2014.

the end of 2014 was chaotic.

i felt like this most of the time.

brooklyn's grown up so much in the last few months i can't even believe it.

a midst all the chaos of moving and getting ready for Christmas, we did manage to get the girls in to talk to santa. brooklyn was scared to death, but with a little bribery (i'm never above that), she went in there like a champ. and kendall had mrs. clause wrapped around her little finger.

we had my mom's family's annual christmas party at the hotel in coalville a few days before christmas. it is so fun for brooklyn to see cousins and go swimming. i love visiting and eating all the delicious food.

there was also the second annual married cousin gift exchange. a fun new tradition that is definitely gaining lots of new participants. the more the merrier!

Christmas Eve, all my immediate family was together for our formal Christmas dinner. it was delicious and always fun to sit down all together for a meal.

we all opened christmas jammies and did our sibling gift exchange. brooklyn was so excited about santa coming that night. it made Christmas Eve so magical for me as a mom. watching the excitement in her eyes made me so anxious for Christmas morning.

a new record was set this year by the holmes crew, we slept in until eight! if you know us, you know we are more of a three AM kind of family.

it was a great Christmas.

a few days later, my parents, siblings/spouses, and my little family, we all met downtown slc to stay over night, got to temple square, eat pizza, and swim. we had a blast. minus the fact that my baby decided not to sleep. we ended up in grandma and grandpa's room with auntie hay. she is the baby whisperer.

saturday night  was our ruesch family Christmas. my in-laws flew in and brought another round of Christmas with them. brooklyn didn't mind opening presents again. we were spoiled and were more than happy to celebrate again.

on the 29th, the day after our anniversary and the day before my birthday, we went out to eat at the mandarin in bountiful. best food! it was nice to go out just the two of us and we vowed to do it more often.

on my birthday i was spoiled with homemade lasagna, and my favorite birthday dessert: brownies with peppermint ice cream, covered in hot fudge. the best! the company was great too.

these two cute little cousins love to grab at each other, slobber on each other, and hopefully soon they really will like to play with each other.

new year's eve was the first party at the new bountiful house (name to come). my MIL had her family over and there was enough food for two hundred people. i ate way too much, and my baby slept way too little. brooklyn loved having a party and being a part of a party and was sad to wake up and find that everyone had gone home. she's now looking forward to turning four. all because i told her it was now 2015 and that she'd turn four this year. 

on a more serious note, our little family truly was blessed in 2014. with a new little bundle of pink, a move, educational opportunities, time with family, and the list could go on. we are so thankful for this life we are living and we wouldn't trade it.

(the saturday before Christmas we had our 4th round of family pictures for the year. i couldn't help myself. but never again.)

here's to more regular blogging in the new year, with lots of fun things to blog about, and a prayer that this year our family will be healthy and happy.

h a p p y  n e w  y e a r !