Merry Christmas 2008

We had 4 Christmases this year: my mom the weekend before, Kevin's family on Christmas Eve, my dad on Christmas day, and Kevin, Reed (well, he was sleeping), and I later on that night. Here are a few pictures...

Reed and I at my mom's Christmas--matching :)


How awesome is this retro sweater?! Reed wore this the Sunday before Christmas.


Santa's elf and future Santa's elf (he's in training). My sister-in-law found the greatest onesie of all time: "elf apprentice." I dress up like this on Christmas Eve. I hope that makes you smile.


Christmas morning in Alpine.


Reed's Christmas pj's, with a butt flap! And thanks to Kevin, I now own pj's with a butt flap too!


This was expected...


I love this little man.


We did buy him one toy.


We also did a Pie Competition with Kevin's family. Kevin and I submitted a Fruit of the Forest pie, but Whitney and Marty's Key Lime Pie won (it was sooooo good, and I don't even like limes). All the pies I tried were delicious (I couldn't try the chocolate pies....did I tell you I can't eat chocolate? It's very sad.).


I was finally able to play in the snow! My brother-in-law, Chris, watched Reed, so Allie and I could build the world's funniest snowman. I don't know why, but I think it was hilarious. Six balls. That's funny.

Let it snow!

I look out my blinds every morning to see if it had snowed, and this is what I saw this morning: a Winter Wonderland!

I LOVE SNOW!!! I missed out on last year's awesome winter, because I was pregnant. Of course I still saw the snow, but I like to play in the snow. My family (and some friends) call me the first snowfall of the season (that's how much I like it). I can't wait to go sledding, build snowmen, etc. I even like to shovel, because then I'm outside in the snow. I really wish Reed was old enough to play with me.

Work Party

Kevin's work Christmas party was held at the Grand America hotel in SLC. We had to place our dinner order days in advance and they rented tuxedos for all the male employees. I had to find a fancy dress as well. We were excited about 5 star restaurant food, but neither Kevin nor I are "ritzy" (I never even went to prom). I don't want to go into too much detail of the night, because I've annoyed myself just thinking about it (does anyone else ever do that?), but here are a few phrases that would capture the night:

Awesome food!
Awkward conversations with people I don't know.
Boring speeches about the company.
Rock-paper-scissors tournament.
Cleavage everywhere.

That about sums it up. Oh, and not to mention that I felt like I was in Zoolander: music, lights, skanks, etc. Nonetheless, we were glad we went for the free dinner.

Grand America Hotel

I forgot to bring my camera in the hotel, so this is just in front of Kevin's parent's Christmas tree (wow, am I really short or is Kevin really tall?).

Is it December?

So I know the Church is true and everything, but I must admit that it's hard to go to church when they don't sing Christmas hymns in December! Not one this past Sunday! I was close to approaching the person who chose the hymns, but I wasn't sure who it was. But for real. We have 11 other months of the year to sing the same 25 hymns, so why aren't we singing Christmas hymns? What are we waiting for?! Grrr...Grinches.

Festival of Trees

It's become a family tradition to go to the Festival of Trees every year. Kevin and I even went when we were dating. I love it! It just gets me into the Christmas spirit. Here are some of my favorite trees this year...



This one was wooden and had balls that traveled down it (can you see it?).



Marshmallow tree!



The best one there. Made from blown glass. And lights flashed to the sound of music--so cool!



Frog tree for "the Frog" (that's Reed's nickname).



I totally thought Reed would be into it (I'm not sure why), but he seemed more interested in all the people rather than the trees. Maybe next year.



Random picture of Reed and his buddy Asher. Reed loves Asher! Asher rolled onto Reed, and Reed put his hand on Asher's head. So cute! (Oh, the little things in life). :)

Dunkin' Donuts

I have the best dad in the whole world. Remember when I was craving Dunkin' Donuts mid-pregnancy? Well, that craving never went away. My dad took a business trip to Atlanta and brought 1/2 dozen back! I was very, very happy! :)

Pizza and Turkey

The weekend before Thanksgiving, our family held our first annual food competition. And pizza was the dish this year. Each family had to make their own pizza and bring it to our apartment for the judging. We sampled all the pizzas and had some impartial judges (thanks Ryan and Jayna) to add their votes to ours and add the scores up. Turns out, Kevin won with his alfredo philly cheese steak pizza and got a "silver-plated" pizza cutter to mount on the wall. Bob and I tied for second (I did traditional sausage and mushroom and Bob's was just fancy...he's a very good cook). It was a lot of fun and I look forward to competing every year!








We drove up to Idaho for Thanksgiving. My sister and brother-in-law also went, and we spent those few days playing a ton of board games (Allie could play board games all day long; I seriously remembered Monopoly lasting 2-3 days when we were little because she would make the bank loan out money). It was relaxing for the most part and Reed was really spoiled by my mom and sister (we're still recovering).




