Meeting "The Girl"

It's time to have a party when Crazy Uncle Don brings home a girl for the Holidays. Meet "The Girl" (as Don refers to her), Nicole. Don is the most loved sibling of the Dowdle bunch. There are 15 grand kids that absolutely adore him. We were so excited to hear that he has a girlfriend and what a doll she is! She's a great match for our Crazy Uncle Don!

It's not very often when we have the Dowdles all together in Utah. They are spread out all over the country. We had everyone but the Bulkleys (they're in Montana) in for the Holidays this year. So we decided to have a party to meet "The Girl". It was great to have everyone there and of course eat yummy food.

The party started out normal, enjoying food, visiting with one another, but before long it turned into WRESTLE MANIA on my family room floor. It was CRAZY! The kids tackled Don to the floor. Then the other older cousins were in on it too. It was tiring just watching all the action. I thought for sure the Christmas tree was going to get knocked over.

Thanks for always keeping the party going Don. Nicole is a cutie!!

Sing It Loud Brinley

Little Brinley Bear loves preschool. We have seen her grow so much over the last couple of months. She had an adorable little Christmas program with her other adorable little classmates. They sang about 10 songs. It was so fun to watch these funny little 4 year olds.

Here they are singing with Santa hats...

singing with chimes... singing with red noses...
singing with sticks...
singing with bells...
Brinley took a picture of her best friend Maddi. She is in the same class with Brin and lives next door to us. They have so much fun together!

Dancin' Toes

I'm so excited that I have girls (however I would take a little boy anytime!). One thing I love about having girls is that I get to dress them up in their cute dance costumes and watch them dance. Baylee and Brinley had their Christmas Dance Concert a couple of weeks ago. They both did a great job. I think they were the cutest ones up on the stage (Mandi, your girls were the cutest too!!). They take dance with one of my best friend's little girls.

This is Brinley's 2nd year taking dance. She loves to dance but doesn't like the costumes, "they're itchy" she tells me. She won't put her arms down because it will itch her arms. She's cute none-the-less!

This is Brinley and Lillie (Mandi's little girl)

So Cute!!

Baylee has been taking dance for 4 years now and it shows. She's awesome!! She loves to dance and to perform. This girl can shake her hips. She is taking 2 dance classes, one jazz and the other ballet.




This is Baylee and Elsie. They are dancing buddies. They remind me of Mandi and I some years ago.


Guess who joins the dancing world next fall. Yep, it's Rylee's turn. However there's not much girl about her except for the girlie clothes we dress her in. Who knows, she might surprise us!!


She's practicing here and showing us that she too can dance!!

Temple Square

Another favorite tradition for us is to visit Temple Square and see all the lights. Our friends the Carters were sweet enough to invite us to come along with them. We ate a delicious dinner at The Pantry in the basement of the Lion House. I worked at the Lion House while I attended Weber State some years ago. It was fun to be back there and to enjoy the yummy rolls. After our very good dinner we headed outside in the cold to enjoy all the beautiful colors of the temple grounds.

It was cold, but we all managed to stay warm.

The lights were as pretty as ever. It's amazing how many strands of lights they can string on one tree.

We went inside the Visitors Center to warm up a bit and to see the Christus. While in there, Rylee decided to make some new friends. She went and sat next to these girls and cuddled right into the one girl to get warm. She sat there the entire time we were in there and didn't move. She didn't want to leave either. We have no idea who these girls are, but they loved Rylee. They took pictures too to blog about Rylee. She's such a social bug!!

These pictures were taken from the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. The girls thought it was cool to be up so high looking down on Temple Square.

BEAUTIFUL!!

Happy, Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to you and you and you! A couple of weekends ago was birthday celebration for us. We had 3 birthdays right in a row.

Happy 34th Birthday Dan!!

We love you!

Happy "39 & HOLDING" Birthday Grandma Debbie!!

(I'm still trying to figure that one out because I am 32!)

Happy Birthday Grandma Deanna!!

We miss you!

We took a little tree over to the grave site to celebrate Deanna's birthday. She passed away a year and a half ago from cancer.

Christmas Candle Light Dinner

One of our favorite family traditions is our Christmas Candle Light Dinner. It's the one night of the year that we eat the best, give cheers to our blessings and best wishes to the new year, get new ornaments for the tree, check out all the Christmas lights around town, and get our picture taken with Santa (that's Dan's favorite part)! My Mom & Dad do all the work and they love this night. We have done this dinner since I was--well I can't remember back that far. The table is set beautifully, with no extra room on it. It's filled with fun surprises and yummy desserts.

This year we had a few extra Elves running around the house helping. My Mom had these hats made and gave to the girls. They loved having them on all night.

My brother Doug and his wife Paola were in town from Rhode Island. It was an extra special treat having them here to enjoy this celebration! Our girls love these guys and miss them while they are in RI but get all their attention while they are here.

We also had Grandpa and Grandma Cowdell (my Mom's parents) there to help us celebrate. We always love having them around too!!

After dinner, it was time to see Santa. Rylee didn't like him very much so she just stood in front. Later we did get her on Baylee's lap. That's as close as she would go.

Every year growing up we had to sit on Santa's lap, even when I got married. Lucky Dan to have married into this family! My Mom made Dan a deal that when we had kids we wouldn't have to sit on Santa's lap anymore. When Baylee came around 7 years ago, she took center stage and Dan and I were free of Santa--UNTIL this year. The last picture she has of us sitting on his lap was when I was pregnant and VERY SICK. I look like I'm going to lose is all over Santa and his white beard. Since Doug and Paola were in, we had a family picture update.

Everybody say "CHEESE"!

We have a ton of fun on this night. We laugh and cry together and build new memories every year. I think I am still full though from all the good and I mean good food!! Until next year. Cheers!!

Turkey Day

As always, Thanksgiving was another successful day of eating. We enjoyed two turkey dinners, one with my family and one with Dan's family. You could say we gobbled 'til we wobbled!! It was a fun day to reflect on all our blessings. We have so many!

(Sorry Dowdles, I didn't get any pictures at Dave's house--I left the extra memory stick at home!)