Busy as Santa's Elves

We/I have been pretty busy this holiday season.  To look in chronological order start from the bottom.

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Thank you Aunty Melissa for the awesome beanies!  My kids were obviously happy to get them.

Finally Christmas!

They were SO excited to see him.  I totally thought they would be the kids to scream and cry but they didn't.

After the spiritual message Santa came to visit.

Drew was one of three angles.

Every other year the Reynolds' get together for Christmas Eve and put on a family nativity program.  Brody was the shepherd boy this year in his do rag.

Mack and Breana are seriously such a cute couple and were meant for each other.  My sister's and I had SO much fun staying up late and talking to one another.  We didn't want Bre to go on her honeymoon to Kauai so we could hang out more.  I didn't post pictures but Mack's family came from Utah, minus his brother on a mission, for the wedding and it was so fun getting to know his family.  A REALLY good and fun family!  I flew back to Cedar on the 23rd and was so happy to be home for Christmas.

At the reception Cherie caught the bouquet and her boyfriend Keenan caught the garter.  That was exactly what Kurt and I did at Nikki's wedding.

Wednesday December 17th I flew from Cedar City to Salt Lake City to San Francisco and finally got to Hawaii!  I flew in at 4:30 pm, ate and went to bed at 8:30 pm.  The next morning I woke up at 6:30 am.  I was SO tired.  Everybody arrived later that day and as soon as they got there, meaning my sisters, we started preparing for the wedding.  We folded boxes, and tied pink ribbons, finished sewing table runners, finalized the seating chart... did I miss anything?  Well you get the picture.  Friday the 19th Breana went through the temple for the first time which was amazing, while Hillary watched my nephew Collin... THANK YOU AGAIN HILLARY!  After the temple we went to eat at Zippy's which now brings me to the wedding day.  Breana wanted to get up at 4:30 am because she needed to be up at the temple at 7:00 am.  Somehow she was woken up an hour late.  While she was getting ready we had one too many electrical things going on and the breaker went out.  Then we got a phone call from her fiance-soon to be husband, saying that we was sick!  REALLY sick!  He had been throwing up all morning.  We later found out that as Mack was diving himself out to the temple he was swerving from his nausea and a cop pulled him over.  Mack opened the door as the cop got up to the car, and threw up all over the place.  The cop totally though Mack was drunk but he explained that he had food poisoning and was supposed to get married in a couple of hours.  "Oh, at the Temple?" The cop asked.  Then the cop let him go and only told him to talk as much time as he needs to get up there and hoped his day went better than this morning.  Must've been a fellow member!  So that leaves us to where we are now with the pictures.  The ceremony was wonderful and everything we had expected it to be.

and such a cute profile!

Good foot shot

After Thanksgiving I finally had my ultrasound.  It's a .... baby!  We were good and didn't even look in that general direction.  As you can tell from this picture we could've 100% found out what we were having if that's what we wanted to do.  I'm not sure how good your ultrasound eyes are but this picture above is the baby bent in half.  All of it's arms and legs were over it's head and face.  Can you imagine how uncomfortable that has to be?

Nikki and Collin

Davis

It all started with Thanksgiving.  We had Thanksgiving up at my sisters house in Draper.  It was the first time the Abiang family has been together for Thanksgiving in a long time.  My sister Nikki had a fun idea for us to wear pilgrim and indian attire.  We had so much fun being together as a family!  The Saturday after Thanksgiving we also had a bridal shower for my sister Breana.  Unfortunately Kurt had stolen my camera for the day so I don't have any picture from that event but let me tell you we had a TON of fun!

