Temple Square

Last week we went to Temple Square to see the lights and had a fun time. It wasn't nearly as cold as when we went last year and I'm very grateful for that. Michael and I love this tradition and Noelle seems to be enjoying it too!

We rode TRAX downtown and Noelle was very interested and liked it a lot

She enjoyed looking and talking to herself in the window

We went and bought a harness/"leash" for Noelle. I never thought I would buy one but I am now a huge believer. She loves it and has so much fun with it. She didn't even run all over, it was good though in case she decided to go somewhere that we didn't. I highly recommend one of these for your on-the-go toddler.

her "cheese" face for the camera

This was taken without the flash and turned out pretty cool looking for our old camera

I love the Temple

Part of the nativity on the reflecting pool

Noelle loved the pools of water the best. She kept trying to stick her hand in and get a drink. She also loved throwing coins in them.

Me and my little girl

One of the cool nativities

Another fun, random picture of the Salt Lake Temple

I know I've put pictures already of Noelle playing dress-up but Snow White is the current favorite dress up and she'll walk around all day with this on. She is very good in her high heels. Unlike her mom.

She wanted to show off her bow. This, I think, is her favorite part of the dress up.

Our little outing

We only have one car right now. I really want that to change but right now it can't and that's okay, so we make do. It's just hard staying cooped up in the apartment all day. So now I'm getting the car once a week, I think that is reasonable and keeps me from spending more money. Michael works about 5 minutes away so we take him to work at about 6:30am and then we have the car. Last Thursday we had the car and so we went out and had a little fun. Like I have said before I do not enjoy shopping with Noelle. It's just miserable for the both of us. But I wanted to go to the mall so we were there for about an hour and Noelle was getting so anxious and ornery. So right before we left she rode this Bob the Builder car and she loved it. $1.50 was definitely worth spending, on two rides, so that my daughter could have some fun and do something that she has never done.Noelle has got this new obsession with wipes. She loves holding it in her hand and wiping her nose. She decided to wipe Bob the builder's nose.

After that we went to McDonald's play place. This has become an almost weekly thing. She loves it. She's still too young to climb up the big slides and everything but they have this little toddler area that she plays in. If you ask me it's a little too small for her, but she has fun. I really need to get a group to go with us because it's just Noelle playing. Although she gets other kids to come play with her sometimes. When she wants the kids to come over by her she'll say "duys, duys!" Which is "guys, guys!" I think she learned that in nursery.

After that we went over to my parent's house where I tried to get her to take a nap. That didn't work because my mom got home from work and Noelle could hear her voice. She found this hat and just put it on herself. What a cute girl.

After a long day and being up since 6:15am we went home and Noelle crashed. We had lots of fun though and we love the days we can get out of the house.

some fun photos

Last year Noelle didn't really understand what was happening when we went and saw Santa. This year we've been trying to tell her who Santa is and that he's so nice and brings toys and candy. When we were in line we even showed her Santa and she looked excited. She has started doing this cute little gasp (in a good way) when she is excited about something or she likes how it looks. She did that when she saw Santa. Then we put her on his lap and the picture explains it all...She looked at us like "How could you? Who is this guy and why are you leaving me here?" I felt bad taking a picture but I had to capture it. The Santa however did smile for the camera.
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Noelle has a lot of stuffed animals. Lots of these are mine and I could never get rid of them. Mostly because they all mean something to me in some way. But she loves ALL OF THEM and cuddles with them and gives them all kisses and hugs. So we got a net for them and it's pretty huge. Michael stuffed them all in it. I'm afraid they may fall on Noelle in the middle of the night. At least they are light and soft...

Here's our Christmas tree this year. We've bought an ornament for Noelle each year and this year she knows which ones are hers and likes to constantly look at them and take them down. I love our Christmas tree. I think it turned out really pretty.

Noelle's Uncle Tanner and Aunt Nina took her outside my parent's house to make a snowman and play in the snow. I came a little under-prepared so we used some of her extra socks as gloves. She didn't seem to mind. She loves being out in the snow. She had a TON of fun too and was a big helper. Thanks Nina for taking the pictures!

Here my brother Tanner is trying to convince Noelle to go through the tunnel he made. Apparently she didn't want to have anything to do with it.

