Jacob in the morning

Jacob's morning exercise routine.

Pull ups on the bed, the rocking chair, the toy shelf, the closet door, the crib. Walking hand over hand along the toy shelf until he finds the most interesting box.

Arm curls with the closet door. Open, shut, open, shut...

Lifting weights...

His final exercises are crunches while Mommy changes his diaper and attempts to clothe him. That's when he finishes up with the 100 yard dash - naked! Sorry, no picture of that. He's too fast!

Wedding in Arizona

Our nephew, Derek, was married a few days after Christmas in the Mesa Arizona temple. It was a whirlwind trip (48 hours). The weather was on the cool side but sunny. The sealing was so wonderful - the Spirit was strong. And it was fun to hang out with family even for such a short time.

Roark and Rebecca's family. Not pictured are Elaine and Chad, both currently serving missions.

 The kids and I outside the temple.

 Cute baby!

 Really cute baby!

 Esther was having a blast playing with cousins!

 Shalayne, Brandon and Mindy's third daughter, with her beau.

Nathan and Esther with cousins Emi and Mason (he's their cousin's oldest boy).

 Rebecca entering the luncheon area where we had a ring ceremony. More than a ring exchange, they shared with everyone how they felt about each other. It was very sweet.

The father of the bride handing his daughter off to her new husband!

 

The kids dancing it up at the reception!

 The entire first floor of the museum was open during the reception.

 He was so happy even though it was so late and he was so tired!

Christmas in Texas 2012

Trying to catch up on the holiday blog posts!

Jacob was very excited by the presents and had to taste each one!

 Nathan and Esther gave each other pillow pets. Nathan's is Cosmo from BYU.

 Esther got a rainbow unicorn - of course!

And she gave Nathan her signature squeeze around the neck hug. Poor Nathan!

We were pleasantly surprised by snow falling that afternoon! It was so pretty and just enough white by the evening to be perfectly cold and made it truly feel like Christmas.

 

The Christmas table was very simple. My goal this year for the holidays was to use what I had in decorating. And except for the Christmas crackers and the take home gift, I accomplished that!

 We had a traditional British Christmas dinner. Turkey breast, Brussels sprouts, cranberry sauce, honeyed root vegetables, roasted potatoes, and strip loin roast. It was delicious and our guests enjoyed it.

The take home gift - a magnet with Winston Churchill's quote and a small package of shortbread cookies.

 Plum pudding! I served it with some vanilla ice cream instead of the sauce this year. It made it a lighter dessert.

The Christmas crackers contained jokes, little gifts, and paper crowns.

It was a nice Christmas. But this year Daron and I had a hard time getting excited about cooking a large meal. We had to redo two of the dishes and we grumped at each other most of the time. I think next year we might just run off and rent a cabin in some snowy woods - just our little family - and eat take out and play with the kids' new toys. Sounds really nice!

Thanksgiving 2012 - Part II

Thanksgiving Day was great. It was just warm enough outside that the kids played for quite some time. Which kept things inside a little less crazy! There had been a lot of preparation the day before and with so many helpers, it was much less hectic than just Daron and I running around to put on a big meal!

Daniel wasn't the only one getting squashed outside! Poor Bekah is under Esther here. They'd been trying to ride the swing together.

Jacob was such a good sport and sat playing with a pot on the floor or in the high chair with some toys while we cooked and cooked.

We started with Grandma's recipe for Italian Wedding Soup. I made the broth and everything. And it was very tasty.

 The boys. They loved playing Hess trucks together! Nathan keeps reminding me about his best friend, Aaron.

Happy hungry people!

"I love carrot souffle!" My cute seezster.

 

 Everything tasted delicious. We had green beans with almonds, mashed potatoes, a carrot souffle (which we all agreed was a keeper!), turkey, Italian pickled stuff, cranberry sauce, rolls, and a cranberry chestnut stuffing.

Yummy!

These two cousins could not get enough of each other! They wore the same colors and had to have their hair done the same way each day!

We played outside with glow sticks after dinner and got a cute shot of Romeo right before Janet and Shauna left.

Thanksgiving 2012 - Part I

We were able to fly to Boston for Thanksgiving week. Fortunately, Esther had the entire week off from school. Angelyn and Brian and co. joined us for a few days, too. What a great break! Lots and lots of good food and good company are my favorite way to spend a vacation.

Trying to decide what to eat at Pizzeria Regina. Too many options!

Nathan peeking behind one of our yummy pizzas. This one was loaded! Onions, peppers, basil, meats, etc. Oh, it was fabulous!

The usual crowd at Mike's Pastry. Actually, it wasn't that bad that day. Usually it's far more crowded than this!

We didn't spend a ton of time in Boston. Just ate at Pizzeria Regina, got a cannoli at Mike's Pastry, and went to Mom and Dad's. But even a short walk around near The Old North Church on a chilly afternoon was heavenly!

For Esther, this was a much anticipated visit to Plimoth Plantation. She'd been learning about Pilgrims at school and was so excited to see history in action. Standing outside a "wee-two," a Wampanoag home.

Esther and Nathan trying out the not quite finished canoe.

Inside the "wee-two" listening to the guides discuss Wampanoag culture. We really had quite an interesting discussion with them.

Nathan and Esther were fascinated yet freaked out by all the roaming wildlife (aka chickens)!

Esther making a new friend. All the workers while at the Plantation live, work, and eat here. They also have the vocabulary and accents of the day and act as if they are living in 1627.

They cook their authentic meals over the fire. Many were making some sort of cream sausages that day that smelled fabulous.

We try to have an outing with Julie, Esther's fairy godmother, every time we go to Massachusetts. The kids adore her and Steven.

Mayflower II - a replica of the original. It was so small! I guess the Pilgrims and the livestock stayed on the same deck. Two women gave birth on board. And a couple little boys almost blew the ship up playing with fire on top of the gunpowder kegs. Sounds like it was quite the trip!

These two sailors were great. They knew their history! They were asking where we were from and they just could not wrap their minds around where Texas would be. The kicker was when we told them we used to live near Jamestown, Virginia. Without missing a beat, they both said, "So sorry to hear it." (If you remember, Jamestown was founded in 1607 and there was much starvation and death those first few years.)