I had a picture of the perfect Christmas Morning...The morning would still be gray, Eden would wake and sleepily walk into the room to see a room full of gifts.  A fire would be crackling in the background and there would be ewwws and ahhhs as she discovers all that Santa has left. Les and I would kneel around her as she opened her gifts soaking in her sheer excitment....Now, it didn't go exactly as planned but Christmas was magical.  It was pretty low key this year, but we did want to have a little magic of our own for our 1st official christmas morning.

Even though I had to wake Eden to open her gifts before we headed to Ogden, she was very excited to see what Santa had left her...especially since the night before her daddy told her she was so naughty that Santa shouldn't come to our house.

I love see things through Eden's eyes and watching her discover this new found love for wrapping paper.

That rights...a potty!  Santa brought Eden a potty and she couldn't be more excited.  So excited in fact, that she opened all her gifts while sitting on the potty!

What was her favorite present you ask? (besides the potty of course) that would be some forks and spoons.  When she opened them she hugged them and tried to open the rest of her gifts while holding the utenils...do you see a re-ocurring theme?

We cleaned ourselves up a bit and headed to my parent's for the infamous Christmas Brunch and boy it didn't disappoint.  One day I will cook a Christmas Brunch to match the deliciousness that is my mother's cooking.  She has set the standards high.  And as to be expected, my child was spoiled rotten...rotten I tell you!

If Christmas could be captured and put into something tangible it would be my mother's tree.  It's happy, it's fun, it screams CHRISTMAS.  I tried to capture my little pixie and christmas together...pretty much sums up my day.

I LOVE Christmas and all that it means.  I love being around my family and soaking in the magic that little kids bring.  I love that we get to celebrate the birth of Christ.  Each year I think of Mary and what a huge responsiblity she must have felt to be picked as the mother of the Son of God.  To raise him right and teach him all he needs to know. I think of her sitting in that stable looking down at her newborn son and I wonder what she was thinking.  What overwhelming joy.  What love she must have felt to be chosen and in a way I can relate.  I feel so lucky and special to be able to be Eden's mom.  I got pregnant right around Christmas time and so each year I feel so grateful and lucky to be a mother and each year is more and more special.  So with these few days off I have from school.  I am soaking up all that I can and doing what I love most.  Being a mom to my sweet, beautiful and don't forget attitude filled little girl.

Who needs to get ready when you can just sit and put princesses up around your room to remind yourself that you are a princess, messing hair and all?...not us!

Yuletide Greetings from the Roses

The day has come.  The stockings are hung and the presents are wrapped. 

One very excited girl got to open her Christmas jammies...

Merry Christmas from the Roses.  I hope tomorrow if full of joy, happiness and love! 

A Whole Lotta Love

Let me just start this post with a little bit of background. Church is hard, especially by yourself.  Most Sundays I don't even make it through all of Relief  Society before I give up and go home. (by the way, Relief Society is first)  Well, one week when I was about to give up due to some crazy lady's toddler tormenting me, a sweet little lady just reached over and took her.  She pulled all sorts of trinkets out of her purse and entertained Eden through all of Relief Society and Sunday School.  From that day on, any time Eden saw her at church, it was a bee line straight to her lap.  It didn't matter if she was sitting on the other side of the room, Eden would somehow find her way into her arms. 

Well, yesterday while I was sitting in the chapel waiting for sacrament to start...feeling very proud of myself to have made it this far, that same sweet lady came and sat by me.  I don't even know her name but she reached into her purse and pulled out a present for Eden.  She even had Eden's name on it and everything.  This sweet sister made it a point to know not only my daughter's name but she also knew mine and here I was this dumby not having a clue what her name was.  Eden opened her gift and it was a little book about Silent Night.  Once Eden ripped off the wrapping paper. she saw that book and hugged it so tight.  She had the biggest smile on her face.  I looked over at the lady and she looked like she was going to cry.  She had a big smile on her face equally as big as the one on Eden's.  I don't know she has any children or grandchildren and I could just tell that watching Eden open her gift was the best thing ever.  Eden reached over and gave her the biggest hug and then promptly demanded she read her the new book. 

I feel so lucky to have some many wonderful people in my life.  I know I say it alot but I am.  I'm so glad to have a sister (who's name I don't know) that  loves my daughter as much as I do and I just needed to write a little post about this day so I wouldn't forget it.  Next mission: Learn her name!

Miss Independent

Tonight was family night.  Les and I packed up our little family and we headed downtown to see the lights.  After driving around a time or two we finally found some parking and it was off to the lights.  I had so much fun tonight.  What a proud mamma I am.  Watching Eden tonight made my heart happy.  She's getting so big.  There were Ohhhs and Ahhhs and lots of gibberish.  She refused to let Les or I hold her so we had to box her in as we walked the busy paths of temple square.  Les behind and me to the right.  She was so content to walk on her own and swing her arms.  She sang the whole time we were walking around. I don't know what she was singing, but boy was she singing.

I kept saying to myself "Man, I love that little girl!" People would smile and wave to her as she walked by and she would usually wave back.  If someone stopped and knelt down to tell her hello, she would high tail it to me or Les and bury her face in our pants.  It was a slow walk around the block but I just soaked it up.  We would stop and admire the lights or an open window at just her height. I would ask..."Eden are you having fun?"  to which I would get a very enthusastic MMM HMM accompanied with a full body shake (that's how she shakes her head yes you know, it's not just up and down...it's head and torso my friends that sometimes causes her to topple over, but man its adorable.

Definately one of my top five favorite nights.  I'm so proud to see my baby grow and watch her be her own person (even if it means mamma and daddy better stand back and let me walk or I'm going to have a fit kind of way).  She's my baby and I love, love, LOVE this little girl! 

The New CoverGirl

Today was my first day of my Christmas vacation.  Hallelujah!  I actually got to be a full time mom/wife today and so that meant the laundry needed to get done, the house needed to get cleaned and Eden needed to be entertained.  As I tried to pick up the house I had tiny feet constantly chasing me screaming "Mama!" Then Eden would put out her hand and pull me into her room to play...and well, I couldn't resist.  I took a break and we sat down and read some stories. 

After reading EVERY book in her collection TWICE I went back to the much needed house work.  While I was in my room folding some clothes I realized that is was real quite...TOO quite.  So being the mom that I am I grabbed my camera and went to hunt down the babe...here's what I found.  Meet the new CoverGirl.

Now let me do a little explain'.  I have a huge caboodle (if you will...member those?) full of make-up in my room...where I was folding clothes..90% of which I don't ever use.  So somehow this little girl snuck into my room, unlatched the latches, found the blush & lipstick and somehow snuck out without me noticing. Clever girl!  Well, she was very proud of herself when I found her and was awaiting her photo shoot.  She sad there and smiled while I snapped some shots...that is, until I took it away and told her "no".

Wilson Family Christmas Party

This weekend was the Wilson family christmas party.  It was lots of fun.  We played out in the snow and Santa come.  Eden had a blast.  Here are some pictures of fun!

As you can tell, Eden LOVES Santa....

Ugly Sweater Day

Today was ugly sweater day at school and me and a couple of friends dressed for the occasion...

We had our "serious" family christmas card photo...please note the hands on the shoulders....

If it wasn't for these people I wouldn't survive pharmacy school. Love them!