[recap] Thanksgiving

I just found this post in my queue and still am not sure how it never got published. But here it is.

Thanksgiving 2011.

Justins family came out for Thanksgiving this year. Which means I had to actually cook my first turkey. Yikes. Thanks to the help of Justins mom and this being her 30+ time, it turned out great! The spread was deliscious. Turkey, gravy, Sweet potato cassarole, mashed potatoes, red cabbage, fruit salad, stuffing, fresh cranberry sauce, and rolls. Yummy. This is definitely my favorite meal of the year!

WE also took this chance to get some christmas card photos in, since this is was when we were all together.

Unfortunately, Justin's brothers were all studying for med school, the GMAT, and engineering something, so we didn't get out much. (I'm not even sure James ever left the house, poor kid). We did watch a lot of movies and go play our annual soccer game (no babies were born this time). It was a great week.

Cabin

Can can you not love life waking up to this??

Moving on. So the next day we headed up to a cabin with my mom in Arrowhead. Its so nice to just get away and be together as a family. We had a blast! We stayed up late playing games, laughing, poking fun at each other and eating. I really love my family.

Ashlyn and Rhys play so well together, except when they don't. HA!

We got up and went to play in the snow. There really is not alot up there, so we had to drive 45 minutes further up the mountain to a hill that is shaded most of the day to find enough snow to take a sled ride on. This picture makes me think of march of the penguins...

Rhys loved to "squuuiiiiisssshhhh" the snow balls. The sledding was kind of a bust. We didn't actually have sleds. And the amount of snow was minimal. And, well, my kids did not love it. Ashlyns monkey feet.

Court, Mom and Wes. After our snowman, we walked across the street to this diner for lunch. It was really good! Or we were all really hungry from our snow day.

The Drive

We left the on the 27th for a very long straight shot drive to Cali. We have never done this. The thought was to leave around 3 in the morning, or whenever Beckham woke up. This worked out well because at 3 he was up, and Rhys woke up shortly after and casually walked out of his room (which he has decided to do lately, makes me crazy). We loaded and headed out, everything was great, until Koda started panting. I finally talked justin into stopping to let her go to the bathroom... 3 more times before 11am. Diarrhea dog on a road trip. Awesome.

Once we got past this, the boys were awesome for the rest of the 17 hour drive.

Until we hit the traffic. Yuck. Welcome to CA.

Christmas.

Christmas was pefrect. This is the first time we have just been home with our little family and I loved it. That might be our new thing. It was so nice to wake up with our boys and watch the magic on their faces. I loved having my family all to myself and the focus on making it fun for the boys. This was the first year Rhys really got it and was totally into it, which made my job a lot more fun.
our poor attempt at a family photo christmas morning.

I got a email (ha!) from my sister today saying that I need to update my blog. The nerve! Just kidding. Apparently I have been a bit preoccupied with getting everything ready for Christmas. I am also in pure shock that my baby is turning one in a week. Could it really have been a whole year already? ANways, I am desperately trying to soak up these last moments of him as my baby. But I am really excited to have my own little Christmas and birthday party with my family. And we leave for California a couple days after Christmas, so January will be full of updates.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Mothers Day

I am so grateful to be the momma of these two babes. They make my life complete and I cant begin to describe how happy they make me.

And I am so grateful to my mom. She is an amazing woman. Her generosity, love, patience, kindness, sense of humor, humility and wisdom are an inspiration to me. She has taught me how to love my children unconditionally through her example. She has taught me to be independent and how to take care of the needs of my family. I still can't believe all she does for me. Her laugh is infectious and her happiness is constant. I love you mom! You are a best friend!

And thank you to Vickie, my mother-in-law, for raising Justin to be a wonderful man and father. He is wonderful and I thank you for it. And being a wonderful grandma to my boys.
dont mind my grampy. this is the most recent picture i could find.

the DUE date

Today was supposed to be the big day. I have had a big star on it in my calendar all year. It has been used for the last nine months as a marker of sorts, my personal countdown. And had everything gone according to plan... if there is such a thing... today would have had so much more meaning than flowers and chocolate hearts. Today would have been the beginning of our new little family. He was supposed to be our little love boy. But today is still a big day and I have still been looking forward to it. Today now marks "normal" for Beckham.

So, as of today, he is 7lb. 15oz. As of today I can start looking forward to the big milestones (like sleeping longer than 3 hours). He finally began nursing well. And his awake/sleep pattern is beginning to find a normal rythm. And I am thrilled. He is doing great and we are all happy that he has been part of our family for the past 2 months.

So Happy Valentines day. We aren't big into this holiday, but it has been great. Justin let me sleep in till 9, Rhys has been cranky because of more ear infections, Beckham is a dream baby, and I am thrilled because I got this bike trainer. Its been a great day.

Merry Christmas

from the Aida's

Happy Halloween

crafts

I love fall time for crafting. I especially love Halloween decorations. And now we have this house that has all this room and space to decorate. Its perfect! Heres what I've been up to.

And even one for Christmas. I've had these signs for over a year now and finally found the perfect paper to spice them up. I cant figure out why this wont flip to the right direction....sorry

July 4th

As always, this holiday was great. All my family came in to my Aunts compound for the week it was fun to have everyone around. They did the Independence mini marathon (2.6 miles) in the morning. Even my grandma walked the whole thing.

all the runners/walkers

You go granma! We are so proud! rhys entertaining himself with the bark mulch.

Afterwards we went back to my aunts house, aka. my oasis, to swim and bbq. It was great. Good food, good company and not too hot. OK, it could have been a bit warmer, but Im not going to complain.

swimming with grampa. He would live in the water if he could.

I love his poncho towel.

We put baby to bed and watched home fireworks before the big show started. I love sitting on my aunts lower field, over looking the river, and watching the fireworks reflect back. Its gorgeous. I love that rhys was able to just sleep in the house while we went to watch the fireworks down the driveway. Perfect.