Christmas Morning

Christmas Morning at the Fuller's

Shaersti and Brigham

I'm pretty sure this is the only toy Briggs got, but he loves it.

This is a good shot of how Paysli torchers Briggs all day long.

Family Pictures

I was super excited to get our family pictures done this year. My cute friend did them for me. Having updated pictures sure makes me realize how fast my kids are growing.

Gymnastics

Shaersti and Anne love gymnastics. In the fall they went to gymnastics in a ladies basement and they thought it was way fun. At the end we got to go watch some of the tricks they learned. They were pretty excited to show us.

I recently overheard Anne tell her friend, "Look at my muscles; my family is really proud of me because I don't even work out"!!! So funny, but that's Anne for ya.

The Basement Village

There is a guy that lives by Scott's parents who has a huge Christmas village in his basement. We went to see it and I couldn't believe how crazy it was. We were there for a half hour and I don't think we saw a fourth of the detail he has. It was a really neat thing to go see. It was terribly hard to get good pictures, though.

Grandpa's Late Night

How can I take pictures of something I'm not invited to?

My wonderful dad did a Gradpa's Late Night a week or two before Christmas. He took all of his grandkids and they played like crazy while the parents got to go on dates and Christmas shop. It's such a splendid night! The parents love it and the kids super love it! They drew lots of Christmas pictures, got matching pajamas, had grandpa's famous cherry sprite drink, watched movies, and lots of other things. This is Anne sweeping it up.

They used the kitchen arch to hang up all of their fabulous Christmas pictures. What a cute idea. Thanks for an absolutely awesome night grandpa!

Health Challenge

After I had Brigham I was having a hard time finding the motivation to lose my baby weight, but I knew I needed to. My sis-in-law introduced me to a healthy eating competition. I do really well with competitions so I decided it was my best shot. It lasted for 30 days, through December when I usually gain weight. There were some rules but the basic plan was to work out every day and to choose only healthy foods. It was amazing! These are embarrassing pictures, but I want it in my blog for my own inspiration next time I'm trying to lose my baby weight (yes, i plan to have a "next time"). These are the possibilities when I only focus on my goal.

Before Pictures:

After 30 Days:

This is my Vision Board, which was a great source of inspiration to me.

This is me in the pants I had bought myself the month before the challenge. Pretty awesome!

Bake Night

There's a pretty good chance that Bake Night is my favorite tradition. I love the chaos and craziness and I really love the awesome goodies! The best treat is puffed rice balls, even if Scott thinks they smell like farts!

What a cute grandma! She has Addi, Paysli and Callie.

Gingerbread Houses

One of our Christmas traditions is decorating gingerbread houses. It's a lot of fun to watch how creative everyone is and to sneak treats.

Shaersti's Birthday

My little baby turned 7! I can't believe how fast the years have flown by- it's so crazy! She is a super smart little girl and loves to read. She loves school, especially recess, and playing with her friends. She is a self-proclaimed tomboy but every now and then she forgets and lets me put bows in her hair or dress her in pink. She is really responsible and she's a great helper, especially with Brigham. I am so thankful that she is my daughter. I learn so much from her!

Shaersti got super spoiled by grandpa and grandma. They took her to dinner then to a new awesome toy store. She got to sit on Santa's lap and she got a few fun toys. The best thing was dwarf frogs who now live on our kitchen counter. Leave it to the grandparents to bring pets home!

She had a Dog Party with her friends. Even though a dog bit her she still loves them. We had an ice cream bar and ate out of dog dishes.

We danced to "Who Let The Dogs Out" on the Wii.

We painted our faces. This is our cousin, Cami. They are two peas in a pod and they love to play together.

We made dog ears.

And we painted dog bones. Scott buried them in the park sand and we dug them up.

Shaersti has such cute little friends and she had a great party.

Shaersti's Dog Bite

We were spending the day working in the yard and Shaersti got playing with the neighbor girls. She ended up over at their house while we worked. Scott was working in the garage when he heard someone screaming. It was such a terrible scream that he headed across the circle. That's when he realized it was Shaersti. The girl's dad was coming out of the back yard with her and she was limping and had blood everywhere.

The kids knew the dogs were mean and had taken them into the house so they could play in the back yard. The little sister opened the door and let them out. They ran right at Shaersti. She tried to run and got backed against a bush, which she fell over and scraped up her side. As soon as she was on the ground, one of them bit into her leg and held on. The girls tried to get him off and couldn't. The dad heard the screaming, found her, and pulled the dog off.

It was one of my saddest days ever as a mom. To think that my child was being traumatized and I wasn't there to help is a terrible feeling. As a parent you have such a natural draw to protect your children and it's a super hard lesson in life that you just can't always do it.