oh boy!!

So don't worry that I am only about a month late posting this to my blog! But hey I can blame the Christmas Season for that right?

So it has happened...we are having a BOY! We are so excited and a bit on the nervous side.

Lyza took a bit of convincing about the whole thing. She was in the ultrasound room with us and when the Dr. said that it looks like a boy Lyza shouted "No it's a GIRL!" The Dr. politely reaffirmed that indeed it was going to be a brother.

For the rest of the day she kept telling Steven and I that she wanted a girl. And we kept telling her that she was going to love this baby brother.

After she went to bed Steven and I thought "man this could be tricky with her..she was so set on a girl."

Lucky the next morning when I opened the door to her room the first thing out of her mouth was..."I am going to have a baby brother!!!" "I am so excited." And from that point on we haven't heard another thing except excitement from her.


So here is our first picture of our little man. We are so excited to be having him. I can see the many thoughts going through my husbands head of the soccer games, trips to the cabin, and coaching his "little man" that he is dreaming up.

So here is to thinking up names??? And trying to figure out how to raise a boy?

merry christmas to all....

"He Came! He Came" Santa found our house last night and left some fun presents for the Bull Family. Okay mostly just Lyza...but she was probably the best of all of us last year! Santa filled Lyza's stocking will a bunch of fun things and left her some new and exciting presents under the tree. Don't worry that we finally had to wake Lyza up at 9:00 on Christmas morning to open her gifts. What???

Lyza had such a great time opening presents. After she opened one she didn't want anymore and just wanted to play with the one she had. And some points we were literally forcing her to open another gift.

The Karaoke Machine from Santa Claus was the hit of the morning. All Lyza wants to do is sing into a microphone...so now she was ready to shine.

We had a crazy, but fun, Christmas Day. We visited both sides of our family and opened presents all day long. Here is a picture at my mom and dad's house on Christmas Night!

What a great day...but man were we tired!

See you next year Christmas!

santa's on his way

Christmas Eve is here...Santa is on his way.

Oh what a busy Christmas Eve it has been. I think that even though you prepare and prepare...you always think of something you have forgotten on Christmas Eve.

This Christmas Eve we were with the Bull Family. We started off the night with a full on turkey dinner presented by Grandma Bull!


Here is Lyza and Steven watching as the Turkey was taken straight out of the oven.

We love Christmas because fun family comes into town. Here is Steven's brother Scott and his darling wife Larissa.

Larissa had a captivated audience when she pulled out the Christmas stories.

Here is our dinner with the nice fancy glasses that Lyza absolutely loved...I was a bit nervous about the whole thing.

What is Christmas Eve with out a fun family dinner.

And what do we do when we are all stuffed after dinner??? We start making the treats we are going to eat later! Way to go Lariss.

Lyza and her cousin Kelli both got a pair of brand new Christmas PJ's.

Snuggling by Aunt Larissa waiting for the Christmas Eve program to begin.

Papa Bull reading the Christmas story with 2 excited little girls glued to his lap.

Lyza making her Christmas letter to leave for Santa.

Oh Mom...Rudolph likes carrots?

Here is the plate of goodies Lyza left for Santa and his reindeer.

Night Night everyone...I am going to go to sleep so Santa can come to my house. Oh wait just kidding I am going to stay awake until midnight because there is just too much excitement going on.

christmas sunday

I love the Sunday before Christmas. I love going to Church and hearing the Christmas program and listening to all of the Christmas songs. It is one of my favorite things about Christmas. And I loved that this year it kind of kicked off our week full of family get together's, parties, and Christmas Day!


Here is Lyza in her Christmas dress right before Church.


A little family Christmas pic before Church. Don' t you just love taking pictures when you are pregnant?

Here is our little "toe head" Christmas girl playing with her little nativity scene.

Merry Christmas Sunday!!!

easy christmas gifts

I decided to make a post about the little Christmas gifts we gave out to friends and neighbors this year. I actually have to have some documentation when I do anything remotely crafty since it doesn't happen very often.

I got these cute note pads from Dani Lassiter (My friend Miki Eberhardt's sister). She has a darling website with a bunch of personalized stationary and stuff. She put each family's name on the note pad and they turned out so cute. I tied them to a loaf of pumpkin bread that we made and stuck a little note on them and walla!

