Early Christmas in AZ

We went down to AZ for a few days before Christmas. Even when it's my family's year for Christmas we still like to make a trip down to AZ sometime during the holiday to spend time with AZ family and friends. Since Brad's family was going to be in NY after Christmas we went before to celebrate and have an early Christmas with them.
First things first, on our way down to Arizona Brad received an email from BYU letting him know he had been accepted to their full time MBA program!!!!!!! We were SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited to get this news! Brad and I both REALLY wanted him to get into BYU. We are so grateful and humbled by the opportunity we will have this next fall to be a part of the BYUMBA community. We will be moving down to Provo in the Summer to fully embrace the life and culture of the grad student families. This will be such an exciting change for us!

this is Brad's excited face - so full of expression ha

Carter and Lizzie had a lot of fun waking up to each other every day and actually played really well together throughout the week. They are like brother and sister: best friends and worst enemies. But they had minimal fighting that week - I'm guess because the toys were in a neutral location - no "mine" going on. 

We had fun hanging out around the house with family, visiting with friends, and carrying on our traditions of the season. 

matching jammies getting ready to meet Santa

for some reason I really love this one...

Lizzie clearly has stranger danger - Carter seemed quite comfortable up there

in front of the tree with Grammy & Papa

it's exhausting be so cute - roaming around Bass Pro Shop

Christmas Sunday snap shots:

cannot get these two to hold still haha

Mesa Temple Lights:

Early Christmas Eve:

ninja turtle pajamas - Brad's childhood favorite

the boys all got Nerf guns for Christmas - a war definitely broke out that night

We had a great week, filled with more laughter than my cheeks or abs could handle. It was fun getting to know Clara's future fiance better and have everyone be together. We enjoyed weather where I could go out to the car barefoot and not freeze - it was perfect weather! Of course we made a trip to Last Chance and got some steals there as well. I enjoyed spending some time with my girl friends, unfortunately I didn't snap any pics. 

We were spoiled for Christmas and ate really well all week long. 

The best Christmas gift I received from my Marsh family is this beautiful piece of art:

I literally started bawling when I opened it. I have been eyeing this piece for years! My mother in law and I share a great appreciation for this artist and her insights. This one is called "A woman waiting for her house to grow" This clearly has a lot of sentimental meaning to me, as we continue to wait for the opportunity to be selected for adoption. It proudly sits on my mantle and will stay there for as long as we are here. It makes my heart so happy and I feel like it depicts my feelings so well!