"Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" Melanie's First Christmas, Talking To My Missionary Brothers, And Lots Of Family Time!

I absolutely love the holidays. This year particularly was a special one for multiple reasons. Throughout this post, you will understand why.

Dallan's parents got Melanie an ornament to put on their Christmas tree.
It was quite cute.



Melanie's Uncle Justin (Dallan's brother), came home from St. George for Christmas. It was so fun to have him around and Melanie absolutely adores him. He's her buddy.

Melanie had to put up the ornament that she got from Dallan's parents. She had fun doing that. She felt like a big girl by putting something pretty on the tree.
Check out that hair! LOVE IT!

One of the traditions we have is to build gingerbread houses. We usually get together with Dallan's mom's side of the family and do it, but this year we did it as an immediate family. It was nice and loads of fun. This year I went all out with my gingerbread house. I hardly left any room on the plate!

My finished product!

After the decorating, OF COURSE we have to take pictures of us with our masterpieces.

Along with the gingerbread houses we decorated sugar cookies. The Squish even helped out with that. It was so cute to watch her and Dallan work together to cut out the cookies.
She loves her Daddy.... I love her Daddy too.

Ignore my overly excited face in this first picture. I just LOVE Christmas! Hahaha!

Family picture time!
Love my cute little family so much!

This is just some of the buildings for the Christmas Village. Dallan's Grandpa Ebert collected them throughout the years before he passed away. He loved putting up his villages throughout his house. I never had the opportunity to meet Grandpa, but I hear he literally had hundreds of figurines for his magnificent villages. When he passed, all of his children and grandchildren got to keep some in remembrance of him. We always put our little village up during Christmas time in honor of our Grandpa Ebert.
We love you Grandpa!

This nativity is what Christmas is really about.
Celebrating the birth of our dear Savior, Jesus Christ.

Dallan's mom's side of the family all got together for our annual Christmas party. There's nothing like good food, family time, musical entertainment, and white elephant exchanges!

Every year we also go over to our Grandma and Grandpa Hope's house to decorate ornaments and make yummy sweets.

Melanie LOVED decorating the ornaments! Look at that sweet face. I had fun doing it with her too.

Then she made cookies once again with her daddy.
The picture on the bottom right is her finished product. Hahaha!
The picture on the bottom left cracks me up. She looks so concentrated.
"I must get this cookie perfect!"

Me and my sweet baby girl.

There is nothing like looking into her adorable innocent eyes.

It was then Dallan's dad's side for a Christmas family get-together.
Every year on Christmas Eve, we gather together at our Uncle Monty's house for a prime rib dinner. Then for dessert we always have eclairs.
Mmm Mmm Good!
Then we play games and just enjoy the company.

We had these little poppers and inside of each one was a little surprise.
We got paper crowns!
Dallan's dad is a goof..... I've taught him well. ;) Hahaha!
For once, someone else is pulling a funny face in the picture... NOT ME!
It's a Christmas Miracle!!!!

Squish got a crown too. She was also getting really tired. It was WAY passed her bedtime.

Then Christmas morning came! Melanie was amazed at how beautiful the tree looked with all the gifts under it from Santa!
For her first Christmas, she sure was excited!

She fell asleep in the car playing with her new toy.
How cute!

We headed over to the Hope's for present opening and a mighty tasty breakfast.

Melanie's Uncle Justin and soon-to-be Aunt Lacy, got her the most huge stuffed animal I have ever seen!
At first she wasn't too sure about it, but now she absolutely LOVES it. She even gives it hugs and kisses.

After breakfast we headed over to my parents' house for presents and to talk to my brothers Ricky and Ben through Skype! Baby girl loved her gifts from her Nana and Tata. Can you tell?
The bottom picture says it all!
It's as if she is saying, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

My brothers ended up Skyping us at THE SAME TIME! They are both serving LDS Missions and it was great to be together as a "whole family" again. Even if it was just for an hour or so.
It sure was a tender mercy from our Heavenly Father.

We were even able to get a picture of our awesome family! Too bad Ben's head is cut off a little. Oh well, at least we are all in it. Hahaha! :) 

After talking to my brothers, we hurried over to Grandma and Grandpa Hope's house for a gift exchange.
It was fun helping Melanie open her presents! She did pretty good for an 11 month old!

