Our Christmas Season

Christmas was a blast this year with a 3 year old in the house. Dallin was way into Santa this year and LOVED all things Christmas related... movies, cookies, advent calendars, decorating the tree etc. We even got to visit Santa a few times! Claire was just busy being cute and had fun crinkling the wrapping paper.

Big D with Santa


Baby C's first Santa experience


Our Christmas Eve consisted of this cute bundle of joy entering the world. Andy's youngest brother Gregg and his wife Erika had their first baby, Ellie Noel Sylvia. She came a few days early, but we were sure excited to meet her. She is such an angel and her and Claire will be just 6 months apart!


Ellie and her "Auntie Ashley"



Unfortunately, this was the only picture I took on Christmas Day because I used the video camera most the morning, but these two sure look cute sporting their new rugby sweaters and beanies. The kids were spoiled rotten, Dallin LOVED running down Christmas morning and seeing that Santa had come and even eaten his cookies. He got tons of toys, games, clothes and even a scooter. Claire got lots of infant toys, stacking blocks and clothes. Andy and I didnt buy eachother gifts this year because we got a new tv upstairs a few weeks earlier which we considered our gift to eachother. Our families were super generous as usual, giving us lots of amazing things... too many to name. We sure had a great Holiday season, and hope you all did too!

2009 in Review

Top 10 2009 Sylvia Events-

10. We potty trained Dallin and got rid of the Binkie
9. Andy got laid off from the Utah Blaze, and then hired with REAL Salt Lake, then laid off again, and finally re-hired as a full time salaried position. Phew.
8. We welcomed a new nephew, Grey in February and a new neice, Ellie on Christmas Eve
7. Dallin started pre-school and LOVES EVERY MINUTE
6. We celebrated 5 years of Bliss in July
5. Andy ventured out on many "guys sports trips"
4. Ashley transferred to the new Primary Children's Outpatient Clinic and went part time
3. Andy graduated from the University of Utah
2. We added a new sister in law, Erika who married Andy's youngest brother Gregg

And the #1 thing for 2009 is....

1. CLAIRE ALDINE SYLVIA (the cutest, sweetest, giggliest, wiggliest, smiliest,
happiest thing ever) was born

Okay it didnt turn out as exciting as it was in my mind. It was hard to narrow it down to 10 things.. but oh well you get the idea. I am excited to see what 2010 will bring for our family. Now that I am not pregnant we are hoping to do more adventurous things including skiing/snowboarding and teaching Dallin to ski as well. We plan to take many hikes with the kids when the weather warms up and finally get to head out into the woods for some camping trips. We are planning a big trip back east to Boston and Cape Cod in July, and as always we are looking for different options for Andy to move up in his career. This will be the first year in our marriage where Andy is not going to school, and I am not working full time. I hope this means more quality family time for us to enjoy being The Sylvia's.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Lazy

I am being a lazy blogger right now. I do have lots to post about, for instance Christmas, oh and the birth of my latest neice.. kind of a few biggies. Anyway, I am waiting for the motivation to come and then I will post... waiting, and waiting...

Giveaway

11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven is giving away a gorgeous Hotslings baby carrier!

To enter click HERE.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE

... from the two cutest kids ever (I am not biased at all)

Oct/Nov in a nutshell

Claire's 1st attempt at rice cereal... Yum

I can sit up!!

Me baby C and Dall supporting our REAL Salt Lake in the playoffs

Dallin and me cheering

Claire's first Halloween, isn't she just so stinkin cute

My pirate, pumpkin and hubby

Splish Splash... 1st time swimming and loved every minute

Andy got an all expense paid trip to Seattle to see his REAL Salt Lake Soccer team play in the MLS Cup. Boy did he have fun, and way to go REAL for "Taking the Cup"

Andy and his work buddies in Seattle

Me, Dallin, Claire and my mom went to the airport to welcome the winning team home (and Daddy of course who flew home on a private plane with the team)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Me and the hubbs

The three Sylvia Girlies

Grammy and Granddad with the 4 grandchildren (one on the way)


Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. We sure did, and we have a lot to be thankful for this year.

The Amazing Race

I decided I really want to audition for the Amazing Race. Ever since the show started I totally pictured myself on the show, and now even more than ever I feel inclined to audition. I am not sure who I want to be my partner though. I definitely do not want to go with Andy (no offense) because I dont really want to expose my marriage publically like that. I have considered my bro-in-law Tyler because according to my family we would be a great team... we both possess the right qualities but we dont really have a "relationship" per say... not sure if that would be an adavantage or not. We thought we would have a good case though... picture this

-Mormom mom of two partnered with her "rock band" brother in law
-We would sure look good together, we would look like blood relatives that is... both red headed and freckled, actually it might be a bit confusing.

If you are wondering, I am truly serious about this, and am just trying to decide who the best partner for me would be. I believe that the partnership can make or break the race. Let me know if you are interested.....

I got a feeling....

I know people make fun of other people for posting on their blog about "how perfect their little life is". Today I just have to be one of those people... whether you like it or not. I am at work today, and as usual am counting down the minutes until I get to rush home and scoop up both my babies, hear about their day with grandma, and smother them with kisses. I am so grateful for my job, because it gives me an opportunity to truly "miss" my kids. That might sound weird but I have figured out that I am the type of mom who needs to get out, get some adult interaction and actually work in the career that I chose to go to school for. And at the end of my 2 lovely days of work, I ABSOLUTELY WITHOUT A DOUBT know that I have the best life waiting for me at home!!! My kids have taught me truly what my calling in life is, and that is being the best mom I can to them. I sure hope I do a good job! I could not imagine my life any other way, or under any other circumstance.

tear...

