Our Christmas Break Thus Far...

The nice thing about being in college is you get a stinkin' long break during christmas. This year our break is a week longer! We got done with our finals on the 8th and we don't start back up until January 11th. :)

So far we....
* Hung out for the LAST :'( time (in Logan) with our best friends. They will be moving to Draper and leaving us behind...

* Went to the SLC temple for our friend, Brian's, wedding.

* Had a {Western Night} and watched the NFR. (One night a year is enough for my hubby to pretend he's a cowboy!)

*Went to the 36th(?) annual Kay Family Christmas party. Nixon wasn't even scared of Santa...maybe just a little tense. It's expected.

*We had a coloring contest. Can you guess the winner? LUKE. Of course.

* My baby is still not crawling. Am I worried? I was, now...I'm taking everyone's advice and figuring the longer it takes the better. I won't have to chase the little buckaroo around everywhere! But, we still TRY to help him with tummy time. He cries and cries. But now he tries to hint to us he'll do it on his own time by just laying his head down and not making ANY effort. What a kid!

Wow, he's up on his hands...WITH A SMILE!

* We went to visit Tyler and Karlee and stayed at their house again. We always have SO much fun. We stayed up till three playing settlers, Conner and I still hadn't won!

*We went to the {JUAB} basketball game. Nixon really enjoyed it, especially when my cousin Tevan caught a ball for him! Tevan know claims the title of BEST cousin. :)

*We took my nephews and niece Christmas shopping to buy gifts for their mommy and daddy. We had to make a stop at Carl's Jr so they could play in the playland.

* Tanner had a birthday! He is FOUR! Kaydee had a party for him the day before. Nixon liked playing with Ellie's stoller. Then Ellie attacked. Or was it a hug? We'll say it was a hug!

*I had one of those priceless moments....I got to rock Nixon to sleep. This was my FIRST time. He's not a cuddler and when you hold him he doesn't just relax. He HAS to be moving. Therefore, because I got to do this I was a VERY VERY happy mommy!

*I had a party! It turned out a lot better than I had imagined. It was so good to see all of my friends from HS. It had been a very long time. We played games, ate yummy food, talked, and laughed {ALOT}.

*** And then came CHRISTMAS EVE! We had a busy day planned. First it started off with breakfast at Aunt RaNaes. We had breakfast with my mom's dad, Grandpa Kay. A little after that we went to the cemetary to visit Grandpa Keith (My mom's stepdad). He died a couple of years ago and his birthday is on Christmas Eve. THEN, we went out to Grandma Reds (my mom's mom) to have our traditional christmas eve night. This consists of dinner, the guys watching football (grr..), exchanging ornaments with the cousins, and getting pajamas from Grandma.

Every year the cousins exchange christmas ornaments. The ornaments usually have something to do with what went on that year for that specific cousin. My aunt Angie knows a girl who has been making them the last few years, this way we can get really specific!

Kayden: him on the computer

Austin: graduation 2010

Shaylee: golf

Jamileh: Graduation 2010

Alex: bike crash. :(

Brayden: Indiana Jones

Shayda: University of Utah

Tevan: his Pinto he got from my grandpa to fix up

Keaton: a cat...long and weird story...

Jayden: Toothless on his fourwheeler. (He had a big wreck and lost his teeth)

Nixon: Baby's first Christmas in his BLUE blankie

Talysha: SUU student

Kameron: Soccer player

Trevan: Soccer player

Tanners( not shown): is him holding his two imaginary friends little friend and little Kameron (SO CUTE!)

Ellie (Not shown): her with her cute pig tails in jammies

Some of the other ornaments were not made by this girl, I don't have a picture of them but they were cute as well!

***Christmas Day!!!

Conner and I had fun our first year being HoHo! I was so excited I had a hard time going to sleep! This was our little set up.

We woke up at 8:00 and had our little families Christmas (Nixon, myself, and Conner). My parents were good sports to sit through the 1 1/2 hours of it. Conners parents sent us a couple packages from Seattle which was super nice of them. They really did spoil us!

