giveaway ... random, I know

I've been bored with my own blog these days, so I wanted to do something silly. It's a lame giveaway - more like a gag gift in fact, so don't get too excited.

It's a WATCH (without a working battery, I might add - oh, this is getting even lamer as I'm posting it) and it's a genuine BRICK OVEN WATCH. (I am laughing out loud now and hope you are too.)

Here's the background story: Brick Oven is a restaurant in Provo, UT - practically on BYU campus - and I worked there as a waitress during college. They gave this to me as a gift for working there for 3 years and needless to say, I have never ever worn it. Should I throw it away? Perhaps. But this restaurant has somewhat of a legacy for the older generation who have lived in that area for a long time and I know families who always go out to eat at this place as part of their family tradition. So I'm thinking maybe there might be someone who might get a kick out of this or it might even be a good white elephant gift for a family party or something??!!

Anyway, if you want a chance to win then leave me a comment and tell me WHO you would give it to or HOW you would use it and WHY you want it. Depending on how many comments I get (which seriously might be zero), then I'll decide if the winner should be picked at random or maybe I'll just pick based on who has the best story. I feel like your chances will be pretty good. :) You have about a week from now...

Here she is (it says, "Doing Our Best At Being Our Best"):

If you've didn't go to BYU or haven't heard of the place, then please just ignore this post and still be my friend. :)

Just a few more Christmas Pictures

There's a bunch of new posts, so be sure to keep scrolling down.

Grandma & Grandpy Hale had a sleepover with all the cousins. Brave, right?! Here they all are in their matching pj's that they gave them (Rachel, Mason, Kennedy, Cannon & Brynn). They had dinner together, got pj's and an electronic toothbrush (Rachel loves hers - it's an Elmo one), and even went swimming in their hot tub.

They had a busy night - let's just say that Kennedy is the only one that slept all the way through the night. It was the first time we left Rachel overnight and she cried out for me around 2a (not normal - she always sleep through the night unless she's sick), but Grandma did a great job comforting her and then she slept the rest of the night. At 2a she also told Grandma she wanted her sippy, which I forgot to tell grandma that we keep a water sippy in her crib (oops!).

I love that Rachel is holding these Memory Game cards in her hand in the picture above - she has latched on to these type of cards and even got to bring the ice cream card home with her since we couldn't bear the thought of leaving it in Utah. Even now, she likes to sleep with it and keeps track of it all day long. Seriously, so random!

This picture was taken on Christmas morning first thing and this is what her hair looks like if I don't pin it or pull it up out of her face. But it makes me laugh and I think it's a great photo!

Brandon & Kyle's Christmas Greeting

I can't say I fully support it or always have the best attitude when they get together and create it just days before Christmas, but it always makes me laugh. Here's this year's Christmas Greeting from Brandon & Kyle:

Background information: Kyle and Brandon have been putting together a Christmas card since 2005 (the year we got married) and they deliver it to old high school friends and teachers (some who weren't so fond of their high school antics). It gets bigger and better every year! Annie (Kyle's wife) and I have never been asked to participate, but this year we made it in the credits!

2005 - a picture of them in front of a huge igloo they built together in Kyle's front yard

2006 - a collage of pictures of them in Christmas sweaters doing festive activities

2007 - a card professionally taken and made at Kiddie Kandids - wow!

2008 - a CD collection of Christmas songs recorded, sung and narrated by Brandon and Kyle - a little pitchy, boys, but super funny

2009 - a Christmas DVD / music video

2010 - I don't know if I even want to know what they'll come up with!

Christmastime

Rachel's favorite place in Utah is the "jumping park". We visited both Jump On It (free for kids under 2 and is mostly trampolines) and Kangaroo Zoo (blowup toys - about $5). She absolutely loved it and I got worn out chasing her!

Here we are at party #2 on Christmas Eve. Since our parents/grandparents/siblings all live in the same town, we usually split the time and go as many places as we can. Both families are understanding and flexible which helps, but people always ask me how we like everyone being in the same place and "splitting the time" - I really do love it! I don't feel like I have to miss out on anything and we always get to see everyone when we go home.

Rachel had so many treats this trip - really, she did. I just had to document it. All she had to do is say "Treat?" in her sweet voice and whatever relative was closest would oblige her.

