A fun Winter Date!

David took me on a date last weekend! We went to Five Guy's Burgers and Fries... Our favorite!! We first tried this place in Utah and now they are popping up everywhere... like downtown! We ate there and then ice skated at the outdoor rink! It was so fun! Christmas music was playing and there were Christmas trees and lights everywhere and I got to wear my old ice skates again... It was simply perfect!!! We had also planned to get some warm Starbucks but it was closed!!! WHO closes a Starbucks before nine on a friday night in downtown!!

On our way home we decided to stop by the "Magic House" We weren't sure if he would still be doing it but we were so happy to hear it was his last year! He will still decorate the front of his house but no walking through and no backyard... which is where David got down on one knee almost four years ago!! Thankfully we were able to get one last (blurry) picture in front on his swimming pool (wishing well) in the exact spot where we got engaged!!

It was such a beautiful winter's night! I had so much fun holding hands with the man of my dreams! I am so thankful for my amazing and loving hubby!!! I can't believe he chose me to spend the rest of his life with! I LOVE YOU DAVID ROYAL! You are the love of my life :)

Our Traditional Christmas Brunch!

This year while we were missing our beloved Patti and sweet Deano... we had the blessing of having new family with us! My Grandmother got married and her new hubby's family traveled all the way from Scotland to be with us! It was one very emotional day filled with both sad and happy tears!

The hotel did a beautiful job on the room! 

Mugs (My Grandma) had asked us four to sing. 

The "Exchange of vows" It was a beautiful ceremony you could see the love between the two of them :)

David's Mom bought the girls the most beautiful matching dresses :)

Of course Dolly had to match too!

Ella wore Gigi's dress from her first Christmas!

Wearing our "traditional" Christmas crowns :)

Ella had a lovely blow out ... in her dress... and WHITE tights... and let me tell you how CLASSY it was for me to be changing my baby ON THE FLOOR of the bathroom! I would have gone to the car but we valeted it... Hey a Momma has to do what a Momma has to do ;)

So I was sitting on the floor in my dress all sprawled out trying to clean her up... and praying no one would come in... because of the situation and because they would have to crawl over me... the worse part was they didn't have regular trash cans because they offer hand towels instead of paper towels. So after I was done changing my baby, I finally found the SMALLEST trash can in the hallway so I tossed it in and then crumpled up some tissues and covered it... no one should see a dirty diaper at the RITZ hahah

The adorable Newlyweds :)

FaMiLy :)

We were so blessed that the hospital let Reed come celebrate with us for a bit! It was so nice to see him smile again! He actually got to go home yesterday (Tuesday) and is with his Daddy and sisters!

As always it is so nice to see our ENTIRE family! Since we had been seeing a lot of each other because of the accident and funeral it was a nice way to end a very hard week! We are always so thankful for the people at the Ritz who make our Traditional Brunch so wonderful. We have been with them for the last oh 8 years or so and we always have the same people... so we have built friendships with them and they are always so welcoming and happy to see us!

Congratulations to my beautiful Grandma and her sweet hubby Ken! I wish you many many years of joy and happiness!!!

... there are no words haha ...

3 months!

Loves hanging out with her big sister!

My big girl!!

loves to smile!

 3 months old!

Briella is finally over her colic stage YAY! She still spits up here and there but it is NOTHING like it used to be... her tummy just took some time to mature! 

She LOVES her bouncy seat, play mat and bumbo! She will sit in our lap and watch tv or the computer and stays entertained for quite a long time :)

She takes some great naps during the day that last anywhere from 1-3 hours!!! Morning, afternoon and evening! I have finally got her and Gigi on the same schedule so after lunch they both go down and sleep until 3:30!! I get some nice "Mommy Time" She goes to sleep around 8:30 and will sleep 12 hours straight as long as she has her cloth diaper cover on and placed on her tummy!

She still hates the car seat and screams when we are going anywhere including the store since her car seat snaps into the double. We are going to start putting her in the double seat without the car seat and see if my outings will last longer  since she likes to be held or in my sling about 10 min. into any shopping trip!

She still likes the NUK pacifier and will take it more now but doesn't NEED it to sleep or calm her like Gigi did.

She loves her Minnie mouse head/security blanket that my sweet friend Briana got for her! She likes to chew on it and play with the Minnie mouse crinkle ears .. that is one of her favorite toys and gets very upset when sissy takes it away :(

She is learning to sit up and over-uses those tummy muscles haha! She still doesn't like to be on her back and will spit up almost every time she is laid down.

She smiles and talks to us a ton and we LOVE it! It is probably our favorite thing to do with her!!

We are so thankful for our sweet baby girl and continue to love every moment spent raising and loving on her... especially eating those yummy cheeks ;)

Growing up!

Has it been three months already?!

Still my blue eyed blonde haired baby!

Starting to sit herself up!

Gigi LOVED Sid the Science kid!

Waiting for the snow (bubbles) to fall!

Sweet girL!