Snow Fun

Noelle loves to be outside and normally I do too except in the cold, wet snow. I can play and stay out there for half an hour to an hour but then I start getting sick of it, mostly because I am freezing to death. Maybe this is because I never seem to wear all the right clothing for going outside in the snow. I'm learning my lesson because Noelle would stay out there all day if I let her, even if her face were red and freezing. Tuesday we played outside in the snow. It was super deep so Noelle had a hard time trying to walk through it. She didn't mind though. We even swung on the swings and because the snow was so high Noelle could get right off of it without my help. I made a snow angel and Noelle enjoyed eating the snow. She calls snow "no." But it's different than your normal "no." When she says it I can tell that she means "snow." She's so cute. She's saying a lot more words lately. One of my new favorites that she says is "ick" for things she doesn't like to eat or when she or something is messy. She'll also put her hands on her cheeks and say "oh no." She's definitely my favorite! Enjoy some snow pictures of Noelle!

our camera has been weird lately and is giving us some weird lighting and color in our pictures so some of these aren't the best quality.

I call her my little marshmallow, in a good way of course :). I love all her snow gear, she's so cute with all of it on and I just want to give her a big hug.
Getting ready to go outside

giving me her "cheese" face

she wanted to swing, so we did

"hi mom" The snow was really deep, for her anyway

The playground right outside our apartment complex. She really wanted to play on it but the snow and ice were packed on so tight I couldn't get any of it off.

"I have a cold and red face"

Taking a break under the pavilion

SO FUNNY!

I love to laugh but there are few things that make me laugh until I cry. This was one of them! I found this on my friend's blog and let me just tell you it was worth watching hers and then making my own. Watch this and you will not be disappointed :)

Click here for me and my family

Click here for me, my mom, and my sisters

I hope my sisters and mom don't mind. I just thought it was fun to do it with all five of us!

Thanksgiving 2010

For Thanksgiving this year we went over to my Grandparent's house and even though it was very crowded it was very fun to be there. Noelle did a little better during the meal than last year. She ate a little bit more but still wanted to be the center of attention so she didn't last long. Whenever it's time to eat (wherever we are) if there are other people around, besides me and Michael, she'll hardly eat anything. It's like she thinks it's a waste of time to eat when there are all these people around to play with. Afterward Michael headed to the "football" room and stayed there for the next couple of hours. Noelle hadn't gotten a nap yet and was doing surprisingly well. The rest of us that didn't watch football stayed in the living room, looked at some ads, played a game, and just talked. Noelle would make her way from room to room and would find some toys and other kids to play with. We headed over to my parent's house around 5:00pm and seriously as soon as the car started Noelle was asleep. My sister, Alyson, came up from Provo along with Michael's sister Rebecca. She stayed with us and we're so glad she did and we had so much fun with her.

This year I actually did some black Friday shopping. Honestly there wasn't anything too amazing for me to get. But I wanted to go cause I had never been. So me, my mom, and Alyson went to Walmart at midnight. I actually got some really good deals and it was fun to go. Friday we also went to see Harry Potter again and it was fun. I love seeing movies the day after Thanksgiving. I also wanted to write down some things that I am grateful for. I have so many blessings...
*The gospel,the peace and joy that it brings me. It's true!
*My husband, for his selflessness and love and sense of humor
*My daughter, the light of my life, who makes me smile in all she does
*My parents, for their never ending kindness and willingness to do so much for me and my family
*Michael's parent's, for raising such an amazing son and for being so patient and loving
*The rest of my family, just for all they do and who they are. I love my family very much!
*My calling in Primary, for Heavenly Father knowing exactly that I needed it and that it makes me SO happy.
*The Book of Mormon, the peace it brings and the spirit it brings to me and my family

I have a lot more but that would really take up too much space. I hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Here are a couple random pictures and a video of Noelle doing somersaults

Noelle loves to wear her hat and gloves around the house and we have a hard time taking them off of her.

I put the boppy pillow around her and told her to feed her baby and she did. It was so cute. She's never seen me do this but I think it just comes natural to little girls.

Noelle and Family Photos

My cousin Alyssa took these photos of us and she did an awesome job! They turned out great and really capture so much of Noelle's personality! I couldn't pick just a couple to post so you'll have to look at them all :)