I LOVE CHRISTMAS TIME!!!

This is my absolute favorite time of year! I love the smells, the sights, the sounds and the magical feeling that lingers in the air. We got our Christmas tree on monday and decorated it that night. I love walking into my living room and seeing it. It makes me smile. I was talking to my sister and parents about christmas and they're all so stressed about it. Mostly money concerns. It makes me sad because it should be the exact opposite. Hopefully I can do my best and cheer them all up. I feel like Will Farrell in the movie Elf, I just get so excited about christmas! We bought Bella a couple of christmas presents, It was very exciting! Granted, she could probably care less, but I'm stoked about them!

Thornton's Tree Farm

Speaking of Miss Bella...she's a month old! It was kind of sad in a way and exciting in another because she's starting recognize our faces and smile. She can lift her head up really well. She's just a doll! She's a rough couple of days though. The antibiotic she's on for her kidneys makes her tummy really upset. I've pulled a couple of 24-hour and once a 36 hour shift with her. The other night she would not stop crying. No matter what I did she just screamed. So, I put her in the car and we drove, eventually stopping at Target. I carried her around in the baby bjorn carrier until they closed. It was the only way she would sleep. Needless to say, when I got home I told Joe he owed me one heck of a back massage!

For the most part she's a really good baby. She loves music. I put on different kinds for her to listen to. Right now we're listening to Madeleine Peyroux. She tends to favor jazz.

This is Bella listening to Jazz

We're pretty stinkin' happy. My days have become much more simplified. I'm still getting used to not always being on the go. I'm sure it's for my own good. Plus, I love hanging out with Bella. I could sit and look at her all day. Our bedtime song is "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". I think I sang that song about 30 times yesterday. She never gets tired of it. She's my biggest fan! Life has changed significantly and it's pretty good. Joe just found out that he's graduating 6 mos. early. In a way it's a little scary for me because I was thinking we would move the summer or fall of '10. Now there's a chance we could be moving Dec. '09. We're either off to San Francisco or Minneapolis. I DO NOT want to move to Minneapolis in Dec. It's a good day if the temp. breaks positive integers! On the other hand I don't really want to live in San Fran. I love visiting but ti's sooo expensive. The cheapest apt. we found was $2500/mo we could buy a nice house on Lake Pryor in MN for that much money. Who knows...maybe we'll move to France! I would love that! La france me manque beacoup! Je veux courir dans les champs des coquilicots! I don't think I'm that lucky. I'm doomed to either lose various appendages to frost bite or worse get eaten by a moose in MN or Go bankrupt from spending all my money shopping in San Fran!

Hey wasn't this post supposed to be about Christmas! We're playing the Holy Family at Joe's parent's ward christmas pageant. Pretty cool. Hopefully Bella won't scream! We get to wear period costumes. How cool is that! Well, merry Christmas to everyone!