Brandon & Kyle's Christmas Greeting

No comment from the unsupportive wife.  :)

Happy Holidays

(Photo taken by Summerfly Photography)

Getting ready for Christmas

Thanksgiving

 My entire family came down and stayed at our house for Thanksgiving and I had way too much fun to take any pictures!  I hosted and put on Thanksgiving dinner and it turned out pretty good I thought.  When I think about the food items, it really shouldn't be that hard, but it's always stressful for some reason (cue two month old to take 40 minute naps all day long - perfect timing).  My family went and hiked the ASU "A" with Rachel and they had a great time.

Black Friday (officially started Thursday) was a huge success and Brandon even caught the black Friday bug.  He camped out at Target starting at 6p with my brother so that they could get a big screen tv for $300.  They store opened at 4p, but family members were also running to Walmart around midnight to help us get Rachel's Christmas gift on sale.  Cindy and I stayed home with the nursing babies and missed out on the action.  I think everyone had a lot of fun and was just happy to be together.

My family had to leave a day early because of a giant snow storm in Utah that they didn't want to drive through, but I was glad they all made it home safely.

One other thing I want to remember about this weekend, is how excited Rachel was to have Uncle Cader (age 16) sleep in her room with her.  She LOVES him and talked about it for WEEKS before.

ASU "A"

 

Here's the famous Uncle Cader

Beautiful view of our valley !

The boys took turns carrying Rachel - here she is with Papa

Uncle Kyle & Cader 

 p.s.  Moms, I'm looking for some advice if you have any experience.  Rachel has her hands in her mouth ALL.the.time. and it drives me absolutely crazy (the picture above just reminded me).  She also bites her fingernails and she's only 2.  Where'd she even learn that?  (eh hem ... me ... but that's beside the point and I'm trying to "quit")  I have tried reasoning and bribes and punishments, but it's so hard to be consistent since she is doing it all day - I can't even tell you how many times I tell her to take her hands out her mouth daily.  Gross, I know!

New BFF

Brandon's cousin, Morgan, had a business trip planned in Phoenix so his wife and daughter tagged along and we all spent lots of time together last weekend.  Allie and Rachel are the same age and after three days together, I think she found a new BFF.  They of course had their moments and both had their fair share if timeouts, but by the end, we really didn't have to intervene all that much.

On Thursday, we went to the zoo, and on Friday Leslie graciously helped me did everything to make me quite a few freezer meals (between putting down for naps and feedings, there wasn't much time for me to help).  I was so grateful for her help!    

Then we spent time with the dads going out to dinner, eating Blue Bell ice cream (yum - it's made here locally and we'll be sure to keep a half gallon in our freezer if you come visit), and then the adults stayed up super late talking and laughing.  

Rachel had her first official sleepover with Allie (we just pulled out her trundle) ... technically her first was a few weeks go with her uncle Cade, but I don't know that that counts.  They did pretty good - it was two naps and two nights!  

Brandon finished putting up our Christmas lights and in one tree, he used three different strands of lights, some blinking - some not, and it basically looks ghetto, but we think it's funny.  Morgan took it a step further and left this lovely note on our door before they left (what an honor!):  

Allie & Rachel at the zoo (age 2 1/2)

SO CUTE!

 

I could make a book of Rachel on carousels - they are one of her top 5 favorite things to do

 

Cute dads with their girls

 

Here's a great Arizona Christmas decoration :)

a ton of pics

keep scrolling down, there's a whole bunch of new pictures.  and to think i was going to go to bed early tonight.  oops.

Baby Pirate

This holiday season I've made a special effort to help Rachel understand that Christmas isn't just about Santa, but it's about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.  We've been learning about Mary & Joseph, the angel, shepherds, etc.  (Thank you, Friend magazine for providing a cute scripture tree activity this month to make it easy on me.)

While the YW President was over at my house to pick something up, Rachel randomly noticed a unique nativity scene that I had in the front room that she hadn't ever seen before.  The figurines are tall and skinny and it looks like cracked glass.  Rachel brought the Baby Jesus figurine to us and said, "Look, mom, it's a baby pirate!"

She can identify all are other nativity scenes, but is convinced this one is not Jesus, but a baby pirate (probably because she knows I'll give her a good reaction).  I think the whole "true meaning of Christmas" is going really well.  So does Sister Sibley, the YW President.

Big Man on Campus

He's already 2 months old!  Time flies.  Usually I try not to list weights on the blog, but Andrew clocked in at 15 pounds 4 ounces at his appointment, which is off the charts - more like the size of a 4 month old.  We love his chubbiness!

Remember when he was just teeny!?  I have been meaning to post all of these newborn pictures Brandon and I took of our little guy.  In fact, I was meaning to edit them and had big plans, but surprisingly, I don't have much time lately.  :)  They were all taken of him when he was 1-3 weeks old.

 

Family Pictures

We got some family pictures taken by some friends in our ward - Summerfly Photography- they're a darling family and she had a little baby boy just a couple weeks after we had Andrew.  And I remember when we moved into the ward, she stopped by to introduce herself and brought by a bag of oranges from her tree - so sweet!

The pictures were all taken at the Mesa temple and we got some taken of just our little family one day and then later got the whole Parker family together for a picture Thanksgiving weekend.  It's so beautiful this time of year ... mid 70's all this week ... which is why we live here.  Now we just have to try to convince some family that snow is overrated.  :)

Thanks again, Summerfly!!