Christmas 2009

Here's a quick update on our December happenings...

We were able to make a quick trip down to Temple Square with my cousin Heather and her honey, Jeremiah. Joseph loved all the pretty lights, but wasn't a fan of the cold. We decided we all needed to thaw a little and so we sat in the Visitor's Center for a while. Joseph was a tired boy. He fell asleep all snuggled in Daddy's arms... his favorite place to sleep.

We stayed at home for Christmas. It was quiet and a nice, relaxing day. We were able to conference call in with my parents and talk to my brother in San Antonio, TX. It was good to hear his voice and he seems to be doing really well and enjoying his mission.

We all must have been good this year because Santa stopped by. Joseph was probably the most heavily rewarded for his behavior. He got a walker, an exersaucer, a johnny jump-up, lots of yummy baby food, a high chair to eat all the yummy baby food in, lots of books to look at and his Christmas Eve jammies, of course. How cute are the little bears on the feet?!? =] That was one tradition that we didn't do last year, 'cause, well it's just not very sexy to buy sweats for your honey and that's usually the jammies AJ and I wear. We did open up a gift Christmas Eve tho... a new filterless humidifier!! We were pretty excited, and our noses have been appreciative when we wake in the morning and can actually breathe.

Stockings I made the boys. Now we all have stockings that are the same size.

Probably the most ironic part of Christmas... AJ got clothes and I got tools... =] Gotta love it, we had a good laugh.

Daddy and Joseph on Christmas Eve. He's sure got a soft spot for that little boy. <3

We had lunch on Christmas with my brother-in-law, Richard and his family. It's nice to have family in town to share some of the holiday spirit with. We ate deliciously, as always, and stuffed ourselves. We decided, well Joseph decided, to head back home around 4pm. We spent the rest of the day just relaxing and enjoying each other's company.

Thanksgiving

Once again, I've fallen behind on our blog. Life just seems so much busier with a baby. My kid still takes a couple 2 hour naps a day, you'd think I'd be able to get a fair amount of stuff done in 4 free hours... I can't ever seem to get all caught up. Anyways...

Grandma McElprang, Kaiti and the great grandkids.

We were able to attend a family reunion on my mom's side for Thanksgiving this year. It was good to see all the Arizona family again... and of course everybody else too... but we don't see the Arizonians very often. It was also VERY nice to get out of the cold weather. We were wearing shorts and t-shirts! It was amazing.

AJ came home from work about noon on Tuesday and we packed up and drove all night... ok, more accurately AJ drove all night (after catching a few hours of sleep after work) and Joseph and I slept. Joseph did really well until about 9am and half an hour from our destination. He was getting restless. We finally got there and he was soo excited to get out of that "dumb car seat"... his words, not mine. Hahaha. AJ took a nap and we just relaxed with my mom and sisters and aunt and grandma. Joseph's sleep schedule was all messed up though so he was a little cranky. We went over to a park for a little while and around 4pm, AJ and I went back and started making pizzas for dinner that night. The next few hours consisted of cooking and eating pizza. We also had to make a run to the store, I'd forgotten a few things and we just couldn't pass up a cranberry slush from Sonic. Thursday consisted of cooking and eating. We also had our auction to raise money for the next reunion, and another run to Sonic. Yum!Even though it wasn't warm enough to swim, they did.

On Friday, AJ made a Black Friday run to get one of my Christmas gifts... yes, I know what it is and yes, I've already used it. That doesn't make it mean any less and it still completely qualifies as a Christmas gift. We were able to attend a temple session with my mom and dad in Mesa. It was nice and definitely less stressful for me to have my mom there. Going to the temple probably shouldn't be stressful; but, for me, it is. I know, the only way to make that go away is to go. Irony... gotta love it. My adorable little sisters...


Family Photo. Missing our Missionary Andrew!

24 1/2 years... still going strong.

Cute Miss Kaiti. Ask her how cold the water was...


Kimme... I can't believe how grown up she looks... makes me feel old.

