christmas greetings

Dave
Last December, I started working as a graphic designer at Janda Design Company. This has allowed me to wear a lot of black clothing and make snooty comments about MySpace and poorly designed brochures. It's been a lot of fun.

Typing seriously though, I give thanks to my Heavenly Father for allowing me to work in a profession that I love, with people that I admire and respect, and especially for allowing me to be a part of such a beautiful family. I love my girls more than anything and I feel so blessed to have them in my life.

Holly
Holly was recently voted the absolute best wife, mother, teacher, chef, nursemaid, entertainer, and all-around awesome person in the free world. Ever. It wasn't even close. Seriously.

It's an understatement to say that the award was well-deserved.

Every day, Holly does an amazing job raising our two little girls. She's patient, nurturing, and always loving with Nezzie and Gwen.

This is Holly now—I will just intervene here... I guess I've fooled Dave. I don't know about "best", but I will accept a few of those titles.

This past year Dave & I turned 30. It wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be and Dave freaked out about turning 30 when we turned 29, so I think it didn't affect him this year. Some of the bigger events of our year include getting my purse stolen at Disneyland, Dave's emergency appendectomy, moving to Provo, Jon's wedding/Kewish reunion and the birth of our second daughter, Gwendolyn Carol Lesue, on September 20th.

Being a mother is so rewarding and I really enjoy staying at home with the girls each day. Between the two of them I'm lucky to get dressed by noon each day. I have a lot of fun with Inez, who is very entertaining. She is so happy when Dave comes home though and loves to play Line Rider with him, or anything really. She is a Daddy's girl through and through. Gwen on the other hand still prefers me over anyone—in which I secretly delight. The fact that Nezzie is a daddy's girl, while Gwen remains a mommy's girl is the principal reason behind their jammies in our Christmas card—our unbridled narcissism is only a secondary reason.

Speaking of our Christmas card, I have recently picked up a little hobby in the area of stamping—hence the card that probably led you here. It's a fun diversion when I can find a free minute to create... The problem is that those "free minutes" are so few and far between. This is why our card is so shamefully late this year.

Ok—back to Dave...

Inez
Holly and I are really getting excited about Christmas this year. Granted, we get excited about Christmas every year, but this is shaping up to be the first Christmas that Nezzie truly "gets it." We enjoyed her first three Chistmases, but this one—so far—has been such a fun experience. She's so full of excitement and wonder.

She comes up with interesting observations about Santa Claus. She'll make bold statements like, "Santa's beard goes up to his mouth," and "Santa and Mrs. Claus got married in the ice temple." Then she'll follow up and expound upon earlier declarations by saying things like "Santa doesn't talk very good. Because of the beard." She routinely asks anyone, "So (insert name), what do you want for Christmas?" When asked in return what she wants, she has consistently answered, "a blue truck." We have NO idea where that came from.

She is such a good sister and is very kind to Gwen. Whenever Gwen is crying Nezzie tries to calm her and will say, "It's okay Gwenie" and then starts right up with "Twinkle little star", which surprisingly works most of the time. She constantly wants to talk or sing to Gwen while she is asleep.

She also takes great pleasure in jumping on primarily beds but also anything with any sort of bounce to it. She has said on a number of occasions that she is a "great jumper". She has lots of energy like most three year olds, and we are trying to think of the best way to take advantage of it.

Gwen
Our little Gwenie (A.K.A. Bubbles McDrooley) continues to grow, developing row after row of car tire-esque fat rings around her thighs. They make very cute accessories for our stylish and increasingly meaty three-month old. Holly and I are entranced by them, often pinching, poking, and proding them in the middle of a diaper change. "Look at that," we'll say, shaking our heads. "So fat, and yet... so adorable." We'll go on like this for some time.

Taking a cue from her parents, Gwen has recently developed an unhealthy obsession of her own—her right hand. She'll hold it out in front of her and stare at it for minutes at a time, which, for a three-month old, quickly adds up to represent a substantial percentage of her total life. It's a problem. We're thinking about staging an intervention.


We are so grateful for our many blessings and thank our Heavenly Father daily. We are especially grateful at this time of year for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We send our love and best wishes to all of our loved ones this holiday season.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

nezzie turns three!