After {Our} Christmas, we went over to my grandma and grandpa morgan. (Most know them as Pooper and Papa, that is ALOT more normal for me). We had breakfast and had our Christmas there with my dad's side of the family. Sadly, I didn't take many pictures there...but we had a good time!

We came back to my parents and had a short time to relax until we had our THIRD christmas with all of my family. This year we did it differently by having it later in the evening. We really liked it this way because it spread the day out rather than rushing so much. My parents spoiled Nixon with more toys and clothes. After the kids opened their presents it was time for us to open. (Us as in Kaydee, Karson, myself and our spouses)

This year my mom was pretty creative. It started with a poem my mom wrote that told us we had clues to follow (she kinda tried to do her own little amazing race kind of thing) Our first clue was in our stockings. We all went through our stockings quickly trying to find the clue. We ALL missed it. The clue was the color of our wrapping paper! we then had to go over to the tree and grab all of the presents that were in that same wrapping paper. Once we did that we had to organize the boxes in the right order. Then, we had to open each gift and find a letter hidden in each one. Some of the letters were pretty tricky! After we got all of our letters we had to fill our a paper, and try to unscramble the letters to make the right word. Once we filled out the paper correctly and figured out the word than she gave us each some nice backpacks or fanny packs! haha they were styling! (they were more of a joke!) Once we all got to that point then we opened up our bags to find out main present....We each got something that goes towards our trip to Hawaii. My mom is always so great at doing our gifts in fun ways like that! I hope I can be that way when I have more kids. It was an awesome Christmas!

Thanks Mom, Dad, Rick, Micci, Pooper, Papa, Grandma Red, Conner and everyone else for our great gifts!

We ended the night playing games with Karson, Linzy, Mom, Conner, and myself...(Thanks again Tyler and Karlee for letting us borrow settlers...we've played it ALOT!)

{The best news of the night...}

My parents got the best gift of the night...They were given a present with two items in it.

These were the items...

We were all so excited that everyone was in tears! We couldn't be more happier for these two. I know they will be amazing parents! I can't wait to meet my little Niece or Nephew!!!

My Favorite Picture....

You had to be there, but when he woke up and I took the carseat cover off this is what we found. He stayed like this with a straight face for a good 3 minutes. Everyone got a good laugh!

Merry Christmas everyone! Love you all!

November Review

Well, we all know by now that because I am such a slacker I do my posts a month at a time! So I hope you're ready for November!
It was a GOOD month.

Conner and I LOVE to go spend time with our cousins Tyler and Karly. Their two little boys, Boston and Staton, are the funniest little boys. We are hoping to make a pit stop on our way to Nephi to see their new addition, Berkley! I can't wait to see her!

While there we: Ate at JCW's (Yum.), watched movies, Karly and I went shopping while the boys spent ALL day (literally) watching football, had a yummy dinner with Casey, Hannah, and their friends (Tyler's delicious ribs),  the boys played ping pong, ate monkey bread, we learned how to play settlers (still need LOTS of improvement). We had such a fun time! Thanks Tyler and Karly for all of the YUMMY food and for letting us stay the weekend with you!)

Nixon got his 1st haircut! He was VERY good at first, but at the end he had enough and that was all there was to it.

Back to Seattle we Go!! Happy Thanksgiving! 

This year was our turn to go to Seattle for Thanksgiving. Luckily, we were able to take a LONG vacation and spent 10 days in Seattle. We loved every minute of it. 

Some of the people Nixon got to spend time with were...

Grandma Micci, Aunt Derra (Rick's sister), Aunt Lauren, Grandma Anna Lee, Uncle Austin, Uncle Zeke, Grandpa Ricky, Aunt Jamie, Ron McCombs, and Kimi (Jamie's little sister).

There weren't very many times I had Nixon, unless he was crying. He was very loved and spoiled ALL week long! He sure did enjoy all of the hugs and kisses.

