Harper's First Christmas

Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho!  Isn't this just the cutest little elf you've ever seen?  Brian, Kade and I were able to go and spend Harper's first Christmas with her in Idaho.  We traveled up to Boise on Sunday morning and spent Sunday-Thursday with Rory and Abby and Harper.  We enjoyed a great Christmas Eve dinner with Abby's brother Jesse and his wife Melissa and their cute daughters.  Abby made hot ham and cheese sandwiches that were so yummy. 

This is Harper and her cute cousin Lauren on Christmas Eve.

Kade, Melissa, Harper, Lauren and Reese on Christmas Eve. 

Of course Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without new Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve.  In the pictures below Uncle Kade helps Harper model her first pair of Christmas jammies.  She sure looked darling in them! 

There was no shortage to people to hold Harper.  I think everyone would agree she is the best present our family received this year.  Here are pictures of her with Grandpa and Grammy and her Mommy and Daddy. 

Harper made sure she had a present for Mommy too.  Can you say major blowout?

Harper's stocking and some of the presents she received.  Uncle Kade was excited to give Harper a rocking horse. 

Christmas Letter

Because I went to the effort of writing our annual Christmas letter and now I'm probably not going to get it mailed out, I'm posting it here:

Just click on the picture if you want it to be larger so you can read it. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

How many people does it take to...............

get one tiny baby ready to leave the hospital?  We've all heard the jokes.  How many people does it take to do whatever?  Well, how many people does it take to get one little baby ready to leave the hospital?  The answer is two if they are first time parents.  We snapped these pictures of Rory and Abby getting ready to take Harper home from the hospital.

 

And here she is all ready to leave the hospital and take her first ride in the car.  Or at least we thought she was ready.  Making sure the car seat base was in the car correctly was a whole different ordeal. 

Calling all angels........

Boy have things changed since I had a baby.  Look at the darling pictures they took of Harper in the hospital.  I didn't even get pictures of Kade.  They sent a note in the mail about a week after we were home that said, "Sorry the pictures of your baby didn't turn out".  I was pretty upset.  The pictures (or should I say picture because we only received one pose just in different sizes) of Rory were pretty much just looking straight down at him right after he was born.  They took these pictures of Harper the morning after she was born and cleaned up.  I loved all of them.  She is truly a little angel.  

Welcome to the world......Harper JoAnn Bell

September 27, 2012, a day I will remember forever!  What a wonderful experience I was able to be a part of today.  I was able to watch my first grandchild be born.  Rory and Abby allowed Grandma Julie and I to be in the delivery room when the little darling made her debut.  Words just can't express the joy I felt when I saw this tiny bundle of joy for the first time.  Its a memory that I will cherish forever. Our perfect little angel weighed 7lbs 5ozs and was 20 1/2 inches long.  She opened her beautiful brown eyes immediately and looked around as if to say, "Here I am everyone, are you excited to meet me?" 

This is one of the very first pictures of many that were taken of her that day.

 

We still didn't know what her name was going to be.  As soon as the Grandpas were invited into the room, Rory announced that her name would be Harper JoAnn Bell.  Grandpa Bell started to tear up a little bit when he heard this because his Mother's name is JoAnn too.  I hope that little Harper grows up with many of the same qualities that her great grandmother JoAnn has.  Grandma JoAnn was a very loving and caring person.  Always taking care of others and had a strong testimony of the gospel.  I hope Harper will always be proud to share her name. 



Getting weighed---7 lbs. 5 ozs. 



First set of footprints

First family photo.  How precious!! 



Meeting the grandparents for the first time

Grandpa Bell



Papa Gene and Grandma Julie

Grandma Leesee

Our new toy......

I finally talked Brian into buying a new toy (well I actually didn't have to talk very hard).  Last year Grandpa Jack bought a Razr side by side.  It has been so much fun to ride that I thought Brian and I needed one as well.  We bought a 2012 Razr 900.  We love it and can't wait until it gets a little bit warmer so we can ride more.   

It's A Girl!!!!

Abby went in for an ultrasound today and we found out that Baby Bell is going to be a girl.  I am beyond excited about this news.  Both of my children are boys and I have always wanted a little girl to buy cute clothes and shoes for and now that is finally going to happen.  Bring on the shopping sprees!!!!!  Of course, Grandpa Bell already knew that the baby was going to be a girl.  He told me that he had a dream about a dark headed, brown eyed little girl after Rory and Abby announced they were expecting and knew she was going to be his granddaughter.  We shall see if this baby has dark hair and brown eyes. 

Ultrasound pic showing "It's A Girl!"