Another Year Over

This New Year's Eve was pretty low key.  We headed up to Kim and Mark's house for a fondue party.  After eating a few of our small group had to leave, but a few of us stayed and spent a little time playing this game (board pictured below) that I can't remember the name, but you flicked these little discs and stuff, and try to get points.  I thought it was pretty cool.

Unfortunately we weren't able to stay all night because I had to work early in the morning and the kids needed to get to bed, but we had a really good evening hanging out and it was just the right way to end the year.  Here's to having had a great 2011 and to hopefully having an even greater 2012.

Christmas #3 - At Home

Since we didn't have a lot of room to take presents we opted to have Drew open his gifts after we returned from Arizona.  We invited Michelle's parents over to watch and have dinner with us.  Drew wasn't feeling well, but he managed to pull through it to open some gifts.

I am still waiting for Drew to get really excited about opening gifts.  He is still so careful with the paper and I just want to tare it all open myself.

Drew is loving cars more and more so we thought he would enjoy a play mat that had roads on it so he could use the cars that grandma Cardon and Michelle and I gave him for Christmas earlier in the week.  He also got some new books to read.

His next gift was a toy that looked like a dinosaur and had balls that went with it.  She wasn't too sure what it did, but she thought it looked like something Drew would like.  After opening it I still wasn't sure what it would do and we didn't have the right size batteries for it so we sent Michelle's dad to the store to get some.  In the mean time we continued to finish his presents.

Drew loves to hit things, like his drum or his bedroom wall, or whatever he can find so we thought he would love this ball and hammer toy and we were right.  It was the most exciting thing he got up to that point in the evening.

Once the batteries arrived the dinosaur became Drew's most exciting toy.  He was so amazed by the balls bouncing up and down and going everywhere.  I wish I had video of his reaction because it was the best reaction of all of Christmas.  Third time is the charm.

Braeden 2 Months

Braeden has been putting on some pounds these last few weeks.  Everyday he seems to change the way he looks.  After comparing Braeden to his cousin Deborah we were interested in finding out his stats.

Braeden's Two Month Stats

Weight: 11 lbs 13 oz (51%)

Height: 22.9 in (43%)

Head: 15.9 in (56%)

The doctor said he was looking really good.  His breast fed jaundice resolved and he has become very interactive and more alert.  He is smiling more and more and is giving us a 4 to 5 hour stretch at night.  The hair he lost after birth is beginning to come in and we are still trying to figure out what color of eyes he will have.

Drew is starting to show his cheesy face again.  He use to smile at the camera all the time, but he stopped doing it for a while, but I think he might be getting back into it.

I had to get back to work before they gave Braeden his shots, but I heard that he didn't like them at all.  He was sad for the rest of the day and every time you would touch any part of his leg he would whimper.  It was so sad.  He will need to enjoy the next two month before his next round of shots.

Christmas #2 - Arizona Part 2

Sunday morning was Christmas.  My family along with Emily's family, Scott and Megan, and Rachael and Steve gathered at my parent's house and we opened our stockings which always have some good treats and candy along with some small gifts that we can unwrap.  Drew was a little sluggish at opening his gifts, but he  managed to open them up and tell us that he wanted to eat what was inside.

My mom does her best to put things in our stocking that we can find useful, but it gets harder and harder as we get older.  Still we had a lot of fun opening up the small gifts and being surprised what was inside.

Right before we started opening gifts from under the tree my sister Becky and her family arrived to watch.  It was a blast opening up the gifts, but as usual it is more exciting watching the kids open their gifts because the excitement is still there and their wants are so simple.  Drew got a few puzzles that used magnets and a fishing pole.  He was fascinated with them.

One of the best gifts that I got was a re-gift of something that I had received as a little boy, my remote control car.  My mom had found it in a box in the garage and thought that Drew and I would love it.  She originally wanted me to keep it at her house, but I told her I would make room from it in my luggage and take it back to Utah with me.

After opening gifts we ate our traditional breakfast of monkey bread (butterscotch pull a parts), scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, and orange juice and then headed to my parent's church to listen to the Christmas program.  Church was only an hour instead of three so it wasn't too bad.  After church we returned home and prepared to bless Braeden.  This is traditionally done in your home ward, but since we wanted my parents to be able to be there along with the rest of my family we got permission from our bishop to perform the blessing in Arizona.  It was nice to be together in a small group of family and a few friends to give Braeden his name and a blessing.  Braeden was so cute and Drew looked like a happy big brother.

The Udall family was invited to the blessing.  I have known the family for most of the time that my family has lived in Gilbert.  Their son Christopher was not even one year of age when I started babysitting him and his older brother Daniel.  I took care of him a lot over the first few years of his life until I got too busy and then left for college.  It is weird to think that he was almost as little and young as Braeden when I started watching him and now he is finishing his senior year of high school.  Crazy!

My sister Christin's family did Christmas morning at their house before church so they hadn't joined us when we opened our gifts in the morning so since we were all gathered together we decided to exchange family gifts with one another.  My family had Christin's family and we gave them Ladder Ball which we though would be a great outdoor game for the wonderful weather in Arizona.  Scott and Megan had us and they gave us a book of bible stories for kids.  It was a perfect gift to help teach Drew the scriptures.

Monday morning we gathered at Freestone park to enjoy the nice weather and to take the kids on the train and other rides that they offer.  My parents were kind enough to pay for all of the tickets.  It is was fun to watch all the kids go from ride to ride.  Drew was being a little bit of a pill and didn't want to show any emotion.  He kept giving me this blank stare and wouldn't smile when I wanted to take his picture.

Becky's daughter Deborah was born two months before Braeden and this trip was the first time that we had seen her in person.  We thought it would be fun to get a few pictures with two of them.  We got a few good ones of the two of them both smiling and with those big baby eyes of theirs.

Tuesday afternoon we got together at the park by Christin's house to have an early picnic dinner.  We had a lot of hanging out a little longer with my family and playing on the play ground before we were needing to head to the airport.

The flight home was just as good as the flight to Arizona.  Because the flight was so full they offered to load luggage on the plane free of charge.  We took advantage of the offer so we didn't have to worry about the kids and the luggage when we got on the plane.  We had a great week in Arizona and it was the perfect way to spend Christmas vacation.  The weather was great and company was even better.  We hope to return soon and have even more fun with my family.