twas the night before Christmas...

Okay, well, actually, twas the Month of Christmas! Here are some fun, random pics leading up to, and the day of Christmas. As you can probably imagine, this Christmas had a whole new perspective this year, and it was so sweet for us. Our little Lola was the center of it all! We also found time for lots of family and friends too, and definitely are thanking our many blessings for all the wonderful people in our lives. Here are a few pics capturing our Holidays this year.

So, we first kicked the month of Christmas off with a little "photo shoot", that I did with Stells and Lola. I had my mind set out to get some cute pictures of them together for our Christmas card.... this was a much tougher task than I had imagined it would be... :) Here are a few that didn't make the cut on the Christmas card, but that I loved anyways...

Couldn't you just bite those delicious Lola cheeks above, or kiss those little toes below...


Oh, and Stella looks so pretty in her bow. . . :)


The funniest part about this "photo shoot" is that Stella (the dog) hates getting her picture taken, she was much more difficult to work with than Lola. She was pouting, and would NOT look at me, OR Lola... then, Lola started to drool, and Stella was all over that. She actually got a few licks in, what was I to do, camera in hand...? I decided to seize the moment... :) Lola takes Stella's kisses in stride below as always. And, from then on, Stella was much more cooperative. So.. I was grateful for a little baby drool, that is apparently a delicious treat for puppy dogs...


This shot (below) was funny... of course it didn't make the card, because Zack says "It looks like we're like - TA DA, here's our dog, oh, and by the way... we have a new baby too - since she's a mere blurred image in the background.." yes, I agree with him, it does look a little off.


Later in the month... A little shin dig with friends called for a little cupcake love... once again. Thanks Linds for bringing these ADORABLE Santa hats, and "who-ville" cupcakes. Pretty much made the party!

The girls (our hubby's were here too - though not featured:). Alycia, sitting next to me is 9 months pregnant here!! What the...? She looks so amazing. I can't wait for her baby girl to arrive in a few days.

Then I decided to take a creative shot of my decorations (below). I seriously had to pump myself up about setting these up this year. What a silly thing. I'm so happy to have them, they make me warm an fuzzy all through December.


Then there was this non-Christmas moment (below) that was just some random day in December. Zack, Lola and Stella were lounging on the bed, and it was such an adorable photo opp that I couldn't resist. I love my little family!!





Later in the month, I got together with my best girlfriends from forever and ever for our annual Christmas dinner. We planned way ahead so we could accommodate every one's schedules, then we made it easy on ourselves, and met at Market Street for an amazing dinner, and lots of story telling, and laughs. Some things never change. I love you so much girls! (Randi Morgan, Erin Damjanovich, Me, Amy Jones, Heather Warner & Natalee Neilson)


And then..... it was finally Christmas Eve!!
Below, our first Christmas family pic in front of my mom's beautiful Christmas Tree.


And... Madeline (my little sis) with Stella. We made Stella wear a "ho ho ho" t-shirt, she looked like a little fatty, since it was a muscle t-shirt, it was funny.


Lola babes was all dressed up for the annual Christmas party hosted by my mom, and wearing her most beautiful new bow that my darling cousin Christina hand made for her!!!

Then there was my dad (below), snugging with Gizmo, his fav of the dogs.


Lola with her mama (below). I love my little sweety!!


Another solo shot of Lola... and the BOW!!


Ah, and finally.. that evening, Zack made me shut down the picture taking, his patience with my "photography hobby" is always wearing a little thin. This pic was his best imitation of the wolverine, trying to frighten me into putting down the camera... nice try sweety, I just think you ended up looking handsome - even though you were trying to pretend you were being mean... hahaha


Christmas morning!!! - I surprised Zack with a new road bike(below). We've got lots of great rides minutes from our house, I think he's going to love it next summer.

He also surprised me with a few of my favorite things, including... a new camera (yep, he's further encouraging the annoying photo taking antics..:), a new Lois Hill ring & some earrings - (for those of you that know Lois Hill, you would be so proud of him for picking out a ring all on his own that I absolutely love!!), a hot glue gun (to go along with the sewing machine my mom got me!!! - I'm going to work on my domestic side this year)... and a bunch of other fun stuff.



Little Lola got everything she had hoped for! hahaha, since she didn't even know what was going on, what she really wanted was that cute hat, right?! Well, the nice thing about being the parents, is when they are that little Mom and Dad get to pick out what you're going to get. So, there was the hat... :) and some other fun stuff.

More than anything, we feel so blessed to have our little angel in our lives this Christmas. That was the very best gift of all this year!!


I'm a sucker for pics of my bro Grady with Lola (below). He actually usually makes her cry, cause he doesn't know when to stop kissing those cheeks, but on Christmas morning, up at my parents, she was happy as can be in his lap.

I got this shot of my Grandpa Mock with Stella who HAS to be on his lap constantly, even when he's opening presents. I thought it was very sweet. My Grandpa is a very sweet man.


Then it was on to the Bell's for the rest of Christmas day.

Upon arrival at the Bell's we had Jeri's delicious Christmas breakfast including coffee cake, egg casserole, etc. - then we did some presents. Lola was napping... then, it was on the the Grandma's for a quick hello. After the Grandma's Lola was napping again... and then, when she woke up, we decided to try some real baby food for the first time. It was fantastic! She actually liked it, and was such a messy girl. She ended up totally destroying her Christmas outfit, but we didn't care!!! Here's one of the best shots, near the end of the feeding frenzy...:)


After that, we put her in her jammy's, and sat her down with Kate (below), her sweetest 9 month old cousin. They we're pretty cute together!!


Then, since Lola had been napping during present time, she finally got around to opening her presents in the evening. She was very cute about it.

First, below - eyeballing the wrapped box... "what do I do with this"...?


Then, hanging on tight to the paper....


And finally (below), the look of excitement once it was unwrapped. We hope you had a wonderful 1st Christmas our sweet Lola!