 

Thanksgiving Day

I don't know why the Edward's family is sucked into this each year, but it is a very nice thing to be sucked into. Each year they help a guy put up the christmas lights and decorations down by the water (Redonodo). This year I was more of a picture taker/baby watcher. But at least I made an appearance!

One of my favorite things we do with the Edwards' is cutting down our own Christmas tree. It takes a while to find the perfect one. Honestly, I don't care what tree it is because they are TREES! Of course there are really awful ones, but when you narrow your selection down to 1,2, or 3...I just assume close your eyes and take your saw to one of them! They are all pretty and unique in their own way! haha It was really fun though. While the final decision was being made of what tree to choose, Nixon and I decided to head elsewhere. We found a tent that was for little kids to write a letter to Santa. So, we did just that. With his mommys help of course!

Nixon, Nixon, and more Nixon!

Nixon is now 8 months old! Time flies when you're having fun I guess! I love coming home from school and seeing his huge grin across his face! Every time I walk through the door he will start crying until I pick him up. 

Nixon has become MORE of a blankie boy. Now, if you take it away from him he will cry. Kinda cute! He loves his daddy, he for sure has the most fun with him rather than me. I think that is what daddy's are for.  Nixon still doesn't crawl...is that okay? He scoots backwards and can go in a circle, but he does not go forward. I'll be honest, Conner has been stressing that he hasn't crawled since he was 6 months old. I told him he was crazy. The sooner he crawls, the more work for us! Now that he has hit the 8 month mark I'm having mixed feelings. The worry of if he is behind is starting to sink through. However, I have done A LOT of reading and every thing says between 7-10 months is average. So I think if he isn't crawling by 10 months then I will start to worry. We will be at my parents for a good long time (I'm not sure how they feel about that) but why we are there we have some development goals we want to work on with Nixon. Crawling is one of them! Think we can do it? We have tried the Vtech ball, but he still just doesn't show any interest. 

Nixon is the happiest little baby! In Seattle, Derra asked if he was always that way or if it was from apple juice that I had given him earlier. No- he is ALWAYS that way. Well, let me take that back. He doesn't like to get dressed, get out of the bath, and when he is hungry...he lets us know! 

We have tried to get him to clap, he is getting there. He puts his hands together and then moves them up and down. I guess that is his version of clapping. Works for me. 

Nixon is always making lots of loud noises. He has a VERY high pitch 'singing voice'. He loves to 'sing' as we like to call it! 

He eats SO much solids, but is still a pretty skinny boy. I am very interested to see what he weighs. Mid November he was 18.??  lbs. (bad mom) . It is weird to me because he eats SO much but yet is not a chub in the least bit. He will put down one of OUR sized cereal boys full of oatmeal, PLUS a jar of some kind of baby food. And sometimes he STILL wants more. I think he gets that from his mommy, bad...bad habit buddy!

Well, here are some pictures of our little Tonka. Love that boy.

Well...there you have it. I am so truly grateful for how blessed I am to have such a wonderful little family. I love my husband and I am so lucky to have him as my best friend. It is so great to be married to someone who is constantly making me laugh. I am so thankful that we have such a beautiful and healthy baby boy. I can not imagine my life without Nixon. He IS my life! I am so excited for each day that I have with him, to watch him grow and learn new things. It is fascinating to see the rapid change that occurs at this age.  I am also grateful for Conners family as well as my own. Without them, we would not be who we are today. I LOVE our families. I love who they are, the fun that we have with them, and the support and love that they are always showing us. Last but not least, I am SO thankful for the Gospel. I am thankful the Christ attoned for our sins. Because of that, we are where we are today. I'm thankful for the happiness the Gospel brings into our lives. I am thankful that I am able to raise my child(ren) in the Gospel. And I PRAY that they will ALWAYS keep the Gospel and it's truths close to their hearts. Most importantly, I am SOO grateful that I am sealed to the two sweetest boys in my life. I love knowing that I will be with them for an eternity! There is no greater joy than that. Hands down.