Christmas break highlights

Here are some of my favorite moments and some good times (in no particular order) we had in Utah with the fam.

1. The girls on Santa's lap at the big Hess family Christmas party. Esther was still a little sick but knew that a present would come from sitting so she sat. Lucy... NOT INTO IT.

2. Having lunch with and visiting with friends in Utah. (sorry no pics)

3. Christmas baking! We decided to do it all in one day so we would only have to clean the kitchen one time. These are rosetti's (sp?). My great Aunt Barbara used to make these every year and she passed away this past year so my mom wanted to make them in honor of her.

4. Esther thinking my Grandpa Hess was the prophet. She first saw him at the Hess family Christmas party and pointed to him and whispered to me, "There's the prophet!" Then when he came over on Christmas Eve she was getting really anxious to open her Christmas Eve pajamas and I told her we had to wait for Dan to finish eating (picture to come) and my grandpa was also sitting at the table so she said, "And the prophet!" She really loves the "prophet."

5. Christmas Eve pajamas (sorry no pictures of us--we're not as cute in our Christmas Eve pajamas. And the girls were obviously way too tired for pictures because these are our best ones.

6. Watching the girls open their presents! It's hard not to buy them everything! But here is Esther sporting a couple presents--she already has the girly poses down! She LOVED presents.






7. The boys go to the Jazz vs. Mavs game. John's Mavs lost--and my sweet brothers enjoyed rubbing it in. John still enjoyed the game--thank you Dad!







8. Taking Esther sledding--my little girl with her many fears only made it down the hill twice--and we had to trick her into it the second time!

9. Esther playing in the snow with Grandpa--my most favorite part was seeing my Dad wear this scary winter hat from Mongolia.

9. Having an overnight date with John at the Hilton with Swedish massages included!!

10. Seeing my siblings and parents just eat up my girls--even my tough baby brother Lige!

11. Attempting to sing our favorites from Handel's Messiah along with the music of course. I must say we are getting pretty good at the Hallelujah Chorus.

12. This shot of Esther one morning when she woke up from her excessive coughing her hair curled out from her face so perfectly! She obviously was not quite awake and wondering why I was taking a picture so early in the morning.

13. I have to include as one of my favorites that John did a GREAT job on my presents this year. He has a little legacy as a bad gift giver but this year he did much much better. I got Adobe Photoshop Elements (I want to learn digital scrapbooking), a cute red purse, and two pairs of shoes! Thank you John! And I want to thank my parents for giving me a Vitamix!! I am so excited to try it--I've been experimenting with green drinks and want to be healthier for 2008!

14. Here's one of my treasured Christmas images--Dan, as I mentioned before, is an AMAZINGLY slow eater. So here he is at Christmas Eve dinner. The rest of the family even left the table and cleared all the dishes. He's that slow. Love you Dan!

15. Lucy's first birthday on the 27th!! John insisted that we put the whole cake in front of her and let her go at it. I think he was a little disappointed when all she did was stick her fingers in the frosting a little and taste it, or try to get others to taste it off her fingers. Poor girl has a rough birthday date.

16. Lastly here is our picture from our Christmas card--it's the only family shot we had all month so I wanted to include it because this was my favorite part of the whole holiday was just spending time together. Thanks to Yanery and Blake for taking it and hosting it! Hope you all had a fabulous holiday and happy new year!