So this is Christmas.

Having Christmas at our own house this year was absolutely amazing.
Christmas 2007-Our Christmas tree was too tall to put up in our apartment.
Christmas 2008-We moved on the 26th and 27th so the decorations stayed in the boxes and we didn't celebrate with just the three of us until New Years' Day.
Christmas 2009-The Christmas village was up two weeks before Thanksgiving and the tree was about a week after that. We just couldn't wait for the season to begin.

Here's Audrey Christmas morning with her doll that Santa brought her. They're dancing.

We have to throw in some Christmas traditions with our families...
like gingerbread houses...

and reading/dressing up/acting out Christ's birth from the Bible.

(Actually, Audrey insisted she was Tinkerbell- not Mary.)

This is Audrey's fake smile because she was pretty tired of opening presents by about 9 or 10:00. The next day when she got to play with all the toys was when she realized how much she really loved Christmas.
The best part of this Christmas for us was that Audrey got into the WHOLE thing. She loved going to stores where they had decorations. She got excited anytime she saw Santa (not enough to go sit on his lap, but from a safe distance). She sang "Jingle Bells" and "When Christmas Comes to Town" (from Polar Express) about a million times. She liked helping me buy presents for everyone and wrap them and put their names on them. She was obsessed with the Christmas village and the Christmas tree. The Christmas tree lights had to be turned on the first thing in the morning when she came downstairs and they were the last thing we turned off before we went to bed.
It was so much fun. By next Christmas we will be blessed with another precious baby and Christmas will mean that much more.

Fall/Winter

Here are a few of the things we did in the fall and winter. (When you see them, you'll see how unexciting it's been.)

Ryan went to New York for work including a trip to both Yankee and Mets stadiums.

We went camping with Audrey for the first time.
She was okay. She didn't really love sleeping in the tent which meant we didn't love sleeping in there with her. But it was a fun family experience. My mom and dad, sister, and brother-in-law came as well.

More recently, Ryan has become BFFs with the BYU basketball coach's wife. She went into the Derm Center a couple of times and told him she'd get him some court side tickets to a game. Since then, I think Ryan's been six times. He has been a very happy guy. (It helps that the Cougars are currently one of the best teams in the country.) The seats include dinner before the game and snacks at halftime from a banquet room. But who needs all that when you get to sit close enough to smell the sweat on the floor?

Audrey is such a great fan! But she was not too great at sitting still at this game so she hasn't been since. Ryan has tried to spread the wealth to everyone in his family instead.

One of Audrey's favorite things about winter...shoveling snow. I wish Ryan and I felt the same way. For a few weeks there it seemed like we were shoveling a few times a week.

As for me? I have been growing a baby! (Hence, no pictures of me.) The first few months kicked my butt. Since then, things are going pretty well. I'll update more on this later.