Playing with new camera

I got an early Christmas present last week--a new camera (Canon T3i). I'm trying really hard to learn how to use the manual settings on it, instead of just using auto like I usually did with my previous camera. I've known about aperture, shutter speed, ISO, etc. for a long time but never forced myself to practice a lot with my other camera. With this new DSLR camera, I'm determined to get out of auto. I still need to practice a LOT and still find myself changing that dial to auto just to make sure I get a somewhat decent shot but I am getting better. Here are some snapshots from last week:

11/30:

{Notice the "Mom" heart tattoo on Makenna's arm that I discovered when I first changed her that morning--I'm sure I don't have to say who did it!}:

{They like playing in this cardboard box! This is why Jared thinks they don't need any new toys for Christmas or their birthday.}:

{Avery's "squishy-face grin that she often does}:

12/1:

{Bath time!}:

{Bad hair day! She has a lot of those, ha ha!}:

12/2:

{Eating chicken noodle soup because they both had runny noses}:

LSU did win the SEC Championship last Sat., so we are still undefeated and #1 and we're headed to the National Championship next month! GEAUX TIGERS!!!

I put out Christmas decorations last week but we just decorated the tree tonight. I'll do another post tomorrow about that. We have such a busy few weeks coming up!:

• Stake Nativity activity 12/9
• Crittenden family Christmas party 12/10 (there is also a company party that evening but we chose to attend the family party)
  
• The twins' 1st birthday party 12/17 in the mid-morning and our ward Christmas party that night
• The girls' 1-year check-up 12/21
• Fly to Louisiana 12/24!!!
• Do Santa photos and 1-year-old portraits, finish Christmas shopping/preparations, and get ready for the trip somewhere in all of that!
  

I'm trying hard not to go crazy but I'm sure I'll get it all done somehow or, what I don't get done, won't really matter. I suppose this is how Decembers will be for me for a long time! Like they weren't already busy enough with out a birthday thrown in there! I am really excited about everything, though! I wish everyone one a very Happy Holiday!!!!!

The twins' first Thanksgiving!!!

I took the girls shopping on 11/23 (the day before Thanksgiving) to get the stuff for the veggie tray I was assigned to bring. I thought they were too cute in the outfits their Aunt Carrie gave them and had to snap some photos before we left:
Sweet, sweet girls!!!!

We left the house at 9am Thursday morning and hung out at Jared's mom's house for a bit before going to his cousin's house for Thanksgiving dinner. The girls had fun playing with their cousin, Daisy--Daisy was staying with Grandma because her parents were with her little brother in the hospital (bleeding on the brain from a couple of bad falls he's taken lately--that age where they want to do brave, fun things but are too clumsy to pull most of it off). We sure missed them at Thanksgiving dinner!
We took a few pics before eating dinner:
The girls wouldn't take a nap on their own in a strange place, so Daddy sat with them in a recliner and they put him to sleep:We had a really nice time hanging out with family. It was a great Thanksgiving. After we left his cousin's house, we went back to my MIL's house and just visited with her and Daisy for a while. We then stopped by the hospital so Jared could help our BIL give our nephew a blessing. He was able to leave the hospital the next day and is doing much better.

We had my brother, Tim, over yesterday to watch the LSU game. We skunked Arkansas and are 12-0 for the first time ever! :) We are headed to the SEC championship next week! GEAUX TIGERS!!!!!

Portraits--Blessing Dresses and Christmas Dresses!

We went and had pictures taken on Sat. It was much more stressful than I had anticipated! The girls weren't their usual smiling selves--we were acting quite the fools trying to get them to crack the slightest smiles. Then, they would smile for just a millisecond, before the camera could get the shot. We didn't get as great of pictures as I had hoped for but we got some pretty good ones. Here are our faves:
We bought a CD of all the pics that were taken. If anyone wants prints of any of these shots, let me know which one(s) and what size(s).

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving!! I hope everyone has a great Turkey Day!!!

Weekend guests and a really cute video!

The day after my parents left, Jared's mom (JaNene), brother (Jason), and one of his sisters (Stephanie) and her baby came over and hung out; I got a game of Boggle in with Jason and JaNene; his sister, nephew and brother spent the night. Stephanie's SIL and her boyfriend came over for dinner that night, as well, and we all played Just Dance 2. We played Guitar Hero after they left. Stephanie had a rough night with her baby, Luke, so she stayed home and napped with him while the rest of us went to church and got to see the Primary Program (our Primary is RIDICULOUSLY BIG!!!); JaNene had come back over in time to go to church with us. It was a fun weekend with them. The girls had fun playing with their cousin and Makenna even learned how to scream from him--it's pretty funny that she does it all the time now! They had fun climbing on Uncle Jason, too:
Here's an exceptionally cute video of Makenna cracking up at me when I went to get them after a nap on 11/18:

