'Tis the Season

Happy Holidays! Honestly with all the craziness...I'm not even sure when all the holiday stuff happened...even when events happened during which holiday (Christmas and New Years). So, here's a bunch of pictures of my holidays in Utah.

I wished I could get my video to work on my blog. That would have given me more motivation to try and get a video of Eden singing Santa Claus is Coming to Town or Jingle Bells or even saying "Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas." Pity.

My niece McKell had a Christmas program with her preschool. They all had parts to say and she did AMAZING. Everyone was very impressed because she had it completely memorized. Her part was "on Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer, and Vixon. On Comet, on Cupid, on Donner, and Blitzen."
Eden's Christmas dress. It was so adorable. And a homemade hair clip from her Aunt Kylie.
Just as an explanation of the next picture....this beauty of a costume is with all the nativity costumes the Finlinson's have. They have no idea where it came from or even what its supposed to be. But I'm pretty sure it ends up the head of the donkey every year. p.s. I didn't end up playing the donkey.
Eden the Angel and Gabe as Baby Jesus.
Eden got PLENTY of Christmas gifts. She got this doll house that she LOVES. She was so excited when opening this gift. While unwrapping she would see the picture and point "BABY! DADDY! MOMMY!"

These are my side of the family's cousins (well, second cousins and such as well...but we're all family). There's Lucy, Link, Dakota, Eden, and Trey in this picture. Eden really loves Lucy, mutually gets along with Dakota (meaning they play without stealing each others toys for the most part), and is scared of Trey and TO THIS DAY tells me about the time "Trey push me."

Kangaroo Zoo

Kangaroo Zoo...for those who don't know...is basically a place for both kids and adults to play on lots of bounce house, air-filled playground equipment stuff. Hmm...hope that made sense.

Eden wasn't such a big fan. She was scared to death of most anything. There is a little area (not a bouncy area) that little kids could play...she enjoyed that. There was also a little crab that she would sit on and say "bouncy bouncy" (there's a picture below).

It took her a while to warm up to the place, but she did eventually and went through one of the mazes TWICE. I think she felt really bad after playing in the little kid area and when she asked where Eva was I said, "She's playing on the big stuff over there." You could tell she realized that Eva was where she was too scared to go. In the end, we all enjoyed it (except Kylie who hurt her neck and had to go to the doctor to get it check out...).




And here's Macie and I ready to battle through the maze. This picture is funny cause I'm trying to look tough and Macie looks more like a cheerleader. (p.s. I won the race)

Nana and Papa's

Eden calls her grandma and grandpa on Tyson's side "Nana" and "Papa". We were able to spend about half of our time over there this break. It was a lot of fun. Eden loves to play with Eva, loves the attention from the aunts and uncles, and there were plenty of toys to play with.

Lydia and Kylie put curlers in Eden and Eva's hair.


They had these goggles with TINY holes in the middle that Eden could barely see out of. Eden would put these things on and walk around with them. She thought they were funny.
We also took a day swimming to the Lehi rec center...which is an AWESOME pool for kids. Eden and all the kids LOVED it. My little water baby who was SUPER daring when in the water, doesn't want any help, dives right in head first, etc.

Branson

Before going to Utah...my mom, dad, grandma, and my grandma's good friend came to Missouri to check out Branson. Never heard of it? Here...let me sum it up for you.

Branson = Little Vegas for the old and retired

Yep, that about sums it up. I LOVED IT! I'm totally the type to love it though. Go see these little shows all the time, go shopping in the outlet malls, hang out with the older community....it was great.

Alright, now to the pictures.

My family realized that I wouldn't be able to pack ALL of our (or should we say "Eden's") Christmas presents that we got while in Utah. So, Eden got an early Christmas. My family gave Eden a whole bunch of her presents while in Missouri and wanted her to open and play with them since they wouldn't get to see her play with them in Utah with all the other grand kids.

This is her doll that comes with high chair, bassinet, and stroller. She'd play with that every morning and night.
This was from the Shanghai Chinese Acrobats show. It was AMAZING. I can't believe what they can do, how they can contort their bodies, etc.

And this picture was really awkward because none of the Chinese people spoke English but I wanted a picture with them. All the acrobats just stood in a line in the entry for picture taking. I just took the guy at the end of the line to slide besides and take a picture. He's definitely not much of a looker...his outfit doesn't help either.
At the outlet malls (which we spent plenty of time) there were these large deer that Eden LOVED to pet. Why? Not sure, but figured I'd get a picture. Plus, if you click on the picture to blow it up larger you can see the hat my dad bought Eden. I LOVE the hat. He got it at a sports store.
My sister, Laura, kept telling me through my trip to Utah how amazed she was at how much food Eden eats. Here's some proof...not to mention another one of those "this is why I strip my little girl down before meal time."

All I Have to Say Is....

I MADE IT TO UTAH! WAHOO!!!!!

Let the FUN begin!

....and where's Tyson? At work....what's vacation?

Here Comes Santa Claus!

Don't these pictures make you want to laugh and cry all at the same time! I mean, kids HATE Santa at first but later he'll become "the best ever". Poor Eden hated Santa...but her little sad face is so cute and funny. I'm such a mean mom. Jack definitely wasn't a fan of Santa either.

But Eden did like the bouncy ball Santa gave her. And she even admitted to me that it was nice of Santa to give her a toy even though when I asked her if she liked Santa she said, "no".


p.s. Thanks Eliza for the pictures.

If You're Happy and You Know It...Clap Your Hands!

*Clap Clap*

My Joys...

My mom and dad fly in TOMORROW.
I get a VACATION.
Eden will GET OUT OF THE HOUSE (she'll be pumped).

I'm so happy.

*Someone in the far off distance who somehow knows everything about my life yells out*
"But Bethany....WHY are you so happy? You've had so much to complain about!"

Me? Complain? NEVER! Just ask my husband. Hmm...scratch that, don't ask him.

Recent complaints (just to get them out):

• Finals week = No husband
• No husband = No car
• No car = Eden and I stuck at home going crazy
• Stuck at home and going crazy = whiny and bored child (and me)
  
• Morning sickness
• and Pink eye

But this just goes to show that even if you're a sick and lonely crazy-child hermit mother with a diseased eyeball....

You too can smile and clap your hands. :)

Happy Holidays.

p.s. I'm not being sarcastic. I'm being very realistic in fact. Although, the insanity displayed within this post may be have something to do with the complaints mentioned above.