it's almost christmas..but you wouldn't know it looking outside

most of the country right now is being hit with snow and ice storms. mail has been halted to a stop in some cities, including marysville, where we're from. our brother nayt works for the post office and slid into a ditch in his mail truck the other day. thankfully, he's okay. all over the states, schools are being canceled and people are freezing. water pipes are bursting in houses because of the cold and football players are playing games with zero visibility.....for crying out loud, the vegas strip was under a foot of snow!!! but here, in arizona, not the case. in fact, we are not trapped by snow at all. landon, jordan, and i went to the park today and hung out. it was a beautiful day, maybe in hte 60's somewhere for temperature. it wasn't even cold enough for me to opt for closed toes shoes, so i rocked the flip flops. it was great for us in arizona. i really miss the snow though. it always makes me think of nights by the fireplace, cocoa, and big comfy blankets. we've only turned out heat on twice so far. not to brag or rub it in the faces of those shoveling snow off their driveways, or wearing eight layers just to get to the mailbox..not at all. i'll trade you a week or so of this weather to even this season as it was intended to be enjoyed.

anyway, christmas is almost here! we finally got one room of our house looking festive. we hung our stockings and i stacked all the presents under the tree. this could have waited a few days, but it makes the room feel warmer somehow. they are alittle too tempting for landon, however. he keeps going over and picking up the lightest ones and carrying them to us. here is, busted, sitting amongst the gifts. it'll be so exciting to watch him open them, or try at least. last year, he slept through christmas morning because he was only a few weeks old. hopefully he likes what we picked out for him. oh! and we are proud to report that landon has been off the bottle for almost a month now...baby bottle that is. we've made a transition into sippy cup. new years resolution for landon will be to give up his binky, which i anticipate to be harder then giving up the bottle.

we will be enjoying christmas with logan, felicia, baby taylor, and kyle. we are doing a christmas brunch, instead of a big dinner. everyone gets to come in their pajamas and we're going to have our gift exchange. got a big family?? do as the dunns do! we do a secret santa and everyone picks one other person to give a gift too. we all try to keep it a secret until christmas, and in past years it has been pretty much gone to the spoils, but now that the younger kids has grown up a bit and can actually keep their secrets, there is more mystery this year. it's worked pretty well. jordan and i give a family gift to the washington dunns and they give a family gift to us too. we don't know what we're getting this year, because we didn't decide in time, so we are left to our own devices in check form. we'll do something fun with it, i'm sure.

so again, merry christmas to all of you who follow this blog and anyone new to see it! love and joy to everyone!