Christmas Morning

Presents!!

Oooh, what is this?

Oh my gooodness! A camera!

Merry Christmas!

Kids say the darndest things

Brighton: Mommy, what's that?
Mommy: That's Mr. Brad's office
B: Our office at home.
M: Yep, we have an office at home.
B: Mommy's office in the kitchen.

Awesome, thanks Brighton.

Winnie the Pooh

Brighton found some Winnie the Pooh wall decorations at the BX and so I bought them to let her hang them up.  She wanted my help with the big ones, but put all the snowflakes and presents up by herself.

Decorating the Tree

This year we let Brighton help us decorate the tree.  We gave her one of her First Christmas ornaments and she immediately started to swing it around by the ribbon.  So, after quickly taking it back, we proceeded to give her the more un-breakable ornaments.  She had a tough time figuring out how to open the ribbon and put it over the tree, but she got a little better towards the end with Daddy's help.

Christmas Tree Lighting on Base

The glorious tree

Santa came in on his red sleigh - also known as a fire truck

Brighton and her friend Macey

Oooh, pretty ball!!

It was freezing (ok, about 40 degrees), so of course we had to have some hot chocolate!

Pisa

Yep - it's really leaning.

Florence

After Thanksgiving we went to Florence and Pisa for the rest of the weekend.  We loved it if only because the sun was shining!  We haven't seen the sun up here in Aviano for about 3 weeks, so seeing the sun was a welcome treat.  We had our tickets to see the David and to go inside the Uffizi Gallery - we walked by the Duomo, but didn't go inside this time.  Florence was neat, but it takes about a day to see everything you want to see - which made it the perfect weekend trip!

No this is not a picture of THE David in The Accademia because pictures are forbidden and we would never do something that's not allowed!

This is the extremely impressive entrance to The Accademia

Her treat for being such a good girl in the museums!

The rather colorful Duomo in Florence

View of the ARno River from inside the Uffizi Gallery

Brighton's 2 year portraits

I was actually a little nervous when I went to go pick up the pictures because Brighton was NOT in the mood to smile for the camera that day.  The more the lady tried to get her to smile, the closer she got to tears and walking away.  She kept reaching for me and not wanting to sit and put on a show - shocking, right?  It was pretty stressful, especially since Brighton is normally more than willing to smile and put on a show for anyone! But, the lady was really good and managed to get some good shots of Brighton. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have so much that I'm thankful for, I wouldn't even know where to begin or where to end.  I'm most grateful for my family - my husband and daughter and baby boy, and also my vast extended family!  I'm also grateful for the gospel and the stability and peace it brings to my life. I'm thankful for the knowledge of a loving Heavenly Father and his Son, our Savior.  And today, I'm especially grateful for friends, new and old, who make being away from loved ones easier.  Thank you Father for blessing me with so many wonderful people in my life.

Happy Birthday Brighton!

I'll write more about Brighton turning two later, but I wanted to get some birthday pictures up for the grandparents.

Opening presents with Grandma & Grandpa Nelson

Eating her favorite meal - chicken taco!

Decorating her birthday cake - the orange sprinkles came out A LOT faster than the pink and green ones.

She pretended to be shy for a second, but was really happy to be sung to!

We didn't think she'd get the candles blown out - but she got one on the first try!!  We then of course had to re-light the candles 5 times and even then she wasn't happy when we took them out of the cake and put them away!