life is going really well. we've really been enjoying our break time. it's been fabulous to have spencer around. the boys just love it! i think i've been taking advantage a-plenty myself. he's been great to help out tons with the boys.
we had a wonderful christmas and are so grateful for the chance we had to enjoy our first christmas together as our own family. we missed not being with either of our families, but we didn't feel like we missed out on anything. the boys had a great time - mostly benny, of course! benny was adorable and kept saying thank you to santa.
before christmas, i was working hard to get our stockings done. i decided that because we were having our first christmas together, i was time to make some stockings. i didn't even want to spend a little money for cheap ones because i knew that some day i'd want to make them. i was able to and i'm so happy with how they turned out! i even have enough fabric to make them for future kids (i won't say how many). the stocking for baby #3 is already cut out, but that doesn't have to be done until next year. i've got some time.
okay, here's are two pictures of the first finished product. i've got a bunch more pictures of the whole process that i'll put up some time (maybe soon) with the other stockings. i used mine as the guinea pig in case i totally botched it. i did everything on my machine (even the round letters! though definitely not perfect). (you can click on the pictures to see them bigger.)
it was really weird for my stocking to be the one to say "mom." it still feels very new to me.
a close-up of the quilting detail.each stocking has different quilting (i'll post the others later).
early this morning we said good-bye to our second group of visitors within 2 1/2 weeks. spencer's parents came 12 december through the 15th and my parents with eden and graydon (sister and brother) got here early tuesday morning and left this morning. we're so glad to have the chance to visit with family and for our family to see us in our home. we had a nice time and tried to really soak it all up because we won't be seeing any more family until mid-july when we go back to utah for a few weeks. the boys (again, especially benny) really enjoy the time with their grandparents and aunt and uncle. benny loved being able to ride in the car with grandma and grandpa and then the "big car" with bubbe, papa, eden, and graydon. we all had a really fun time! we're also looking forward to getting back to our normal routine. spencer's even looking forward to starting school again!
