Christmas Break Part 3

Christmas day was so much fun! Holidays are definitely more enjoyable with a little one around. He was so excited about his presents and reacted just like we thought he would to all of them. He really got the hang of opening presents this year and only needed assistance from Dad a few times.

We made the mistake of letting him open Santa's gift first (a toy violin). He was so excited about it that he couldn't quite focus on the other presents. He would open another gift with our encouragement and would say things like, "Play! Play!" and then would set it down and pick up his violin again and say, "Ah-lin!" It was too funny! He also got a toy trumpet and carried the trumpet and violin around for the next several days. Miles got lots of other great toys and some cute clothes. He was taken care of for sure! He got lots of "big trucks," some books, some wooden puzzles, a train set, and the blanket I had made. He really has enjoyed every gift he got and just goes from one toy to the next all day long.

Grandma showing him how to play his violin





A "big truck"





Playing his trumpet





Grandma helping him with his trumpet





George with a book he got



Cathy with her mug we gave her



Grandma got a big picture of us



Sporting my new necklace from my aunt



Dave got a new sweater

After we were done opening gifts, we then had our traditional Cowboy Christmas Breakfast Casserole. Yummy! We then got to spend a few more hours hanging out before loading everything up again to head south to Wichita for Christmas with my dad's side of the family.

Miles slept almost the entire way to Wichita (about a 3 hour drive) with his violin and trumpet in hand! We all got more wonderful presents and had a delicious meal together. We spent the night at my grandma and grandpa's so we could spend more time with them. I'm so glad we got to spend that time together, it isn't often we get to!

Grandpa helping Miles open his "BIG truck"



Miles playing with his truck with the violin in one hand and the trumpet close by



New clothes



A big truck



Grandpa with his mug we gave him



Great Grandpa opening his mug

We had a wonderful Christmas Day! Thanks to everyone who made it so. We love you all and miss you terribly!

Christmas Break Part 2

Grandma drove up to Kansas City Saturday morning (Christmas Eve Day) and made it just in time for breakfast so we got to spend almost the entire day with her as well. She needed to do some last minute shopping so while she and I went to Wal-Mart, the rest of the crew took Miles and the dogs for a walk down to the lake in my aunt and uncle's neighborhood. It was such a nice sunny day! I'm glad Miles was able to burn off some energy since he had been in the car for two straight days prior. Wal-Mart was busy, but not as crazy as I had pictured.

We spent the rest of the day chatting, relaxing, and eating wonderful food. My Uncle George made a delicious turkey and my Aunt Cathy had many wonderful sides to go with it. It was a fantastic Christmas Eve Day!

George and the bird



Our feast that Miles slept through (he did get some later)

The Christmas Eve tradition that my family has is for my Uncle George to read "Twas The Night Before Christmas" and then we each get to open one present. With Miles we've started the tradition of giving him Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve and apparently my aunt had the same idea. We were all dying of laughter by the end because we all got pajamas and the pajamas we bought were almost identical to the pajamas my aunt had bought. Great minds think alike!

George reading to us



Miles loved Aunt Cathy's tree



Opening his first present (he really got the hang of it)



Grandma's pajamas



Opening my pajamas



Dad's pajamas

By the end of our opening presents adventure, Miles was yelling, "Pajamas!" and "Yea!" It was too cute! He was so happy for everyone to get new pajamas!

After Miles went to bed we watched our traditional "The Muppet Christmas Carol" and then called it a night. We tried to watch some of it while he was awake, but he didn't seem too interested. Maybe next year.

Christmas Break Part 1

Christmas Break for us began on Thursday, December 22nd. This was the day we left for a very quick trip to Kansas for the Christmas holiday. Even though it was a fast trip, I'm so glad we got to go! Miles doesn't get to see that side of his family very often so any chance we have to make the long trip back to Kansas, I like to take it.

