Merry Christmas!!

I love this time of year. I love having time set aside for family and friends to gather together. I love all the Christmas parties that bring us all a little closer to each other. I love celebrating the birth of the Savior and remembering what a miraculous gift he was to each of us from our Heavenly Father. I love that Ty is old enough now to participate in the Nativity at family parties... even if he is the first one to run to mom and dad in his cute little angel costume.

I hope that you all have a great Christmas. I am so grateful to have such wonderful family and friends to surround me. And for a husband that I love unconditionally and for my little Ty that melts my heart.

Ty's Nativity

It all started with this little dog... my mom spotted it in a children's play Nativity set and had to have it... had to have one for each of her grandchildren. My parents have 3 Boarder Collies... and love them!

So here's Ty's favorite toys these days... he loves the angel because if you push her it plays Away in a Manger... and he totally rocks out to it.

He loves giving all the characters kisses... and then wants you to give them kisses too. His kisses are so funny cause they're fishy lip kisses.

If you don't have one of these sweet kids Nativity Sets I highly recommend it! Ty has gone crazy over it. I plan on packing it up with our Christmas stuff so that he can only play with it at Christmas time... this way it will be Special for him.

29 years

Here I am one years old.

Has it really been that long?
I love birthdays and I always have. But I have to quote a great quote from a great movie... Pretty in Pink... "Ohhhh why can't we start out old and grow younger?"

Why can't my hair still be naturally that blond?

I have great memoies from great birthdays in the past. This picture is of me on my 5th birthday. It was my first time on an airplane flying by myself. When each of us grandchildren would turn 5 my grandma would fly us to Disney Land and spend the week just the two of us... very awesome grandma.

Some other great birthday memories:

1.Having a birthday dance in my partents barn with the entire 7th grade.

2.Having a prep rally on my birthday as a sophmore and the entire school singing to me

3. Having a huge dance party with DJ Dave in Cortland Ridge on my 20th birthday

4.Eating meat for the first time in 8 years on my 21st birthday and opening my mission call

5. The Elders in my district and my companion throwing me a fun little surprise party on my 22nd birthday

7. My mom always making me candy cane cake and eating it with yummy candy cane ice cream

8. And oh yes... my sweet sweet husband on my 24th birthday... hid my presents around the apartment and told me I had 5 minutes to find them... if I didn't find them all I was out of luck... but I would get an extra 10 minutes to look if I searched the house in the nude... so after 5 minutes was up... yes he had me running around the house completely naked searching for my presents. He loves remembering that birthday too. :)

Today has been a great memory as well. I woke up to Drew sending me off to get a message. Yummy Cheesecake Factory with friends for lunch... and if you haven't tried the Chocolate Tuxedo Cheesecake... it's to die for good!
Getting a new camera that I've needed for a long time!

Years go by so quickly... but I am greatful for the ones I've had! Here's to 29 more great ones.

Santa's little helper

I love the holidays...I love hearing Christmas music on the radio and Christmas decorations in all the stores and thinking about Christmas gifts for family and friends.

We had fun setting up Christmas this past week. I had been putting it off because of Ty. A one year and Christmas decorations didn't seem to mix. But we did it and he's loved all the new lights and shinny things around the house. Ty has been so fun with the tree. Surprisingly he hasn't been as bad as I thought he would be. Every now and then he takes an ornament off the tree and carries it around. ...But mostly he likes to crawl behind the tree and sit and play. ...I'm just hoping he doesn't knock it over.

He loves the wrapping paper :)

This little puppy is Ty's pal these days. You squeeze his paw and it sings and dances to Jingle Bell Rock... Ty loves it and loves to dance with him.

This little snowman is supposed to be on our front porch... but Ty is so cute... we tell him to give the snowman kisses and he runs over and kisses him... it's so cute I can't take him out of the living room yet.

I am so happy about this! The last few years I've been collecting the different pieces to the Willow Tree Nativity set and this year I am lucky enough to have them all. ...Thanks to my mom and sister for birthday and Christmas gifts I now have it and I love it... yes I realize it is sitting on top of DVD player ... but I have no where else to put the DVD player... or Nativity scene.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent Thanksgiving Day  at the Pearson residence. As always the food was great... I seriously could have just eaten the yummy yams and stove top stuffing and been completely satisfied. 

After dinner I spent the evening planning out my shopping for BLACK FRIDAY ... one of my favorite days of the year. ... call me crazy but I love the excitement... sure I'll get up at 3:30 in the morning, stand in line at Walmart for an hour in the rain just to get that DVD that's on sale for 2 bucks! ... so fun. And I have Christi... Drew's sister... to blame for my love of black Friday shopping. My first year married Drew warned me about her... after waki taki's and a plan of who grabs what and who stands in line while the others run... I have been hooked. 

I love this time each year where we reflect on things we should be grateful for.

I have many things to be grateful for:

just to name a few...

A husband who works hard and smart... so that I am able to be home with the Ty guy each day

A healthy baby that cracks me up all day long

My family

My friends

My religion that brings me peace, happiness and understanding

The beach 

Chocolate... in all it's forms

Down Comforters

Good movies

Good laughs

Hot Tubs

Photography

New adventures

and Drawer organizers

I hope every one had a great Holiday! 

