Merry Christmas

...Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world...



Merry Christmas to all! Last night as we read the Book of Mormon account of the first Christmas, we realized how grateful we are to live in a world and a nation where we can safely proclaim our belief that the Christ-child came to the world to be a light unto it, to walk as we should and to suffer and die that we might live eternally with our Heavenly Father and our families. Kyle's position in the military takes on greater meaning as we read the stories in the Book of Mormon of men who defended their homes and their wives and their children; men who fought to defend their lands and their freedom, only to be threatened with death if Christ did not come. We imagined the anguish of the faithful, waiting eagerly for the sign of Jesus' birth, each night disappointed as the sun fell below the horizon and darkness taunted them as did their oppressors. With what agony they must have anticipated the day the wicked had set for their executions, should the signs predicted by Samuel not come to pass, and with what joy, relief and exultation they must have witnessed a night without darkness, and a new star that shone with a declaration of the truth of the things they so firmly believed. It was the Star of Life for them, arriving perfectly in time to save the lives of their beloved families, and testifying that the baby Savior was born. Perhaps all was calm in the stable in Bethlehem, but we believe the Nephites in America must have rejoiced merrily. For that reason, we wish those we love, and all the world, a very Merry Christmas.

To those with whom we so dearly wish we could have celebrated this Holiday season:



And to everyone:



Pictures of Damien et al to come, but for now, to all, a good night.

Families Can Be Together Forever

Emilie Nicholson
28 October, 1926-30 November, 2008


Kyle's Oma rejoined her husband on 30 November, 2008. Kyle loves her very much, and remembers her independence, her spark and her sense of humor. He wishes that he could have spent more time with her, and that she had had the opportunity to meet Damien and me.

We have faith that we will meet with Oma Nicholson again. We believe that through the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the eternal plan of our Heavenly Father, all human beings will have the opportunity to be resurrected and reunited with their families if they so choose. Because of our faith in the Plan of Happiness, our hearts are lifted up, and we know that this parting is only temporary and that we will have the opportunity to rejoice in the Kingdom of God with all our family members who have gone before us one day.

Happy Birthday to Me

I realize this post is long overdue, but I am finally going to put up a photoblog of my birthday. It was a wonderful day- Kyle did a great job planning it!

To start out with, he handed me directions to somewhere and told me to be there by noon on my birthday. It turned out to be...



A one-hour deep-tissue massage! It was wonderful.

When I got home, I found this:



And this:



...taped to the walls on either side of the door. Yes, taped. Kyle said he'd rather get teased for taping my presents to the wall than for his messy gift-wrapping jobs. My parents had previously given me one of these:



...so that I could buy myself my birthday present from them, and I got three Christmas CDs by



Kyle took me to



...for dinner, and then we came home and played games with Noah and Kassie, who made my birthday cake. Which I didn't take pictures of. Which was stupid.

Anyway, it was a wonderful birthday!

As a random bonus, here are a few pictures of Damien in his toy basket.

Thanksgiving

Happy day-after-Thanksgiving to all! We had a wonderful first married-and-in-the-same-geographic-location Thanksgiving together. We celebrated with our friends the Lubbens and had enough food for the four of us to feed 12... Or four for the next week, which is more likely. Here are some pictures of how the festivities progressed:

I made the pies on Wednesday to save oven-space:


The boys on Thursday, waiting...


And waiting...


And waiting...


Our very fancy (Walmart card) table:


The bird (a la Kassie):


The full spread:


And a bonus- Gangsta Claus (as Kyle calls him) after dinner:

We are grateful for home and family, good food and good friends, and to be surrounded by great examples of Christianity and goodwill toward men in our lives. We are grateful to have found each other, to enjoy a loving marriage, and to have a beautiful, happy, cheerful son who gives light to our lives.

Birthday Cake? What's that?

Damien had his first birthday cake on Wednesday. It took him a while, and some help, to figure out what the point of cake was, besides painting with the frosting, but once he got the hang of it he was pretty pleased.

Here was the masterpiece in one piece:



He wondered what to do with it for a while:



He decided to turn it over:



He got some assistance getting started:



He inhaled it:



And then he got going:







The finished product:



And then he got a mischeivous look in his eye...



...and took off on a sugar-induced rampage that lasted until 1:00 in the morning. He ran around the house (literally ran, something he had not previously attempted) picking up and throwing toys; each time he threw one he would look me in the eye and YELL. Not words, just AAAAAAAAUGGGGH!!!

Awesome.

A year in pictures

Ok, I know it's been a while. A long while. But SOME PEOPLE decided to get rid of all their networking sites, so now I have to update here too! I wish everyone I loved would pick one site and stick to it, so I didn't have to update MySpace, Facebook and a blog, but life is tough and I'll get over it. :D

Anyhow, today is 19 November, and it's Damien's birthday! One year and eight hours ago he was surgically removed from my womb, and it's been an awesome year. I'll throw down some pics for ya! :) In the last year,

Damien was born:



Kyle came home from training to meet his son:



We took our long trek across the western US and moved into our storage shed... er... house... here in Seaside:



Damien learned to crawl:



We had our first wedding anniversary:



And our first Air Force Ball (Damien didn't go, but he wanted to be in the pictures):



Damien had his first Halloween costume:



And learned to walk:



Today, Damien is a year old, and we have a year to go here in Seaside!



Many things have happened in Damien's first year. He is the happiest baby that ever was, and we are so grateful to have him. Our lives are wonderful; we couldn't ask for anything more at this stage in our marriage. We are blissfully content.

Damien plays the piano

Apparently, Damien is going to be a musician. Look at him, totally rockin' out, man! :)

One year happier than ever

August 30th was our first wedding anniversary! A couple of Kyle's classmates agreed to stay the night with Damien, and we went up to Gilroy. We had our anniversary dinner the night before, and anniversary breakfast at Denny's the morning of. Then we went to Gilroy Gardens. It's a botanical-garden-themed park. They have a few rides, but mostly just spectacular botanical displays. Somehow, none of my pictures turned out very spectacular, but I added a few of my favorites above. After Gilroy Gardens we came home and watched Stardust, because we saw it in the theatre the day we got married. It was a great day.

The first year of our marriage has been fantastic. People say the first year is the hardest, and if that's a fact then we've got it made! We love growing together in love and respect for one another, we love playing with our beautiful baby, we love being silly together, we love life together. We couldn't ask for anything more. We are greatly looking forward to our second year together!

Brooke Tagged Me...

And I guess it's about time I updated. So I'll throw down a couple posts. :D First off, for anyone reading this who doesn't understand the "tagged" game- someone tags you and requests pictures of random items throughout your house. You must post pictures of those items, as they are, without cleaning. So, without further ado: toilet, sink, washer and dryer, kid, fridge, favorite room, favorite shoes and closet. I took a break from doing laundry to do this, so I'm airing my dirtly laundry atop my washer for the world.

...

Erm... apparently they don't want to be in the order listed, and they also want to be BEFORE the post, and not after. Weirdo Google Blogger.

Anyway, Melissa, Alyson and Jennylyn- You're tagged!!