And then Saturday morning, we left Idaho at 5am to make it to my old roommate and very good friend, Britney's wedding in Bountiful. The temple sealing was awesome (I may have been more excited than the bride or groom), because I also know her now husband. She married her freshman boyfriend, Matt. He went on a mission, she dated someone else semi-seriously, they tried dating 2-3 times before they realized it was right. Needless to say, I was so excited! I love them both! The luncheon was super fun too. It's always fun hanging out with our Asian friends. :) P.S. Moroni has a girlfriend, for those who don't know! And the baby in the pics is always Reed. ;)

Tagged

7 Things

7 Things I plan to do before I die: (I have to make them manageable so I'll actually do them)

1. Run a marathon
2. Read the Old Testament (sad that I haven't done it yet)...don't judge me
3. Live in Colorado
4. Mountain bike
5. Eat tomatoes and onions and enjoy it
6. Take my kids to Disney World
7. Serve a mission with Kevin--YAAY!

7 Things I can do:
1. Play soccer
2. Beat Kevin (and most people) in H-O-R-S-E
3. Drink pickle juice
4. Eat much candy
5. Breastfeed (hey, it takes some practice)
6. Keep in touch with old friends (at least semi-ocassionally)
7. Arm wrestle

7 Things I cannot do:
1. Sing
2. Cook
3. Watch HGTV for too long
4. Eat plain vanilla ice cream
5. Eat hot dogs (I'm allergic...barf)
6. Ever see Twilight
7. Public speaking
(I don't seem much like a girl, do I?)

7 Things that attract me to Kevin:
1. Sideburns, baby!
2. How he treats me and others--he's SO ridiculously nice that it doesn't seem real
3. His humor (we can be really silly and weird sometimes)
4. His ambition
5. He always says "Sorry" first, and usually he's not in the wrong
6. How he is with Reed
7. That he's a model boy

7 Things I say most often
1. "Hi Boy" (that's Kevin)
2. "Hi bud" (that's Reed)
3. "Frog" (that's Reed)
4. "I love you"
5. "When do you think you'll be home?"
6. "Cute boy"
7. "What should we have for dinner?"

7 Celebrity Admirations...how about just regular people I admire

1. My mom (too many reasons to list)
2. Kevin (see above)
3. Christi Walsh (an awesome mom)
4. President Monson (enough said)
5. Kristen Jensen (a girl I went to HS with; she was just well-rounded: awesome at sports, everyone's friend, religious, etc.)
6. Pres. Burkhart (my BF's dad and my home ward bishop--the man could be an apostle)
7. Annie Clark (friend in ward...she always thinks of others first)

7 Favorite Foods:
1. Coldstone ice cream
2. veal parmesean
3. chicken alfredo
4. lemon pepper chicken
5. swedish fish (yep, the candy)
6. strawberries
7. cucumbers....okay, I'm really running out of ideas

7 People who I think should do this
1. Trine
2. Jayna
3. Cassidy
4. Kara
5. Slim Shady
6. Brittany
7. Nicole

Why I love my neighborhood...

Sometimes I forget I don't live in "Chicago" anymore, because I can still look out my window and see "4-20" on the roof across the street in Christmas lights. Love it.

Stand for something

I'm really not that opinionated, apart from my feelings about cheerleaders (hate them), Coldstone ice cream (celestial!), and the appropriate time to start listening to Christmas music (May). I really could care less about politics, if I drive a foreign car, or shop at Walmart. However, our Stake President addressed our congregation yesterday that really made an impact. Before yesterday, I fully supported Prop 8 but had the attitude that whatever happened didn't really matter. I wouldn't be the person knocking on doors or holding signs in California. That's just not me. But then the Stake Pres. spoke. He was very bold and to the point. He quoted President David O. McKay when he spoke about no-fault divorces being passed in CA...and if they did, we would see the beginning of the disintegration of the family. How true that is. You know, I have some homosexual friends whom I love. But I don't agree with their lifestyle. And homosexuals have rights. I just believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. That's it. Isn't this just a battle over a definition? And for those members of the Church who have a hard time supporting Prop 8 (and the First Presidency), you either are with the Church or not. Simple as that. How often does the First Presidency make a statement to support something? Not often. They stay out of politics, including most moral and ethical issues (i.e. stem cell research). They must have thought this was pretty important to say something. We should not be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The standards of the Church are unchanging. I'm sorry if the world is changing. The Stake President said we should not have a "live and let live" attitude if we are members of the Church. We are of this generation for a reason; we are courageous and strong and can make a stand. I have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and modern-day prophets and will follow their counsel even when it's not popular. I also don't understand the protesting at temples, Catholic buildings, etc. Wasn't it a VOTE?? That's the beauty of a vote. Majority wins. And Obama won. He WON. You don't see all his opponents protesting that. I just don't get it.