Was that cute or what?! Ü

Last week {11/7-11/11}

After the long, busy, exciting, exhausting, etc. weekend of the sealing and blessings, my parents and I just vegged around the house with the girls on Monday. I felt bad that Jared had to work. On Tues., my parents and I took the girls to eat at Wingers with Kiki, Wyatt, and Nikki:

{I put the girls in LSU outfits, with leg warmers I made from socks and flowers and headbands I made}:

{It was the first time the girls sat in high chairs in a restaurant and ate some of my food}:

{Kiki & Mom}:
{cute little Wy-wy}:
{Me, Dad, Nikki}:

After eating, we went and checked out Nikki's new apt., then went and hung out at Kiki's for a while. My dad got sick while at Kiki's and didn't feel well until Thurs., so we didn't do much Tues. night or all day Wed. Kiki did come over on Wed. with her kids and we played Candy Land:

Thursday, we went to Jared's great-aunt's funeral, followed by a luncheon, and were gone all day. My parents got to spend just a short while with the girls before they went to bed. The girls and I brought my parents to the airport the next mid-morning. I got pics of them with the girls before we left:
I wish my dad hadn't gotten sick so we could have done more but it was kind of nice to just relax and let them see the girls in their normal environment. We had some of Jared's family stay with us Sat.-Sun.--I'll post more about that later....

The blessings

We blessed the girls on Nov. 6, the day after the sealing. The girls wore the same white dresses as they did in the temple. They were good during the blessings, thanks to Jared's cousin sneaking treats to them during the blessings, ha ha! The blessings were beautiful. We had lots of family there. We had a luncheon at our house afterward and we had 75 guests in our house (plus Jared & I & the girls)! I was nervous the floor was gonna collapse! We had so much food--we bought several different meats, cheeses, rolls, chips, and drinks and I made four dozen cupcakes (white & chocolate with vanilla frosting) and five dozen chocolate chip cookies. Kiki brought a baked turkey that we also used with the rolls and many people brought different things--3 types of chili, salad, pasta salad, Jello salad, cookies, other treats, fruit, pie, etc. It was Crazy Town in our house but it was wonderful. So many people who love and support our family. :)

We took a picture of the girls with Jared and his dad and grandpa--4 generations:
Can you believe we didn't get any pictures of the girls in their white dresses that day or any of the four of us together? Jared had gone to the church early to meet with the bishop first so we weren't able to take pictures before and the girls were so tired and grumpy after church that we took their dresses off and put them to bed right away, then just put them in skirts when they woke up. We're planning on doing family pictures this weekend, though, and will get some of the girls in their dresses. The pics from the sealing are great but I didn't get any that showed the details of their dresses--it was snowing too much!

We were so exhausted after everyone left that evening but we can count the blessing day as another awesome day in the lives of the Crittendens. :)

Best Day EVER!!!

On Nov. 5, the twins were sealed to me and Jared in the Salt Lake temple. It was such an amazing day. We got to the temple when we were supposed to, despite hitting some snow and seeing several car wrecks. We were handed over to a very nice lady, Sis. Dyktra, who served as our guide for the day. She took us everywhere we needed to go. They brought us to the children's center first, where we dropped off the girls and their white dresses. The temple workers tended them and got them dressed while we went and took care of paperwork and changed into temple clothing. Once we were dressed, we were brought to the Celestial Room to wait until it was time for the sealing. We waited a few minutes for the sealer, Bro. Smi0th, and had a quick chat with him, then we went into sealing room #7 and Bro. Smith talked for a few minutes while we waited for the temple workers to bring the girls to us. They were brought to us into two white strollers, all dressed and beautiful in their white dresses. The girls were both so quiet through the whole sealing. Makenna just stared at me the whole time while Avery stared at our hands. There was such a sweet, peaceful feeling in there. I can't explain the feeling of knowing that the girls are now ours both legally and eternally. We are an eternal family and I can't be more grateful. We were able to hug all of our guests afterward, then we went and took pictures with all of our guests, then with just our little family. Here are some of them (taken by Kiki, who did a fabulous job!)--it was snowing big flakes so we got some beautiful pictures and the girls actually loved the snow:

Everyone in our group (except a couple of Jared's sisters) went out to eat after we left the temple. While Jared and I were changing out of our white clothes, Kiki had changed the girls out of their white dresses into some LSU outfits that I had recently made:[Aunt Kiki]:

We were then able to go to one of Jared's sister's place for a surprise birthday party for another sister. We had fun hanging out with Jared's family for a few hours. [More glimpes of the LSU outfits]:

THEN, we got home just in time to watch the LSU game with my family (my parents, Kiki and her family, Nikki & Tim). An amazing day was ended by an amazing over-time win against Bama on their field! Yep, pretty much the best day of my life! Very busy and exhausting but so awesome! :)