Two thousand and thirteen

I really can't believe that 2012 is over. It was a good year for us. We had some ups and downs as every year does but I think our good times far surpassed the bad. Memories were made, firsts occurred, hundreds of load of laundry were folded and put away, and we enter a new year a little wiser and a little more grateful for what we have.

2013 is going to be a good year for us. Lots of big changes are happening we will embark on a new adventure, I will officially be married to Doctor Christopher Clayton and hopefully we will  pay off the mountain of school loans the we have been accumulating the last 6 years.

But before we take off into the new year I have to finish documenting 2012.

I have been terrible at taking any pictures but luckily I captured a few of the highlights on my phone.

These pictures make me laugh. This was back in November when Addison was just starting to walk on her own. She would take about 10 very wobbly steps before falling on her rump. She wouldn't take slow carefully steps she would always take off running.

She has come such a long was since then. On Christmas day she decided it was time to start walking. And she did. She literally stood up by herself in the middle of the room and started walking. She is funny that way, she doesn't do anything slowly she just waits forever and then decides to master it in one day.

We had a ward Christmas party during the beginning of December. I was in charge of a few primary numbers for the party. For one of the numbers I had a small group of girls playing jingle bells on the chimes. One of my girls backed out last minute but she was playing a chime that only got hit 3 times through the entire song so I figured Kaden could probably fill in. We practiced a few days before with all the girls and he did great. He hit is note right on time every time. I wasn't worried at all about him. When it came time for the performance I handed out the chimes and had all the kids stand on the stage. Kaden immediately started running back and forth across the stage ringing his chime. When I finally wrangled him down and got him to stand in line the crowd was giggling a bit. I started the first chime and the girls were doing wonderfully then it came time for Kaden, he paused for just a second before hitting his chime AS HARD AS HE COULD. A few snikers from the audience but the girls were pros and carried on without missing a beat. Note two came around for Kaden and he paused for just a moment longer than the first time and pulled his arm back up past his head then smacked the chime again as hard as possible. More snickers from the audience. The girls carried on and finished the song, Kaden had the very last note and this time he paused pulled his arm back wound it up in a circle a few times and then crashed his stick into his chime with a sense of victory. The audience broke into laughter. Kaden had his proud "I just did something awesome" face on. I shook my head and helped them all of the stage. My son the comedian.

Later "Santa" visited. He was the youngest skinniest Santa I have ever seen, but he sure tried. After Kaden sat on his lap he said "Mom, that is not the real Santa, his beard kept falling off." I suggested that maybe he was just a helper to which he responded "no that was definitely just a guy in a costume."

Taycee had a dance recitle in December. She was so excited for it. She was lucky enough to have both sets of grandparents and Aunt Kelsey and Uncle Ben come to watch. We sat through a 90 minute concert to watch her 2 minute number. But boy was she cute.

She got more roses than any other dancer there I am quite sure. She felt pretty special.

Here she is with her cute friend Stevie who lives down the street.

So although much more happened in December, that is all I captured with my phone. I DO have some Christmas pictures somewhere that I will round up and post... tomorrow perhaps.