Jump On It

This was a great date we went on yesterday! Jump On It is located in Lindon and has over 10,000 square feet of trampolines. We were definitely the oldest ones there besides one father who was with his 2 girls (most were Junior High/HS age, who were awesome at flipping, by the way!). But it was super fun and soooo tiring! We were pooped after 30 minutes! They have trampolines angled on the side too. I highly recommend it, especially for kids' birthday parties, groups, etc.
*The picture is not of Jump On It, though it is very similar.

Righteous Radio Stations

Just a heads up for all you fellow elves...FM Radio 100.3 and 106.5 have started playing Christmas music nonstop until Christmas. Enjoy!

Holiday Confusion

Kevin's work goes crazy on Halloween. They spend all day and night on the 30th to decorate the buildings (each team has a theme). It was pretty incredible how awesome the decorations were--each team had like a $600 budget (and there are probably over 20 teams). Anyway, Kevin's team's theme was the City of Villians. So what did Kevin dress up as? The Hamburgular, of course. I thought it was pretty clever of him. Too bad he didn't win the costume contest...the winner was the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man (holy cow, it was awesome; he even went on stilts so he was bigger). There was also a robot built that could actually play Guitar Hero! I guess you could guess a Halloween party put on by computer dorks is going to be pretty good. So anyway, Reed went as Santa Claus (how cute is he?!) and I was a Christmas elf. There is also a picture of his best friend Asher sitting on his lap at our ward party (you know, Santa). :)

A very, very cute baby

Some recent pictures.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

....for a few more days. Then Christmas can begin!!! :)

Baby Sleep Seminar

Disclaimer: The following ideas are my own opinions. All babies are different and all people parent differently. Do what works for you.
Okay, I just wanted to post about this because I thought it was so dang funny. I attended a Baby Sleep Seminar at Babies R Us. The fact that I even went is quite comical. I wasn't sure what to expect but I thought any advice about getting a baby to sleep through the night would be good advice.
First of all, I didn't really gain any new knowledge: establish a bedtime routine, blah, blah, blah. Let me just begin by telling you that the woman giving the seminar was a doula, postpartum doula, and massage therapist. Forgive me now if you love your doula and swear by them (they may be great; she told us she gave a lady a 5 hour massage during labor), but we can all agree that they have strong opinions in some areas of pregnancy, labor, motherhood, etc.
Let's just say I felt like I was at a La Leche Seminar for Baby Sleep Habits. Not necessarily pushing breastfeeding, but psycho like those people (though she did have some pretty funny "statistics" about how breastfed babies have a higher IQ and all that nonsense...I had to tell the girl that bottle fed that she was still a good mom). The woman was a huge proponent for breastfeeding, co-sleeping, attachment parenting in general. That's fine. Not for me, but it works for some people. I just thought it was funny how she made it sound that it was the righteous way of parenting. One attendee asked about how long you should let a baby cry. 10 minutes. Fine. I don't necessarily agree, but here are the "facts" that I found amusing: "After 10 minutes of crying, babies will literally pass out." You'd think more people would know about this if it were actually true. And my personal favorite, "Studies have shown that babies who are left to cry it out have a 20% higher chance of being in prison." I kid you not. I almost laughed out loud. I should have.
So I asked about Reed's catnaps. She said, "sucks for you." Thanks. So it sounds I can't do much about it on my own...unless I want to try wearing my baby constantly in a sling. I know, Kevin sells them but I'm still not a huge fan. Anyway, kind of a waste of time but funny nonetheless.

Halloween Dinner

Our friends Ammon and Cassidy had the coolest Halloween dinner this weekend. I was very much impressed. Cassidy is so incredibly creative, she could give Martha Stewart a run for her money. Here are some samples of the menu: witch fingers, mummy faces, eyeballs, etc. It was such a fun night! The best part was the hosts' costumes: Cruella De'vil, the dog catcher, and their baby was a dalmation! So cute.

Roly Poly

I just thought this was the cutest and funniest picture ever! Good thing Reed isn't old enough to be embarrassed.

Weekend to weekend...

It's been a busy 10 days or so. Here were my happenings:


Also, I woke up on Saturday morning to snow flurries. I LOVE SNOW!!! I usually get phone calls from family members and sometimes friends on the first snowfall. Sure enough, my dad called right on cue. My friend Mike is the only other person I know that appreciates snow as much as I do, and that makes me happy too. I look forward to snowman-building, snowshoeing, sledding, hot chocolate, Christmas!!!, and maybe snowboarding! And Sunday morning was even better--here it is!

Body Worlds

I've been wanting to go to the Body Worlds exhibit ever since I heard it was going to be in SLC. Kevin thinks that stuff is gross, so I went with my dad. It was amazing! I highly recommend it. It was very respectful and enlightening. After seeing it, I don't know how anyone could deny there is a God. Our bodies are so complex and perfect. It also made me want to eat healthier, seeing things that happened when you didn't. Anyways, it was awesome!