all is right

Our holidays were wonderful. Lots of time with family/friends, lots of food, lots of fun gifts.
Oh, and one sick kid. We survived.
But he still isn't 100% well. Some strong antibiotics will hopefully help him out.

I didn't take nearly enough pictures of our holidays. After years of shoving the lens in everyone's face, I have eased off a lot, at a time when I should be documenting more than ever. Sometimes I feel guilty like I'm not capturing all of Sawyers life in pictures and in journals and in scrapbooks, but I am trying. Thats a little goal for the year. Scrapbook this kids first year of life before the 2nd year starts!

The weather has been b-e-a-u-tiful lately. So we took to the park. Sawyer really just wanted to talk to other kids there who were all bigger and faster and didn't want to be bothered by a baby. So we slid the slides.


This picture happened totally by accident. I looked up just in time to focus, and click. It is my new favorite thing. Enlargement has been ordered, it will grace my walls soon.

So, this is the new year.

You're a good man, Charlie Brown

It's 9 pm.

The baby has gone to bed after a fun day.

The dishes and laundry are done and put away.

Cookies are ready and waiting to be eaten.

Jeans and tennis shoes have been replaced by stretchy pants and slippers.

The DVD rented earlier is starting up. Lights are turned down.

But wait...we are out of vanilla bean ice cream.

And I NEED vanilla ice cream. I'll probably need some tomorrow night too. And tomorrows Sunday, so I really, truly need to get some vanilla ice cream.

the DVD is stopped. Lights on.

Cozy clothes exchanged for cold coats and pants.

"Oh, can you get milk? And a cucumber! For salad tomorrow", I call from beneath the warmth of a blanket, lounging on the couch.

He sure is a keeper.

7 days and a wake up

[our card for this Christmas. Mailed out today. That's right, 8 days before Christmas.]

Ah, Christmastime. Do you love it as much as I do?

Done with all my shopping. Even purchased all the food for the feast I'll be serving on Christmas day.
Almost all the gifts are wrapped.
Decorations are up.

Nothing left to do but wait. And I am terrible at waiting.

Having a child around for the holidays is proving to be pretty fun. Granted, at 14 months old, he doesn't understand any of what's going on, but it's still great to watch him point his finger and say "ooh" at our christmas tree and the lights.

I look forward to him getting older and writing letters to Santa and decorating cookies with me. All in due time. One day I'll wish for him to be this age again. Speaking of Santa, we are going to pay him a visit next week @ Town Square. That guy is the most legit Santa I've ever seen. And if you have to have a knock off, it better be a dang good one.

Today Sawyer and I drove out to Lake Las Vegas because it was a nice day and it's something I've been meaning to do. We walked around a bit and took some pictures. Sawyer loved the water fountains and the flowers. We might have to go back in the evening so he can "ooh" at the holiday decorations all lit up. He missed Spencer, and kept pointing to any man that walked by asking, "Dada?".

Dada is now a Dean and is working long and hard at getting in the groove of his new gig. We are very proud of him, but sure do miss his usual 3:30 arrival home during the week.

Here's my favorite shot of our adventure. Cause this is truly how he rolls...

mon favorites

Per Meleah's request, these are three of my favorite pictures.

Complaint department

Dear Old Navy,
Thank you for having affordable and somewhat cute clothes for little kids. And thanks for offering free shipping and having childrens coats on sale online on black Friday.

NO thank you, however, for sending said childrens coat in the wrong size and wrong color. And since exchanging items by mail with your company means the actual coat I ordered for my son would likely arrive in March, I am mailing back the wrong coat and just reordered the correct coat online. Hopefully you get it right this time.

And thanks for sending me a 20% off discount code for any online purchase the morning AFTER I reordered said coat.

Maybe I should stop buying from you. But it's likely I won't. And you probably knew that. Jerks.

give thanks

We had a good Thanksgiving. The usual dinner (at lunchtime) and games with Spencer's family, and dinner and games with my family later. The rest of the holiday weekend was spent doing serious vegging out, some Christmas shopping and movie watching.
All of Spencer's fam together for group picture.
Sadly, I didn't get a nice picture like that with my familia.
But here's Sawyer with Grandpa, post thanksgiving feast.

And here's Sawyer with Grandpa again. This was when Santa made his big arrival at Town Square before Thanksgiving. Obviously you can see how Sawyer felt about the big parade.

It's amazing how fast December arrives every year. This is my favorite season. And with a curious little dude in-tow, this year will be a Christmas to remember I'm sure.

let the wild rumpus start

Fall Festival with Grandma and Dad

be still, he would notrefreshment for the king
get it?...
King of the Wild Things

Halloween was fun. We didn't do trick or treating (cause the kid is one, honestly) but we had a good time at our ward party and hanging out with our nephews.

Halloween weekend did bring with it a nasty little cold for our household that we have still yet to shake entirely. Poor Sawyer still sounds congested but is surprisingly pretty happy. Good to know he didn't inherit my wussy genes.