Christmas 2009

We went to Utah for Christmas this year and it was a non-stop party. It was so fun. We mostly partied with this crew.
We played tons of games, sung karaoke several times until literally 3am in the morning (so fun and quite hiliarious!), participated in the annual laser tag game (I came in 3rd place one time and killed my husband, it was awesome), took professional family pictures with the whole clan and best of all we were reunited with our long lost cousins. They were so much fun. We love them and are super excited to have them around in the future. This year we started a white elephant gift exchange that we added to our Christmas Eve program. It was a lot of fun. Being with family was the best gift this year. I love them all! It is so fun. It seems like every year we get addicted to a new game. The game of the new year was Ticket to Ride. If you like games, it is a must play. Shawn and I were able to do a quick trip to Texas with just the two of us. It was nice (well as nice as house hunting can go....) but it was nice to be alone, go out to dinner (Texas food is amazing!) and somewhat relax. Best part was to get a full night sleep and first class flying was not bad. Flying benefits sure are nice.

Jack was extremely spoiled by his grandma and his aunt, uncle, cousins and friends. The kid loved all the attention he got. It was one party for him. He also loved playing with the animals. I need to post a video of Jack trying to play fetch with Mr. Jiggs (my mom's dog). The only problem was he could only throw the ball about one foot so Jiggs would just stare and Jack could not figure out why he would not get the ball. So cute. Overall a wonderful trip and we were sad to leave!

Christmas Eve we always have a party with my mom's side of the family. It is always a lot of fun. My cousin Nick just returned from Russia where he was serving a mission for our Church. He was gone for 2 years. It was nice to have him back.
The uncles

My cousin Sam. Should I be worried?
Getting loves from Great Grandma.

Making silly faces with cousin Lilly.
It is a tradition to always have a really nice Christmas breakfast before we open any gifts. I love this because it reminds you of what is important before you open the presents.

Jack not sure what to make of the presents he got this year.
Helping grandma open his gifts.
I think he enjoyed eating them more than opening them.
Playing with some of the new gifts.

Henry Ford Museum

Shawn had a day off of school so we went to the Henry Ford Museum. Initially we were going to go to this village outside, so I dressed Jack really warm but it was a little too cold so we did this instead. It was really neat to see all the cars plus they had a fun lego exhibit and a very real looking Santa. Here our some pics of our adventure.

First Haircut

While we were in Utah Jack finally got a much needed haircut. I was really worried that he would hate it and not sit still but it was such a fun place that Jack did great. Initially, I wanted to keep his hair long but the way the gal cut it Jack looked like a girl. It was a bob. So she tried to fix it to no avail so I finally said just cut it short. He looks so different. He looks like a toddler now.

Jack, Jack!!

This post was written a while ago and I finally posted it:

Jack is starting to really grow up. I really love this age despite having to watch him like a hawk as he is getting into everything!!! He loves opening any drawer he can get his hands on and taking everything out, loves unrolling the toliet paper if he somehow manages to get into the bathroom, loves climbing up on the couches to the very top and turning the light switch on and off, on and off, and then proceeding to see if he can somehow maneuver over to the TV stand from the couch. He knows when he is naughty, in fact he will put something in his mouth that is not supposed to go in, look at me, laugh and then take off 90 miles per hour. He is also very sweet--he loves to cuddle up with his mom and dad. He talks on the phone to his grandma everyday. He really talks, he will take conversational turns in which he listens to grandma, then talks and then listens. It is really cute. He is starting to say a couple of words. Although if you talk to my mom he talks in two word utterances and says almost everything. But I think he only a couple of words in his vocabulary (baba (bottle), ma ma, binky, amen, all done, da da, bye bye).

He loves playing with other kids. We get together with two different playgroups each week plus we try to go the library and church playgroup. He loves socializing. He is still the world's worst sleeper and thanks to our stomping neighbors who stomp if he cries more than 3 minutes, it has been hard to let him cry it out. So I guess we will just have to manage until we are out of an apartment complex. Jack is almost walking. He holds on to one hand and takes off. He is up to 8 steps on his on. I think I have hit most of his updates. We love Jack! He makes us laugh all day long. Here are some pics of his funny faces that I love!

Whirlwind of activities

Okay, our computer is finally up and running again. Thanks to Shawn, who is amazing, he disassembled our computer and put in a new hard drive. Yep, he is a Renaissance man who can do it all! So I have lots of updates. Over the last two months we have been to Seattle, Texas twice, St. Joseph Michigan and Utah for Christmas. It has been crazy but our lives are starting to slow down. For those of you that don't know, Shawn accepted a job with American Airlines and we will be moving to Texas when he graduates in April. We are really excited about his job--especially for the flying benefits. He is really excited about the program he will start. He has to first complete his last semester of school, which is pretty crazy because he is taking 18 credits. So that is a quick update on our lives. Hopefully, I will be caught up with blogging and you can see pictures from our trips.

A very sweet trip to Seattle and Victoria
Jack and I made a quick trip to Seattle and then to Victoria to see a special friend who I met on my mission. It was a very short trip but very worth the long airplane ride. Actually, Jack did really well on the airplane ride. Sleeping was a whole other story.... I was very worried that we would not be able to see my friend because the weather was quite bad and the day I was suppose to go to Victoria all the ferries were shut down due to weather. Luckily the next day the weather cleared up and Jack and I were able to go to Victoria for the day. It was a very special tender trip that I will always remember. My friends are both incredible people that I really look up too. My friends were so good with Jack. Jack seriously loved them! He was loving all the attention. I was a little worried that he would be fussy and needy due to lack of sleep but he was such a trooper.

While we were in Seattle we stayed with my aunt and uncle. My cousin Lilly was so good with Jack. Every time Lilly would walk out of the room Jack would start crying. I wanted to bring Lilly back with me because she was such a great helper. We also saw Shawn's family and one of my friends. It made me really miss Seattle and our family and friends. I was horrible at taking pictures so I only have a couple and I took them with my phone so not the best quality.

It was pretty cold while we were there. Here is Jack all bundled up.
Jack and Lilly. As you can see Lilly had a lot of fun playing with Jack.
Jack loved all the attention he got from my friends.



The weather has shockingly been so nice here in Ann Arbor. So I try to take Jack to the park every day. He loves to swing and will seriously sit in it for over an hour. He will swing and watch other kids play. Every time I take him out of the swing he throws a small temper tantrum. Poor Jack won't be happy when we are cooped up inside for the winter.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

We had a fun filled week. On Wednesday we went to an apple cider mill with a pumpkin patch and hay rides. The hay ride was well worth the $4. The horses went almost full speed and it was quite fun! We trotted in and out of the forest, through the pumpkin patch, along the road accompanied by flying mud from the horses trotting so fast. We were all holding on for dear life. It was pretty fun. On Friday we went to story time downtown where they go all out for halloween. You could also trick or treat on Main St. Then Jack and I went to our apartment complex halloween party and then today our friends had a fun halloween party. The boys bobbed for apples and they were all soaked and the girls had a donut contest. Everyone brought a fun halloween dessert and we all dressed up. What a fun weekend!

The Cider Mill (by the way they had the best homemade donuts, yum, yum!)

Hay ride

Halloween Party

All the cute MBA kids minus Jude. Sorry Jude I guess we took pics before you got there--all the kids were starting to have melt downs.....

Our costume. As you can see we ran out of time to put together an outfit so Shawn found this idea on the internet. I thought we could get away with it while the kids are young. I know slightly inappropriate but hey we are fully clothed:)

The Food. I made the gross fingers. I think they turned out pretty gross (I was pretty proud..) but tasted good.

Donut contest, as you can see I lost:(