I think I already mentioned it before, but all Rachel wanted for Christmas was "Elmo" and she got one! (Thanks, mom!) It's the Elmo Live! and he's pretty funny and Rachel is enthralled with him too.

And what would the holiday be without a Christmas dress from Nana?! She looked so pretty!

We had so much fun with everyone and it was so fun to get Rachel reacquainted with her great-grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles and to spend lots of time with Grandma/Grandpy & Nana/Papa. Love you all!

Here we are going back home to Arizona (flight #16 for Rachie) and this time she definitely understood we were in an airplane and that we were flying - pretty fun! When traveling by myself, the flights are never my concern - it's the getting on and off the plane that's always the big ordeal, but we always manage and make friends with strangers who are willing to help a little.

Other Christmas memories I don't want to forget:

- Parker family talent show ... hiliarous! Brandon re-wrote the words "Mary, did you know?" and changed it to "Cindy, did you know?" and sang to Chad and her all about the not-so-"joys" of parenthood [Brandon - you should post the lyrics!]; mom and dad sang "Baby, it's cold outside" complete with costumes and choreographed dance moves; Chad & Cindy lip-synched & danced to Sandy Patti's "The Gift Goes On" (a classic from my childhood! Does anyone love this song as much as our family?); Cade played the piano; Rachel did the hot dog dance.

- We got babysitters and went to dinner with the Worthen's - we miss them terribly!

- My mother-in-law started a new tradition and had all the grandkids sleepover while us siblings went out to dinner and then had the night to ourselves - it was so fun and I just got some pics from them, so I'll do a separate post.

- I thought it was so funny how much Rachel loved my 15 year old brother, Cade, who is your typical teenage boy and not animated with her at all - but she just loves him. Everytime he'd walk in the room, she'd say "Hi Cade". She also aced almost every family member's names without help - go Rach! She also loves my mom's dog, Zoe, who must love her too because Rachel shared almost every meal with him (reminder to self - do not ever get a dog while you have a child in a high chair, who will throw everything down the dog).

- Are you still reading? Wow, I'm getting a bit carried away!

- We love to go see the light show up on the hill - the one where about a million lights are synchronized to music - it's so festive and and I'm so glad they put it on each year.

- Went to a small Christmas production at the rest home my grandfather stayed at up until he passed away this last July. My grandmother sang with the tenants who live there and it was so sweet to see them all participate in whatever way they could - some sang loud (even if it was out of tune) and other chimed their bells. (Clarification - my grandmother has a fabulous singing voice and was a huge support to the group) It was so sweet to feel of their Christmas Spirit.

Trip to see Santa at the Mall

You be the judge, but I don't think it went so well...

She talked a big talk about Santa this year, but would rather not sit on his lap! :)

Rachel in action & other random happenings in December

We were really looking forward to Christmas this year since Rachel is sort of getting it now - meaning that she can say Santa & Jesus and shows her excitement a little more than last year. She's 18 months old now and getting so big! She was especially excited to see Grandma, Grandpy, Nana & Papa in Utah (she talks about them daily). We were also excited about the snow, that is until we lived in it and froze for two weeks and decided that that was enough for us - we are such winter babies now that we live in Arizona.

Anyway, before we left for Utah we put lights up for the first time and decorated our house to make it feel like Christmas (even though it didn't really feel like Christmas to me until we got to Utah). We have two, small fake trees to decorate - one for dad & Rach (left) and one for mom (right), and Rachel did great at leaving the ornaments alone for the most part. We also listened to lots of Christmas music on pandora.com - if you haven't discovered this website yet, check it out here. Oh, and Rachel requested to watch Baby Einstein's "Baby Santa" constantly.

Then Brandon made Christmas lemonade using the lemons from our tree out back. It's not really Christmas-y, but they are fully ripe now and it was delicious. We'll have to be in charge of the lemons for next year's mint julep drink at the Hale Christmas Eve Party. (Does anyone else have this Christmas drink tradition? Our version is non-alcoholic and it's ingredients are lemons, sprite, sugar, mint extract, green food coloring and lots of ice.)

Not to brag or anything...

...but it's been 70 degrees here for the last 3 days - wa hoo! (It's above average temperatures, but I'll take it!) So Rach is in heaven and we've gone to the park everyday.

Christmas post coming soon... we had so much fun being in Utah for the holidays (it was freezing, but so fun!)