Our Road Trip Adventure Part 2

One of my favorite activities on our Christmas vacation was going to the Phoenix, AZ zoo. Caleb is at the age where he recognizes some animals, but also misses some of the neutral toned ones. His favorites were the coy fish at the entrance, a small and active monkey, attacking the goat at the petting zoo and of course the Macaw bird (although he was pretty tired by the time we found it). :)
Caleb also got to go on his first carousel ride! He was very interested in the gears and watching how everything worked.

Our Road Trip Adventure Part 1

On our way down to AZ Caleb got a little bored. :) He's never done this before -so we thought it was kind of cute. He was definitely a natural tissue puller.


At one of our stops Caleb found this singing puppy. Merry Christmas!


Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Sanders for the Baby Lap Top. It was very appreciated.


In Saint George, UT we stopped at the temple visitors center and walked around stretching our legs for a little bit.


On our way to the zoo we found a special toy for Caleb to play with. -Caleb loves balloons! Hopefully he won't ever really bite one. :)


To be continued ...

Me the Disgruntle Cookie Maker

This year I was asked to help with our church's Christmas Party. My job has been to make fliers and other advertising, sign up sheets, etc. -I was also assigned to make 25 snowflake shaped sugar cookies (recipe and cookie cutter included). No problem right?

Well, kind of. I am good with the computer and designing things so the fliers and advertising were fairly simple. As for the sugar cookies ... we will see. I have intentionally not made sugar cookies in a couple of years. I always end up using so much flour to roll them out that they end up more like a pressed biscuit. -That and the fact that I don't have a rolling pin doesn't thrill me (planning on using one of Caleb's plastic cups as a substitute). --That and the sugar cookie frosting meeting tomorrow and then the party set up at 9 am Friday followed by 5 pm pre party set up, family photos, passing out programs, 6:30 dinner (I'll be serving), lengthy program, Santa and finally late night tear down (poor Aaron gets Caleb while he tries to eat without me).

So ... as you can see the next few days will be crazy.

Last night was another hard one for Aaron and I. We started putting Caleb to bed at 10 pm, again around 11 pm, 12:45 am and then at 5:30 am (Aaron has to wake up at 6 am). As I lay in bed listening to Aaron shower grouchy thoughts ran through my head. Grumble, grumble stupid cookies. :) -Still tired, but knowing I needed to get up I made the bed so I wouldn't get back in it. Just as I finished Aaron came in with one of my Christmas presents from him and instructed me to open it. Hesitating I wondered ... hum, is it a nativity or something. But it was something even better ... a marble rolling pin and wood stand!!!!! I had mentioned my lack of enthusiasm about rolling the cookies with the plastic cup the night before, but hadn't said anything about my internal grumbling this morning. How did he know?

Anyhow, I have the best husband ever. :)

And although I am still a disgruntle cookie maker. I can at least laugh at myself and enjoy my beautiful rolling pin. And hey cutting the snowflake cookies may even be fun as well. :)

Mama Llama

Something tells me that this Mama Llama is getting another tooth. :)

Clementines

It's funny how some things like Clementine Oranges and sparkling cider remind me of Christmas. We found these at the grocery store and I just couldn't resist. I guess it's one of those memories from growing up, because baby oranges just taste better at Christmas time. :)

Christmas Time Fun!

I absolutely love Christmas time! We put up our tree the first of November and have been enjoying every minute of it. Caleb likes a soft penguin ornament and a polar bear and penguin sledding one the best. They are a little lower where he can check them out once in a while. :)This last Monday night we made cutter cookies, chocolate no bake cookies, rice crispy treats and buttery spritz and then took them to a few of our friends. It was a fun Family Home Evening night. :)Caleb is 10-months-old now and growing like a weed. He babbles a lot and is starting to climb up, over and around things. He understands concepts like "all done, bath, animal names and good night." Unfortunately, he doesn't understand the beauty of sleeping through the night. He is so curious about things that he has been trying to wake up for a 2 or 3 am intermission to play the last week or so.We took these pictures a little earlier this week and had a fun time with them. Hope everyone else is also enjoying this fun time of year. We love you all lots and hope you are well.Check out my teeth!I gave this present to Caleb to see what he would do with it. He liked it, but doesn't have a clue about finding a present inside. He just liked touching the bows. :)Ho ho ho ... Merry Christmas!

It Only Took Us A Year :)

Well, it only took us a year, but we have finally finished our Whinnie the Pooh Photomosaics puzzle. Aaron was the one to finish the last sections and piece the last pieces together! We figured after such a difficult finishing that we needed to photograph our accomplishment to prove that we did actually get it done. :)

Our Two and a Half Toothed Monster

A Quick Catch Up on Our Crazy Lives

This past Thursday I had my tonsils removed. And in addition to that ... Caleb has been cutting a few more teeth. So, needless to say our house has been crazy. We have been resting lots and Aaron has been taking good care of us both.
This picture is from this last weekend and despite feeling really swollen I think it turned out pretty cute. :)Caleb loves to play with the Lazy Susan full of pots and pans.And this is what I found one day when I left Caleb alone for a minute. -Watch out world --he's a climbin' explorer.These last two pictures were taken while Aaron and his Dad Neil hung up our new blinds! The blinds look fantastic. :) -Caleb was trying to figure it all out and gave me some of the funniest expressions. These are my favorites. Enjoy :)

Jude's Baby Blessing

At the begining of the month we had the opportunity to attend my brother's baby's blessing. Jude Marshall Sanders is a fun addition to our extended family. Here's a group shot we took with some family and friends.Caleb, Abigail, Marshall and I.And my two handsome boys. :)