AVATAR

Brian and I saw Avatar opening weekend and all I can say is WOW! It was quite the experience. Initially I thought from the previews it looked stupid, but I didn't say anything to Brian because he happily went to New Moon with me... but it really was SO good! I wouldn't mind paying the big bucks to go see it again.

Brian has been playing in a bball tournament all day at Skyline and so far they are undefeated. GO BRIAN! All this bball playing has given me a chance to play with my new Christmas present, a flash for my camera (pictures to come). Here is a picture I got to play around with late last night though. The story with this pic is the camera actually went off by accident and I usually hate when mouths are cut off of pics, but her eyes looked so gorgeous here I decided to play around with it in photo shop with some new actions. Well back to more games and then down to Utah we go. Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Brian's Lil' Helper

Another Sadie moment...

2009 in Review

I didn't send out a Christmas letter this year only because it was so much easier just to slap a picture in an envelope and send it off, but I have finally got around to writing one (just because I bet it will be fun for posterity reasons) so here goes nothing...

Dear Family and Friends,

We hope you have had a wonderful 2009! Here is an update on the past year at the Stewart home.

Sadie is 17 month old and on the verge of going to nursery. All three of us have been looking forward to this day ever since she turned one. Sadie day consists of running all over the house and climbing on whatever is in site. She is a very happy, healthy little girl that is constantly talking and repeating everything we say (sometimes to our dismay). Our biggest challenge is getting Sadie to eat anything other than fruit snacks which she calls “Emily” (we're not sure why).

Brian is in his fourth year working for Nitro Security as a software engineer and really enjoys finding and destroying “bugs”. He has been kept busy as the Stake Athletics Coordinator and Ward Activities Chairman (Brian was actually just released today). He's also been keeping up his basketball skills with old high school buddies. He is such a great dad to Sadie and has completely drained all her energy by the time it is ready to put her to bed which I am always grateful for. They have got a pretty good circus routine (as I like to call it) that consists of Sadie balancing on one leg and flying through the air. He is going back to school in January to get his MBA from Idaho State University and we are so proud of him for all that he be juggles.

Kelly is big and pregnant and expecting baby girl, Emelia aka Emmy, sometime around Valentine's Days. I am having so much fun being a Mom to Sadie and watching her learn new things each day. This year I have spent a lot of time taking pictures for friends and family and am excited for this little girl to come some I have another subject for my little photo shoots.

We are so grateful for this time of the year to remember the birth of our Savior and hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas season!

All our love,

The Stewart Family

My year in review outline got deleted!!! Dang it... I will have to try this over again when I get a min...

January -

February - Brian turns 29. Kelly gets called to YW to be a Mia Maid advisor. Brian gets called to be the Activities Chairman.

March -Trip to Hawaii

April - Celebrated our 5th yr. anniversary

May -

June - 15th found out I was pregnant with Baby #2.

July - Sadie turns one year old!

August -

September -

October -

November - Brian takes the MBA and score a bazillion.

December - Brian accepted to ISU. Brian is released from being the Ward Activities Chairman (and what a relief that was!)

The Days Before Christmas

Sunday evening we got really ambitious, changed out of our PJ's and took a family picture in front of our tree before going out to see Christmas lights around town. Brian created a very really nice little scene around the tree, I figured out how to use the timer on my new camera, and Sadie didn't break her necklace, so all in all I say it was a success.

Last Monday for FHE we went out Christmas tree shopping. Brian said I got to get a full tree this year because that is what I had growing up in Oregon. Our friend told us about a lot across town where her cousin was selling trees and was a good deal. I couldn't be any more excited when I saw the trees were from Oregon. They were cut only two days before we picked it up too so it was so fresh and smells wonderful!

Here is our Christmas tree progression throughout the years. I really think our tree back in 07' was pretty cool too. We called it "the Spear".

Sadie was all excited to go on an outing and then knocked off about ten minutes into the drive, but now that the tree is up she likes to roll around under it and really enjoy the lights.

