Beauty in Great Falls

I thought this tree looked pretty cool with the ice on it.

These are some of the views I get to see from the hospital. I will miss getting to see the sunset every night. I loved the view from the 7th floor and will miss it.

Flag hill with the Christmas lights

Milwaukee station

I just thought the lighting behind it, reflecting off the snow in the tree was crazy!

Heading home on 3rd Avenue North after dropping somebody off, late after work I noticed the fog, but thought it looked so neat around the cathedral!

This tree just looked like something from Halloween. I am always glad to have my camera in those moments when you see something unique and rare. When I die I am totally going to hug the person that created cameras! Haha.

Weekend bliss

So I didn't have to work on Saturday due to working the holiday which meant i got to be home when Barrett and Holly came over with Monroe. The above picture is MOnroe hanging on to Dad's finger.
Monroe hanging out with Grandma.

A big yawn!

I think she was getting a little tired of the Auntarazzi in this picture. I couldn't help it though she is just so cute and absolutely perfect!

Mommy and Daddy bundling her up!

We had a last minute dump-everything-on-Jessica week in primary--Blah! Our presidency members minus myself were gone that week and our chorister was also gone. The person in charge of sharing time apparently had more important things haha SOOOOO I got to take the whole sharing and singing time. We had 12 kids and thank goodness for good teachers. Saturday night I decided we were going to acknowledge Joseph Smith's birthday (Dec 23). We followed a timeline of his life while shaking a jar to make butter (we were successful by the way!) We also made little covered wagons tha the kids seemed to enjoy (pictured below) All in all it was just a fun primary day!

I tried on my MBT shoes I got for Christmas for my mission to see what they would look like with a skirt. The actually weren't too bad!

This was actually at the hospital Christmas eve.

It was Holly's birthday the 27th so we all had Sunday dinner at their house where they made tacos—they were yummy! We watched the movie Land of the Lost.

They also got their canvas from Jordan. Jordan painted this picture of them—isn't it gorgeous! This picture is missing the finishing touches that Jordan added but at least you get the just of his work. Thanks Holly and Barrett for inviting us over!

An eventful season for the Vaughan family

Congrats to Jordan and Roni! They made their engagement official this week!
Christmas Eve I got to leave work early due to the low patient census. Jake and I headed to the traditional family dinner at Jeff and Katie's to find out that everybody already left. We ate dinner and headed up to the hospital so Jake could meet Monroe.
Isn't she just beautiful!
Poor Holly was pretty tired when we came up. I had come up earlier that night and visited with her while she was feeding Monroe. She is a good mom and so loving! This picture also cracks me up because as you can see Barrett kept drinking Holly's water.
Merry Christmas! My Christmas was pretty good! I got to spend the morning with my family as we opened gifts (mine were mostly mission related which is great!)
Look at this face! Tristen and Aunt Jessica were having lots of fun playing on Christmas day.
Aren't these socks the cutest! They look like the adult pairs you buy in the store.
As you can see there was chocolate in the stockings.
Tristen was our little garbage man as he carried around a bag and gathered the wrapping paper.
Dad and MOm got Tristen this little, well big lion. Tristen wasn't quite sure how he felt about it at first.
Benjamin had his leg up on Grandpa like the above picture. Grandpa looked down and Benjamin's hairy legs and Benjamin made a comment about, "you know you like it." It was funny.

I left our house and then headed to Grandma Carole's for a short while before work where I got to see the family but also see Little Karsin who isn't so little! He is also quite the cutie!

Dad put this label on a giant jar of jelly bellies. The joke behind this is that Grandma bought a jar of jelly bellies this size before. That same night Benjamin found them at her house and took them home where he ended up eating the jar so she didn't even get any. Also this container of jelly bellies hasn't left our house yet. I saw it in the living room tonight. Haha.
Some of the neat gifts I got were meant for my future home. Esther made this beautiful cross stitch for me. She has it displayed in her home and I love it. It shows how even Santa Claus knows the reason we celebrate Christmas. Helps to keep things in perspective.
Mom and Aunt Katie have the willow creek nativity sets. I have mentioned to Jake that when I have my own family I want a nativity set for my family to enjoy. This year he bought me my first nativity set. It is pretty large and I love it. I am told Grandma Carole helped pick it out so thank you! I was surprised to not have seen this set before but I really do like it and look forward to displaying it in my home with my family!
This year I made my Christmas presents for the girls. What a pain! HAHA. I started making it and everybody that was supposed to get it would get interested in what I was making and I would have to postpone it some more. Thankfully Benny sacrificed some sleep in helping me to cut paper so I could get them all done in time. Sorry to the aunts and cousins because I didn't get that far. They are little perpetual birthday books!
Baby Monroe in her Christmas present outfit from Aunt Jessica. She was definitely my favorite of Christmas presents!

Gingerbread houses, Christmas trees and a new baby!

We finally watched the Proposal. Jake, Nick, and I all watched it. Jake and I also made our traditional gingerbread house. I left it up to Jake to decide who we deliver it to this year.

Tristen loved it over at Aunt Katie's house. He could discover the Christmas tree. His eyes were sparkling as he tried to take in all of the lights and balls on the tree. I was showing him some of the ornaments while my brother was being a scrooge and trying to ruin the fun. I love watching children discover the magic of a Christmas tree. Of course it would have been a perfect kodak moment and I left my camera at home. Thank goodness for cell phone pics.

She finally made it! My beautiful niece Monroe Grace was born December 23 around 7:20 something in the evening. She was 19.75 inches long and weighed 7 lb 1oz. I was at work so when I took my break I got to come visit her. She is such a doll and such a sweet baby. I just love her! Her face is absolutely perfect. I am so happy to finally meet her! Barrett is definitely a proud daddy! He just beams at her. Holly is such a beautiful mom. She is so loving and attentive with Monroe. The two of them are also very good at sharing her with the rest of us!

This was the text message I got at work. I asked Barrett what it felt like to be a daddy and he responded with this text message.
Here is the little observer herself!
I was there to watch her get her footprints done as well as her bath. I am so glad I brought my camera!
She loved the warm water in the bath.

Bah Humbug!

Jake and I went to A Christmas Carol in 3-D. I enjoyed it! We were the only ones in the theater.
Jake was in a really goofy mood that day. He wouldn't sit still for very long that is for sure haha.
Here he is getting all comfy with his soda, candy, and "footrest"
Here we are in our stylish 3-D glasses. This movie cost us $25! Ridiculous!
Like I mentioned before somebody was in a really goofy mood. After the movie I stopped to use the restroom. The door opened again behind me. I turned to see who had come in being there was NOBODY at the theater and it was Jake! I started laughing and was telling him to get out and to find the men's restroom but he already occupied a stall. What a dork.