Christmas Pics and Baby News

Okay, baby news first. We had an ultrasound a few weeks ago and found out that our baby will be a girl! We're pretty excited, but honestly surprised. We really thought it was going to be a boy, as did most of our family. It was kind of fun to change my thought process from boy names, clothes, and toys to girly ones! We've already thought of a few names we like, but Trevor prefers to be silly and call her "she who must not be named" or "what's her face." Oh! I felt her move for the first time the night before the ultrasound. I was falling asleep when I felt a definite kick. She did it again and Trevor was able to feel it, too. Pretty exciting. I feel her move a LOT now. I have a feeling she's going to be an active little girl. This picture is me at 22 weeks.

Well, we had a blast this Christmas. We spent most of the holiday with my parents in Centerville. We played some pretty intense games and put together a few giant puzzles. It really was fun and relaxing. Here's Jenga moments before it toppled.



We also had a good time on Christmas morning with my brothers and sister-in-law. Things got a little crazy when Vaughn tried on Mom's new coat. He looks pretty good in it, eh?

The best was our Cropper family Christmas Party (my mom's side of the family) when all of the great-grandkids (my cousins' children) acted out the nativity scene while my uncle read from the New Testament. There were two angels wandering around confused the whole time, chewing on little cookies. We ran out of little kids, so the next youngest cousin present had to play the donkey. And the youngest cousin present was...my "little" brother, Robert, who is 6'6" and 21 years old. I laughed the whole time, but it was neat to remember when I was a little kid at my grandma's house, getting excited about the costumes and getting dressed in the back bedroom and fighting over who got to be an angel or a shepherd or a wise man...and now I wonder how my parents kept a straight face during our yearly performances.


Other highlights from our Christmas vacation: going to the Salt Lake Temple and looking at the lights on Temple Square (not for too long...it was cold!), and the second annual Hawkes family bubble-gum blowing contest.


Let me give you a little background on this one. Last New Year's Eve, Trevor and I were on our honeymoon, and we decided it would be a good idea to start a yearly tradition with our newly-formed family. I'm not sure why we decided on bubble gum, but we had a lot of fun and decided to let Trevor's whole family participate in the competition this year.
Anyway, we had a great vacation and were very sad to have it end. Things are going well now that we're back in the swing of things with school and work. We're plenty busy but plenty happy too!