So Long...

Today marks my last full day of work at Primary Children's Medical Center. I have worked there for 4 1/2 years and it has been AMAZING. I absolutely love my job and am so happy I took the risk and made a bold move when I started working there. I was absolutely TERRIFIED to be working at a Children's Hospital, only to soon find it was the best decision ever. If you are wondering, no I did not quit, yes I will still be working. Primary Children's opened a new outpatient clinic in Riverton, (not to be confused with the new hospital) The two are connected but offer totally different services. I decided to transfer to the Primary Clinic for a few reasons. First, it is closer to my house, and since I work 12 hour shifts a shorter commute was very appealing. Second, I was ready for a change of pace. The Hospital is very busy and fast paced, which is great, but again working long hours makes that very tiring on my body! I am very happy with my decision, and will still be working with the same Radiologists which is huge, and some of the my favorite people will be joining me at the Clinic. The good news is I am going to be working up at the Hospital every Wednesday night from 5-10 pm for some extra hours which means I still get to see some of my closest friends and keep in the loop. The Clinic opens bright and early Monday morning, but I wont be there till Tuesday! Yay!

Family Fotos

We decided it was time to get some family pictures while the weather was still nice. Our friends the Clayton's were AWESOME and helped us with the shoot. Eric has taken a liking to photography lately and we asked him to come out and take some pictures our family. He obviously did an amazing job, and Jenny edited all of them with her mad photoshop skills. Thank you guys so much for being so talented and offering to help with the pictures. I love the way they turned out, so here are a few to check out!

Happy Birthday to ME!

I turned 27 on October 19. Good times! I was considering putting down in my blog my 27 year old stats, you know, like we all do for our children. Weighting in at ____ that is where it stopped. Ha ha. Anyway, my birthday was fun, I celebrated with the in-laws on Sunday with cake and ice cream. Monday I enjoyed a yummy lunch with my girlies at my most favortie burger joint, eat-a-burger (thanks Jenny) and then went to dinner with my family and had cake and presents that night! Tuesday I got together with my girlfriends from high school at Red Robin and we celebrated both mine and Meghan's birthdays. WOW lots of food was involved in retrospect. I really cant believe I am 27, I think I always consider myself to be in my early 20's. One day I will realize I am old and wrinkly and saggy and all that good stuff.

My bestest friend

*beware this is kind of sappy but I was just in one of those moods



My best friend Katie and I have been friends for years and years. When we were in high school we had that type of friendship where I went with them on family vacations, we had sleepeovers every weekend, out parents were eachothers second parents, you know that kind of friend. We have really stayed just as close as ever, and now with two kids each we still find time to get together as often as we can. Her oldest daughter Audrey is 4 and Dallin sure loves hanging out with her. Brad, her one year old and Claire I am sure will grow fond of eachother too. I just wanted to say how truly grateful I am to have such an amazing friend, someone who I still talk to every single day, tell everything to, and who just "gets" me. I love ya Kate!

Its been 4 months already?

Claire officially turned 4 months on the 11th! I seriously cannot believe she is that old, it makes me want to cry. If you are wondering, No she does not suck her thumb but her hands are constantly in her mouth so sometimes it ends up in there for a minute. I was able to snap this cute picture with her sucking her thumb. Here is a list of milestones Claire has reached so far:

* She weighs about 15 lbs (we go to the doc on monday for her official appointment)
* She rolls over from her back to her belly
* She is starting to giggle all the time and it is sooooo cute
* She is the happiest easiest baby, really only cries when she is tired and even then its hardly a "cry"
* She is cutting her first tooth as we speak, it it the bottom side tooth.. next to the front two... random
* She sleeps pretty well, usually only wakes up once a night around 4, sometimes it is twice but she is getting better
* She has to sleep in her swaddle blanket, otherwise her hands go crazy and she wakes herself up
* She loves talking and cooing
* She has discovered her feet, and LOVES to hold them all day long
* She started reaching for toys and sits up well with a bit of support to try and play with them

Overall the last 4 months have been so enjoyable. She really is such a delight, and she sure melts my heart over and over and over. We love our little muffin.

3 1/2 months and Rolling Over

Some animals, some pumpkins and lots of duck poop..

That is what we encountered at our trip to wheeler farm today! My mother in law wanted to take the kids to pick out a pumpkin so we packed a lunch and headed over there to walk around. It turned into a beautiful day, and Dallin and Lyla sure had a blast together as usual running rampid through the grass (that is where the duck poop comes into play) After lunch we headed the pumpkin patch where the kids each picked out their favorite pumpkin. It was a fun day to say the least, oh except for the very end where my poor nephew Grey somehow slipped out of his buckles in his stroller and fell flat on his face onto the cement. It was sooo sad, but he ended up being just fine minus a scratch on his head.

Can someone please tell me when my son decided to become Mr. GQ?


Claire cute as can be. I just want to squeeze her little cheeks.


The infamous duo


WE LOVE PUMPKINS!!!