Hardman Christmas Eve Party 2010

Christmas Eve we got together with my dad's side of the family. It has been over 10 yrs since we have all been together, and it was long overdue. It was so much fun catching up, eating good food, playing games and exchanging gifts. We are always so glad to spend time together with family, especially this time of year!

Marley...gotta love those boots!

Everyone else had sandwiches but of course Liddy had to have a quesadilla!

My Aunt Kathy's family
Keisha, Pat, Cam, Kathy, Andrea, Cordell

My Aunt Suzy's family
Jordan, Emily, Marley, Keisha, Max, Suzy, Whitney, Messiah, Jullian, Tejiah

Jordan and his darling family!

My dad, Grandma Favatella, Suzy and Kathy!

My Grandma and Grandpa Favatella and all of their Great Grandkids

Dear Santa,

Next year we will come to visit you earlier in the year so we actually get to see you.

It was pretty sad we went to see Santa on the 23rd (Patrice's Birthday...happy birthday Patty!,) and needless to say the line was way too long so we went on the choo choo train instead...Luckily Lydia really likes riding the choo choo train and wasn't sad at all she didn't get to see Santa (ha ha ha!)

Waiting in line...for the train!

Best buddies

They'll be coming around the mountain!

Aunt Patrice was so nice to ride with the kids!

Little Dancer

The 18th was the studio's dance recital. This year was especially fun since Lydia has been taking dance so she was in the recital. I have to say I have had my struggles with deciding if it is the best thing to have her taking from me, sometimes she doesn't listen to me as well as I think she would listen to someone else, but I have to remind myself she is only 2 (ha ha ha!)

Anyways her dance was to "My boyfriend's Back" and to say the least she loved the song. At the dress rehearsal she ran around on stage during the entire time her class was practicing, to say the least I was a little stressed out. On Friday the day of the performance I drilled it into Lydia's head that if she stayed on her tape I would get her a Bullseye and Jesse toy...to say the least she heard that from me about 100 times before it was actually time for her to perform.

At the actual performance she stayed on her tape (it was obvious all the other mom's had the same idea that I did, with bribing our kids...ha ha ha!) Anyways they all did so good, and it was so much fun seeing my own daughter up on stage dancing and having a blast. I love my little dancer and was so proud of her!

Gotta say I love, love, love their costumes!

Lydia has definitely grown since I ordered these costumes, her's was a little tight so we had to safety pin it around the neck so she would leave it alone.

I especially love the feather!

Mommy I went pee pee on the potty!

For the past month I have been telling Lydia that after the dance recital we are going to say goodbye to diapers. My friend Marie said that when she potty trained her little girl she talked about it for a while before so that she knew that it was coming. Anyways it was great advice and it really did help. After the recital we took the diapers and we put them away...Lydia was pretty excited to say good bye to them at first. Then she realized that she had to go on the toilet. At first she fought us tooth and nail...she didn't want to go on the potty. Then she had her first success, and luckily I bought the cheapest toilet I could find but it has a mechanism where when she goes it registers it and sings a little song...to say the least it was instant praise and just what she needed.

Overall since the 19th she has been in training and she is doing a lot better than I thought. My only concern is that she holds her poop in and so when she does finally go they are the size of China (sorry I'm sure no one wants to hear about my childs bowel movements...lol!) But we have good days and bad days but for the most part it is getting better and better each day! My favorite part is seeing how proud Lydia is when she goes on the potty, there is a lot of celebrating around our home and I love seeing her face light up when she knows she is doing what she is supposed to!

Meet Simon

We were so Lucky, Santa sent a special little elf to our house after Thanksgiving. Simon is a very special elf, he reports back to santa if we are being naughty or nice and every morning he is hiding in a new location. He has really helped us to make sure that we are doing everything we can to get on Santa's good list this year.

It is so funny every morning Lydia runs out of bed looking for Simon (she also calls him Theadore, or Alvin...I think she thinks he is named after the chipmunks...I will educate her later he is actually named after Simon Cowell from American Idol, ha ha ha) Anyways this has been such a fun year, Lydia is actually getting Christmas and loves all the movies and music. If you ask her what she wants for Christmas she will first tell you what her cousins Bode and Raini want and then she will tell you "a barbie" (lucky me...I hated barbies growing up, oh well)

Also how do you like our gingerbread house, we didn't throw our annual sweater eggnog party this year due to having a baby, having the dance recital later this year, and just needing a break so Lydia and I decorated our own gingerbread house for Family Home evening this year, Lydia had a lot of fun eating the candy and I had a lot of fun decorating!

