Beautiful Arizona Weather

I haven't blogged in a while, I don't really know why but we have just been living life I guess. It has been so beautiful outside lately and we have had tons of fun playing at various parks. McKenna has a new obsession with playing in the sand which is funny because she hated it a month ago. She will literally pick up sand with a cup and empty it in a bucket and she thinks it is the greatest thing ever. She is so funny and she is starting to talk a whole lot more and it is definitly becoming easier to understand what it is she is saying. She is such a doll, wanting to help me when I cook, helping to pick up her toys, becoming more and more obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba and Elmo:) Which by the way are great shows if you don't watch them. Life is good for me too. I love my calling in YW. I sort of feel like I'm lucky enough to go back and relive my YW days all over again. I think I may even want to go for my recognition award all over again too. We'll see. I was so overwhelmed at first but now I just love every aspect of it and feel truly blessed to be a part of their lives. Hopefully the girls don't think I'm too crazy. I did get a little riled up at volleyball last night:)

Christmas 2008

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. We celebrated Christmas Eve with the Braegger's over at our house and laughed a lot as McKenna and Rylan played with their gifts. On Christmas morning we had my family over for breakfast and then we watched McKenna open up her gifts. She was so funny because she still wouldn't tear into the gifts but delicately take off the wrapping paper. She was so spoiled by everyone and has had so much fun playing with her new toys. In the afternoon we went over to my parent's house and had Christmas Dinner and then enjoyed just spending time together as a family. I am so thankful that we have family that lives so close and for the wonderful influence they are in my life. I always cherish celebrating the Christmas Season with my family and loved ones.

Zoo

We had the opportunity to go to the zoo last week and we had so much fun. Grandma Wyand was nice enough to get us in for free with her membership and McKenna had so much fun. I would say her favorite animal was the baboons. She ran up and started making monkey sounds and would tell them "hi." She also loved the kids play area and brushing the goats. Which by the way were the most docile goats ever, they just laid there while McKenna brushed them and gave them hugs. She of course had to go on the carousel and laughed and waved to everyone the whole time, especially my brother Jacob. She wanted to hold his hand half the time and even cuddled with him in the monkey enclosure-she loved Uncle Jacob:)

New Family Pics

Last week we ventured out to the Mesa Arts Center to have our pictures done with my sister in laws family. It was a fun time if you consider that McKenna wanted nothing to do with any of it and Chris was annoyed because the photographer wouldn't tell us when she was going to take the picture. She definitly went more for the random shots. There were a few that I liked out of probably 200 photos and she did make us a beautiful Christmas Card. I don't know if they would have turned out better under other circumstances-McKenna could just care less about pictures right now.

Catch Up

I cannot believe that we are in December already. I feel bad that I have not posted anything in a while especially about our wonderful Thanksgiving week. My Grandpa Wright was here for about 2 weeks visiting from Colorado so it was great to have him here in town. McKenna towards the end of his trip would wave at him and we did get her to give him a kiss goodbye which was a start. The day before Thanksgiving we went with my family to Zoo Lights and McKenna had so much fun. I think her favorite thing of all was riding the carousel. She loved it! She waved at everyone and gave hugs and kisses to her tiger and leopard-she is obsessed with all things animal and loves them sometimes a little to much:) We had an amazing Thanksgiving lunch at my in-laws and it was fun to see everyone there and then we went for dinner at my parents. Throughout the day I just kept thinking how lucky I am to have such an amazing family. Moving on to other business-McKenna started nursery officially about 3 weeks ago and has stayed by herself the last 2 weeks. It was weird going to Sunday School and actually being able to listen-it was way too easy. I'm enjoying my new calling in YW -I'm just so impressed by the young women in our ward-they are all truly special. We got our tree up and McKenna helped with the decorating until she found a reindeer and bear stuffed animal in our Christmas Stuff after that she tended to them only. Last night McKenna, Jessie, and I went to our ward Christmas Party. (Chris had to work of course). It was an evening in Bethlehem so everyone dressed in biblical attire. I just wore my bathrobe but I didn't have anything for McKenna so I took one of my old t-shirts and and cut it into a beautiful hot pink robe. She liked it even better by adding her necklace and Elmo sticker. We had fun and McKenna actually was pretty chill I think because she was so tired and she has had a sinus infection for the last week. She has to be on antibiotics for 20 days-crazy. I think she is finally starting to feel better though:)

Twilight

Was the movie as good as the book...No of course not. However, I still loved every moment of it. Sure there were a few cheesy parts but some parts in the book were cheesy too. Vampire Baseball-need I say more. I am so happy that they just announced that they are going to make New Moon and hopefully they will spend more time on it knowing that it will make money. I was able to see it on Friday night with my two sisters and it was so much fun because we all love the books. The only sad thing is that I will have to find some other book to obsess over until New Moon will be made.

High School Reunion

It was a crazy weekend seeing some people that I haven't seen in 10 years. That's right it was my ten year high school reunion. It was great to see everyone and I thought that most people looked exactly the same if not better than what they looked in high school. The reunion itself was held at Chase Ball Field in an upper level sports lounge and it was a great venue for the event. There was dinner a little entertainment and some great conversations. The only thing I was surprised about was the lack of people. We had like 550 in our graduating class and only 120 people were there. Hopefully more will make it out to the 20th! Oh and thanks to Tommy for keeping Chris occupied with some awesome picture taking:)