Christmas 2009

CHRISTMAS EVE

I love traditions. Hopefully one day, our family will have lots of them. The bad thing is, it's hard to come up with traditions that are memorable and original. I know that most of the time traditions just fall into place, but I would like to have some set while our kids are young.

Though it isn't very original, Danny and I decided that every year on Christmas Eve we want to take our kids sledding. This was the first time Jaxson has ever gone so it made this first-time tradition even more memorable. We didn't get to sled much, we couldn't get Jaxson's face out of the snow long enough to go down the hill! All he kept saying was, "I wanna eat da snow! Mom, Dad, you eat some too! ".

He did go a few times though!

Now he asks to go every day.

After sledding we went home for a quick shower and nap for Jax, then headed to the annual Christmas Eve dinner at the Theurer's.

After the dinner and devotional we had a little gift exchange. Anything Cars related is a winner with Jax.

After dinner we went home and gave Jax his Christmas pajamas.


Then let him get his wiggles out playing "get you" with Shorty.


Having a dog is awesome. It's like the kid form of a treadmill.

I was going to crop out our crooked star before posting this picture, but that stinkin' thing was such a part of our holiday season. It NEVER stays straight, we had to adjust it on a regular basis. I think next year we will invest in a new one.

CHRISTMAS DAY!

SANTA CAME!!!

I am such kid, I couldn't sleep Christmas Eve night AT ALL! I woke up early and got breakfast going and waited for Danny to wake up. Then, at 9:00, I couldn't take it anymore and woke up Jaxson.

I wish the video of Jaxson seeing his toys for the first time wasn't so long so I could put it on here. He was so cute and excited. Christmas is so so great having kids.

Danny playing his gift from Jaxson... only Jax would get Daddy a version of Guitar Hero filled with Butt Rock songs. Mommy would NEVER do such a thing, yuck.

Checkin the tires.

After a yummy breakfast and a visit to Great Grandma and Grandpa Theurer, we headed to Grandpa and "Grandma D's" (my mom's name is Dena and somehow the name Grandma D stuck) for Christmas dinner. G & G Bailey got Jax a big firetruck!

One of the many highlights was watching Jax and Kash attempt to smile pretty for the camera while sitting on Kash's new Spiderman couch, this is such a silly age.

We had a great Christmas and can't wait until next year! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Bad Blogger...

We have been so busy lately because of the Holiday's and have been having tons of fun, but guess what?? I don't have any pictures to show for it. We were in charge of our wards Christmas party (can you say stressful??!!), many birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas party's, and we got to go see Kurt Bestor's Christmas concert.


Since I had lots of fun last year making cookies for neighbors, I decided to do something fun again this year (when I say cookies I don't mean your everyday cookie. They were intense. Peanut butter cookie, bottom dipped in chocolate, home-made caramel and chocolate drizzled on top with peanut butter cup chunks). This year I decided to make avocado salsa.



I TRIPLED my recipe and still didn't have enough for everyone on our list! I ended up with only enough for mostly family and Danny's office staff. Next year I am going to have to quadruple it!


Then a few months ago I found this cute idea of how to display Christmas cards as a wreath. Granted it was cuter on MarthaStewart.com, but hey, I tried.

That is as far as I am going craft wise this year, maybe next year I will do more...

Happy Birthday Dad/Grandpa!

Today is my dad's birthday. This is the last birthday he will ever look forward to. He turned 55 and officially can get the senior citizen discount on cruises (if you know my dad you probably know how valuable that is...that will save this avid cruiser/scuba diver quite the chunk of change)! Happy Birthday Dad!! We sure love you!

Our New Addition!

Meet our new puppy, Shorty! We adopted her from my brother. She is about 5-6 months old and is the perfect little dog! She is already house and crate trained, so smart, super playful when you are playing back, but really chill other than that. She doesn't even run away if you take her out without a leash!


I am so excited Jax has his puppy. He has loved dogs from day 1 and we couldn't wait to get him one. I am so glad we held out for her. We love our new little buddy!

Zoo-Our Favorite Past Time

We love going to the zoo, and since we have a pass we try to go very often. This week we went with my friend Megan and her cute cute little girl, Nixon.



There are so many babies at the zoo right now which makes it so fun. I also haven't ever been to the zoo in the winter. If you can tough out the cold, I would for sure give it a try. All the animals were super active and animals that are usually hiding were right up front so we could check them out.


Megan, Nixon, and Jax looking for the Gorilla.


I know I have already said this in my last Zoo post, but seriously, Thank you so much Grandma Theurer for the zoo pass. It is just what we need some days.

Utah vs. BYU

Danny loves football. I mean REALLY loves it. Especially with it has to do with The University of Utah football. That being said, you can imagine his excitement when he was offered 2 free tickets to the Utah/BYU game. I was also excited. I love watching football games (only live though, watching on t.v. drives me nuts!)

We had lots of fun watching, especially the first and last quarter when the game was a little more exciting.


Even though BYU won, i still loved spending some time minus a toddler with my sweet husband. Can you believe all those people rushing the field?!

Arizona

A few weeks ago my mom, dad, Jaxson and I went down to Arizona for my Grandpa's birthday and to help out my Grandma. We had a really nice time and the drive down was actually quite pleasant. Jaxson slept, ate and watched movies the whole drive. On the way down we stopped in Kanab for a breather and played at this amazing park. It was so beautiful set up against the red rock mountains.


My grandpa lives on a lake front property (man-made lake) and it is seriously so beautiful.




If I had to live in Arizona I would for sure try to live on one of these lake-front properties. It feels like you are on an island somewhere instead if in the middle of the desert.

Jaxson loved Grandpa's dog Sunny Boy. However, he called him, "Silly Boy".

Another amazing view from my Grandpa's porch. My mom looks super happy. :)

My dad got my G-pa's boat all fixed up and we had lots of fun going on little cruises. Jaxson thought it was so cool he was able to drive.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was I was able to spend some time with my great friend Sarah and her little cutie, Eli. She took us to the best place. It is called Amazing Jakes. If you live in the Mesa/Gilbert area, you HAVE to go check it out.

There are all sorts of arcade games.

A carousel (which I wa SO proud of Jaxson for getting over his fear of rides). There was also tea-cups, a train, bumper cars, a race track, a bowling alley and a few other rides.

To get in, you have to pay for the Buffet which consists of pizza, salad, soup, bread, and desserts. Then they have a few different themed rooms you can eat in. We chose the theater room so Jax and Eli could eat their lunch and watch a movie. Which allowed Sarah and I to actually have a conversation. It was the best!

I had so much fun playing the games with Jax...man I love that kid.

This is the first time he rode a train without freaking out. Even though he looks nervous in this picture, he really liked it.

I think I might have been having more fun than Jax here. We already miss you Sarah and Eli!

On one of our boat rides around the lake, Jax spotted this fountain, and would not stop freaking out until Grandpa let us pull over and dock the boat so he could go see it.

3 generations. I am so glad my Grandpa let us come and invade his house and throw off his routine so we could spend time with our friends and family. We love you!