Merry Christmas!!!

Following are lots and lots and LOTS of pictures of our busy Christmas! We had such a great holiday this year. We were able to get together with all of our families, and we had a wonderful time. Feel free to skim through quickly - there are a lot of pictures!!!! (I totally messed up on the format of a lot of them, so they are completely screwey - arg!!)

Christmas Eve at my mom and Koji's house

Matt and typical Emma - trying to get to Mom.

Emma and Paige (keeping Emma happy the only other way besides with Mommy - with food!)


Me and Emma


Grandpa Koji. He just had 2 knee replacements a couple weeks ago. They let him out of the rehab center for a few hours on Christmas Eve so he could be with the family. He spent the evening drugged up on the couch listening to his ipod. Poor guy!


My Grandpa Elliott carving the Turkey

Typical Grandma Shirley behind the camera.

Paige, me, and the girls.

LOVE this picture!

My awesome step-bros Josh and Jared. We missed you, Brett & Amy!

Paige and Mike feeding Emma her first lemon. This girl will seriously eat anything.

How's this for a Christmas feast?? Lobster!!!! Yum!!!!! We had extra, and I got to have TWO lobster tails dipped in melted garlic butter. HEAVEN.

Ding Dong! Whop could be at the door?? It was a present from Mrs. Claus. This is one of my favorite traditions that my mom started when we were little.

(This is where the placement of photos gets wierd. I can't fix it!!! EW, BUGGER!!!)

Reading the letter from Mrs. Claus

New Pajamas!!!

According to Aiva, her favorite present: a Princess blanket from Aunt Chelsee

Chelsee and Matt

(whose official wedding date is June 22nd, 2011)

The whole fam!!!

(I feel especially blessed this year that our families have blended so well. We have so much fun together!)

My sisters spent the night at our home on Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning!

Santa brought Aiva the Cinderella dress she had been asking for!

Our little family at my dad's house Christmas afternoon.

My dad and Raye gave Aiva a bubble gun - I accidentally erased the cute picture I posted of Aiva with the bubble gun. :(

My dad and Aiva

Grandma Raye and Aiva.

We actually spent Christmas evening at Mike's parents' home, and I didn't take any pictures. :( It's always so chaotic (17 grandchildren) that I always forget when we're there. It was a BLAST though. Thanks, Margaret and Larry!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!

Happy New Year, too, by the way. :)

Emma's Birthday Party

I debated over whether to throw Emma a party on her actual birthday - the 20th of December. It's a busy week for everyone. But then I decided that this will establish a precedent that even though her birthday is so close to Christmas, it will still always be her special day. Following are some pictures of Emma's first birthday party.

Me and the girls before things got started.

Paige and Wally

Emma and Grandma Margaret

Aunt Paige and Emma

(update: She has been walking for the last month, and got the last pins removed from her wrist a couple weeks ago. She's still in rehab and will be for some time, but doesn't she look awesome?! Her biggest hurdle now will be gaining back the 20 lbs she lost during the ordeal!! )

Aunt Chelsee and Emma.

Presents!

Emma's "big gift" from Mom and Dad. A Fisher Price Laugh 'n Learn kitchen. She LOVES it! (So does Aiva. :)

The cake. Looks blah from the ouside, but it was sooooo yummy! Triple chocolate fudge with a thick layer of strawberry/raspberry/bluberry filling in the middle with cream cheese frosting. YUM!!

Emma did with her cake what every mother imagines her baby will do at their first birthday party. She dug right in, and ate the entire thing. It was a fantastic mess!!!

And . . . right into the bath afterward! I love cute little naked baby bodies!!



And, on a sidenote . . .

Doesn't Emma look a lot like a Kewpie Doll????



Happy Birthday sweet Emma!!

Happy Birthday, Emma!!!

My baby girl Emma Noelle turns one today!!

Having Emma in our home has added so much joy! I am so glad that she is a part of our family! A few things about Emma:

* She loves to eat anything and everything, especially crayons.

*Her first word was "mama," followed closely by "book", "dada", "hi", "dog", "bear" and counting.

*She just cut her first tooth this last week - on the top.

*She has major separation-anxiety, especially when it comes to mom. She will throw a fit if she is ever handed off. Ask anyone in my ward that ever tries to help me!

*She has a major set of lungs.

*She has a very sweet, compassionate side. She loves to take care of baby dolls already, and she has been known to comfort Aiva when she's in the middle of a tantrum.

*She loves her sister. I have to watch her like a hawk to make sure she doesn't go wake up Aiva during her afternoon nap.

*Her sister loves her. If ever Aiva wakes up from her nap, and Emma isn't awake yet, she gets very upset.

I wanted to post a few pictures, but as I starting filtering through them all, I of course was flooded by nostalgia of the last year. It has gone by so, so much faster than I expected it to, and, of course, I ended up posting a lot more than the few I had planned. So bear with me as you scroll through my many, many favorites! (And a lot of them are out of order. Sorry about that. I tried.)

We love you Emma!! Happy Birthday sweetheart!!!

Clearance on all Pettiskirts!

We have some skirts left over from our boutique last week, and they are ALL on sale for $15.00! Check out the CC blog (www.colecouture.blogspot.com) for more information.

Simple Treasures Boutique in Farmington

I have been crocheting the last week like a mad woman! At the last minute I got invited to share a booth with my cousin at the Simple Treasures Boutique at the Farmington Fairgrounds. My cousin makes cute hair bows/accessories and we are selling our skirts and a bunch of hats. I came up with a new hat for kids that I LOVE. It's made from a very bulky yarn, so it's thick and warm. Here's Emma modeling one:

Aiva and Courtney in front of our booth.

Even if you're not interested in our stuff, you should TOTALLY go check out this boutique! We took a walk around and there are some really amazing things! Lots of awesome Christmas gift ideas. I totally want to go shopping!