Bradley at Christmas time

Is it strange that I like that blurry picture of Bradley? He loves us. We love him. We hope he has a Merry Christmas.

Nigel faces.

I'm still shocked that Micah got Nigel to:
1. hold still
2. look at the camera
3. smile
4. several times

Four Year Old Gratitude

We tried to talk about gratitude a lot before Thanksgiving. Every time I would ask Nigel what he was grateful for or what made him glad he said, "God." Every single time. I think he really means it.

He also thinks the word "spooky" is spelled and pronounced, "smooky." And he misses Halloween and often tries to convince me that it is his birthday or Halloween time.

Four wonderful people standing all together.

Grandma Margaret Egbert Dahl, Olivia Dahl Anderson, Bradley Scott Anderson, and Micah Dahl Anderson.

Four of the most beautiful and wonderful people in the world. I love them all dearly.

He's a leg man.

Micah and Brad fried a turkey for us this Thanksgiving (without destroying anything). Micah has always enjoyed eating the leg of any animal so I thought it only appropriate to document him eating this one.

Micah works hard for our family. I'm so grateful that he gets to work at what he loves. I'm grateful that he has a studio at home. I'm grateful that he is patient with me as I learn not to bug him while working. He is so patient with my piles and tendency to be easily distracted.

Everything that Micah does communicates love to me. I don't know why I got so lucky to find him. He is the perfect guy for me. I think I need a lot of love and he gives me love all the time, no matter what. It sounds cliche, but sometimes I truly can't understand why he loves me so much. But I'm grateful for it. It motivates me to work harder and be better.

There's something going on here.

Bradley is so cute. Even Nigel says so of his own will. Look at this kid. Cute.

Though I think something is wrong with his digestive system. I wish I knew what. He has trouble digesting food and it causes him pain and to miss sleep. And he's still the happiest baby ever. Except today. Today he whined quite a bit. I like to think it's because he missed me. Because I was in my office all day while Micah was Super Dad.

I love my family. Isn't Bradley cute?!

Grandma and Nigel

While we visited Stone Hill for Thanksgiving Nigel got to stay up extra late for Grandma to read a book to him in the quiet of the evening hours. He loved it. He's really good at listening to stories.

Have I also mentioned that he reads? He can read!

This kid!

While we were in Nevada for Thanksgiving Callie, Collin, Catie and their families visited us at Stone Hill. Micah took Isaac, Nigel, Catie, Michael, Collin, and Jon shooting.

See the square in the dirt? Nigel drew the "safety square" in the dirt and didn't move out of it until the guns were put away. I can't get enough of this kid!

He does need a hair cut though. We are just being ridiculous parents and people taking forever like we do with everything. We can't decide how it should be cut and whenever we mention a haircut or going to the barber he tries to convince us that he likes his "crazy hair."

Oh Nigel, I love you so much that I don't mind that most nights you crawl over me into our bed in the middle of the night because you have claimed your "side" of our bed as the one between me and Dad.

Merry Christmas!

I wonder if our arms ever got cold because we were too cool not to wear our sleeves pushed up?

This is a picture taken of a picture at my Aunt Robyn's house. I'm wondering what other treasures Aunt Robyn has!

So there's Christine on the far left, Collin in the back, me in front of Collin, then Catie next to me, then Callie holding Sue. My parents named all of us children with C names and we call Carlie, Sue.

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Merry Christmas!

I have so much to write and I'm hoping to catch up with everything before the end of the year. I'm watching the rebroadcast of the first presidency's Christmas devotional just after a phone call from my Grandpa Dee. We tried watching it earlier with the boys, but things were too rambunctious to hear very much so here we are again with two sleeping boys and a quiet house.

I wanted to remember the Christmas stories that my Grandpa Dee shared with me. He was asked to be Santa Claus quite a few times in all the different places he lived. Merced for the Kiwanas club, the City of Ogden's Christmas event, and in Crete for the Airforce base and a local theater.

When he lived in Ogden he got to dress up and play Santa for all the children in the whole city. He said that one little girl came to sit on his knee and he was curious to see how she would react to having her Sunday School teacher dressed up like Santa Claus. He decided to try his best to play the part just in case she wouldn't recognize him.

The classic conversation went well and the little girl assured him she had been good all year and obeyed her parents. Just before she left she said, "Santa, may I whisper in your ear?" My grandpa said, "Why, yes you certainly may."

She whispered into his hear, "Santa, I know you're Brother Davis, but don't worry. I won't tell anyone." And was off with a Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas indeed. This picture is of my first little Singers Company group performing for the residents at the Courtyard at Jamestown retirement home. It was decorated beautifully for Christmas and there was a great crowd for the girls. We were missing two girls due to sickness so we're really excited to perform again next week at our friends and family show. I'll definitely take a better picture of all of them in their darling costumes.

I LOVE Singers Company! I'm completely in love with the whole thing. These wonderful girls have been working hard since school started to learn the songs and dances that they are now performing all over the community. It's such a great experience for everyone. I have so much more to say about them and hope to devote more time to writing soon.

Merry Christmas!