The day before we left Miles' face/eye started to look slightly swollen to me and of course I started to panic. I was nervous about sticking him in a car for two days if he had something major going on. So, I called our fantastic neighbor who is a Nurse Practitioner in a pediatric office. She was so kind and very willing to come over and check Miles out. She listed a couple of possibilities, but figured the most likely cause was an injury. She offered me the reassurance I needed! She also warned me that it could potentially look worse in the morning and it sure did!

Our original plan was to leave fairly quickly after Miles woke up on Thursday so we could make it pretty far down the road before needing to stop for the night, but Wyoming had received some snow overnight and the roads didn't look too good. So we slowly got around and eventually headed out at about 10:30 a.m. The roads in Wyoming weren't perfect by any means, but they could've been a lot worse. During the worst parts we at least had one lane that was entirely cleared of snow. The passing lane on the other hand was pretty much snow packed. We made it as far as Cheyenne, Wyoming the first day which left us another 10 1/2 hours of driving to do on Friday. My aunt was the host for Christmas this year which meant we were heading straight to Kansas City instead of my mom's house down by Wichita, KS.

Our night in the hotel in Cheyenne was rough! Miles just wouldn't settle down and fall asleep and was still going strong at midnight. Once we all finally got to sleep, I woke up an hour or so later in sort of a panic because I couldn't breathe. The room had become so hot and I was starting to come down with a bug. Needless to say it was a rough night for all three of us.

The next day I pretty much slept most of the way (I was feeling pretty awful). Miles did a good job of staying entertained by his movies and Dave did a great job of getting us to Kansas City alive! My aunt said we all looked like raw hamburger when we arrived! That pretty much summed up the way we felt. We didn't spend too much time chatting before we all headed off to bed. Miles did not move once the entire night (which is abnormal for him)!

Miles playing in the hotel room



Buddy wishing he was in the backseat with Miles so he could steal some snacks



Captain Dave



Miles and Momma hanging out in the backseat

Temple Square

Before leaving town for Christmas, on Tuesday, December 20th we made our annual trip to Temple Square in Salt Lake City to see the lights. We invited Dave's brother, Jake, and his family to join us for the evening now that they are living close by in Bountiful. I'm glad they were able to meet us there. It was great to see them all again!

It was a fairly short evening because the children all needed to get to bed, but it was so cold that I think all of us adults were ready to leave as well. I think fun was had by all. Shortly after we got to Temple Square we decided we were all hungry so we took Trax (the train downtown) a few blocks to The Gateway Mall and had Rumbi Island Grill for dinner. It was a first for me and I have to say I thought it was pretty yummy. Miles, of course, LOVED the train ride. He wanted to stay on and ride it all over town. After we got back to Temple Square we walked around for a bit. We even let Miles out of his stroller to run and he decided the funnest thing to do was to play in the fountains. It is freezing cold outside and our child still wants to get wet. What a silly boy!

While walking around we had a moment of excitement. One of the lead singers from Vocal Point, Jake Hunsaker, was there with his wife. If you watched The Sing Off then you know who I'm talking about. It was kind of fun to whisper and point at him as he walked by. Lol!

Family photo in front of the temple



Family photo in front of some lights



Jake, Megan, Gwen, Ira, and Sam



Pretty trees at The Gateway



Riding the train



So pretty



We put Sam in the stroller with Miles for a bit, but Miles wanted him out!



Probably my favorite "scene" at Temple Square



Miles getting wet while Ira watches



Trying to get a picture of Miles with the lights

This video has nothing to do with Temple Square, but it is so cute I just had to add it. I didn't have enough lights turned on when I recorded Miles singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" so you can't see him in this video, but once the lights came on he wouldn't perform for me anymore.

Ward Christmas Party

Saturday night was the Christmas party at our church. Every year Santa makes an appearance! I was curious to see how Miles would react to Santa this year since he at least sort of knows who/what Santa is. Last year Santa was just some stranger and Miles cried when we tried to put him on his lap. This year he was a little more open to seeing Santa as long as he could keep his distance. He took the little goody-bag from Santa and even gave him a high-five, but when Dad tried to put him on Santa's lap he did not want to have anything to do with him. He never really started crying, he just made it very clear that he did not want to be alone on Santa's lap. Santa even had Dad sit on his lap for a bit as well to warm Miles up to the idea. Still a no go!

