Christmas!

Since Clara was born, it sometimes seems like holidays or special occasions just sneak up on us, and before we know it, they have come and gone. So we decided to make a real effort to do some things that would help us remember that Christmas was coming, and to enjoy the season a little more.

We made Nutella hot chocolate

We took Clara to see Santa, and she was a perfect doll.  All the pictures turned out fabulous.

The next day, we went and saw Santa again, with Mars this time.  At first, they just seemed kinda confused.

Then Mars decided she did not like Santa at all.  I love this one.  Clara is missing a shoe, Mars is crying, and it's just hilarious.

 Of course, Marseille needed one by herself with Santa.  She was not very happy about that.

 We went to the Dickens Festival during the time that admission was free.  It was basically just a bunch of vendors selling stuff.

They did have reindeer there.

We decorated our tree.  

We ditched our old, lopsided tree when we moved from Philly, so we got a new one this year.  This one has a weird hourglass shape.  No matter how much fluffing and rearranging of branches I did, it still had that shape.  Oh well.  That's what you get for being a cheapskate and buying crappy fake trees.

Decorating the tree is always so fun and sentimental for me. Growing up, we got a Christmas ornament every year that represented the year in some way.  I still have all of those.  We have continued that tradition in our family by buying ornaments as our keepsake when we go on vacation. Here are a few examples.

Cape May, New Jersey

Paris (of course)

The Philly Phanatic

Baltimore, Maryland

We visited Christmas Street.

We enjoyed a fabulous outing with my parents to get Thai food and see the lights on Temple Square.

The big day still came up really fast. On Christmas Eve, we went to my grandma's for a while then we headed to the Noyces for dinner.  We spent the night at my parents so we wouldn't have to drive all the way there on Christmas morning. We started off the day with breakfast then started in on the presents. We took a break to talk to Matthew on the phone, then got back to it.  My parents were so generous and we enjoyed all our gifts.

We spent the afternoon at the Noyces enjoying even more awesome presents, food, and company. We polished off the day at our own apartment having our own little Christmas. It looked like a tornado hit our house after we brought all our stuff home and it took a while to recover from all the fun, but it was so great. I know Clara won't remember this Christmas, but it was fun to make her first one special, if only for my own sake.

Zoo day

On the last Wednesday in November, it was free to get into the zoo, so we went for it.  I am so glad we did.  It was just awesome. It wasn't too crowded because it was the middle of the day on a weekday in November.  It wasn't too cold. Plus it seemed like all the animals were out and active.

The polar bear was swimming around like crazy, pushing off the walls, and just having a grand ol' time.

The rhino was right up next to the glass.  I have never seen one that close.  It's kinda gross.

This tiger was also sitting right up close the the glass.  We didn't get right up there because there were a bunch of little kids looking at it and we didn't want to block them.

 This leopard was up a walking around.

 This tiger was probably the highlight.  First he was pacing right next to the fence.

 Then he started pacing back and forth on the catwalk above the walkway.

 Finally, he settled in right next to the fence for a drink of water.  There wasn't a swarm of small children yet, so we were able to get right up there.

 Cute zoo baby

Catch up

As always, things have been kind of crazy around here.  I have slacked off a bit on the blogging.  I want to just get us caught up through the end of 2012 so I can get my blog book made for last year.
At our ward Halloween party/chili cook off, Zack's chili won the missionary's choice award, and Clara won the most adorable costume.

We voted. For Obama.  Sorry all you peeps out there who were rooting for Mitt.  You definitely outvoted us in this state.

 We went out to Red Lobster, just for fun (and cuz we had gift cards).

We may have pretended to be taking photos of our baby so we could capture the guy (pirate?) with the eye patch eating there.  He's in the red shirt.  You can click on the photo to enlarge it.

 Clara now has 3 teeth-- 2 on the bottom and one a little off to the side on the top left.

For Thanksgiving, Clara and Zack got to spend the morning with Zack's family while I went and saw Lincoln with my family.  Zack went and saw it with his family a few days later while I watched the baby.

 We then spent the rest of the day at my parents' and we had Thanksgiving dinner there.

I'm pretty sure this next one is one of my favorite photos of Clara.

We dragged baby out black Friday shopping when Target opened Thanksgiving evening.  My mom, sister, and sister-in-law joined us. It was insanely crowded. The line to get in looped all the way around the side of the building.  But we got in fairly quickly, the peeps grabbed what they wanted, and we got out.  We didn't really go to buy anything.  We just went for fun.  And Clara did have fun.

 As an early Christmas gift, our parents gave us our very own washer and dryer!  So amazing to actually have them in our apartment.

 Clara loves going to grandma and grandpa's to play.