only another 364 days left until next christmas.i hope everyone had a wonderful christmas. craig and i surely did. we spent lots of quality time with family and friends and made some great memories! we especially appreciated all of the extra love and support that our loved ones gave to us this season. craig and i are incredibly blessed.

the friday before christmas, craig and i were invited to a white elephant gift exchange. i made these little cupcakes to share with everyone. i had to laugh, because at one point i saw a wife bat one of these puppies out of her husband's hands while whispering "i think you have had enough." that made me feel good because a. they were good enough for someone to come back for seconds and b. because i am not the only nag-for-a-wife out there.

this is what craig and i came home with after the party. dont even ask what that doll is. i have no idea. and that color wheel is a bunch of different flavored teas. exactly what we needed.

me and craig. i leave the house thinking my hair looks pretty, but then in pictures is looks like a rat box. who knows.

belly shot. i know, i know i am carrying the baby low. insert old wives tale prediction here.

our christmas tree on christmas eve.

louis was just waiting for santa to come and bring the rest of his gifts.

craig's parents gave us a baby swing for christmas. this is craig putting it together. my mom told craig to get used to it, because he would be doing this for the next eighteen years. craig and i are very grateful for our family's generosity.

this is a pathetic representation of the white christmas we enjoyed. at around noon, (during our drive to the local mcdonalds for lunch) on christmas day, it started snowing. snowing at all, let alone on christmas day, is very rare for seattle so it was such a treat.

usually, the day after christmas i get very depressed. i hate cleaning up christmas decorations and not being able to listen to festive music 24 hours a day. however, this year is different. i am so excited about the baby coming in about 6 weeks that i dont have time to be depressed. now that the holidays are over, i am going to get into full baby-mode. what a fantastic way to cure a christmas hangover.

more christmas festivitieswe finally got around to getting our christmas tree. my dad asked the tree farm guy if we could get a discount because it was so late in the month! this is craig and grace in front of the little trailer. we are 100 percent class, all the way.

my auntie megan and me. we found the best trees in the lot!

for the second year in a row, my family got tickets to A Christmas Carol in downtown seattle. this year, we went to a fancy restaurant beforehand. (we probably will not be doing that again. i think the severs we about to kill us for having the kids running around everywhere.)

my mom and anna at icon grill.

right next to the street lamp in the background, you can sorta make out the space needle. it was so cold outside that we basically ran from the restaurant to the theater!

last week, my office had our annual holiday party. before we all headed out to celebrate, i made everyone gather around the holiday tree to take a picture. no one was very happy with me about the photoshoot, but too bad! i needed it for my blog!

louis takes it upon himself to be the christmas tree guard. throughout the day, one can find him perched on any of the three chairs in the living room, staring at the lights.

this is about as close as we got to taking a family christmas portrait this year. next year, i (hopefully) wont be in pajamas and craig will be holding our other child.

louis with his grandma. they have such a love-hate relationship.

today was my cousin, sam's, birthday. he turned 14 years old. my other cousin, adam, flew into town to surprise sam (adam is his favorite person in the world). sam had a fun filled day of krispy kremes, pizza, green ice cream, and plenty of alice in wonderland. honestly, what more could a guy want?

i think we have enough family traditions for about 20 families
but i wouldnt have it any other way. i love my family and all of our yearly traditions. each year, my auntie megan bakes up some homemade gingerbread houses. i know it is a lot of work for her to make them, but well worth it! i was in charge of getting the candy to decorate the houses. i cannot tell you how hard it was for the kids to see all the candy set out like this. you would think they hadnt eaten in five years.

craig stopped by to wish me luck. he had to study for finals, so he wasnt able to be sous chef this year. that was ok though, because i am pretty much a micro-manager when it comes to my gingerbread houses.

from left to right: my house, anna & tucker's (the icky teenagers) house, eli's house (which won the award for the best one!), and grace & emma's house.

unlike last year, louis was very uncooperative with his gingerbread house photo shoot. he just wanted to stand next to his christmas tree. he brushes his teeth on that thing. no kidding. he just gnaws on it all day long. craig (always being the little dentist) has decided that it is because louis is cleaning his teeth with the branches.

my finished product. my mom says that i dont use enough color on my gingerbread houses. and to that, i say, "i am who i am." and i am a minimalist. with everything in my life: my wardrobe, my home decor, and even my gingerbread houses, i always go with simple and monochromatic. boring? no, classic! so there.

baby. new quilt. father "louis" christmas. utah trip. right before i left for utah last week, philips called me in to be an OB model again. the baby slept the entire time again, and snuggled up in my tummy again. however, the baby seemed a lot bigger this time around and the features were more defined.

do the pictures look like a "boy" or a "girl"? i cannot tell. but i LOVE the chubby pursed lips.

i finished my second quilt! this is my new christmas quilt. i didnt follow a pattern, i just had the idea in my head and ran with it.

this quilt is significantly smaller than my halloween one but just as comfy!

those little circles are called yo-yos. i had to make each one and then hand-applique them to the white squares. it was incredibly time consuming!

i started wrapping some presents tonight. i went downstairs to take cookies out of the oven and when i came back upstairs i had a new little elf helping me out.

he adores ribbons and bows. it is his feminine side.

i just got back from a great trip in utah. my mom and i went for the weekend, and we had a ton of fun. this is my grandma and me dipping into our chocolate-peanut butter shake.

one of our favorite places to eat in provo is the italian place. they serve yummy steak sandwiches. we make sure to drop in every time we are in town.

one morning, i went downstairs and found my mom looking like this. i thought she had burned herself with my flat iron, but was in too much shock from the third degree burns to know what had happened. it turned out that she had gotten into my makeup and got a little excited about my blush.

people watching at the byu bookstore. we bought ourselves some bookstore fudge and snacked on it while watching the coming and goings of the busy lunch hour. bless our little traditions.

this was at the provo malt shop, before i knew what was about to happen........

on our way up to SLC, we ran into this! a HUGE snow storm. needless to say, we had to cancel our shopping plans and just head back to my grandma's house. at first, we were a little bummed about the change of plans, but we ended up spending the evening wrapping presents and baking goodies. it was so relaxing! i had a great time spending time with my mom and grandparents. i cherish these memories, especially because i know how busy my life is about to get!

it's absolutely snowing in seattlehelping to usher in the month of december, was a ton of snow! we woke up this morning to a beautiful white landscape. a surprise snow storm is the best. now i really feel like wintertime is here and i can get into full christmas mode.

louis could not wait to get out into the powdery stuff. he was shaking from being so cold, but he still didnt want to come inside. i love his little tracks.

this is my parents' front yard. one would think that because craig and i went to college in rexburg, idaho we wouldnt get excited about a little snow, but that someone would be dead wrong! happy wintertime everyone.