We then visited Dallan's Grandma Ebert then headed to my parents' house once again for an amazing Christmas dinner!

The holidays are a special time to be with family and to appreciate the things that matter most. I'm glad that I got to celebrate the birth of our Savior with the people I love. I wouldn't have it any other way.

I have so many things to be thankful for. My wonderful and sweet husband, having family that live so close, my precious baby girl, and especially for my Savior Jesus Christ. Without him, none of this would be possible.

Melanie's first birthday coming soon to a blog near you! 

"It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year" The Holidays With A Child Is the Best! Count Down To Christmas!

Every year during Christmas time, Dallan and I make an effort to go see the lights at Temple Square. They are absolutely beautiful. Thousands and thousands of small lights, light up the entire Temple grounds. This was Melanie's first year seeing them! It was fun at first, but then she got a little fussy because it was really cold outside! I did my very best to keep her snug and warm, but her little face still froze. Ours did too...
Brrrrrrr!
Even though she was fussy towards the end, we were still able to have a great time walking around and checking out all of the shiny and sparkly scenery.



The Salt Lake Temple is always beautiful, but there is just something about it during Christmas time when it's surrounded by all the gorgeous lights that make it really special.

Of course we has to take some family pictures.

It was so cold outside, that the water from the reflecting pool was steaming.

Cute little hands....

After looking at the light on Temple Square, we headed over to the City Creek mall. They also have a bunch of lights displayed all over the place. Melanie enjoyed that much more because it was all in doors.

My and my honey bunny.

Dallan and I had the opportunity to attend the wedding of our good friends. Dallan was one of the groomsmen. These two special people got married at the Bountiful temple on a chill Saturday morning. It was an honor to attend their ceremony. 

Cleber and Jessica are Married! 

While Dallan was taking pictures with the bridal party, I was exploring the temple grounds and taking pictures of the pretty sights.

I even tried to get artsy with my picture taking. Hahaha!

It was a tad chilly...

Dallan met the groom, Cleber, on their mission. They have been friends ever since.
I had the special opportunity to meet their mission president and his wife. It was a precious experience to meet President and Sister Cooley. I'm grateful they took care of my missionary while he was gone for two years. No wonder Dallan speaks of them often. They legitimately are two of the sweetest people I have ever met! Even though I only visited with them for a few hours, I feel like I have known them for much longer. It was a pleasure to get to know them and I am so happy they got to meet Melanie as well. I'm sure it's neat for them to see their missionaries grow, marry, and have families of their own. I love these two as if we have been friends for a long time. They are great people.

One of our traditions is to drive around and look for Christmas lights in neighborhoods.
We found a bunch!

Melanie LOVED looking at them, even though in the picture it doesn't look like it...

There's nothing better than hot chocolate on a cold night and watching classic Christmas movies.

While Dallan was at work, I went to visit our grandma and grandpa Hope. Melanie stole her great-grandpa's chair and thought it was the funniest thing ever. Hahaha!
Look at that mischievous face!

Melanie stole some of my dessert! Sneaky kid!
Check out that little tongue and those whip-cream covered fingers!

It's been snowing a lot lately. The entire Salt Lake valley has been dusted with snow and has turned completely white!

Since the Squish has been mobile, she has gotten herself into a lot of interesting situations. Here's one example....
Stuck in drawers. She likes to pull them open and climb into them.
Oh and check out those leg warmers!!!! Aren't they the cutest!?

Ok, so you guys remember in an older post me mentioning that I was writing a book?
Well... Here is the proof! I did it! I really wrote a book and it's here!
I told ya.....
This is seriously legit and awesome if I do say so myself!

Here's my little Ms. Claus! I just love this little girl more than words can express.
This picture makes her looks like she is singing. Hahaha!
"Fa, La la la la, La la la la!"

We are all ready for Christmas at the Hope house! Just seven more days!
I CANNOT WAIT!
Don't worry, I will be taking pictures to capture the moments the entire time! Especially since it is Melanie's first Christmas!
"Tis' The Season!"