Sisterly LOVE!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We started decorating the house for Christmas this past month. About 4 weeks ago we put up the outside lights and then the week of Thanksgiving Gracelyn helped me decorate inside! Everything was up and ready... we just had to wait for our tree. This year we made the switch to an artificial... I am so glad we did! We waited until Black Friday (although it was hard for me to wait ;) and got our tree 33% off! It was so fun to put up and decorate! Gracelyn doesn't like the glitter (which I have on every ornament ball) and would say "Messy" so I did most of the tree trimming but she helped Daddy put the (sparkly) star on top!

We had a lot of fun putting the tree up and decorating it! Gracelyn is at such a fun age right now and she wanted to help in any way she could! Now teaching her not to take them OFF the tree... we are still working on that one ;)

Briella like the tree too! She would just stare into the lights! 

I can't wait to see what the rest of this Christmas fun brings! It is so fun to watch our sweet girl take it all in and experience the magic of this season! She already gets so excited about "Sonta" and she has been waiting to put "Baby Desus" on the tree (our little nativity ornaments for the advent calendar) we start TOMORROW!!!! 25 Days of Christmas here we come!

We have so many fun parties, events and outings planned I can't wait to share pictures and memories from each one! Stay tuned!

Thanksgiving!

We started decorating for Christmas the week of Thanksgiving... Gigi got to decorate her own tree with ornaments she could touch and do whatever she wants with :) This tree is now in her room since we now have our beautiful tree! We got it on Black Friday and my sweet hubby picked it up on such a crazy day! More picture of our new tree to come :)

Ella is starting to do much better... she doesn't scream all day and actually she smiles a ton! Once this colic passes I can see her being a very happy easy going baby... **Crossing fingers**

We are so blessed to have both of our families here... so we get to have Thanksgiving TWICE! First we headed to Buckeye to spend the morning with David's family!

 Then we headed down to Scottsdale to spend the evening with my family!

 We had a wonderful day spending time with family and enjoying such a delicious meal! I was so excited to see my Cowboys play but it was definitely a bummer that they lost... regardless of the outcome I didn't let that ruin my evening! We listened to Christmas music and talked about our trip next fall to DISNEYLAND!!! It will be so much fun with my girls! Gigi will be almost three and Ella will be 1 not to mention my niece/nephew will be around 4 months old!! Starting out young ;)

All in all we had a wonderful day! I am so thankful for our loving family who is always there to support us and  and love on our children! I am so thankful for my handsome loving selfless husband who works so hard so that I can stay home with our girls!

I am so thankful for our amazing God who is full of never ending mercy and grace and though we don't deserve it he loves us no matter what!

Trusting you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

2 months... well... 2.5 ;)

Our sweet baby girl is two in a half months old! I can't believe how fast it flies by! She is growing growing growing one would never guess she was almost a month premature! She now weighs close to 12 pounds and is almost 11.5 pounds and is close to 22 inches long! I love watching her little cheeks fill out :) I am so in love with her blue eyes and blonde hair! I still can't believe I have a blondie!

She went to her 2 month appt and we found out she has colic. That would explain her hysterical screaming when she is put down or laid on her back. Poor thing has been trying to roll onto her tummy since the week we brought her home... now she does it almost immediately... and now she can roll from her tummy to her back but then screams and screams until she gets back to her tummy. Because she was held a ton due to her pain and major projectile spitting up she is one attached babe! Most of the time I don't mind, Gigi wasn't a cuddler so it is nice to have one that always wants her Mommy! except when I am cooking dinner, or trying to clean or decorate for Christmas... it would just be easier if I didn't have a monkey on me :)

Briella is starting to handle her feedings better... I am back to nursing every feeding but that only lasts 5 minutes before I am empty so then we also give her 4 oz of formula. (5.5 before bed) She sleeps amazing... on her tummy (I know I know) we put her down around 7 ish and then she will go till about 8! Gigi gets up around 7ish so I get some snuggle time with her in my bed while we watch "Bah-nee... choo choo" (Barney's Christmas) EVERY SINGLE MORNING... seriously we can't even try a new show... she LOVES the one with "Son-ta" and then says "Ho ho ho" too stinkin' cute :) We are VERY excited about Christmas as you can see :)

She smiles A TON! I have gotten a few pictures but have yet to really capture her adorable grin! She will sit and stare at you and just smile and coo... telling us stories! When she sees her big sister she smiles real big... nothing more lovely for a mama's soul :)

They enjoy taking their baths together and now I have it down to a science! Ella is just like Gigi and prefers warm/hot water to luke warm... just like their parents too! The Dr. and other people encouraged me that the crying until hoarse phase would start to dwindle around 3 months... I am definitely starting to see that. Unless we are in the car and stopped or in a store she HATES being in her carseat if we are in a store... so that makes shopping fun ;) Hence the reason why I now do my grocery shopping at 8 at night!!

All in all she is a wonderful baby! I can't imagine my life without my girls! Ella has challenged me and forced me to fall on my knees praying for answers and patience... did I mention patience ;) I am so thankful that I get to be her Mommy and although it is tough to her a crying baby all day I am so thankful for that precious cry!