Always wanted one...

I have always wanted a sister and never had one (until I got married then I was so blessed to gain three amazing sister-in-laws) But all growing up I wanted a sister so badly. My BFF when I was younger (Chelsea Frandsen) had an older sister who I was obsessed with, I always wanted to be like Heather, and we also had so much fun with her little sister Brooke. I was also especially jealous when I got to be older and a lot of my friends had sisters closet's to raid, to talk boys and to cry to. I love my brothers and don't get me wrong I am so grateful in many ways to have been an only girl (can you say spoiled...ha ha ha!) But I am so excited for these two girls to be best friends and to get to have that special bond I always wanted.

Precious Moments

Today I can't help but to be grateful for precious little moments that make life so much more fulfilling. Today last year my best friend Meg and her husband Colby found out that their son Urban wouldn't be coming into this world alive. When I got the text from Meg I couldn't for one second wrap my head around what they would have to go through. When I went to the hospital to see them I couldn't help but cry, cry for their loss, cry for what I knew they had to go through and most of all cry for the fact that they had wanted so badly to be parents for so long and now at 37 weeks that was taken from them again.

Over the past year I have watched Colby and Meg struggle to cope with the reality of losing a child. With trying to adjust to being parents, without the child to hold. I have seen them have their ups and their downs, but all along the way I saw them grow closer as a couple and even closer to their heavenly father.

I don't know what it is like to lose a child, and I pray that I never have to know the pain and agony Colby and Meg have known over this past year. But I do know that I have learned so much from their trail. I have learned to hug my kids a little tighter, and to never take these precious moments we have with our kids for granted. I have learned that you don't have to have kids to be parents. Colby and Meg are the most amazing people ever and I have seen them with their nieces and nephews, I have seen them with my kids and they are true examples of what great parents are. And I have learned most of all that our Heavenly Father has a plan for us that doesn't always make sense to us, but we have to trust and have faith that he knows what we need more than we do.

They are looking forward to welcoming their 2nd son into their family in the next few weeks, and I can't help but imagine that Urban is in heaven telling his baby brother about how lucky he is to be joining their family. About how he needs to stay, but to give mom and dad extra love from him. About how he is going to forget who he is for a little while but they will all be together again and it may feel like a long time, but in the end it will be but a blink of an eye.

Colby and Meghan thank you for all you have taught us, thank you for your examples and thank you for letting us be a part of your life. We truly feel honored to call you friends. We look forward to one day meeting Urban, and we look forward to the day that you get to have your opportunity to raise your first born son!

S-L-E-D-D-I-N-G-!

Well a couple of weeks ago we decided to take Lydia sledding for her very first time. It was about a week after we had had any really good snow so we ran into two problems...First of all finding a decent sled for a decent price (Thank goodness for TARGET!) And then finding a decent hill with a decent amount of snow (ha ha ha!) Anyways we finally found a good hill (over by Fort Herriman Jr High) and we went SLEDDING! To say the least it was a blast. Lydia loved it and even wanted to go "all by myself" Chris and I were so dorky but we had a blast too! Good old Audrey slept in the car through the whole thing (I love that baby!) Gotta love Utah for that reason....sledding!

Her First time down the hill!

Lydia got to ride down and up the hill!

Mommy's turn

My dumb boots were horrible in the snow, I slipped the whole way up...Chris was cracking up!

WOOOHOOOO!!!!

Audrey at 10 weeks...I'm sorry but isn't she so stinking cute? I LOVE this little girl!

I feel so lucky to have such darling little girls!

Happy Birthday Marley!

It was my cousin Jordan and his wife Emily's daughters birthday a couple of weeks ago. They had a little party for her over at Jungle Jim's play land. It was so fun to see little Marley so excited about all her presents and especially about her darling cake.

It was my cousin Jordan and his wife Emily's daughter's birthday a couple of weeks ago. They had a little party for her over at Jungle Jim's play land. It was so fun to see little Marley so excited about her presents and especially about her darling cake.

Lydia also had a great time, that is until Chris and my dad put her on the bumper cars all by herself and after a few hits she lost it. It was so fun and HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARLEY!

The Birthday girl!

Marley really enjoying her cake!

Chris put Lydia on the bumper cars by herself...and let's say she wasn't too happy about it.

Liddy and her best pal...Grandpa!

Yes my dad is on the playground with her (ha ha ha!)