the talbot times: Merry Christmas, fun in the snow, and pigtails!

Yes, more apologies for being slow, yada yada yada. I just haven't been great about keeping up, so prepare to be deluged!!

I'm lucky to have found a good friend already; they moved here from Pennsylvania the same time we did. Their little girl is only 6 months younger than Bryn, and they're bffs!

In November, we were able to join some friends from our ward to go to the Palmyra Temple. It looks just like our temple in OKC, except it has the most amazing stained-glass windows and on the other side is the Sacred Grove. It was an amazing trip and I got a lot of family work done...

We wanted to see more, but it was absolutely freezing. So we posed for a picture then ran to the car.

I did get to see one historical site: This is where the Book of Mormon was published. It was really cool to see the process of old school printing as well as learn more about how it all came together.

In December, we were in gingerbread heaven! We made our very first gingerbread house with real gingerbread and it turned out fantastic. The kids had a blast...

Feeding Bryn some frosting

All done! Check out our awesomeness!

Apparently, the little gummy bears that live in our house all wanted to line up on the roof. I don't ask questions... :)

We also made gingerbread men a couple of times. Drew loved the decorating part...

And Bryn usually just skipped ahead to the eating part!

Mmmmmmm, good cookies! Drew still asks if we can make gingerbread cookies, and it's the end of February...

Run, run, as fast as you can! You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!

Also in December, Brent and I got to go to the formal Masquerade Ball. He's looking pretty good in his dress uniform, huh?

Ah, so sophisticated...

Our friends Josh and Shelby, and new friend Shanan

So, I had made my dress for the ball, and I wanted Brent to get a picture of it for me. He told me I needed to put some more attitude into it, and apparently Bryn thought he was talking to her. This girl is FULL of attitude!

She is crazy and a hand full, but she is so cute and loving and wonderful! She's definitely a keeper!

For Christmas, we wanted to pass out some treats to our friends and I had bought a new tiny muffin tin. Brent over-estimated how much brownie mix we needed and we ended up with a bazillion brownies! The kids thought it was awesome.

Bryn "helping" to decorate the treats

Seriously, I feel so very blessed. I have such wonderful kids! And this little girl makes me so happy -- everyone comments on what beautiful eyes she has and what fun curly hair she has or how very charming she is. How lucky am I!

Christmas was fun this year because both kids could really appreciate all the fun stuff that comes with it -- I think they loved decorating the tree almost as much as opening presents.