HAPPY BIRTHDAY BREE! I can hardly believe we have a daughter who is ONE...what a year of joy it has been! First we started off the fun with a birthday lunch with our friends Liz and Lilly. (Lilly and Bree have the same birthday, but Lilly turned two).

Bree didn't really like wearing the birthday hats, but it was so cute!

Then Robbie came home early from school (WAHOO!!) and we began our family birthday party. We decided to let Bree choose what to do first...and of course she wanted to go "ttt...ttt" As of last week she has partly learned the word "out" which she says at least four times a day as she stands pointing to the door. It is so cute! When the answer is, "no not right now" there are often tears. But when the answer is, "yes let's go out" the smile on her face is priceless!

Then we went "in" and opened some fun presents. Bree loved the books from Grandma and Grandpa Harmon (she goes in her room to her book basket several times a day!), as well as the fun activity book from Grandma Henderson. Though she doesn't understand the other gift from Grandma and Grandpa Henderson, she will be SO grateful someday! (They opened up a savings account for college and mission and will put in money each birthday! WOW!) Then she got some animal cards from me and Robbie...don't laugh, I know animal cards don't sound that cool, but these are the coolest! There are over thirty cards with bright real-life pictures of all sorts of animals. Then on the back it has interesting facts about those animals. I think they will be fun and useful the older Bree gets too!

Our sweet prophet. Most of you who look at our blog know that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...and proud of it! The president of our church and God's prophet on the earth passed away last week. He was a man of God in every sense of the word and I will be forever grateful for his example and teachings. Though the work of God will move forward with the new President Monson, President Hinckley will hold a special place in my heart. My mom said it beautifully when she said, "He showed us his love by how he lived his life." I just pray that I too can show my love for my God, my Savior and my fellowmen by how I live.

"So we should go camping for our date this weekend," Robbie says to me last week. Camping? I was a bit confused because first, it's freezing outside, and second, I wasn't so sure how Bree would do. He then explained that we could campout in our front room!

Yes we did have to move the couch into the hallway, but what a blast! Just open the window, microwave some s'mores, and make sure your tent door is facing the TV so you can watch a movie! (We recommend a western like "Silverado")

It seems like Bree's hair has grown over night!

Dad's favorite new hair-do is the mowhawk!















Mom, however, prefers the pigails. (I couldn't believe that her hair actually fit...and it's SO cute!)

We had a BLAST this Christmas break and were blessed to spend FOUR whole weeks in Utah!

Bree was just as excited to see everyone as they were to see her!

She even gave uncle Adam kisses! We started off our vacation in Provo with Robbie's family. One of our first stops was to the restaraunt we have been missing the most...Bajio!!

Bree LOVES black beans...even though they leave a little mexi-goatee!

We have been teaching Bree baby sign language and it was so fun to watch her start using her signs! Her first word and sign happened this trip and was "dog"... She loved the Harmon's dog Libby! Every morning she would wake up and do the sign for dog and say, "dog, dog".

One of Bree's favorite parts of being in Northern Utah was the SNOW!!

It was so beautiful at the Harmon's ranch in Southfork Canyon. We wish we could have spent more time there!

Bree loved eating the snow so much that we brought some in the house for her!

Christmas Eve was interesting because Robbie, his mom and I were all sick! We'll spare you the details, but let's just say it was out one end for some and out the other for others! We're greatful Bree didn't get sick though. And by Christmas morning we were all mostly better.

One of Bree's new favorite toys was a stroller! She did laps around the house every day, only stopping to say hi to the dog, or to climb up and down the stairs!

She also got lots of cute new clothes, including this pretty dress... is she smiling because she's cute or because she's with uncle Tanner?

But as you can see her favorite thing about Christmas morning was the wrapping!

The day after Christmas we headed down to St. George for more Christmas fun!

We started off with a fun fondu dinner, which is a Henderson Christmas Eve tradition. They had waited for us to have Christmas, so we got TWO Christmas days this year!

Bree loved the new wagon she got from Grandma and Grandpa Henderson and pushed it around like her stroller. But she also loved when Uncle Mike pushed HER around in it!

Bree learned some new things in St. George:

...how to do a fish face...

... and how to do "SO BIG!" (Grandpa's favorite!)

And she always has fun with Grandma and aunt Sarah in the bath! And as you can see she now has her top middle teeth!

Unfortunately our trip came to a close much more quickly than we would have liked. But it was a blast! It was such a blessing to have Bree be around everyone. The older I get the more I realize that family really does bring the greatest happiness. You can have all the money, fame or beauty in the world, but if you don't have good family relationships than you'll never be truly happy. Sometimes it takes work, but it's SO worth it! We love our families!! Thanks for such a wonderful trip!