Christmas 2009

Tanner with Grandpa Berrett.

The bubble machine that we got was the biggest hit of the day for the kids. They were trying to eat the bubbles.

Here is the funny Christmas tree cake I made, it was pretty fun to make it, even though it isn' t the fanciest.
Alli loves walking around popping bubbles.

My dad is sporting his new hat that he got from Brian.

Alli was so tired after out Christmas Eve excitement that she went to take a nap right after we opened presents. We took a picture of us in front of the tree.


Here is the handsome couple in front of the tree. The kids had a lot of fun with Mark and Jami. My mom really enjoyed spending time with Little T.
John couldn't hold back his excitement of opening the blue ray player.
Here she is holding that one special bubble.


Here our the kids sporting their new pajamas that Carolyn sent them for Christmas. She is the awesomest friend ever and we love the presents that she sent. We are really lucky for friends like her and her family.

Mark and Little T on Christmas Eve.
Jami and Alli were having fun.
Like father like son.

We had one of the most memorable Christmas's that I can ever remember. I can't post about the exciting thing that we did as a family because there is a chance that someday someone might read my blog and realize what took place on Christmas Eve, but for those involved, they know that it was pretty awesome, and also pretty humorous.

However, I would like to post all about Christmas day and what we did. We woke up around 8:00 and made breakfast. Mark and my mom made some great food. After we ate, we were anxious for Alli to start opening presents. Also, John was anxious for me to open the things that he got for me. I got some incredible things and am really grateful to him for his thoughtfulness. He is a great dad and had fun watching Alli with her presents, especially her bubble blower. They are the best and they are only 2 or 3 dollars at Jimboree.....They use it at her gymnastics class and she goes crazy for it, so we got her one. I would highly recommend it for kids.

We all got some awesome gifts and feel really blessed. After the gifts, we got ready to have our traditional Christmas lunch. We had our 2 grandpa's come over and it was fun to see them. My Uncle Boyd also came to the party, and Mike's family also came over for lunch.

We then hung out for a while and then got ready to go to the movie while my mom watched the 2 kids. My dad and I went to Blindside and John went to Sherlock Holmes. I felt like the movies was awesome and I loved the story. I really feel like you can make a big difference in someone's life if you care and you step up and try to do something to help.

We came back and watched Home Alone, one of my all time favorite movies, and now everyone is asleep but me, I am just sitting by the tree thinking about the awesome day.

I love Christmas and feel like this time of the year is amazing. I love celebrating the birth of our Savior and thinking of him and in turn, thinking of others. It is incredible how much joy that you can have this time of year.

We are truly blessed and are looking forward to a new year.

Merry Christmas to everyone and enjoy this time with your families.

P.S. Tanner had a few little falls this week and that is why his face looks kind of bruised on his eye and chin. I guess it really gives him character.

Christmas Festivities

Sara and Tyler will be having their first Christmas together. We are really glad that he joined the family.
Alli was having fun wiggling out of the pictures.

Look at this cute couple!
Tanner and Alli with Mi Mi and Grandpa.








I had to show that he has 2 teeth, his second one came in the week after the first and I forgot to post it. It is really cute to see.
My cousin's Brandon and Si love playing with the kids.



We have been having a lot of fun so far for the holidays. Here are a few more pictures from our McKell party and also some pictures from the party that we had tonight over at John's house. We had a lot of fun eating, opening presents, decorating sugar cookies and hanging out. They are such a great family and we are really lucky. Alli and Tanner also got some great presents.

We really appreciate both of our families and all that they do. I will post more about Christmas soon.

Annual Christmas Party 2009

We had an awesome Christmas party this past Saturday. Every year, we find a day when everyone can get together and we celebrate Christmas. My parents give out presents, we have awesome food, and we have also added a few more traditions, one is going to be a hayride around the parade of lights in Spanish Fork and also we are going to do the Christmas tone chimes.

I am grateful to my parents for all of their hard work. We were happy to get a family picture with everyone(see if you can tell which person was working on a final paper and not able to attend?) It is really hard to get everyone together so we are glad to see everyone when we can.

Wishing you and your families a Merry Christmas.

A Visit With Santa 2009

These 2 cute kids have been good this year Santa.
We have been able to see Santa 2 times this year already. Alli has been so excited. I could hardly get her off of his lap. I thought that these were the cutest of the pictures.

Alli has been so excited seeing Santa everywhere we go, she calls him Christmas. The other day when we were at the store there was a guy with a long gray beard....she kept pointing to him and saying, "It's Christmas man, it's Christmas man!" He just smiled.

I never know what she is going to say.

Alli in the Box

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My awesome friend Carolyn in Owasso put together a package for us. She is so thoughtful, she sent me a silpad for baking, a garlic press, an awesome candle and some toys for Alli and Tanner. Alli was so excited and we played with them for a while. She then decided that she was interested in the box and climbed inside and spent a lot of time playing in the box. She was pretty thrilled.

