Big News and Christmas Day!

I haven't blogged about our big news because we've been waiting for things to progress. Thanksgiving weekend we got an offer on our condo!! We were originally trying to close (simultaneously on selling our condo and on buying our new house) by Dec. 21st. Unfortunately, everyone working toward approving financing have been taking too many holiday hours (3 people working instead of 10), they're swamped trying to close many other loans that all say urgent, and even once it is approved you still have to wait 24 hours for everything to go through. We found out today (Dec. 30th) that our loan has been APPROVED! But we're still waiting for our buyer's loan to go through. Our loan officer said if it weren't for the holidays, we would have already had approval and possibly closed by now. We WILL close sometime next week. :)

SOOOO, because we thought we might be moving before Christmas, we ONLY put up our 3ft tree with no ornaments this year. Here's McKenna's loot before we opened presents Christmas morning.

This is McKenna's "I seek" smile. She closes her eyes really tight and scrunches her nose. It's super cute!

One of her favorite presents of the day- a teddy bear from Grandma Kelly.

Our 90 year old neighbor gave her this inflatable bouncy horse that she also adores!

My parents and local siblings came to watch Kenna open her gifts and to have our traditional German pancakes and apple cider syrup breakfast.

Later, we opened presents with Dan's family. I didn't take too many pictures there.

Then we visited with my mom's parents. My dad was leaving the next day, so I had to get a few cute pictures of them together. Kenna's trying to hide in the first one.

Here's her "I seek" face again. :)

This picture sums up the day! She's bouncing on her horse, admiring her new stickers, binkie in mouth after a 30 min car ride, holding a new blanket for baby brother from my mom's mom. Good times!

Merry Christmas!

In baby news, I went to the doctor today (Dec. 30th). I'm 80% effaced and only dialated to a 1 and 3/4. No real contractions either. My babies like to cook a little more than 40 weeks I guess. I have an induction date for Friday the 7th, but I sure hope he comes before then. I finally packed a hospital bag last night...just in case. :)

Tangled, Swimming, Cmas Eve

We took McKenna to see Tangled the day before Christmas Eve. This was her first movie theater experience since she was about 3 months old and she did AWESOME! She just switched back and forth between mine and Dan's laps. (As you can see from the pictures, I don't have much of a lap left.) If there was a part she especially liked, she immediately asked for "more" when that part finished. Funny girl! :)

We also took her swimming Christmas Eve day at our local rec center. She's getting the hang of keeping her chin up while using her arm floaties. She loves to "jump" while wading and walking in the shallow parts of the pool and even loved the BIG slide! She also loves her "crazy hair" when she's all done swimming. :)

We spent Christmas Eve evening with Dan's family. We ate our delicious and traditional fonue dinner. Meats dipped in seasoned oils, veggies and breads dipped in cheese, and of course desserts dipped in the chocolate fountain. My parents and in-town siblings also came and enjoyed the festivities. Then we shared some of our favorite Christmas traditions from when we were growing up and read the Christmas story from Luke 2.

Choir

This Summer I auditioned for and started singing with the Lex De Azevedo Millennium Choral Society. It's been a wonderful experience so far! We were scheduled to perform Lex's Christmas Oratorio, Gloria, at the beautiful, historic, Provo Tabernacle. BYU Broadcasting was also set to film for their archives. The Tabernacle was decorated so beautifully! The stained glass windows were backlit, gorgeous Christmas trees and garland with twinkling lights, Roman arches for the soloist to stand in front of, not to mention the organ and other musical instruments specifically brought in for our performance.

We had our dress rehearsal Thursday night until about 10pm. Unfortunately and oh so sadly, by the next morning, the tabernacle looked like this... Here's the latest news story.

Words cannot express how heartbroken the community is. At first, Lex told us our concert was canceled. However, after much thought, many knew we had a message to deliver that was too important to give up on. With some quick work, they were able to find us another venue at another tabernacle in American Fork.

Here's Lex giving some history on how Gloria came to be. He also explained that even though that beautiful building was destroyed, you can't destroy music! Sure, we would perform without the pomp and decorations the Provo Tabernacle had, but that's the same way our beloved Savior entered this world. I'm so grateful for the opportunity we had to still perform this great work!!

I'm right by the conductors right arm in the black dress. :)

Aquarium and Christmas Events

December 13th was a FREE day at the Living Planet Aquarium. McKenna and I went with Dan's sister Brynn and cousin Emily and their kids. McKenna's getting better at being around animals, aka, she's not as scared all the time.

However, this was the look on her face at most of the tanks. She got quite concerned the closer they got to the glass.

This was a WAY COOL Octopus! It was moving around so much!

Sweet cousin Katie posing for me because McKenna wouldn't go near there.

The penguins were the coolest part but also the most crowded! They were quite active!

Sorry it's so dark.

We've also been to MANY wonderful Christmas parties and events and I've only really documented one of them.

This was our Ward (church) Christmas party. They served a delicious breakfast, the grown ups did a few service projects, and the kids did crafts.

Then this darling family (not even from our stake) entertained us with some Bluegrass style music and Christmas carols.

Other Christmas events we have thoroughly enjoyed:

• Sang in Stake Choir and Orchestra Christmas Program
• Attended the Stake Leadership Open House Christmas Party (because I hold [have since been released] a stake calling with the YW sports program)
• Dan's Work (internship) Christmas Party (fun white elephant gift exchange)
• Tabernacle Choir Concert with Davis Archuletta (AMAZING!!)
• First Presidency Christmas Devotional (Very uplifting)
• Christmas parties with the Nelson, Thompson, and Condie families

We're SO grateful for this wonderful time of year where we spend so much time with family and friends. We get to hear and see such spiritually uplifting performances that inspire us to remember the TRUE meaning of Christmas. I've kind of been a little more emotional this Christmas than in years past. Maybe it was something to do with pregnancy and hearing about the sacred birth of our Savior. :)

Baby Trio #2!

Back in 2008, I was pregnant the same time as Dan's two lovely sisters.

We all had GIRLS within 5 months of each other! It's been SO fun to see these little beauties grow up together (so far, of course).

I'm VERY pleased to announce baby trio #2! That's right! Myself, Dan's sister Sarah Jane and our sister-in-law Ailin are all pregnant with BOYS this time!! Due within about 3 months of each other. I'm so excited to see these little guys grow up together too!

Sarah Jane due April, Ailin due February, and Me due January

And here's me at 36.5 weeks!