We rented Julie & Julia this last weekend and the movie was a bit dull, but really good at the same time (Meryl Streep is pretty awesome in it) and after the movie we must have been in a weird mood because we challenged each other to a photography dual (this has been happening quite a bit lately) to see who could get the coolest picture of the tree... I think I declare myself the winner!

Christmas Photoshoot

I found this temporary calendar to use until I complete my super duper advent I have been working on the past few weeks and according to the advent, poor Sadie and I had to venture out into the freezing cold weather to have a Christmas photoshoot! You can't ignore what the advent says...don't even try it!


I have come to realize that every photo shoot is easier with an assistant and I did not have one this day, so I was lucky to even get Sadie to sit still for a second and look at me. I think I will retry this one and take Brian with me to work his magic behind the scenes.


She still looks very pretty though!


On a side note, Sadie has reached the age where she is starting to throw fits and thinks life is too hard for a baby (and looking at the bruise on her head, it really just might be) but there is always a sure way to make her happy for a good ten minutes or so. THE BATH!



On another sidenote, I think this picture looks a lot like me when I was Sadie's age. Mom - you are going to have to verify this one. I really should look through my pictures to post a side-by-side comparison shot, but that would take some effort and being 31 weeks prego I get to use the lazy card every now and again.

My Man is Famous

He made it onto Google Maps. Now how many people can say that?!?


The sky looks cool in this last one!

Ward Christmas Party

Last night was the Ward Christmas Party. Brian is the Activities Committee Chairman (not to mention the Stake Athletics Coordinator (they like to keep him busy)) so he got to put it all together. The YW were in charge of the crafts for the children (which I was over) and I was taking pictures of everyone with Santa (Brian and Sadie were both sick with a head cold too) so it was a bit of a frantic day for us. To make things more stressful the party started at 6pm and BYU-Idaho hadn't shown up with the ham (the main part of the meal) until 5 mins before it all started. In the end it all came together and was a wonderful night. Nice work Brian!

Here is a picture of us with Santa in 2008

and now in 2009. It looks like the roles have reversed. Brian is super skinny and lets just say that Emmy and I are enjoying lots of holiday treats. Sadie is about twice as long as last year too!

Here is our sweet little four month old in 2008

and now in 2009, a fitting picture of how my little girl has been feeling with her head cold.

I decided I was going to take a huge leap and shoot all the Christmas pictures in manual mode. Thank goodness for RAW images. I had to change the white balance in all the pictures because of the horrid fluorescent lights. I feel proud/lucky that the majority of the pictures turned out!

Thanksgiving at the Thurman's

We spent Thanksgiving with my family in Lehi, Utah. I think we took a nap every day while we were there (it was so refreshing!) We also watched Four Christmases (stupid) and My Sister's Keeper (loved it) in my parents sweet theater room.

Here is my brother Nick, his wife Erica, and Zekie sporting some stylin' boots.


After we ate the big Thanksgiving feast we went for a walk to the park and saw some horses along the way. Sadie was giving them lots of kisses as she does with most everyone these days. She has a lot of love to share!

Brian and I drove to Provo one day while my Mom watched Sadie. It was fun to eat at Los Hermanos (highschool memories) and drive around looking at the the places we had lived. We also walked around University Mall where I worked while I was in HS.

Saturday night after watching the exciting BYU game we all went and saw the lights on Temple Square. Sadie fell asleep within the first ten minutes so it was a pretty peaceful night. It was much warmer than when we went last year.

Here is my sister Katie and her four men!

I had a quick impromptu photoshoot with my parents for their Christmas card. Aren't they just the cutest couple!?!

We had a very fun Thanksgiving. Thanks fam! While we were there we had a early Christmas exchange where everyone got their Christmas countdown blocks that Brian and I had made and a questionable Christmas Mix CD.

Merry Christmas to Me!

I just finished making two free calendar from American Greetings and I love how they turned out. There has been so many awesome Internet deals lately I can hardly contain myself:)