After our temple session we took some family photos and then I took some pictures for my sister. Hopefully, they turn out fantastic and she can use some for her senior photos in her graduation announcements next year if she wants to. We then had dinner and a movie night at my cousin's house.


We left Saturday morning early and made it as far as Panguitch, UT when we decided to stop. It was snowing, the roads were yucky and we were all tired and tired of sitting in the car. We all ended up taking a two-hour nap and AJ went back to sleep after that while I attended to our night owl... We made our way back north on Sunday and finally to our house and our nice, soft bed. It was a quick trip, a long trip, but a fun trip. And we were soo glad to be back home. Although, I could have done without all the cold we've had lately...

A Bottle of Green Beans

Tonight our little boy ate his first real 'meal' of 'solid' food! So, it was actually more like half an ounce of mashed baby food green beans... but he sure seemed to enjoy a flavor other than rice cereal and formula. He has had several 'tastes' of other foods, but this was the first time he had more than a few bites and actually ate off a spoon. I didn't bother getting the camera out because the other times we've tried have totally failed and that's what I expected tonight... when he actually was eating I didn't wanna stop to get the camera out, afraid he wouldn't start again. I can't believe how fast he's growing. It's amazing how one week he's not quite ready for something and then a week later he absolutely is. Last week he wasn't quite ready for food off a spoon and tonight he chowed down and did pretty well with the spoon. It's awesome. I love being a mom! It's so fun to watch him learn and grow.

Domestic Goddess [In Training]: Kitchen Edition

So, I have a new addiction... one that will probably come back to haunt me. And my waistline. Especially since the holidays are fast approaching. I have been baking with wild abandon. and no recipes. I've cooked up two batches of brownies... a peanut butter chocolate cakey brownies and a mint chocolate brownies. AJ's favorites have been the chocolate mint brownies, but he's not really a big fan of peanut butter.

We also made homemade pizza on Sunday. We invited some friends over and baked up four delicious pizzas... We only ate like one and a half of them. We didn't even cook up the last one because we knew we were all too full to eat any of it! They turned out pretty darn awesome, if we do say so ourselves.

Ever so slowly I just might make my way to Domestic Goddess status... however, I do believe it will only ever apply to cooking. Cleaning isn't really my thing... you know this if you've ever seen my house... especially since a certain, adorable little Joseph came to live at our house. =]

p.s. once the camera battery charges and i can transfer pictures to the computer, i'll post pictures of our creations.

Candids...

Here are some recent photos of Joseph: What a silly boy!!

Pumpkin Carvin'

We have an institute class on Thursday nights. My cousin, Heather, is in our institute class. We usually play a couple games of billiards after class... but this week we carved pumpkins with them. Well, I guess to put it more accurately, AJ carved pumpkins with them while I took care of our little Joseph... But, not to worry, I came home and carved mine while the boys had some Daddy Time. And, of course, Joseph needed a pumpkin this year too... OUR MASTERPIECES:

AJ's Pumpkin

Joseph's Pumpkin

Krista's Pumpkin

All three jack o' lanterns.

HOPE EVERYONE HAD A HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Off Road Adventure

It's been a while since I posted, or more accurately had anything to post, but this last week has just exploded with post-able occurrences. And I've fallen WAAY behind. So, here goes:

Last Sunday, AJ and I took some family photos for some family and some friends.

I'm not real great at it but... I take enough of them that at least some of them turn out decent and aren't embarrassing to display on the wall. I enjoy playing around with it though. It may be something I'd have an interest in pursuing enough to take a few classes (and possibly someday maybe make a little money from it...) but for now, free is a heck of a lot cheaper than what it would cost to get them done professionally... that's the excuse I use in taking Joseph's pictures, anyway. It was way cold, but all of them were total troopers thru their whole shoot. I hope they turned out satisfactorily for both families.

And AJ was awesome... Thank you for taking Joseph while I took pictures, Sweetie!

