Bringing in the New Year with my BFF!

The main reason I agreed to our "Western Tour Christmas Vacation" was that we would get to drive through Las Vegas and see my best friend, Kelly. Kelly and I lived on the same floor in the dorms at BYU and the rest is history. Here are Nate and her sweet husband, Erik, with the Ahlander's adorable twins, Addie & Berklie.

Here are Harrison and Parker waiting to be seated at the yummy pizza place we went to.

I love that our kids' genders and ages line up perfectly. We were thrilled to see how well all the kids got along.

They loved the cotton candy that the restaurant sent us home with.

Silly!

My kids (all kids, actually) adore Kelly and I wish we lived close enough to share more everyday moments like this. P.S. Parker, who was almost 6 could read this chapter book flawlessly. Am I comparing? Yes. Am I jealous? Yes.

We left the kids with a sitter and went to two fun New Year's Eve parties. Fondue was eaten, games were played, sparkling grape juice was sipped, kisses were given.

I've always dreamed that Parker and Harrison will live together at BYU like Kelly and I (and our little brothers, Travis and Brad) did. When they both had on BYU shirts, I thought I should take pictures to hang in their future apartment.

Kelly and I have been through lots of major milestones of life together. We both majored in Elementary Education (took lots of the classes together, student taught at the same school), we graduated at the same time, got married the same summer, taught 3rd grade for three years (one of those was 2nd for Kell), and we both had our first baby boy in 2004. Here we are pregnant for the first time. She was almost due (look how tiny she is!) and I was barely pregnant.

Next we were pregnant with girls. Except, this time she had twins and I only had one. She was 7 months and I was 4 months.

Now we are pregnant with boys again! For once, I am ahead of her (which makes sense considering this is my 3rd child and her 4th!) Here I am at 8 months and she's 4 1/2 months.

Isn't that the cutest little bump? The sad thing is, we both want 4, so she'll be done and I'll have to do it by myself next time! It has been so fun to share all the excitement and woes of pregnancy together. Plus, the experiences of raising children who are the same gender and age.

We had so much fun visiting the Ahlanders! Thanks guys for accommodating and entertaining us. We love you and wish we could see you more!

Here's to a terrific 2010!