Christmas with the Foree's

On Christmas morning, I dressed Kate up in this cute Santa outfit...

...and then used her to wake up my brothers and sister.


The stockings.

Inside each of our stockings were lots and lots of candy, little cars that were powered by balloons, and stuffed snowballs! Yep. They were like stuffed animals, but...snowballs. We each got two in our stockings, and had SO MUCH FUN throwing them at eachother. I think it's safe to say that the snowball fight was never really over...

After opening our stockings, it was time for the grandest tradition of them all. SUGAR CAKE and hot chocolate. This sugar cake is what I live all year for. It's so good, and is definitely my favorite Christmas tradition. This year I learned that this tradition goes back a lot longer than I thought. This is actually my great-grandmother Schmuhl (sorry, I should know how to spell that)'s recipe, and she made it when she lived in Germany. The tradition was then brought over when she and her family immigrated to New York when my grandmother was just a little girl. It was then carried on by my grandma, and now my mom makes it every Christmas!


By the way Mom, could you email me this recipe so I can make it and post it on my cooking blog?

You should all be very excited.

See how excited everyone is? haha.

After stuffing ourselves with sugar cake, it was time to exchange gifts. This year we all drew names.

Dustin had Jared. He got him this monkey we found at the Tempe Festival of the Arts a couple weeks ago. It's entirely made out of metal. The picture doesn't do it justice. It's actually very cool.
Andy had Jen. He got her this Taylor Lautner poster. She's blushing with excitement here.
He also got her a decorative box from Hobby Lobby, and I filled it with hair bows that I made.

I had Andy. I bought him a winter coat from Old Navy. Poor guy lives in Provo and doesn't have anything warm!
Alex had Dustin. I'm not sure how to describe his gift... it's like a cube of magnetic balls that can be shaped into anything. Kinda like playdoh-but magnetic balls. There. That's the best I can do.

My mom had me. She made me a very cute apron, and even made a little one for Kate! She also got me a box a cake decorating supplies, which I am very VERY excited about. I've always wanted to learn how to decorate cakes, and my grandma used to do it for a living, so it's gotta be in the genes right?
Jen had dad. She got him some socks, a snickers bar, and framed some of her art for him to hang in his office.

Jared had mom. He got her an archaeology book.

Did I forget anyone?

Then Dustin and I exchanged the gifts we got eachother. I bought him Gladiator on DVD (his favorite movie, but it's on VHS so he never watches it) and The Dark Crystal (also one of his faves, but it was stolen when our car got broken into about 5 years ago). He bought me Julie and Julia! I love this movie! And he also got me mommy-and-me aprons. Hahaha. I guess everyone knows where I've been spending my time lately!
Christmas was AWESOME this year! We had so much fun spending so much time with family. I'm not even close to being done posting about it, so stay tuned!

What is this stuff?

We were blessed to spend an entire week for Christmas this year with family.

While we were there, it snowed! I bundled up Kate, and we took her outside to experience her first snowfall.


We placed her on a plastic bag, so that her little bum and legs wouldn't get wet.




In the end, she decided that she didn't like the stuff.

8 months already?!?

Today I learned a few things:

its hard to get Kate to look at the camera


it's hard to get Kate to smile for the camera


I need to sweep my porch


my baby is 8 months old, and is growing up way to fast.

Flying by...

As this year comes to a close, I can't help but think back on this year. It's been such a wonderful year! We have been so blessed I feel like whatever I write cannot express my gratitude.

In January, Dustin and I were able to take one last trip as a childless couple to San Diego. It was so much fun to be able to take that time for ourselves!

In April, after 41 weeks and 1 day of being pregnant (and 26 hours of labor), we welcomed our baby Kate Jordyn Watson into the world. I love this little girl so much! She is the biggest blessing we have ever had, and she brings such enormous joy into our home. I love the way it feels to hold her, and I thank Heavenly Father every day for sending me such a wonderful gift.

In May, just 2 weeks after Kate was born, our little niece Jaylee was born. It has been so fun watching these two little girls grow up together!

Also in May, my brother Andy came to live with us for a couple of weeks. He was able to help me out with a brand new baby, and it was so fun to have him there.

In June, we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary! These have been the best 5 years of my life! I couldn't ask for a better husband, and I'm so grateful to be married to him for eternity. I love you Dustin!

Later that June, we got a new brother-in-law! We love you Scott!

In October, we finally decided to look for a home. We found one we loved on the first day of looking. We were able to negotiate it quickly, and closed on it on the 30th.

In November, we moved in! We LOVE our house, and we are very blessed to be able to have it. Had the situation with the economy been any different, we could not have afforded a home. We are very grateful.

In December, we were able to spend a week up in the white mountains with family. Pictures and posts of that to come!

We are very very thankful for this year. We're so thankful for the wonderful families that we have. We're so thankful that we live close to everyone! It's only a three hour drive to get to home to parents (and my siblings), and a 5 minute drive to get to Dustin's siblings! My brother Andy, is the only one who lives far, but even then he's only an hour-and-a-half flight away!

We're so grateful for Dustin's job. I think we've all felt the effects of a bad economy, and we are so thankful that Dustin was able to keep his job all through the tough times. I am so thankful that he goes to work, and allows me to have the best job I've ever had-- a stay at home mom!

I'm so thankful for this Christmas season. I'm so thankful for our Savior, and I'm so blessed to be a part of his church.

Once again, it's been a fantastic year! We look forward to the adventures of 2010!

Merry Christmas!!

Mmmm....Socks!

I'm not sure why, but every time I leave Kate's socks out of the floor, she loves to put them in her mouth! She'll put them in her mouth and crawl all over the floor. It's so funny, I just had to share these pictures!

Santa!

Yesterday we took Kate to see Santa! The pictures were SO overpriced, but it was worth it. It's Kate's first Christmas, and she needed a picture with Santa! I really wanted to just sit her with Santa and take a picture with my camera, but the Elves told me that was against the rules. So I begrudingly obeyed them. Then when were in line to purchase the expensive pictures, I was watching the family behind us take their pics with Santa. The mom pulled out her camera and shot the picture with her own camera! Then she and her family just walked off, and didn't buy the official pictures. I was so mad! That's what we get for obeying the rules.

Kate did really well sitting with Santa. She wasn't scared of him at all! She loved pulling on his beard. Which, unfortunately for Santa, was real.

In line to see Santa...



We also finished up our Christmas shopping yesterday. Kate really likes sitting in the shopping carts.