Last week for FHE we bundled up and drove to Heritage Park for their Candlelight Christmas.

We rode on a train. It was freezing!! This is the face that Hannah gives whenever I say "Eyes on the camera." Nice.

Grace does NOT like her hood.

It was so cold on the train ride, but luckily, the houses were toasty and we stayed warm.

There were fun crafts, a puppet show, stories,

stores to play dress up,

and we were able to print our own Christmas card on an old-fashioned printing press.

In the school house we were taught a dance from pioneer days.

Pretty impressive, huh!?

They had a live nativity and an elf village.

One of Hannah's favorite things were the live reindeer. She kept saying, "Dasher?...Vixen?..." Trying to get them to answer. So cute.
We finished out the night with a visit with Father Christmas. Hannah whispered what she wanted for Christmas.

Grace had her first meeting with Santa. She was NOT a fan. I was surprised because she loved all of the characters at Disney, but not Santa! Hopefully he won't be offended and will still leave her a present on Christmas night!

Christmas Tree and Christmas Tees

This year we decided to purchase a small fake tree. Hannah and I made all of the ornaments. We made snowflakes and clothespin Rudolphs and tied bows on candy canes. It was really fun to decorate a homemade tree.

We bought our annual Christmas tees. Here is Grace (crazy eyed!) in her festive shirt. Notice the blockade around the tree. This keeps little hands from pulling off all of the decorations!

Here is Hannah striking a pose. This little one is so excited for Christmas!

Here is my attempt at getting a picture of the two of them together...yeah, doesn't work so well. At least you can see the shirts!

A Gingerbread Train(Wreck)

On Monday for FHE we built and decorated a gingerbread train that came in a kit. I had purchased it last year and we had never gotten around to making it.



It came with gingerbread cutouts, candy in bags, and frosting. The kit expired in May, so we told the girls, "Do NOT eat it!" Grace just sucked on the bags. The frosting was like cement, but we did the best we could! Hannah was in charge of the creative aspect.


I think it turned out pretty darn cute!
On a related note: We woke up in the morning to find that the engine walls were leaning significantly to the left. The frosting had dried to it was permanently crooked! Hannah, the eternal optimist, said, "The train is just dancing and shaking from side to side!"

Ride 'Em Cowgirl

When we were in Rexburg for Halloween, Hannah really wanted to ride my dad's horse. When we asked him I let him know that odds were she would not want to ride very long, but he was nice enough to saddle a horse. Well I was wrong! She rode for a really long time. By the end of her session, she was able to make the horse stop and turn in the direction she wanted! I was super impressed! I skipped riding the horse and instead opted for something more my style, the 4-wheeler!

After Halloween Comes Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was different for us this year. Because of bad roads and Chad's work, we decided to have Thanksgiving with just our little family. It was really fun to do something different. we could do whatever we wanted...like eating cheese balls at 9:30am!

This what our day consisted of...watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade,

Chad cooking his first ever turkey (which was delicious!),

Hannah colored beautiful place mats for us,

I tried new recipes and made things I had never made before (it all turned out great, if I do say so myself!),

of course we licked whip cream off the beaters,
and played WII!

Hannah really wanted to eat a whole turkey leg! She didn't, but made a good effort!

We finished off the day with a really fun game that Hannah made up all by herself, Tape the Feather on the Turkey!

It was a really fun day. We missed being with our extended family, but we enjoyed our first ever Chad Hurd Family Thanksgiving!

Halloween...in December

We had a some really fun Halloween activities. They started with a trip to a pumpkin patch with our cousins. We didn't pick a pumpkin this time, but I had fun taking some pictures of the girls in the bright orange pumpkins.

The next thing was our yearly tradition of visiting Gardner Village to see the witches.

We went to another pumpkin patch. This time we chose our pumpkins for carving. Even Grace picked her own pumpkin. Hannah was very picky about which pumpkin was perfect for her. She ended up with a great one, so her dedication was worth it!

We had fun carving our pumpkins this year. Chad did his awesome artsy pumpkin, Hannah did a cat, I did a flower, and we just wrote a cute BOO! on the pumpkin for Grace.

We spent the actual Halloween weekend in Rexburg with our families. We went to Boo at the Zoo with my mom. We had so much fun looking at all of the lights and pumpkins that we only saw a few animals. Hannah dressed up as a fairy and Grace was a flower in a pot. Grace had a really cute hat with flowers on it, but of course it only stayed on for a few seconds. I thought I had taken at least one picture of her with it on, but sadly I didn't.

There was a stage with music, so Hannah HAD to dance!

We had a fun party at Grandma Hurd's house and finished the holiday with some Trick and Trunk or Treating!

It was really great and we are thinking we may have to make Rexburg our Halloween tradition!

Look Who's Walking

Grace started taking a few steps back in October. After the cruise she became even more daring walking all the way across the room. Now she is a walking pro! She uses walking about 74% of the time. The funny thing about this little one is that she will NOT walk holding our hands. I remember walking with Hannah for a few months holding her hands. Well Grace is not that way! She is very independent and wants to do it on her own!

