Here are some pictures from my baby shower my new ward threw me. They did a great job and they were so nice to even throw me one. :)

This is the spread of goodies. Look at the awesome snowy tree centerpiece. Also check out the hanging hearts that Shannon put up in her house for V-day.
These are the party favors, they are so adorable. Little hot cocoa packets with marshmallows, mints and kisses. They even say Vera's name on them. :)
For festivities we played "pin the tale on the horse" and we bobbed for apples. Here is Olivia going for it.
Even I did it, only took one dive.
Here are the birthday girls together. For some reason I have extra bandanas stored on my hat. Love ya Liv!
On the morn of my actual birthday my sister-in-law Ashley took me to brunch in Seattle. YUM! Thanks Ashley, you spoil me! After lunch I met my best buddy from college, Tawona for a movie and cupcakes. We saw "When in Rome" and it was cute.
Later we had dinner and games at the Maxfields. Jessica baked me that lovely, decadant cake you see on the table. It was delish! Thanks Jessica!
So I was more than spoiled on my birthday. Thank you everyone.
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Lastly, on Valentines day Ben blessed Vera. We were really excited to have all of Ben's local family in the circle with him on this one.
Here is Vera in my blessing dress
Here is the family on that day.
Thanks to all who visited, we love you!



Happy 5th anniversary!


All the cousins on christmas eve.


Bri was induced this time around thanks to some back-room dealing with her three-time ObGyn. We were in the delivery room for 14 hours! Most of the time was spent sitting around being bored. They gave her a very small petocin dose and refused to break her water. Bri got a little sqeamish when they put the IV in (like always) so the doctors were worried about the delivery going too fast. We passed the time messing around on Ben's laptop and the wireless network. This changed when Bri's Doctor arrived on the scene and kicked things into gear, about eight hours in.
A few hours and an epideral later, it was time to start pushing. It took all of two contractions, maybe four or five minutes, to push the baby out. Not bad Bri!

So the girls and I have made some fun yummies we thought we would share with you.
Up close turkey

We made these for our ward christmas party on the 4th. And boy did they dissapear fast!


Just yesterday we took Ginny to see the Nutcracker at the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle. We'd been encouraged by her ability to watch ballet on TV with trance-like attention. We went with Ginny's best friend Riley. It was the Saturday matinee in the nose-bleed section, so there were a lot of well-dressed kids around. She did great and everyone had fun.
