Christmas/New Years...late

Collage time again. I know these pictures are way late and most of you are probably so over the holidays right now... but I just couldn't not blog Christmas...so here we go.

We spent Christmas in Logan this year. We had so much fun visiting with family and doing all sorts of cool things that we don't get to do here in Vegas. We went sledding for the first time in probably four years (sad, I know) and the kids had a total blast. Justin especially loved it, which was great because he is usually really afraid of fast, scary things (like roller coasters.) I was so glad that he was so fearless when it came to sledding. He couldn't get enough of it! Emily and Eden thought sledding was pretty fun too. :)

p.s. I love Dave in his awesome snow boots...


Of note in the following collage: Dave's awesome snow boots (again), and poor Emily chasing her sled down the hill. She had the hardest time getting it up the hill for some reason and kept losing her hold of it. It was sad (and a little funny) to watch her chase it down again and again. Oh, and Eden looks just adorable in her sled.



Ice Skating! One of our favorite yearly traditions. Thank you Grandma!

The Annual Gutke Christmas Party and Nativity...
Dave's Grandma and family put on an awesome Christmas party every year that includes lots of eating, singing, chatting, and dancing around the Christmas tree. We always have so much fun. I included lots of the dancing around the tree pictures for some reason. It's one of my favorite traditions. :)

Another thing we do every year is a Nativity play at Dave's parent's house. The kids love participating and look so darling in their costumes. Emily was an angel, Justin a wise man, and Eden a shepherd. Eden was a kind of naughty shepherd though that liked to steal the baby Jesus from a very distraught Mary. It was sad, but funny...(sorry Ada!)
Of note: Protective Mary (Ada), Mischievous Shepherd (Eden), and the cute cousins reading Christmas stories with Grandma. Another favorite tradition.


Present Time! Here are a few pictures of the kids opening their presents from the cousin gift exchange and Christmas morning.
I also threw in some other Christmas pictures taken before our trip to Utah which I meant to blog earlier but never got around to.
Of note: Our new Christmas tree (remember how much I disliked our old one? Well we finally broke down and bought a new one during the after-Christmas sales last year. It was so hard to buy something we couldn't use for 11-months, but so worth it when we pulled it out this year. I love it.) Justin dressed up as the funniest elf ever, and my kids with Santa at our ward Christmas party...


New Years Eve Party! This year we had family in town for Emily's baptism so we had an especially fun party for New Years Eve.
Of note: Dec. 31st is also Dave and two of his brother's birthday (most of you know Dave is a triplet, right?) so it was really fun because they were all together on their birthday for the first time in a few years. It was awesome celebrating with everyone.
The kids had a great time banging utensils together to ring in the New Year with the Eastern Time Zone on CNN (9:00 p.m. our time.) :)

Welcome 2010!!!

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

A Special Day

I have so much to catch up on right now. We had such a fun Christmas and a very happy New Year and I have so many pictures to sort through and post. I really hope I can find the time to do that soon. But for now I wanted to make the time to write about the most wonderful and important event that has taken place in our family over this holiday season. Emily's baptism was just a couple of days ago...and we are all still glowing from that special day.

Before:

After:

She looks the same, but she kept telling me all day how different she felt.
We know why.

There is so much I could say about Emily and her baptism, but most of it is just too personal for this blog. So I just want to say it was a beautiful day with so many beautiful moments. My heart is so full of gratitude. Words could never express it. We love you Emily!