The rest of the evening consisted of Dave and Miles getting to eat a nice dinner while enjoying Christmas karaoke from the kids in our ward followed by a live nativity scene. This year the young men and young women were asked to do the live nativity. I am the Secretary for the young women group. Our President informed me a while back that she could not make it to the party and that pretty much none of the other leaders would be there as well so that left me to be in charge. So my evening consisted of running all over getting everything ready for the live nativity. I think overall it turned out okay, but I probably should have put a little more planning into it ahead of time. The evening was a little chaotic for me! I did at least have the Holy Family picked out a week ahead of time and the narrator, but the small details weren't worked out. Ha ha! Maybe next time, although I hope there isn't a next time!

Getting goody-bag from Santa



Sitting with Dad



Get me outta here!



I'm done! Mom stop taking pictures!



Dad is being silly while Miles is getting frustrated 'cause he can't open the candy cane wrapper



Coloring on the tables



Trumpet solo by one of the young men
(Miles LOVES trumpets and apparently when Nate finished playing Miles said, "More!")



The Holy Family with the choir of angels and the shepherds that are hiding behind the angels



The entire scene with our narrator (Cory) in the plaid jacket way off to the right



The wise men bow down to Jesus



Our Holy Family (Our friends/neighbors: The Lapiolis)



Baby Jesus (aka Ian)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I'm having a hard time believing Christmas is less than two weeks away! It seems like Thanksgiving was just a few days ago.

I'm really looking forward to Christmas this year. We are traveling "home" (Kansas) for the holiday which we haven't done since Miles joined our family. Plus, he is at such a fun age that I think he'll enjoy opening his presents and playing with his new things. I'm especially excited for him to see what Daddy and Santa got for him. I think he will be so happy! I'll post more on this after Christmas.

This year our Christmas tree only has plastic ornaments on it, but Miles has managed to break one of them. It was an older ornament though so it wasn't entirely his fault. He loves to smell the tree even though we have a fake tree that has no smell to it. LOL! He also loves to grab a hold of the garland I have wrapped around it and yank as hard as he can. He can be so ornery sometimes! Needless to say that doesn't happen all that often 'cause he knows he'll get in big trouble. He is a typical toddler though that has to make sure the rules stay the same from day to day!

We took Miles for a drive around last night to look at the lights. He loved it and would say, "There's another one!" when we'd approach another house with lights. He especially loved the houses that had those blowup things in their yards and also the metal reindeer that are lit up with heads that move. Any time he sees a Santa he yells, "San-Ta!" real loud. We are trying to teach him the words to Jingle Bells 'cause when my nephew was little he sang us Jingle Bells one year (I think he was 3 maybe) and it was the cutest thing ever! I'm hoping Miles will follow in Joe's footsteps.

When I was working full-time from home, I'd put the baby gate up at the bottom of our stairs so he'd have to stay on the main level with me and play. Now that I'm not working I've been leaving the gate down more and Miles LOVES having the extra space to explore. He has made some pretty big messes in his room!

I'm almost done with my Christmas gift to Miles; a blanket made out of his crib sheet from when he was an infant. I'm definitely not the world's best seamstress, but I tried. Hopefully he'll enjoy it. I've made it big enough that it could be used as a blanket on a toddler bed. Those days of transitioning him to a toddler bed are fast approaching us. I'm not looking forward to that at all!

And here are pictures to go with all of this...

Smelling the tree



Since he's not supposed to touch the tree, he likes to climb on the couch and point at all the ornaments. In this picture he has discovered the Mickey Mouse ornament.



Trying to get a picture of him with the tree
(almost an impossible task)



One of his messes in his room. He loves to take all of the books off the shelves.



When I walked in the room Miles was sitting on top of the dog box (which came from our bedroom down the hall). It appears that he was building a tower with his table and chairs as well.



Miles' blanket
The border and the back of the quilt are made out of minky which I'm using for the first time. What a learning experience!