Anyway, very fun and easy.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

"zat you santa claus?"

Today was one of those "paycheck days" you get once in awhile as a parent.

You know the days right? The day when your child reaches a milestone, or does something that makes you love being a mom or dad. One of THOSE days! A "paycheck day" makes up for all of the other days of being a parent that you want to pull your hair out and scream at the top of your lungs! So I got to have a "paycheck day" today and I loved it!!

Lyza performed "on the big dance stage" as she would put it. She had her Christmas Dance Concert with her dance group. Lyza has been more excited about this dance performance then she has been about Christmas. She performed 3 little dance numbers and did such a great job on all three. I was very proud that a two and a half year old could keep a lot of the dance moves for all three numbers in her head and sing at the same time. I was back stage with her the entire time and I am sure that I was 100 times more nervous then she was.


Here is a picture of Lyza we took on the stage before the performance.


Lyza got to perform with 2 of her cousins. Shalice's 2 girls Halle (pink) and Jaicee (blue).

I was back stage before the performance began. I couldn't find Lyza for a second...and when I did find her she was sitting in the middle of all of the "older girls." Why is it that little kids always want to be with the "big kids?"

This is still backstage before the performance began. Lyza is sitting with her cousin Halle. You can usually bet that if Halle is around, Lyza is pretty much glued to her side.

Lyza has such a great extended family. All of her Grandma's, Grandpa's, Aunt's, Uncle's, and Cousin's from both sides came to see her dance. Here is a picture of Lyza and her cousin Thomas. They are only 3 weeks apart and are considered the "twins" of the family. They love being together.

After the performance was over we took some pictures with the family and got to visit with Santa Claus. As you can see from the next couple of pictures, Lyza is not quite sure if she likes Santa Claus up close.

Santa Claus told Lyza to ask for a Visa Card from her parents. Luckily Lyza translated that to us as a Christmas Card. She kept saying that Santa was going to bring her a Christmas Card. Thank goodness for language barriers.

We were so proud of Lyza. She did such a great job dancing in front of such a large audience.

What a great way to start our Christmas week. We love you Lyza! You make us so proud!

Here is a very rough recording of part of one of Lyza's dances. It is taken off of our Digital Camera. We have a much better copy on our video camera. I will try and get that copy on the blog instead?

On this dance watch Lyza (the farthest one on the right of your screen) as she searches for her spot on the floor the entire time. I always tell her that she has to stay on her spot no matter what. We have to tell her so much because I don't want her to think she can just run around the stage and be a disturbance. Anyway, before the show started Shalice and I told her which spot was hers. Well, we actually told her the wrong one, but don't worry somehow she remembered the spot Shalice and I told her. So she is about 3 feet apart from the rest of her group the entire time. But she did stay on the spot that Shalice and I told her to stay on.

first gingerbread houses

Lyza got to make her first gingerbread houses this year. She made her very first one with "Grandmas Eileen." She had a ball and loved eating the icing.

Here is a close up of Lyza's very first gingerbread house she ever made...complete with a snowman in the front yard.

Later in the month we decided that we better make another gingerbread house as a family. Hooray for the "easy to assemble" gingerbread house kits. I love it when things are so easy.

Lyza was intent on reading the directions along side of her dad.

I think the process went...eat a candy, put a candy on the house, eat a candy, put a candy on the house!

Hooray we are finished. Now the question I am going to get every second is..."Mom can I eat some of my gingerbread house?" Love it!

twelve days of christmas

So in keeping with my "doing things last minute" theme this year...my sister Shalice talked me into doing the 12 Days of Christmas for Steven. Oh yes...don't worry she talked me into it on December 12th!!! So Lyza and I did some mad shopping in one day and put it all together. Well at least the first 6 days anyway. Hopefully it will turn out okay...

Happy 12 Days of Christmas to you all!!

how come you are getting so big

I looked at Lyza the other day and thought...when did this happen? When did she get to be so grown up? I know this is a problem that all mothers face. We all blink and our kids are all grown up on us. I wish I could just stop the clock and take everything in slow motion.

I have been thinking a lot the past couple of days about life and what is really important. I truly feel that life is so precious and that things can happen in a blink of an eye that change your life forever.

