Emmy's 7th Birthday

We celebrated Emlyn's 7th birthday at the end of December. It was such a fun birthday party. Emmy wanted to have all things 'Tangled' this year. The great thing about her party was that five of her ten cousins were able to come and celebrate with us. It was wonderful to celebrate her birthday with so much family.

Emmy with her Tangled cake.

Emmy thinks it's so great that she has a bit of a resemblance to Rapunzel.

Carly, Alison, Eve, Audrey, Emmy, Katy, Sara, Max

Birthday Girl turns 7!

Emmy & Katy

3 Christmases

December 2011 was a busy month for the Lovell family. We got to spend a lot of time with family. We made many special memories. Early in December, we spent some time at Grandma & Grandpa Meyer's house. St. Nick (German Santa) came for a visit and left treats in our shoes. It was so fun to have my sister Kimberly and her kids in town for the holidays.

St. Nick Christmas
Emmy, Alison, Eve, Audrey, Max
We put out our shoes, and St. Nick brought treats and presents.

Emmy got this awesome Ice Cream Cone set from Grandma & Grandpa. The ice cream scoops are magnetized. It is a really creative and fun toy to add to the girl's kitchen.

Aunt Kimberly made us this awesome Family Home Evening lesson book. It includes several lessons, and each lesson contains visual aids, games, treat ideas, etc. It is such a thoughtful gift. Thanks Kimmie!

We spent Christmas in Heber with the Lovell family. So we had our own Christmas at home before we headed up to Heber. It was really nice to spend the day relaxing and enjoying our presents.

Christmas at home in Tooele, Utah.

Opening gifts.
Emmy, Eve, & Alison

The princesses with the princesses.

Eve, Emmy, and Alison with their new princess dolls from Mom & Dad.

Emmy with Christmas from Mom & Dad.
She got a butterfly box and a game for her Leapster.

Mom & Dad got Alison a scooter. It is pink with light up wheels. Alison tells everyone about her new scooter.

Eve's cute cheesy smile.

Eve got her very own doll house from Mom & Dad.

Eve enjoying some treats from her stocking.

Christmas in Heber was so much fun. We had all the cousins together. We enjoyed decorating cookies, singing songs, playing games, and being together. It was so wonderful to have Nana & Papa home for the holidays.

Christmas Eve - Lovell home in Heber, Utah
Emmy, Katy, Will, Alison, Carly, Sara, Eve
Look at that little bit of blue in a sea of pink. We sure do love little Will!

Santa brought Eve a baby ladybug pillow pet.

Santa brought Alison a baby bumble bee pillow pet.

Santa brought Emmy a baby unicorn pillow pet.

Santa also brought Emmy these cute bunny ear muffs.

All I Want for Christmas...

is my 1 front tooth!
Emmy lost one of her front teeth a few days before Christmas. She was so excited. She thinks the Tooth Fairy is just the greatest.

Gingerbread Sleighs

My family has a Christmas tradition of making gingerbread houses around the holidays. Since Emmy is allergic to gluten, I wasn't sure how to make this work. It's hard to bake with wheat flour and not get her sick. I didn't want to attempt to make gluten free gingerbread. So, I found this little kit at the grocery store that came with 4 little gingerbread Santa sleighs. The girls thought they were awesome. They decorated the sleighs, and we proudly displayed them through the holidays. Then I threw them away in January. Emmy can't eat it, and the rest of us don't need to eat them. It was a great family night activity. Great news! I found a gingerbread house kit on clearance at Wal-Mart after the holidays. So, I already have our gingerbread house for Christmas 2012. I don't plan on us eating any of it, so it really doesn't matter that it will be a year old. :)

Emmy

Eve

Alison

Sleighs on display.
They only stayed in this spot for about 10 minutes. Eve was sneaking treats off of the sleighs, so I had to put them up higher.

Funny story: We were at the Hopkinson's house right before Christmas. They had their awesome gingerbread house displayed on the kitchen table. Eve at the Santa and many other treats right off the house before we caught her. We have decided that she's our little raccoon. She sees an opportunity, and she quickly takes advantage.

Decorating Cookies

Decorating sugar cookies around the holidays has been a tradition in my family since I can remember. This year Kimberly and her kids were visiting from Washington, so we had a great time doing some of our family traditions with them.

Kimberly & Annika

Alison

Emmy

Eve - Notice the limited amount of candy on her cookies. She ate most of her candy. Then she started eating the candy off the cookies.

Aaron & Annika
Aaron made these great She & Him cookies.

Piano Recital

I decided to take piano lessons again. I started teaching Let's Play Music this last fall, and I wanted to brush up on my piano and music theory skills. I found a great teacher, and I feel like I'm improving. I have really enjoyed seriously playing the piano again. It is very relaxing for me, and it feels good to master a piece after several weeks of practicing.

I preformed Sonata in G by Beethoven. It was a great experience for me to perform at the recital. I get really nervous, but I was able to stay calm and did well.

I've already picked out my recital piece for May. I hope it goes even better.

My piano teacher's students. I'm the tall one in the back. Ha ha!

Great Grandpa Davies 93rd Birthday

In December, we celebrated my Grandpa's 93rd birthday. It was great to see family. The girls had a great time playing with my cousins' kids.

Emlyn, Tom Davies, Aaron, Eve, Annika, Alison

I feel really lucky that my Grandpa is still with us. He is not doing real great, but he's always happy to see us when we visit. He's always got a kiss and hug to share.

Reflections 2011

Emmy entered the Settlement Canyon PTA Reflections program again this fall. She decided to do two projects this year. She wrote a story and painted a picture. The theme was "Diversity". Emmy decided to do her projects on the diversity of butterflies. We had a great time researching different kinds of butterflies. Emmy won Awards of Merit in both the Literature and Visual Arts categories for her age division.

Emmy's visual arts project. A watercolor painting of different kinds of butterflies.

Emmy's story "I Love Buttrflys".

California Vacation - Beaches

On our last day in California, we took the girls to a couple of different beaches. It was the first time that they had ever played in the ocean. They had such a great time. They got more adventurous with the waves as they played. Eve took a few topples that soaked her almost completely. Alison was nervous about the dead seaweed on the beach; she kept close to Aaron and I the entire time we played. Emmy enjoyed running around with Katie chasing the waves up and down the beach.

A big wave that almost took Eve down.

Eve against the wave. The wave was always the victor.

Emmy testing out the waters.

Alison - A little unsure of the beach and needing to go potty. :)

Eve trying to stand up out of the wave that just took her down.

Emmy

Eve

Katie & Emmy

Our family!

Eve

Annika & Emmy

Eve showing me the sand on her hands.

Aaron studying the waves at Balboa Beach in the sunset.

Aaron & Annika at Laguna Beach.

Alison & Annika
We had lunch at Johnny Rockets. Wow, what a great hamburger!