Surprise!

Rick and I have been in cahoots since October on surprising my mom for Christmas. It was extremely difficult to out-right lie to my mom several times between October and our arrival. "What are your plans for Christmas?" Oh, you know, just something quiet at home? It was totally worth it though for the surprise. 

My mom and Rick were away at the temple in Cardston (2 1/2 hours away from Calgary) when we arrived so Rick's friend picked us up at the airport. We waited with nervous anticipation for 3 hours before they came home at 7 pm. Unfortunately it had been such a long day for the girls that we had a difficult time getting them to stay quiet in the dark when we saw Ricks' car pull into the drive way. 

My mom walked in and heard a baby crying - so we immediately jumped out and yelled "Surprise!" 

If the picture wasn't so blurry I would enlarge it and focus on the smile on Rick's face :)

Christmas Eve Nativity

I love, love, love the live nativity re-enactment that the church puts on in Calgary. We went last year, but this year was more fun because Lily has a somewhat understanding of who baby Jesus is. We had a wonderful time with Grandpa Rick.

If I haven't mentioned before, Lily is a little fixated on baby Jesus - so this nativity was almost more than her little heart could bear. Throughout the entire show she kept repeating in awe, "It's baby Jesus!" and then at the end, "Bye Bye baby Jesus!" I'm grateful it's not a final good bye, and that we will see Him again.

We got there early and Lily was able to go around and see the set and animals.

How lucky were we? We got our picture with 2 Shepherds and a wise man!

"That's where Baby Jesus sleeps!" This was her favorite spot of the nativity. She made me visit it with her over and over while waiting for the show to start. 

Snuggling baby Jesus. Unfortunately she wasn't as soft and gentle with several other pieces of my mom's nice nativity scene.   

Christmas Morning

Since Christmas was on a Sunday this year and my mom's church started at 11- we decided to do stockings in the morning and wait to do presents in the afternoon. 

:) This was the face Lily pulled when I told her to smile.

We were ready for church with some time to kill- so Lily played Peeky-a-boo with her Uncle Christopher

"Want a present?" Lily had been eyeing (and slowly tearing) those presents all week!

Allans + Auntie Gwen + Elliss's. You can't see it here, but Jordan and Rick wore matching sweaters :) My mom and I have great taste, what can I say?

So it begins....

Christmas Afternoon

After church we came home and started on giving part of Christmas :)

Lily loved her present from her baby sister! 

And Lily loved giving her baby sister a present!

And helping her open it.

And it was hit!

And then Lily claimed it as her own for the remainder of the trip :)

Lily designated herself and the official present opener once again this year.

A true dad- he was far more interested in watching his children open presents and capturing the moment than to focus on the large wrapped box sitting in his lap.

Lucy spending some quality time with her Daddy's present

Lily loves music, whether it be singing, dancing or pretending to play the piano. So we bought her an mp3 player so she can listen to "the wheels on the bus" as much as she wants and I won't have to push the "back" button 50 times. She can do it herself on her own mp3 player.

This year I made sure to get a picture with the Vellingas! They come home just as we'll be leaving for our internship :(

Night on the Town

Jordan and I doubled one night with my new sister Emma and her awesome boyfriend Richard. As we're all poor college students, we went walking downtown - followed by McDonalds treats :)

I think Jordan has been watching too many zombie movies.

I wasn't supposed to be the focus of this picture, I promise.

Banff

Remember the crazy large and gorgeous snowy mountain in the movie Inception? Well, that mountain is really called Banff and it is located just outside of Calgary. 

Lucy does have arms. I promise. 

Snow Birds

Another frequent outting was in Grandpa Rick's backyard! They had the perfect sized hill for our little sledders (Lily and her dollie)

She doesn't look like she's having fun in the picture but she couldn't get enough of it!

As bundled up as she was, we couldn't keep the sharp wind from her tender little face. Poor girl, we didn't usually last too long outside with her big sister.

On Dasher, on Dancer on Donner and Daddy!

Lucy much preferred to be the darling inside snow bird with her loving Grandpa Rick.

A Day at Granny's

Granny has the best toys!

And so does Grandpa Rick!

daily naps were a must

The girls slept in pack'n'plays side by side. They loved it. I loved it as well, until Lily realized that if she stood up she could poke her sister and wake her up. And with Lucy getting a new tooth, she didn't need much help waking up....every hour.....all night.....every night.

Cat hunts were frequent. I believe everybody who visited the house while we were there got pulled on a cat hunt. The two subjects in the picture are experiencing extreme opposites in emotions. The hunter is exceptionally proud of her self, while the huntee couldn't be more vexed. 

Lucy's excuse for not sleeping well was her new tooth. Lily's was that she was just having too much fun to ever sleep.