Dillon and Alicia Dance Family

Sorry it has taken me so long to get this one posted, so I'll give a quick update at the end about what we are doing now.

We spent Christmas in Wyoming with Dillon's family this year. We actually had two Christmas get-togethers. Sunday before we left to Wyoming we exchanged gifts with my family. Everyone had a great time because they got to open their presents early, because they had to go to Aztec on Christmas Eve to run the wagons at the Fantasy of Lights. We left and got to Wyoming late on Sunday. Sierra was great in the car because she slept the whole way. At Dillon's house they exchange gifts with the family on Christmas Eve, different than my family's tradition, and their Santa gifts on Christmas morning. Christmas Eve was on a Monday so Cindy did a small family home evening, reading us letters from Duke out in the mission field. Shawni and Dexan did a skit telling the Christmas Story, that Dillon narrated on the spot from the scriptures. It was really cute. Then Dillon and I had prepared our part of family home evening with a slide show about Mary and Jesus Christ, called "Mary Did You Know?" something we found on the internet. This was my first Christmas away from my family so I was scared, but it was okay. They definately have different traditions than my family. In my family we have finger-foods and snacks while we open gifts on Christmas Eve (because Santa comes on Christmas Eve). At Dillon's house they had a big nice Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve and use the left-overs for Christmas day because that is Cindy's day off for the year. We really had a great time and a fun vacation while we were there. I got to go on one of my first snowmobile rides with Dillon and it was fun! I was scared but really enjoyed it.

The other thing I want to share with you are a couple traditions in my family that we do around Christmas. One is we always choose a family, or two, to do the 12 days of Christmas. This year we chose two families from our ward, one who is a part-member family with the dad investigating the church; and the other is an inactive family who has really gone through some tough times lately. I always wanted to just do it the easy way and not get caught. Dillon wanted to do it the "fun" way and be sneaky and not get caught. We did this together with my family and everyone really had a lot of fun.
The other tradition is my parents always did the 12 days to us with a little twist. Each day for 12 days before Christmas we opened a gift that my mom put out at night with a note. On the first day we always recieve a Christmas ornament and when you move out you have 18 ornaments to take with you and have at your first Christmas. The rest of the days we got socks, toothbrushes, candy, deoderant, etc. just small cheap things that we needed and would enjoy. My parents started this when my little brother was a toddler because he always wanted to open his gifts. So my mom and dad started to do the 12 days and he would be allowed to open a gift every day to pacify him and save a fight with my parents. So I wanted to carry on the tradition with Sierra. She got her first Christmas ornament, a lot of socks, and some baby food. I think it will be more fun next year when Sierra is older.

Sierra got to spend her first New Year's in Wyoming also. We stayed up watching movies and played games with the family. She stayed up later than usual, but fell fast asleep and enjoyed the new year the next morning. One night she was up past 10:00 and Shawni and Dexan started talking silly to her and she laughed and laughed. It was so funny because she laughed really hard for about 15 minutes. By the end of the 15 minutes she was laughing hard, but without a smile on her face. It was almost like she couldn't make herself quit laughing. It was pretty funny.

Now Sierra is trying to crawl. She is so funny because she lunges. She will get up on her hands and knees and scoot her knees near her elbows and then lunge herself forward by throwing her arms out. If she isn't doing that she army crawls or rolls around everywhere. She always gets where she wants to. Dillon is still coaching wrestling and will be taking the kids to regionals this weekend. He is in the Elder's Quorum Presidency and I am still in the Young Women's Presidency. I am still staying home with Sierra and hanging out with my mom, and I am going to start watching my sister's kids for extra money within the next couple of weeks. That's what we are doing and we are looking forward to better weather in life.

Hope all is well with all you, we send our love, Dillon, Alicia, and Sierra Dance.

We spent Thanksgiving in Colorado with my family this year. Sierra had so much fun that she slept through dinner. Funny, but true. When she woke up we all gathered together to attempt taking a family picture (with 11 people). If you all have the same experience with this as we do, it was a tough task. We managed to get the picture and dinner over before anybody got to upset. Dillon and I also tried to take our family picture. That was also a tough task, but we got an okay picture with all three of us looking in the camera's direction. Other than Thanksgiving we have been just doing the same ol' thing. Dillon works and has been having a good time coaching wrestling. He has become the "official short-bus driver," and I took pictures because it is funny to see him drive a bus. We get to go on some wrestling trips with him.The high school wrestlers are a lot more enthusiastic so I think it is going better for him, as a coach. Sierra and I just hang out with my mom and each other. Sierra did get sick a few weeks ago, but she is doing better now. She is talking a lot and has even rolled over for the first time. She goes from her back to her stomach and then gets mad. She has also had her first foods: sweet potatoes, carrots, and cereal. She loves eating. When we feed her she starts smiling and kicking her feet with excitement. She weighs about 12lbs 11oz now. She is doing great, and she is a joy to have in our life. She is such a good baby and is at a really fun age as she begins to discover the world around her. Dillon has a new calling in church, in the Elders Quorum Presidency and I am still in Young Womens. With work and our church callings we keep pretty busy. Things are going pretty good with us and we are having a good time. We are looking forward to going to Wyoming for Christmas, for a small vacation.
We will probably do another update after Christmas, until then hope you all have a great holiday season.
Love you all, Dillon, Alicia, and Sierra Dance