Christmas

Christmas was wonderful! My mom and dad and EMMA were able to come be with us. I LOVE, love, love having my family around. My mom is such a great friend to me and I love just being near her. My dad is always, ALWAYS doing something to help and make life easier. Emma is so fun to be with and the girls absolutely adore her. I LOVED having them here. 

Here is our humble tree. Zach and Rachel brought it to us and it was perfect and tiny and cute. Grandma Jan gave the children their cute stockings. We've never had a matching ornament set; just ornaments we've collected over the years. We tied some ribbon bows and the girls traced Christmas themed cookie cutters onto paper and colored them and cut them out. I punched holes in them and tied ribbons to them and the girls hung them all over the tree. It was really cute and fun.

This was only supposed to be a test photo for the one below. I wish I had composed it better. I still think it's kind of cute:)

The kiddies on Christmas Eve, ready for Santa to visit.

The Christmas morning set up.

We made whoopie pies for Santa this year instead of cookies and oh man did he think they were delicious! I wish I had a picture of them because they were as cute as they were tasty!

Here are the girls discovering their Christmas gifts. My mom and dad and emma were in the other room because they were Skyping with my brother Andrew who is serving a mission for our church in Chile!

{learn more about LDS missionaries by clicking here!}

Aunt Jamie and the rest of the Johnson Clan gave us the game Headbands for Christmas. We had lots of fun playing it later that day!

and here is the cutest floppy antlered reindeer I ever did see.

("The Adoration of the Shephards" by Gerard van Honthorst)

I love Christmas. I love being with family. I love the lights and the gifts and the magic. I love joy that the season brings. I'm grateful for the opportunity it gives me to reflect on the birth of my Savior. It's strange to imagine that the Jesus Christ who we love so dearly, who performed miracles, died for our sins, and was miraculously resurrected, was born under such humble circumstances. I am grateful for His birth and His life, His love and His example at Christmastime and all throughout the year.

I made...

...this very cute bandana cowl from Purl Bee.

It was a gift for my lovely sister-in-law.

I realize I should have changed my shirt before I took had the photo taken. Rachel will do a much better job making sure it matches her outfit. That girl has great style, she does.

The yarn I used is Billow from KnitPicks. It is lovely and the colors it comes in are absolutely beautiful. I purchased it online and did not realize that the yarn strand goes from very thick to very, very thin (I think maybe there is a term for that but I don't know what it is). Anyway, I think that it works well for some projects but I wouldn't use again for this particular project; I felt like it made the cowl look sloppy in some areas. I wanted my stitches to be uniform. That's okay; maybe the cowl has just a little more character with its uneven stitching.

I loved the pattern I used! I got to learn how to do Short Rows. I get really excited when a pattern uses a technique I am unfamiliar with. It's fun to learn new things. The pattern was fun and easy to follow. I love the way it turned out despite the uneven stitches. 

Dear Sister Rachel, 

Please send me a picture of the cowl paired with an adorable outfit and your adorable self. I loved making this cowl for you. and I love you.

Love, Katie

We went to California

The girls and I went to California over Thanksgiving break. Sadly, our daddy couldn't go with us. Thank goodness Zach and Rachel were able to come with us! We all piled in my beloved white van (good old Astrid) and road tripped to our homeland.

I took these cute pictures of Matthew the day we left:

 I love those baby stretches!

 I made these cute hats for Cousin Dylan. I used THIS cute pattern for the owl hat. And I just did my own thing for the brimmed hat.

 We caught a glimpse of the Salt Lake temple when we drove to Geri's house to pick some things up that she had for us.

 My mom and dad let us take their room when we went to visit. My dad came in to say goodnight and said, "That would make such a cute picture!" I must agree. 

It was so great to sleep in such a enormous bed with all my kiddos. Most nights a few of them slept with Auntie Emma. But I loved the nights they all piled in with me:)

 Zach, Rachel, and Emma made this cool fort for the girls.

 I told Mallory she could only have her binky if she went to sleep. She said, "Okay!" and this photo was taken 7 minutes later. Unfortunately it was only about 5:00.

 Inside their fort

The following are some photos of a hike we went on.

Lily climbed up this rock pile and said, "I'm kind kind of scared, but I'm also feeling awesome because I DID IT!!!"

You go, Girl.

 Mallory painted her face with a stamp pad.

 Poor Mallory wakes up with this sweet hair-do every day of her life.

 and she wears this tutu every day of her life.
(ps I made that sweater for Kaylee when she was a baby. Pattern HERE.)

 Emma thinks she's so funny.

These are from the morning we left:

My grandpa and his lovely wife, Cecil, came up for Thanksgiving so we got to see them too. I wish I had taken pictures of them. We love them so much!

We had such a nice time visiting Grandma and Grandpa's house. Poor Grandma was sick the whole time we were there which was really sad. It was so nice to be under the same roof as her though. I loved being able to visit with my mom whenever I wanted to. The girls LOVE Grandma and Grandpa's. It is such a fun and special place to be. I remember the special feeling of visiting grandparents and I still love being in their home! We are lucky that we're able to see my mom and and dad so much. They are always so good to us and we love them.