Nezzie turned three years old! It has gone by so fast, we can't believe how grown up our baby girl is. She is so funny and so lovable.

Dave took the day off and we just all hung out. We took her to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point, and she loved it. She had a lot of fun at her little birthday party with Grandma and Grandpa Lesue, Grandma and Grandpa Kewish, and Uncle Jon and Aunt Ashley. Mommy made the ugliest birthday cake in an attempt to make a Barbie cake. It was so shameful that I will NOT be posting a picture of it here on the blog.

All day whenever anyone wished her a "Happy Birthday," she replied, "Happy Birthday to you!" She also was singing "Happy Birthday to me" all night. For weeks anytime Dave and I asked her what she wanted for her birthday she would say, "a frog." So we got her a little pink frog. Out of all the presents she received, she was most excited about that little frog. So this looks promising for Christmas because she has asked Santa for "a blue truck."

Here's our excitable three year old anticipating blowing out her birthday candle. She is not very seasoned in blowing out candles, and it took her nearly as long to blow it out as it took the two women on last night's "Survivor" finale to make a fire.



Here she is at the Dinosaur museum digging for fossils.

cute or gross?

How could someone so cute...



produce something so gross?
This is the lint from between her toes.

the feet have eyes

Nezzie got into Holly's sewing things this morning and quickly created a monster. Two monsters, really.

i push on them all the time

Earlier tonight, Inez spotted me working on the computer. She asked me what I was doing and after I answered her, she smiled, pushed a few random keys and said "That's a keyboard, daddy." "That's right" I said. "Do you like computers, Nezzie?" She smiled again and said "I do like computers, daddy. I push on them all the time."

the bipolar express

Here's a little video clip of Inez when we went on the Polar Express. She was so excited to see Santa! Dave and I just kept laughing and watching this over and over. I love how—when she gets sad—she puts her head down Charlie Brown Christmas style.




So thanks to Brooke, we rode on the "Polar Express" via the Heber Creeper Railroad. It was fun, cold and long. But we did get a choclate chip cookie that was from Mrs. Claus' secret recipe, made with the "giggle of an elf". The kids absolutely loved it. Here they are ringing their bells that Santa gave them.



Here we are, fresh and excited at the beginning of our trip to the "North Pole". We, at least Brooke and I, probably looked more haggard and worn. The kids, miraculously, still had tons of energy.

gingerbread disaster

Well, Dave summed it all up when he said that we had our building permit revoked. it was fun anyway, and way too sugary! Yum.





Here Nezzie bit his legs off so he wouldn't run away.

nezzie's tree

Here is Nezzie with the little tree we got for her room. She loves it and it's a great night light when she goes to bed!

remember how...

Remember how BYU went undefeated in MWC conference play, won the
outright MWC conference championship, secured a spot in the Las Vegas
bowl, and came from behind to beat Utah with an on-the-run,
across-the-body, while-getting-tackled, touchdown pass ten seconds
after time had expired?

I do.

our blessed little girl

So, we blessed our little Gwen on Sunday and it was such a nice day. I was much more emotional than I expected to be with it being our second baby blessing. Nevertheless, it was beautiful, and Gwen was such a good baby for us. She was even awake during the blessing! She wore the same little gown that Nezzie wore, and she got some little baby pearls from Grandma Kewish. I know I'm biased, but she looked so beautiful!





I am so grateful for this wonderful little spirit in my life and in our family, and I just love her more than I could ever have expected to. I was a little wary of getting pregnant and having a second child for the fear that I wouldn't have just my Nezzie girl to love and spend time with. But I feel more love for the two than I thought I had. And when Gwen smiles and coos at me, or settles down just for Mommy, it is so rewarding.

the twelve days of christmas

first snow

Here's a picture from our first real snow day, when the snow actually stuck. Inez was so excited, tried dragging me out of bed to go out with her. But lucky for me, Dave had not gone to work just yet and indulged her. She has plans for the next time we go play in the snow: "to make snowballs, and a snowman that's magic", thanks to the story of Frosty. I told her that we would see...