Quarter of a Century Old

I thought I was bad at being late in Hawaii, I find myself being extra slow at things here in Cedar City.  It was my 25th birthday Monday December 8th and I didn't post anything quickly because I didn't take any pictures that day and I still haven't taken any pictures since.  So anywho for my birthday I made myself pancakes the way I like them made from Bisquick, a little raw and gooey in the middle with lots of butter and powdered sugar.  The kids and I played until I took them over to my friends house so I could go to the dentist.  YAY!!  For my birthday they gave me, a toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, chap stick and another appointment for today to get my cavities filled!!  Later that night we picked up some take and bake pizza at Papa Murphy's and took it to our friends house.  Kurt showed me the pizza after it had been baked and he had had the pizza people write HAPPY B-DAY! in in with sausages.  It's funny how excited you get, over a little thing like that.  Then my friend Cheryl surprised me with a cake and after we watched Kung Fu Panda. 

That day as I was waiting in the dentist chair I was thinking, I'm just barely 25 and what am I doing in life?  Do any of you think that occasionally?  Then I think, Oh my gosh!  I'm barely 25 and I have two kids with another on the way.  What was I thinking?  I could be traveling the world right now, could've finished school and started a career, could've gone on a mission, blah blah blah!  Then something reminded me of breakfast that morning.  Drew said the prayer and she said we were thankful for the Spirit.  That's something she started including in her prayers a couple of weeks ago, something we didn't teach her.  But after we said amen Drew exclaimed, 

"Mom!  I felt the spirit!"

"You did?"

"Yeah, That's Jesus!"

It's amazing how much little children surprise you.  I'm really bad and have never taught her that.  I'm really wondering if it was a lesson she had in nursery and if it was, how thankful I am for their lessons.  For those nursery teachers out there, even if you think the kids aren't listening, I'm sure they hear a lot more than you think.  Then my next thought went to something my sister in law said.  She's in the Primary presidency and they take kids from nursery who are going to be in primary next year, and let them come to singing time to get them used to it.  She said that every time they have a picture of Jesus in primary while Drew is there, she'll yell and the top of her lungs, "That's MY Jesus!  That's my Jesus!"  So Drew got to help by holding the picture during one of the songs.

Then I feel guilty for ever thinking I could've done something better, more productive, than bring these children into the world.  So, YES!  I'm now 25, have two kids with another one on the way.  I've had a problem saying that for while now, feeling the non-mormon public eye on me, thinking the opposite of what I've been wanting to feel.  I've finally realized that it's not what I think people are thinking, it's what I've been thinking of myself.  Does that make sense?  I'm so happy I have my little family, that seems to be getting bigger every 19 months.  I have my ultrasound this Friday and I'm SO excited to see... it.  We're not going to find out what it is so don't get your panties in a twist.  It's just "baby" till it pops out.  Then I fly back home to Hawaii, by myself, Wedneday the 17th, for my sister Breana's wedding on the 20th!  I'm so excited.  Which reminds me my sister, Nikki, and her two month old baby, Collin, are the only ones coming from her family and she needs a baby sitter for Friday the 19th while Bre goes to the Temple for her first time.  We were wondering if there was anyone in the Hau'ula-Laie district that would be willing and able to baby sit for that period of time.  He's a REALLY good baby and takes a bottle easy peasy so let me know if you'd be up to it.  Sorry, had to add that in but you know how it goes!  

It was fun reading all my face book messages, emails and cards I got from everyone, and the voice mails- sorry I haven't called anybody back!  But thanks for your thoughts!  It was a good day and I'm so grateful to have such wonderful friends and family!

Small One

I remember the first movie I cried, more like bawled while watching. It was Snoopy Come Home. I know, not a very sappy movie but it's amazing to me that I cried over a movie at such a young age. Last night Kurt thought it would be fun for the kids to watch the cartoon Small One by Disney. This was a movie that both he and I had seen as kids. While we were watching I was SO surprised to see Drew fighting back the tears. After the end of the movie Drew was still having

a hard time. I told her it was okay to cry, and then she let the water works flow. She was bawling over the movie. I just held this sweet little girl and tried to explain to her the birth of Christ. Not sure how much she grasped but I thought this movie was the perfect way to start off that story. So here is the movie. It's only about 25 min. long and it's perfect for this time of year!