Christmas: Week One

Kenzie, Sophie and Eva enjoyed painting Keith's nails

These three played so well together

Not the best picture but I had to get one of Clara and her cousin Annabelle

Keith's mom Joan is wonderful with the grand kids. They love her stories

Clara wasn't sleeping very well the week before we left for Utah. During the long plane ride I realized her two bottom teeth had come through...at 3 months. I wasn't so happy about it and I don't think she was either, poor thing

We loved playing on Grandpa's Ipad. In fact, I think they should send every new mom home from the hospital with one to encourage breastfeeding

Holding their heads up high

Clara loved napping with baby Melody in her Aunt Joy's tummy. Joy really does have the magic touch though that's why she's been blessed with 4 girls

She was all smiles for Grandpa Shaw

Kenz misses her cousins so bad!

The Shaws have quite a bit of personality

The girls dressed up in nativity garb

Keith and I at a shopping area in Orem somewhere. The lights were beautiful and we (by we, I mean Keith) enjoyed Sushi with his siblings and their spouses. Sorry sushi lovers, I just can't get into it

I have way too many pictures from Christmas break so I'm breaking it up into several posts. We had so much fun going to Utah, Idaho, then back to Utah. We really appreciated our families for letting us stay with them, feeding us, watching our kids, letting us borrow cars, giving us gifts and taking time off of work. This is our last Christmas we'll be traveling from Kentucky, hopefully 2013 will put us a little closer to home.

Christmas Break: Shaw Family Photos

The grandparents with all of the grandkids

Keith with siblings Kirk and Katie and his parents

All those girls...

Siblings with spouses

I'm 5'5" but in this family it feels more like 4'5"

Christmas Break: Clara's Blessing

We had the opportunity to bless Clara on the 17th. Keith's parents were so gracious to host this event at his house and his immediate family was all able to make it. All of my family could come minus David and Scott. Of course, it was a beautiful blessing and we really enjoyed having our families together.

My maternal grandmother, Nycola Anderson with Clara

The men who blessed her: Heath Becker, Kirk Brower, Kirk Shaw, Keith, Randy Shaw and Brandon Merritt

Our attempt at a family photo

4 Generations

The girls in my family

Some nieces and nephew at the kids table

My dad with Luca, my sister Rachel's 3rd who was born a month before Clara

Joan and Randy put together a wonderful meal! Somehow, I managed to only really get pictures of my side of the family. I'm bummed we didn't take any with Keith's side for this but they were busy hosting.

And little Annabelle who was born 2 months before Clara. So fun she has 2 cousins close to her in age...and another baby girl cousin  coming this week( hopefully)

Before Christmas

The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas break is always a bit of a blur- kind of like those first couple months after having a baby. It's all a little gray and fuzzy and all you really remember is feeling tired, overwhelmed and you just can't stop stuffing your face:) Someday, Keith will no longer be in school and he won't be studying for finals for those weeks in which I have my birthday and we (are supposed to) celebrate our anniversary.
For my 25th Birthday, my friends were so sweet and held a breakfast brunch for me on the 2nd. Keith had to work on the 3rd, but he came home in time to take me to Mark's Feed Store that night. After all was said and done I felt like I would be just fine not celebrating another birthday until my 30th. That will give Keith sufficient time to get a babysitter and plan a rockin party right? Or maybe just make me a cake and buy me a present...anyways, I managed to capture a few pictures of those weeks. Keith always humors me by letting me buy a real Christmas tree. We got a smaller one this year and I think it was just perfect for our apartment.

My friend Kristen made this cute skirt for Clara and the bow was made for Mackenzie from Keith's cousins. If my daughter is dressed cute it's almost always because someone else has provided such cute things for her!

Mackenzie and Parker hiding under the blankets. These two just giggle and play the whole 3 hours they're together.

Love a big baby belly

Our only snow that lasted about 3 minutes and didn't stick

Clara humors Kenzie all day

Study buddies

Our little tree- yes it's leaning, the trunk was so skinny it was hard to get it to stay upright

I love this sad face, she doesn't make it often

Two things I love about these photos:

1. It's January 5th, and it's warm enough to go on a walk outside

2. Clara sitting upright in the stroller and how happy she is about it

Take 2

Happy Thanksgiving!

Keith and I have been able to spend all 3 of our Thanksgiving dinners out here in Kentucky with good friends. Last year we were with Gosnells and contributed a pie. This year we contributed rolls, pies, stuffing, ham, and potatoes. It was a lot of work, but nice to use the same recipes my mom uses and not feel so homesick for family. No matter that my crescent rolls came out looking like big blobs, they still tasted buttery and sweet, and comforted my soul. 

This year I am most grateful for our new baby Clara. She is the sweetest addition to our family and I can't imagine how our lives were complete without her. I'm also grateful for such a wonderful husband. He keeps busy with school and his calling and yet he always makes time for me and the kids. And today when he clogged our sink with potato peels (because he peeled all 12 potatoes) and I left to go shopping for black Friday with the girls, he put Kenz to bed then pulled apart the sink and bleached it. He's a keeper. I'm grateful for Kenzie because she makes me laugh. She's full of boundless energy and attitude. 

I'll leave you with a little video of Kenz and her buddy Parker. Keith was on-line and this song started playing and they started busting out moves we'd never seen before. We were impressed with Parkers break dancing and Kenzie's booty shaking....must come from those Shaws:)