Ty's talking... so funny

So... Ty's starting saying a few words and I love it!! When ever you ask him a question he answers with "YA" ... it's so stink'in cute... and as you can imagine Drew has a lot of fun with it... making fun of everyone he knows. ...let's just say Ty thinks a lot of Drew's friends are gay.



This video shows him playing his favorite game ... Peek-a-Boo. Also he hasn't quite gotten "daddy" down yet.
...oh and PS Drew has just gotten home from the BYU vs UTAH game and has lost his voice and is a bit depressed.

Here are the few words he says:
Mommy
Buddy
Doggie
Binkie
Fishies
Mum ... means Monkey
Deee ...means drink
"wadis" .... as he points to the TV... I think it means "watch this" ... he loves Baby Einstiens.

It is so fun! I about freaked out the first time I heard him say binkie and point to his binkie... now he's been picking up words and it's so fun to watch him. When he isn't using understandable words he still is always talking to us... and everyone. It's hilarious... the kid doesn't shush up!

Daddy's Boy

One thing I've loved about becoming a parent are the pleasant surprises. One of them being how much I enjoy watching father son bonding. Ty is so into Drew and I love it. What Dad does he does. Here they are sharing Drew's favorite treat ... popcorn .... and watching football together. Drew always seems to have a 44oz drink of Diet Coke or Diet Mountain Dew in his hand when he comes home and had to switch to D-caff because Ty screams his head off if he doesn't get to drink what Dad drinks.
I don't say it enough... Drew is such a great dad. He told me once when we were first married that he wasn't into babies all that much (He loves them when they're older and can wrestle around) so I shouldn't get mad at him if when we had a baby if he didn't want to hold it all the time. From the minute Ty was born until the present we fight over who gets to hold him... of course unless he's crying or poopy right :) I think it even took Drew by surprise how quickly you fall in love with your babies.

Fall is 'leafing' to fast

Fall has come and gone so quickly. It actually snowed the other day and I was not prepared for it... mentally or clothes wise. I love the colors and peacefulness of fall. There is something calming about the crisp air and beautiful leaves. I had to get a picture of Ty playing in the leaves outside is grandmas house... these were actually taken a week or so ago... now you can find snow where this beautiful pile was.
Although Drew is excited that Snowbird is now open... I am not fond of winter and yet here it is and it lasts sooooo long. Any suggestions for things to do indoors with a one year old?

Little Pirate

Our little Pirate... he LOVED the sword.... hated the hat and held on to his candy bag for dear life. Even by the end of the night when his bag was full he was dragging behind him as he walked along... it was so cute.
This year was so much fun. I don't think I've been trick-or-treating since 8th grade or something! We went over to Drew's parents house where his mom made hamburgers that looked like spiders... so cute. And then we all went trick-or-treating and had a blast. The weather was perfect and the Halloween spirit was so thick... loved it!

Cousin Carson

Cousin Autumn

Cousin Ali

The three youngest cousins

So... for the last few years for Halloween Drew has thrown on one of his Dolphin's jerseys and has gone as a Dolphin fan or Ricki Williams as a Halloween costume... this year he bought me a Beck jersey so I could join him.

All the cousins... minus Colton and Isabel... together on Halloween. Don't they all look so cute!

Ty's One-Year-Old Photos

How cute is this little man! He had his pictures taken by the same girl who took his six month old and sealing pictures back in March. ...Alaina... Digital Darkroom ... it's listed on my favorites.
We went to Wheeler Farm and got some really cute shots of him.
He looks so posed... but we really didn't "pose" him.

There's somthing about Ty in Ties that I absolutly love... maybe it has something to do with his name... I da' know... but I love this kid in a cute Tie... even if it is with jeans!

Okay... this one cracks me up! Mostly because this is the face he makes when he's yelling "MOM" ... when we needs me for attention purposes only.

Such the man... waiting for his lady.

A Week in Mead

We had a fabulous week on a houseboat in Mead. Every year for like the past 10 years or something Drew and his high school buddies take a trip to either Lake Powell or Lake Mead. Now that most of the friends are married, the wives and kids get to come along... Lucky us! It is great to get away from work... household chores... and cell phone service! through the years the number of people who can make seems to dwindle... people get busy and money gets tight... but we have a great time with whoever can make it.

Ty and his girl Sophie helping drive the boat.

Ty even got to do some wake boarding with Dad!!
So... I was out swimming one morning for a work out and I see in the far distance the jet ski coming towards me... but I didn't see any one riding it... until it got closer and there was Ty driving the jet ski with Drew ducked down below him so I couldn't see him... it was the funniest thing... to see Ty driving by himself... and happy as could be.
The first few days of the trip were a bit cold and windy... but Ty still loved and wanted to go for wave runner rides. .... here I am taking him on a run... we're bundled in sweatshirts under our life jackets! ...but we still had fun.
Ty had such a great time. We took him last year when he was only a month old... so this year it was so fun to watch him pay and fall in love with the wave runner and jet ski... he could play on them all day.
The boy did lots of fishing... this year with scuba gear and a spear. ...Don't you love Koby as Scuba Steve!!




Fishy Lips.... the entire trip!!
Lots of fun playing in the sand.
Except sand and chocolate chip cookies don't mix... but then again try telling that to Ty!

Family photo
Okay... so Tom, Koby and Drew all started a contest the week before the trip to see who could grow the best mustach... Boys can be so weird. ... I think Tom totally won this one.

Ty on the jet ski.

Ty Wake Boarding.