Our Christmas Trip to Utah!

It's been too long since I've updated this. I guess I've just been overwhelmed by the updating I need to do so I'll try to keep it simple. (I'm not very good at doing this and it sometimes drives me nuts!!! ha ha ha)

Anyways, Brian's first semester of law school is over and done with!!! HURRAY!!! He did fairly well and is relieved to get one semester behind him. His finals week was a little bit of a mess. For any of you who did not hear about the big ice storm that ran through the Midwest... well.... it got us.

We were out of power for two days (which isn't bad compared to 18+ for some). But those two days were during Brian's finals. Our house was SO cold (I'm extra sensitive to cold) and so we couldn't sleep there. The first night we slept at our friend's house on our air mattress. It was fine except for if any of you know me very well, I do not sleep well on an air mattress. Needless to say, Brian didn't get much sleep with me bouncing around and knocking him off the air mattress. We decided the next night to stay at a hotel so that we all could get some good sleep. A few friends of mine who had power were nice enough to let Alivia play at their house while I finished packing. Also, with the power being out we had to throw out all of the food from the fridge since it went bad. We were able to put the frozen stuff into my friends deep freeze.... Anyways, as soon as Brian was done with his final he drove home and he loaded up the car and headed for the airport. I was relieved when the power came on not 15 minutes before we left. We were grateful that it came back on before we left. Needless to say, we're now working on a better preparedness plan for if the power goes off again. We had plenty of food, just no heat!!!

Alivia, Brian & I were so glad to get into Utah after that crazy week. The time we spent with friends & family was priceless. In fact, we didn't even have enough time to get to see ALL of you. The time just flew by so quickly. (We think next time we'll drive in order to have our own form of transportation to get us around.)

One thing Alivia said the day after we got into Utah was, "I'm so happy we came back!" That was such a cute experience because she came up with it all on her own.


I'll stop blabbing now so that you can see some pictures.

Brian's brother-in-law, Stoney, bought these beautiful horses not too long ago and took us on an amazing hayride Christmas Eve. It was very cold but a lot of fun. (Alivia still talks about it.)

You can see that by the end it had started to snow.
(Can a Christmas Eve get more perfect than that?

Alivia and her cousins made Gingerbread houses. They were so cute. Alivia made hers to go along with the Kansas theme... it looked like a tornado hit it!!

She had so much fun with ALL of her cousins!! It's been hard for her to be away from them.

I guess Alivia was good enough this year because Santa Clause found her in Price, Utah at Grandma and Grandpa Taylor's house!!! He brought her a Cabbage Patch Kid named, Abby! She sleeps with her now.

Click on the play button to watch the short video.

All of Alivia's cousins got so big since we last saw them. Here's Maddy Jensen giving Alivia a piggyback ride. Alivia like me to give her a piggyback ride and chase Daddy around the house.



Christmas Day was spent with the Taylor side of the family. We had fun spending time with each other and I even talked them into playing an intense game of bingo with daubbers and all!!!
ha ha ha


Grandma and Papa Taylor got the last laugh when they gave Alivia an instrument set for Christmas. There was never a dull moment after that!!! The cousins had a great time playing songs together.



Okay LeeAnn (my mother-in-law)... you must have done a good job at avoiding the camera because I can't find a picture of you. I'LL GET YOU NEXT TIME!!! ha ha ha



We were grateful to spend quite a bit of time with Michelle & Eric since they were in Price for Christmas AND they live in Sandy close to my parents.


Alivia had a ball with Aunt 'Shell and Uncle Eric. Michelle even took Alivia to her dance class with her and let her dance with the other girls. She LOVED it. She's always wanting me to dance with her around the house.


Alivia was obsessed with wearing Grandma Jean's shoes. She wore them all over the house. Then I decided to put her to work and put a matching apron on and Alivia made a seven course gourmet meal for all of us... all by herself.
Okay... so not really.


We spent a lot of lazy days.....


Poor Lindsey broke her leg skiing and had to have surgery. We all had chances to play nurse and to tote little Jett around the house for her. Hang in there Linds!!!


Alivia had a ball on the airplane and even wanted to ride in the wheelchair like Lindsey does when she goes to the store. Alivia said, "My leg's broken like Lindsey's" when she rode around in this wheelchair at the airport.

We spent a lot of time playing games at my parent's house. Here's a few random pictures.


I have a serious confession to make...
I SHOT THE SHERIFF!!!
We had a murder mystery dinner and sure enough I ended up being the murderer!!
See me with the gun? Brian's the indian chief!!!!


Brian was so excited to get a white shirt for Christmas.
Actually, he needed it very badly!
Brian has decided that he needs to let me take more pictures of him.


Alivia, WE LOVE YOU!!!
You are our SPECIAL girl.

The latest on Alivia....
Kiersten was kind enough to pass on some clothes from her girls. Alivia will NOT take off the Hello Kitty shoes they gave her. I mean her feet are stinking now!!! She wears them all day, during her naps (yes in bed), and currently she is in bed for the night and has them on (it just wasn't worth the fight). She told me that they keep her feet "Nice and warm."

I don't know how many of you know this but I occasionally sell pre-made scrapbook pages on Ebay. I have a lot of fun making them (they're kind of my therapy) and I find it easier to make them for other people (I know that sounds weird). So my new goal is to do more for me and my family but also do them for others. Here's a few of them that I have. I personalize them to say what the purchaser wants them to say. These are 12"x12" pages. I have a lot of fun with them so I thought I'd show them to all of you.

They are all two page layouts so when you open the book you see both pages.
(You can double click on the pictures to see the details on the papers)

Left side
Right Side
Close Up
Both pages
Left Side

Right Side

Close Up

Both pages

Left Page

Right Page

Close Up







My newest projects are Boutique Baby Shower Gift Pails. I thought this one was so cute. I include a shirt/outfit, hand sanitizer, body soap for baby, a small gift box for a gift card or any other small gift, baby wipes, and of course chocolates (for the new mom). The pails are decorated so they can be used as storage after to put baby items in, brushes, socks, toys, etc... I've just had too much fun with them.





Okay, so much for this being short and simple. I had fun updating you on what's going on in my life. I could go on and on. Email me back and let me know what's going on in your life.

Love,
Brian, Allyson & Alivia