Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I keep writing 2011 of checks, but eventually it will sink in that it is 2012, right? I still don't think 2011 and 2010 have sunk in yet, I told Dallas last night that it feels like it should still be 2009. Anyway, it is 2012, so that brings us to ....

Abrams Top 11 in 2011

11. Attended a winter's worth of basketball games and watched Nate graduate

10.   Hit the three year mark in August 

9. Amaya went from a babbling baby to a total jabber pot

8. We survived a years worth of holidays, Sundays, birthdays, and much more without Dallas and lived to tell the tale. I turned 21 in May and Dallas turned 26 in July. 


7. Oaklie started walking on Halloween. 

6. Dallas ran his first half-marathon in Baghdad in January and kicked butt in a weight lifting competition in April.

5.  Dallas came home on leave the end of June and we celebrated Independence Day together. 

4.  Dallas and I went on a much needed, awesome cruise to Mexico in September. 

3. Okee-Dokee turned ONE in August.

2. Amaya turned TWO in July.

And our #1 event of 2011...

1. Dallas came home from Iraq in September.

We had a great year in 2011 and have so many exciting things to look forward to in 2012....

Oaklie heads into nursery next month, it will be crazy to not have a baby on my lap during church.

I'll get my associate's degree in April and Dallas graduates from BYU-Idaho with his bachelor's degree in April!

A trip to Washington D.C. this spring!

A big move to a location yet unknown...

And two little girls will be turning 3 and 2 in 2012...they are getting way too big!

 Many more exciting adventures that have yet to reveal themselves. :)

Last weekend we took a day trip to Salt Lake for Dallas' cousin's wedding. The weather was gorgeous and she looked so beautiful! 

Happy New Year!

Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year! It was so wonderful to have Dallas home.

Oh Christmas tree! Oh Christmas tree!

Opening Christmas Eve pajamas

Watching Cars 2 before bedtime.

I went Black Friday shopping with my mom and sisters this year. We stayed up all night and got some sweet deals, so the toys this year were a little more generous than usual :)

Oaklie

Amaya

Christmas Morning

The big hit of the day was the $5 electric toothbrushes

My family came up from Christmas breakfast. The only picture I took was of Oaklie and her cousin Pax in the car. 

My parents gave me my great-grandma's piano. Love, love love it. My Great-Grandma Clark bought this piano in 1918. Because it's almost 100 years old, it was in need of some repair. For Christmas, we had some repairs done to the piano, including new pedals (the old ones were busted). I've put it to good work!

I forgot to take a picture, but Dallas got an X-box to get him through the long winter months...

Grandma Clark and Amaya

This is just a bonus picture of Oaklie throwing a fit :)

We had the Abrams Christmas Party a few days after Christmas. They did the annual nativity and Amaya got to Mary this year, or as she would say, "Murray". 

Oaklie the angel

Mary and Joseph

Dallas' cute little sister Tiffany stayed with us for a few days after Christmas.  The girls had a ton of fun playing with "Aunt Tiff".

Wintertime

Our silly girls in the tub

Gotta love the curly mohawks

Say cheese!

This picture is the epitome of Oaklie. She's happy because she has everything she loves: her baby doll, shoes, a hair bow, and a jacket. 

The Army has this thing called Yellow Ribbon Program. Basically, it's conferences for soldier's who just returned home from deployment and their families. The November Yellow Ribbon was held in Pocatello (boo) but they put us up at a resort in Park City in December. We were able to stay with Dallas' parents one night, go to the Salt Lake Temple, and visit with President and Sister Peterson (Dallas' mission president and his wife--they are awesome). It was a ton of fun to see so many friends and family members. A bunch of us drove up to temple square one night to see the lights. 

Trevor and Kay. I wish I would've gotten a picture with Russell and Jamie!

When we got home we put up our Christmas decorations. We have a few extras in our nativity scene. Our tree is up, but all of the ornaments are on the top half of the tree because we have little hands in our house :) I'll post some pictures after Christmas.

Today we decided to brave the single digit weather and venture outside to play.

She is such a silly little girl. Oaklie has been walking and running all over the place. She says about ten words, depending on the day. Her favorites are "Da-ee!" (Daddy) "mumumum" (Mom) "Nana" (banana or  my mom, depending on the situation) "Walk!" and "Dis" (this). All day long she walks around the house and points at "dis", comes and shows me "dis" and asks for "dis." She's always entertaining.

Amaya is a riot. Round two of potty training is going really well. She's continuing to talk so well and is always telling me stories and singing silly songs. Tonight after I put her to bed I walked past her room and I could hear her singing "Away in a Manger". 

"High voice: Asweep, low voice: ASWEEP! High voice: Asweep low voice: ASWEEP!" She's so funny. 

(I'm hiding behind my bangs in this picture but Oaklie looks adorable)

We are super excited for Christmas! The girls are getting some really fun toys (and so is Dallas) it will be great to see friends and family on Christmas and in the week or so after. We can't wait!