After we got done taking the last set of pictures, AJ had a little adventure in mind. We drove through Old Town until he found the road he was looking for. Then we climbed up, up, up the hillside. Next thing I know we're driving up this bouncy, rocky, steep hill. When we got to the top we stopped and got out to take some pictures.

It was rather windy and there was the proverbial fall chill in the air... so we didn't stay out long. Joseph was sleeping in his car seat when we stopped... he slept A LOT that day.

We took our pictures and got back in the car... Oh, but AJ wasn't finished yet. He kept going along these bumpy, rocky roads. There was only a couple times I was a little on edge, usually when I was literally on the edge (of the cliffside or whatever).

We went up and down hills and over rocks I would never have dreamed of driving over... but I'm much better at riding in these situations. AJ had a blast, but what did I expect... boys will be boys. No matter how big they get.

Fall is Here

I took some fall pictures of Joseph. I can't believe he's 2 months old already! It seems like yesterday I was waddling around with a ginormous belly, just wishing he'd come out! And just last week I got the two pink lines on the pregnancy test, right?!? Time passes by so quickly. Guess we better make the most of what we have when we've got it, huh?

Those gorgeous blue eyes that I love so much!

He's such a happy boy. So full of those amazing smiles.





My favorite one.

Mom and Joseph.

I love being a mom! It's the best thing ever.

Weekend Adventure

Last weekend we made a spontaneous trip to Utah. Spontaneous as in we decided to go around 9pm on Thursday night and come 9am Friday morning we were on the freeway heading south. We were trying to make a lunch appointment with AJ's siblings at Tucano's. We had to make a couple stops before we actually left. Things were going pretty well until we hit Ogden area. We heard a loud thump, but couldn't see anything we'd hit and the road seemed pretty smooth so we kept going. A couple miles down the road the car started to wobble a little. AJ merged over to the right lane so we could figure out what was wrong. I looked in my side mirror and could see the rear tire was flat. We were trying to make it the last 500-ish yards to the exit ramp... No such luck. The car started to really wobble and vibrate and sound like a helicopter was landing on the roof and then there was a loud pop! We pulled over and stopped amid a smoking tire on the side of the freeway. The entire wall of the tire was totally shredded. AJ turned into our he-man, warrior daddy and changed that tire quick. It only took him about 20 minutes to get the spare on, but it was a little low so we had to stop and put some more air in it. However, we were only a few minutes late for lunch and a delicious lunch it was. I'm definitely glad I wasn't driving when we had catastrophic tire failure... It would've freaked me out and I wouldn't have been able to change the tire, especially with a little baby in the back seat. Whew! Thank goodness for my amazing husband hero.

The spare on the car and the flat, very popped tire.

After lunch we went and unloaded the car at Tavia and Seth's. Then we went and got our tire replaced. I got a few things for Joseph's Halloween costume. I'm not gonna spill the beans on that one yet... you'll just have to check back. After that we went over to Chris and Jewelia's house and hung out with them and their kids. They had quite a house full when we got there but the more, the merrier. Tavia and Ruby came over and we all got to visit. It's always fun to get to spend time with them.

On Saturday, we hung out with Tavia and Ruby until Seth got back from work and then while he took a nap. We then were able to go with the three of them up American Fork Canyon. The trees were all starting to turn orange and yellow. It was gorgeous. AJ and I were able to go up there last year, almost a year ago exactly, and it's definitely something I enjoyed both times.

This year, we got out at Cascade Springs and made the little hike down and around the springs. The foliage was all fall-colored and very pretty.

Tavia took some family pictures for us. We really needed to get some done with Joseph. The only other family photo we have we took on our back patio. It was alright but these ones turned out much cuter.

We went to Sacrament Meeting on Sunday with Seth and Tavia. After that we went back and packed up the car. We left around 3pm and had far less excitement on the trip back home... all our tires stayed intact. It was a fun little adventure, our weekend trip. Hopefully, it won't be too long before we get back down there.