pics below of our adventure. Cecily was the cutest.... of course.

Then on Wednesday we packed up and headed to LA for thanksgiving with the Vincent clan. It was great to see everyone and Cecily had a blast playing with her 2nd cousins (or is it first cousins, once removed? ..who cares..) and hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa Vincent and Uncle Eric. I ate WAY too much food and had a fabulous weekend of unabashed shopping. Amazing.

The past 2 days since we've been back have been completely consumed with getting things set up for my ward enrichment activity, and I'm thankful that it's done. I can now take a breath, and clean up my house, which has been sorely neglected for the past 2 weeks. It turned out well, and ended up being a yummy, fun, spiritual time for all the women..... well, at least for me :o). Wow, time FLIES when you're having fun, huh? Happy Holidays to everyone! Leave me your address as a comment and I'll send you a Christmas card.

If you look behind Cecily and I you'll see one of the Christmas displays from the Magical Forest. My dad is a land surveyor and this one was done by a surveying company. One snowman is the rodman, one is working with the surveying instruments, and the one in the back has a book that says "field notes". I thought it was cute. Made me miss my daddy. This is Mike on the huge slide they had. More evidence of my theory that he is an 8 year old trapped in a 27 year old's body. Xander and Josh Kay are behind him, but I accidentally cut Josh's head off in the picture.... Cecily does not like to hold our hands and wiggles every chance she gets.

Cecily and Grandma Vincent had a great Thanksgiving together. CJ looks a little funny in this pic. I think she was saying "cheese" which comes out "Theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese"Cecily also had a grand old time with Grandpa Scott. Yay! Tupperware!