Christmas Time is Here at Last!

Someone passed on this little outfit to us in hand-me-downs, and it's probably the cutest thing ever. I couldn't stop laughing when I was dressing him because it was just so cute, with a real tie and everything. So here's our little gentleman in his Christmas get-up.

We went down to Lawrenceville Square to see the lights one night when it was like 65 degrees. Hence Jack's short sleeves and bare feet. Oh how I love living in the south!

Christmas Party

Jon and I get so excited for Christmas, and wanted to have a party before all of our friends dispersed for the holidays. We weren't fast enough however, and we couldn't plan it with everyone there. (We missed you Futrals!) But it was lots of fun, and we listened to Josh Groban, made gingerbread houses, and had an awesome go of White Elephant. (haha!)

Jack and his girlfriend Jadyn.

Ashley, Dustin, Jazmin, ME and Kristin.

I don't know if you can tell, but Dustin's house was freaking awesome. I've never seen such a well constructed gingerbread house. It was amazing. But he's in construction, so go figure. :)

Me and my hunny!

Aquarium

My computer/camera have been difficult the last few weeks, and I just now fixed it (because I'm a genius) and can upload pictures again. So here is me catching up!!!

Jon took a day off work and we went to the Ga Aquarium to see the Titanic Exhibit. (My mom had some discounted tickets. Hooray!) You have to pay to get in the aquarium, then pay MORE to see the Titanic stuff. It was awesome to go on a week day, because you could actually SEE the fish and not the back of 1500 people's heads! Jack loved it and was such a good sport, even missing his nap.

I wish this was a better picture, because his face is SO cute! He was so excited to go behind the wall of fish. I personally don't know how Jon managed to squeeze his 6 foot 3 inch body back there, but he did!

Don't know how to remove that ugly flash, but cool picture nontheless.

Just look at these shoes!!!! Black Friday was a good day. Jess and I both got a steal on these wickedly awesome Jessica Simpson pumps. We saw them at Belk for $79.99, hopped over to Ross where we found them for $21.99!!!! Oh how I love Ross! Needless to say, we took them home and just wore them around with our sweat pants on, JUST because they're so cute.

Thanksgiving at the beach!

These pictures are courtesy of my sister yet again. My camera is being ghetto and the computer won't recognize it. And I have all these pictures of all the kiddos, and the feast and all sorts of other things. Annoying!!

Anyhow, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our family in Florida. Both of my brothers flew in, and my sister and her family, even my inlaws came down to the beach house for us all to enjoy the holiday together. I had packed for the artic, and was happily surprised by the warm weather. We ate tons, celebrated my Grandma's 80th birthday, and did some major damage at Ann Taylor Loft. I am so grateful for my wonderful family, my friends, my country, my religion and the countless blessings I enjoy everyday.

This is on the dock at my grandparents after our Thanksgiving feast. If your wondering why I look 6 months pregnant, it's because I just ate enough to feed an army.

My dear sister came in town the past weekend to pick up her van. I took advantage of her new camera while she was here, and had to her take some pictures of her ADORABLE nephew to document his 1st birthday. He was such a good sport and allowed us to lug him around the farm for 2 hours while we desperately tried to humor him and squeek out a smile. The pictures all turned out SO good and I love every single one!! I have a few favorites, and here they are!

To quote Jessica: "dreaming of the future..." CUTE!

(I looooove this one!)

Ok I loooove this one too!!

Thank you sister for spending so much time on these pictures!! I looooooooove them!

Happy Birthday Jack!!

I can't believe I have a one year old!! This year has flown by, but then I can't remember my life before Jack came along. He has brought us more happiness than we ever thought possible and we're only one year into life together. (Talk to me in about 14 years and we'll see if I remember how cute and sweet he once was). ;)

Happy Birthday my sweet little baby!!! Here you were just 1 year ago:

We had his party on Saturday and had chili, potatoes, cornbread, cookies, cake and lots more!! Most of our friends were able to make it and some of Jack's too! Grammie and Pops, Grandma and Grandpa all came and helped spoil their one and only grandson.

Here's the little guy surrounded by presents.

A John Deer tractor? I bet you can't guess who gave that to him...

Thanks Candice (YOUR AWESOME) for taking all the pictures and helping me out so much!!

Be very impressed with my baking skills, but don't look too closely. I'm still working on the decorating aspect of my life.

As if you couldn't be impressed any more, yes I made all of these cookies which spell "Jack is 1" And they were freaking delicious I might add.

First taste of his cake...




I think it was a hit!

Straight up to the bath for this guy!

And thank you Brindi for coming early and saving me!!! Your the best!

Jack the Ninja

I've been begging my husband to take me camping and hiking and pumpkin picking. Since our weekends are pretty much booked until December, he took off last Friday to pacify me and get me my much needed outdoor time. Well, Friday ended up being in the low 40's and raining. Not pleasent outdoorsy weather. Plan B: chill in our pajamas til noon, then drop baby off with grandma and go see a movie. Sounds good to me!! Afterwards, we went to get Jack his first pumpkin. He was TERRIFIED of the pumpkins!! He would not let us set him down. Plus the ground was all soggy, so I didn't really want to sit him down anyway. Needless to say, my big plans for an adorable photo shoot didn't turn out so well.