Each day with Alli we play with playdough and make shapes and animals, we paint pictures, color pictures, and work on various craft projects. However...sometimes I run out of ideas so I am grateful for something as simple as a box to keep us occupied.

Thank you Carolyn for such a great gift!!! We really appreciate it.

Tanner Pulling Up

Look at me.....I am standing up.


A few weeks ago, Tanner started pulling up on things. He is really proud of himself. He loves to pull up on the couch and his toys. However....he was most excited when a week ago, he learned that he could pull up and stand in his crib. It is pretty cute to watch him. He looks around to see what is going on.

Best Buds

These two kids are really starting to enjoy being together. They laugh and scream together, Alli crawls around on the floor following Tanner. She also feeds him snacks and shares things with him. It is great to see them together.

Happy 6th Wedding Anniversary

From Miss McKell to Mrs. Christiansen....aka Mrs. C
Here is the Love Sac that John made for me as one of the gifts for our wedding.
Here is John with Alli.....this is when our life changed again for the better.


I would just like to post that today is our 6 year wedding anniversary. It is crazy how the time flies and I remember very well this day 6 years ago when we got married. I remember getting up early to go to a hair appointment...I wasn't thrilled with how the hair turned out, but back to the subject at hand. I remember not feeling the best that morning, but thought I would be fine. It was freezing outside and after the wedding ceremony we were outside for pictures for a really long time. We got married in Manti and it was beautiful even though it was cold. My piano teachers husband married us because he was the president of the Manti Temple at the time. Because I am not the very best planner, I wore sandals in the snow. I chose them because I thought they were cute, but I wasn't even thinking about being outside in them. We had an awesome dinner at this place called The Rose Cottage after the wedding and John sang a song and my brothers also sang to me. It was all great, but at this point, I remember I was really starting to not feel well. I was grateful though that everyone was there from all over since it was Thanksgiving. I think that the only people who weren't able to be there were my McKell Grandparents.

It was a great day and we had a reception in Castle Dale at the Museum, my mom had set everything up as a New York theme because that was where we got engaged and spent some time there the summer before we got married. My friend Chassie did my fair before the reception and she also fixed all of the bridesmaids hair. It was pretty fun to see them all with the same hairstyle, especially Melissa. A lot of people in Emery County thought that John was from New York and they thought it was pretty cool that I was marrying someone from so far away. My mom did a great job with the reception and the older I get, the more I realize how much work goes into planning such an event.

The night after our reception I will report that I got really really sick. It is the sickest I think that I have ever been in my life. I was up all night and I felt bad for John, he hardly knew what to do. I remember calling my dad pretty early in the morning to ask him what I should do. I think I must have got some sort of prescription or medicine to help. We then headed to Salt Lake for our second reception/open house. I had 26 of my students from Alpine Elementary come to the wedding and that meant a lot to me. Teaching was a huge huge part of my life at the time and my students were so excited for the wedding and the reception. The highlight for them was the chocolate fountain. Katy had done a lot of work on our open house in Salt Lake and it turned out awesome....The only thing that wasn't the best was that I wasn't feeling well. It was a little ironic because I had tried to loose weight for my wedding for months, but the week that I was sick after the wedding, I lost 7 pounds and I remember wishing that I could have gotten sick a week earlier then I would have looked great!!!


Those are just a few details about our wedding. It is fun to look back on that day and see how much things have changed for us.
It has been quite the adventure for us in our marriage....we have lived in Alpine, Provo, Salem, West Des Moines Iowa, Owasso Oklahoma, and now we are living in Salt Lake City. We have our 2 kids now and I realize that your focus in life changes drastically after you have kids. We love them very much and I can't even imagine my life without them.

I am really grateful for our many experiences and hope to have many many more years to come. Happy Anniversary John...I love you and thank you for all that you do for me and the kids.

Happy Thanksgiving

We had an awesome Thanksgiving with John's family this year. It was great to have everyone there. I felt really bad because I didn't take any pictures of everyone together like I should have. Tanner slept through our entire meal and Alli fell asleep right after we ate. We were able to see Sara and Tyler, Maren, and the Warners who drove their fancy new car up. The food was awesome and we were really grateful to Katy for all of her hard work and for having us. We truly have a lot to be grateful for.

Updates on Tanner

Tanner got his 1st tooth 2 weeks ago, I need to post pictures, but it is the cutest thing. He has also learned to drink from a straw, this is something that John likes to teach our kids at a young age because it makes it easier to take them places when they can drink out of a straw. Tanner has also been pulling up on things and standing up, the other day, I looked over and saw that he had first pulled up on then stood up on a box. He is so proud and we are so proud of him, he is a fun little guy to have around.

He also loves to eat and will eat anything that I give to him, with the exception of peas.