It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. Here are a few pictures of our Christmas activities. Enjoy!



And here are a couple of more pictures just for fun!

The trick to blogging

So after having spent so much time blogging over the past two weeks, I have come to realize why some people (my sister Mauri) are more successful at this than others (yours truly). The trick is to write something every day or two so that you don't get three or four (or more) days down the road and realize that you, yet again, have to write a blog entitled or prefaced with something like, "Here are pictures from a bunch of different things," or "Please excuse my rambling on about numerous different topics."
My sister is great at blogging. She typically will post something every day or two and will have a post on one topic with corresponding pictures. I, on the other hand, find that I wait for two or three events to occur before it dawns on me to post something on the blog and then my post turns into a menagerie of rambling thoughts. That being said, please excuse the forthcoming nonsensical rambling.
First, I have been meaning to post this picture for a while, but since my posts have recently been focused on Maggie's arrival, I thought I'd wait to share this. Never has a truer description about an internet phenomenon been said.

So here comes all the little I have to say to the few of you who actually will read this.

During the past few days, some of Josh and Maggie's cousins have been in town to meet Maggie. On Friday, Josh and I went to the zoo with Jenna, Jared, Jacob, Abbie, Grandpa, Grandma, and our friends Thomas and Eric. The kids all had a great time.
Josh riding on the Carousel with Aunt Jenna. Uncle Jared, Jacob, Abbie, and Grandpa also took a ride.
The zoogoers. Jacob and Jared, Abbie and Grandpa, Josh and Dad, and Eric and Thomas.
Josh (on the right) and one of his best little buddies Eric enjoyed watching the fish.

Saturday was a big, yet depressing, day for BYU sports. Grandpa came over and picked Josh and I up to go to the BYU vs. ASU basketball game. ASU was favored, but BYU was winning almost the entire game until they lost at the end by one point after the officials waived off BYU's game-winning basket at the buzzer. Despite the loss, it was a great game and we had a fun time.
What wasn't such a great game was BYU's loss to the University of Arizona later that evening. Maggie got all dressed up to support the Cougs in her first exposure to BYU football, but unfortunately, she was one disappointed Alma Matter daughter. Interestingly enough, the first BYU game Josh saw (and went to) was BYU loosing to UofA in Tucson two years ago. Note to self: our kids introduction to BYU sports = loss for the Cougars. Sorry guys. At least Maggie looked cute. Go Cougs!

Cute Kids and a crazy dog

This post may be somewhat rambling, but I figure no one really cares about what I type, you all just want to see pictures. Maggie is getting cuter every day and is still sleeping great and as happy as a little girl can be. Here are a couple of pictures from the past two days.

It looks like we might have ourselves a thumbsucker!The other day, Josh said he wanted to try to go to potty on his own. We got him up on the toilet and oh what happened!
At least his face will make it easy for us to know if he is guilty.
This morning Josh was eating breakfast when he looked out the window and said to Nana, "Look at the doggie." At first, she thought it might be a big cat but upon closer examination she saw it was a dog. Josh said "Get daddy help doggie." That dog was walking back and forth along the fence like a cat. As I got closer to it to help it down, it decided to jump down on the other side of the fence into a back yard. I have no idea how it got up there, but I think it jumped back into it's own yard because there was another dog there too and that dog didn't seem to concerned about a new dog coming into its territory.

The Prayer of a Child

Last night, we were all gathered together around the ottoman for family prayers. The following conversation ensued:

Dan: Josh, do you want to help me say prayers or do you want to say them by yourself.
Josh: I want to say them by myself. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank thee for this day. We thank thee for our blessings. Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Dan: That was a great prayer buddy, can Daddy say one now? Do you want to help me?
Josh: Yes.
Dan: Dear Heavenly Father.
Josh: Dear Heavenly Father.
Dan: We thank thee for this day.
Josh: No! It's time for Amen!!!
Dan: Please bless us to have a good night sleep.
Josh: No! It's time for Amen!!!

Josh apparently felt that his prayer was sufficient and there was nothing Dad could add to make it any better.

For those of you wanting your fix of Maggie pictures (Mauri), I'll try to get some more to post today.

Gettting used to home

Maggie has been home for almost two days now and she is settling right in. She is a great little sleeper, for which we are very grateful. Additionally, Josh loves being a big brother. He is always asking for Maggie and wants to hold her and hug her and give her kisses. Today, Josh was a great helper giving Maggie her first bath at home. He told Maggie all about baths so she wouldn't scream and flail about like he did during his first bath. She just sat there quietly and let me wash her off.
Before we got in the bath, we were getting Maggie out of her diaper and Josh made a very keen anatomical observation about his new little sister. "Where's Maggie's peanuts?" A few months ago, we starting teaching Josh about his penis. Being an frequent flier and an airplane aficionado who loves getting peanuts on plane flights, Josh wasn't quite clear on what we had said and he understood us to call his private parts "peanuts." For weeks thereafter, every time we changed Josh's diaper, he would point to his penis and say "Peanuts, on air plane." Needless to say, he was quite confused that Maggie didn't have "peanuts."

Maggie is getting cuter by the minute (a trait she inherited from her mom) and she has been a complete joy to have in our home.

And we aren't wasting any time making sure she is a fully indoctrinated true blue (or pink) Cougar fan.

Welcome home Maggie!

Holly and Maggie came home from the hospital today. They (especially Holly) are very glad to be home. Here are a few pictures from today's events.

Day three and life is good!

In my ongoing efforts to keep new pictures of Maggie on the information superhighway (all while studying for two finals) I am on the computer once again to share our little princess with the world. Holly and Maggie are doing great and the good Doctor has said that they will be able to come home tomorrow (Friday)! I can't tell you how excited I am to have us all under one roof again. After I spent the morning studying, I went out to the hospital to have some time with my girls. Maggie, however, has become quite the sleeper in her old age and only woke up for about two minutes during the entire four hours I was there. Oh well, it's a tough world out there and the girl will need to be well rested. Here is a picture I was able to snap of her while she slept.
Also, we are especially excited for our friends, the Allens, who's little girl decided that Maggie needed a friend to join the world with her. The Allens' baby girl was born early this morning and is doing well. Congrats you guys!!!