Make Your Holidays Even More Merry with Shutterfly

It is that time of year again when I start to make and send out Christmas cards. I always love to receive cards from friends and family. In the past I have gone to Costco or Walmart, but I have been disappointed with the selection. Well this year I am so happy because Shutterfly has an awesome deal for bloggers to get 50 free cards! Really! They have such a huge selection! I am going to tell you my top 3 favorites and you will just have to wait until you get yours in the mail to see my final choice!

Option # 1
http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards
I like the Family Red Wall. I like the fact that you can include several pictures. And who doesn't want to see more pictures of my beautiful girls?!

Option #2
http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards
I like the Snowflake Damask. I like that it is not the traditional colors that you think of for Christmas. Also my very talented cousin designed the card.

Option #3
http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards?viewAll=true&sortType=1&DCL=true&lfoType=c&omn=128h&fc=1&fh=128&foType=h
I like the How Holly Story Card. I love that you can put in just a short little sentence about each picture.

So I know everyone can't wait to get their card in the mail to see which card was the lucky winner!!

You know Shutterfly has so many cute cards for more than just Christmas. With Hannah's birthday coming up in May I might just use their cute birthday card selection for the invites!
http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/birthday-cards-stationery

So if you are a blogger make sure you check out this deal and you might just be lucky enough to have a super cute and unique Christmas card this year!
http://blog.shutterfly.com/5358/holiday2010-blog-submission-form/

A Year Already!?!?

I know it has been FOREVER since I have posted, but we took an AWESOME trip to Disney World (posts will be coming) and the whole month before it all I could think about was the trip! Anyways, I am back and trying to get back to my normal life. So I will post some timely events and then start on the trip!

Grace turned 1 on November 22! I know everyone says this, but seriously it went so fast! We love our little Grace. She is such a funny little girl. We are so blessed to have her in our family. Here is some info on her:

-She weighs 17lbs 7oz.

-She has 4 teeth on top and 4 on the bottom.

-She is working on walking. Just tonight she walked all the way across the room. The funny thing about her is that she will not walk if someone is holding her hands. She will only do it on her own.

-She says mama, dada, uh-oh, bye, nods her head yes, and shakes her head no.

-She loves to eat (wouldn't know it by her weight)! If anyone is eating she HAS to have a bite.

-She loves to feed herself, finger food all the way!

-She thinks Hannah is hilarious (from a distance, she gets anxious when any kids get too close to her!).

-She has definite stranger anxiety.

-She loves to smile at people when she is in the comfort of her mom or dad's arms.

-She takes after her sister and loves to dance, whenever she hears music her little head starts to bob!

-She is so funny and makes us all laugh and smile.



Due to colds, Thanksgiving, and bad weather we just celebrated her birthday with our little family.

We had cake.....

And then after a much needed bath, Grace opened her presents (with lots of help from Hannah).
Hannah gave Grace a singing teapot and we gave her a walking music toy.
It was so fun to see the two of them playing together.

Happy Birthday to our little funny monkey!

School Carnival

Hannah's school had a carnival a few weeks ago. We were able to eat hot dogs and nachos, watch Hannah play games and win prizes, and go in the bouncy houses. It was a fun night to spend as a family and Hannah was so proud to show off her school.

While we were eating we enjoyed a little show!

Grace wants to be just like her big sister!

Silly, silly girls!

The Greatest Show on Earth

We were lucky enough to be invited to attend the circus with my sister and her family. I was so amazed. It really was the greatest show on earth! There was so much to see. It is just awesome what some people are able to do. Grace did really well for such a late night. She even fell asleep after intermission. Which is amazing that she could do that through al the noise and lights! Hannah still talks about it and plays pretend with the circus! Thanks again Angie for inviting us (and thanks Kayla for winning the coloring contest)!

Update on Grace

Grace turned 10 months old on the 22nd of September, so I thought I would do a little update on all of the amazing things she does now.

Since I last updated on her she can crawl...

She pulls her self up on everything...

her toy basket,

the couch,

and her all-time favorite, the tub!

She claps...

She drinks from a sippy cup...

She says "Uh oh!"...

...she has enough hair to make a "whale-spout" and she is getting more teeth. 4 on the top and 3 on the bottom. She is such funny, cute girl! We love her so much!

Last of the Summer Posts: I Think?!?!

One day at my mom's we all packed up and went to Rigby Lake. The kids had a blast and the adults about died in the heat! This was Grace's first time experiencing a lake. She loved it! She loved to splash in the water and eat the sand. Yummy!

Hannah was busy the whole time. She loved playing in the water and sand.

She and her cousin, Kate, spent the whole day building something special. I was impressed at how long and hard they worked on it. We were not allowed to look at it until it was completed.

TA-DA!!!

It was a fun day! After playing in the sun we got a sweet treat to help us cool off.

What a delicious way to end the day!