I want to take a step back and really take in my life. I want to make sure that I say "i love you" to my husband everyday. I want to make sure my children know that they are the most precious things in life to me. I want to notice the little miracles that happen to me daily.

So as I looked at these cute little random pic's of Lyza, this was my moment today to pause. To be grateful for this little "toe head" girl that brightens our life. To be grateful for my husband who kisses me 5 times every morning before he leaves for work. And just to be grateful for all the little mundane "miracles" that happened to me today.

i want to take a picture

"I want to take a picture of you guys."

These are the words our 2 year old Lyza told us the other day. She figured it was now her turn to go behind the camera. I am sure she wanted to give us a taste of our own medicine. She kept saying..."just one more picture" "say cheese" "good job guys."

Above is an sampling of her best work of the day. Don't worry that at the start of this picture we were in the standing position. We had to try and stay within the camera lens as Lyza began to shoot. I mean, not bad for a beginner right? We had such a great time and laughed a lot as well.

Lyza, keep practicing and maybe we will get you your own camera in about 10 years.

deck the halls

If I haven't mentioned it before....I absolutely love the holidays. There is something about having your Christmas Tree up, your house strung with lights, and oh yes...the excitement of a young child around.

This is what our house looked liked only minutes after Thanksgiving. The tree went up (thanks Mom, Dad, and Ly Ly), Christmas music was playing throughout the house, and instantly my mood lifted about 10 degrees.

It isn't even about the presents. I love the anticipation of visiting family members, the endless parties, and just the sights and sounds of Christmas.

Here are our stocking hanging over our unfinished fireplace???? Check out the little white stocking attached to Lyza's stocking in the middle. We couldn't forget about our little bundle that will be with us next Christmas.

I have to admit that having Lyza around for Christmas makes everything 100 times better. I love that when you ask her about Christmas she say, "That is baby Jesus' birthday." And when I ask her what she wants Santa to bring her she replies, "Just one gift." I am enjoying this selflessness now, for I know it won't last for too may more Holiday's to come.

So to you all I wish you a fun and exciting holiday season. May your hot chocolate be warm, your wallets be full, but most of all may you still BELIEVE in the spirit of Christmas!

our little power shopper!

So the day after Thanksgiving we finally got out to do a bit of shopping. We didn't go out early like all of the crazy people. We chose to go out a bit later in the day to avoid some of the chaos.

This is how our shopping excursion started out, take a look....



Don't worry that Lyza stayed asleep for the next 2 hours. We took her through stores, in and out of her car seat, and even ate dinner in a restaurant before she finally woke up. Talk about a Thanksgiving hangover. She must have had way too much turkey.

he did it

He did it again, and again, and again!

Steven completed his 3rd marathon this year. On October 6th Steven ran the St. George Marathon. He makes us so proud!

Lyza gets so excited waiting for her dad to round the corner to the finish line. She claps her hands and says "good job" to pretty much everyone that passes by.

Steven's sister Brittany and her family came down to St. George. They were able to see him finish the race.

Steven ran the race with 2 of his good friends. They all ran to help raise money for The Eagle Condor Foundation. What a great experience had by all.

dance, dance, dance

I am a bit behind on post...but none the less better late than never!!!

Lyza started her second year of dance class in September. Actually I am not quite sure you can count last year since she was only 1? Lyza loves class. Well actually she loves the first 15 minutes and the last 15 minutes. Her attention span seems to get the better of her during the middle of class. I guess we can't blame her since she is only 2 and the other kids in her class are 4.


This is Lyza with her teacher Miss Shalice. Otherwise known as "Aunt Shaleece" to Lyza. Lyza loves Shalice. Every night before Lyza goes to bed we talk in the dark. And every night I ask Lyza what she wants to talk about? Usually about 75 % of the time she says "Mom I want to talk about Shaleece." She is quite infatuated.

With that blonde hair, Lyza looks like she could be Shalice's daughter instead of mine?


This is Lyza standing on her "spot." This is one thing that Lyza has dialed! She can find her spot and stand on it like nobodies business. This December Lyza will be doing her Christmas Dance Concert. By far this is Lyza's favorite part of dance...Dancing on the BIG STAGE!! Didn't we all think that was the best part of dance?