He did like the small pumpkins and would promptly put them in his mouth and chew the stem.

Later that night, we went to a Halloween party where the babies got to dress up. Jack is a Ninja (obviously!!) He has a killer head band to complete the ensemble, but I forgot it. But his costume is totally authentic from Japan courtesy of his world traveling grandpa.

Eventful Weekend

Jon and I were looking so forward to the past weekend. My sister and her family were coming to stay with us on their way down to Disney World. Finally!! I weekend with my adorable nieces staying at MY house where I could see them all the time!! Jon worked so hard making sure Hailey's bed was soft enough, and that there was just enough air in the air mattress for Alex and Jess. We seem to be such good hosts right? WRONG! So Saturday, we were going to a 1st birthday party for Jack's bud Adam. Jess and Alex had gone to see Wicked, so we were babysitting their two girls and had the minivan to tote us all around. 1st bad happening. Jack procedes to pee through his outfit and all over his father. I OF COURSE forgot a change of clothes for him, and Jon is soaked through with Jack urine. Our dear friends Krista and Evan ran home to get Jack some clothes (so he wouldn't have to wear Melanie's pink jeans) and Jon a shirt. (Mind you, Jon is a XL and Evan a L).

Jack and his dad in borrowed clothes:

So we're trying to enjoy birthday cake and keep tabs on three insane children running around and playing in ant hills. Exhausted, we packed up the kiddos in the van and were headed home for nap time. Not a mile away, some idiot runs a red light and creams us. NEVER EVEN HIT HIS BRAKES! We're all fine, just shooken up. So we pile out of the car with 3 tired, scared babies. My parents are out of town, Jon's parents were out of town, my sister was at the Fox with no cell phone. Who were we supposed to call!?! Luckily, someone from the party had spotted us and called our friend Tom, who came to pick us up. They let us chill at their house for a while, while we unsuccessfully tried to get our children to sleep. After eating yet another piece of birthday cake, we all pile in the borrowed van and Tom takes us home. With their car in wreckage, Jessica and Alex borrowed my parents car, stuffed it to the brims, and continued onward to Disney World. I'm sure they won't be able to relax too much with Hailey constantly reminding them: "Uncle Jon broke our car."

Jack's New Face

Jack has started making this hilarious scruched up face. My friend Tamaron is in town, and we hung out on Tuesday, and Jack did this face all day long!!! So I was finally able to catch it on film with Tamaron's help. ANNNDDD.... He FINALLY has TWO little teeth!!! Couldn't get a picture of that though. He's not nearly that cooperative.

Helen Corn Maze

Jon and I and a group of our friends trekked our way up to Helen last weekend for Oktoberfest.

Ok, we really went for the free fudge and peanut brittle samples, and to do the corn maze. I'd never done one before so I was so excited!! It felt like something out of Harry Potter and I kept waiting to see a flare or find a glowing port key. No such luck however. But we did find every checkpoint! Good job navigators!

Our cute Sperry shoes!

The end! We made it!

Swagger

Jon joined a flag football team that consists of some local guys from the ward and from around the area. They play every Saturday morning, and it's been so fun to go watch and cheer them on. They are undefeated so far and Jack is so very proud of his dad. The weather has been so beautiful lately, it's been so nice to spend some time outside. Getting up and out by 9 am is still a challenge for me, so notice Jack is still in his jammies. And I'm a total slacker and keep forgetting to bring my camera, so the pictures are courtesy of Sharon and Brindi. They are much more on top of things than I am.

On another note, Jack is the most adorable thing in the world! He gets into all sorts of mischief and enjoys sneaking into the bathroom or pounding up the stairs. He's scooting along the furniture and climbs INTO the fireplace, where he proceeds to get stuck then starts screaming. He likes to bang on the DVD player and pull tall lamps over. He's a wild man, but so stinkin' adorable. He's almost 11 months old and is still all gums. He's been a crank lately so I'm hoping he's got some teeth coming in. I finally gave him his first haircut too. How do people do this with a wiggling baby!? And I was only doing the very top so it wouldn't come to a point on his forehead. Craziness.

I'm so excited it's autumn and I LOVE seeing all the leaves change color. This is my favorite time of year and it makes me wish I had a big yard to enjoy it in. The fall encompasses a lot of sweet memories: first, my crazy BYU days of partying all night and 8am "begining jazz"; ice cream everyday, getting stuck in the elevator, trips to Squaw Peak and smoke bombs in DT. Oh good times.

Second, it was September 5 years ago that I was planning my wedding. So there's something about the chilling air that makes me want to go wedding dress shopping and plan a tropical vacation! Third, it was this time last year that I was counting down the days to my baby boy's arrival. Oh how time flies!!!