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Hello! Well, we're really gearing up for Christmas . . . I've started doing cards (we'll see how many I actually get out this year), and the decorations are up. We're so excited to get to travel down to Texas for New Year's and see all of Brant's family, too! I was thinking how lucky we are to get to spend the holiday break with both families. Most married couples we know don't get to do that, especially when one side of the family requires a plane trip. :) My brother came home from Hawaii (he's at the Univ of Hawaii working on his master's degree) this past week, so we got to see him--and he got to meet his niece!

Brant's finishing up work and school these days. His classes are all done with, and he's turned in all his papers. He has a few end-of-semester parties this week, and he needs to spend some time in the graduate assistant office to get more hours in. He's also working on preparing presentations he'll be doing at some American Studies conferences next semester. Exciting! I'm feeling a lot better . . . still have a little bit of cough, but that's about it. I sorely miss running, though. I'm afraid to go out now, when I did that last time (right after I'd gotten over a bad cold), I caught the flu a few days later. Now I'm all paranoid. But I'm getting a little bit of cabin fever, I have to admit; plus it's been really warm! It's in the 50s today--so unlike typical Pennsylvania weather for this time of year!

So, here's a little of what we've been up to last week . . . Annie sure is getting cuter by the day!
I was trying to get Annie ready for a bath, but it was pretty cold downstairs, so we wrapped her up in a blanket. See how well she sits up, pretty much on her own??


I found the little knit hat the hospital gave her when she was born. It still fits! :)



Listening to Christmas music and dancing with Daddy


Our little Christmas tree is all set up. We actually haven't put on the ornaments yet. We've also pulled out the puzzles--a great Christmas break tradition!


I love this overwhelmed look Annie has here :)


Here's Annie and Brant in their church outfits. Yesterday was the first Sunday that Annie stayed awake the whole 3 hours of church. She was a little fussy but for the most part manageable. I would venture to say she enjoyed herself most of the day. :) All of our little Sunbeams are getting ready to move up to the next class. I'll miss them--they've been such a great class. Yesterday they brought in the incoming nursery kids to just a few minutes of Primary--I think there are 16 or 17 of them! Crazy!! I hope Brant and I can handle them all. And they look so little compared to the 4-year-olds we're used to teaching!

Bye for now!

Great Weekend!

Hi everyone! Well, we had a really fun weekend, but I was sad I didn't take more pictures! So I'm just posting a bunch of recent Annie pictures. :) On Friday night we went to our ward Fall Shindig. It was a chili cookoff, so Brant made up a DELICIOUS pot of chili! There was also a cake walk, and Annie and I won a huge caramel apple cake the very first time we walked around the circle! She's my good luck charm! I wasn't sure how long Annie would last being happy at the party, but she was awake and happy the whole time! There were so many people there (the Bishop said about 160 or so people came--a lot more than showed up at our ward parties in Provo!) Annie had so many things to look at and hear. Music was playing the whole time. On Saturday we got up and drove down to Gettysburg to spend the day with my parents. Brant and I went to see . . . High School Musical 3!! Hahaha it was SO much fun! My parents watched Annie, so they had a blast, too! Then my dad grilled up some pork tenderloin, which was some of the best we've ever had! We ended up hanging around their house pretty late. It was so relaxing--plus Annie tried out the baby swing in their basement (she promptly fell asleep in it), and I got to go through my dad's book collection! Sunday was church. Nine of our ten sunbeams were there, and all the kids were super wound up from performing in the primary program during sacrament meeting. WOW it was hard to get them focused during class. Brant told some good stories, but by the time we went home from church, we were exhausted! Plus Brant had stayed up ALL night long watching West Wing. :)
She is now totally aware of the mobiles above her crib and pack -n- play. She was so content to just stare at the mobile for a long long time.


Annie was being really alert and thoughtful in her pack -n- play today. She wasn't kicking around and laughing as much as she normally does. She was being so cute.


Here she was playing with her hands and "talking" to herself.


All cuddled up in her swing.


We put her in a turqouis sleeper--she looked great in the color!


I think it looks like she's movin and groovin in this picture. :)