Best. Christmas. Ever.

Wow. Christmas is so much more fun with children. This was the first year Parker understood what was going on and it brought me back to my childhood a little. In fact, I was so excited for Christmas this year that I could sleep Christmas eve. I woke up around 1 am and didn't get back to sleep until around 4. Well, part of that was excitement, the other part was anxiety. I woke up having braxton-hicks contractions every 5 minutes. How terrible would it be to go to the hospital on Christmas eve? It would ruin Christmas. I ate a little something and took a nice warm bath and finally they slowed down after about an hour.

I was a little stressed because my family was all coming over for a big Christmas Breakfast, then we were meeting up with Matt's family to go sledding, and then a big Christmas dinner party that evening with them at my house (not to mention I hosted another Christmas dinner at my house just days earlier). It was a big, busy and wonderful day.

Parker loved all his presents. He is such a spoiled boy, being the only grandchild on both sides of the family.

The breakfast was delicious. I made this french toast, but added homemade orange syrup (recipe from Amanda). There were no leftovers.

Then we took Parker sledding for the first time up Big Cottonwood Canyon. He LOVED it. He also discovered the joy of snowballs. He would pick up a handfull of snow and yell "SNOWBALL!" as he threw the chunk at us. Then Matt decided to go down a bigger hill and snow flew all over poor Parker's little face. Matt tried to take him down that hill again, and Parker just looked back at me with his arm extended and said "mama" as if asking me to save his life. Poor kid is always tortured by his daddy.

Here are some fun Christmassy things we did this year:

• Made an advent calendar and counted down 'till Christmas
• Went to a live nativity with Grandparents
• Went to temple square
• Made an ornament to represent our year
• Did a service project for those less fortunate
• Had french toast for breakfast on Christmas morning
• Went sledding
• Sat in Santa's lap
• Made gingerbread houses
• Listened to lots of Christmas music and drank lots of hot cocoa

Happy Birthday Baby

My little baby is growing up. Parker turned one year old on October 3, 2009. Yes, I know it is cliche, but they grow up so fast.

Parker was spoiled with two birthday parties on his big day with a jungle theme. I took my hand at cake decorating and made this alligator cupcake cake. Fearsome, I know.

The first party was in the park with his neighborhood friends. I had this great idea to have the kids go "fishing" for tub toys using magnets, but the toys were too heavy so it didn't work as perfectly as I had imagined. But the kids still had fun playing in the water and on the playground and Parker got some sweet gifts. Thanks friends!


Later that evening we had hamburgers with the family at Grandpa and Grandma's house. Parker was super spoiled by everyone's attention and took this opportunity to show off his new skill of walking. I love watching him waddle everywhere. Such a cutie!



He was a little frightened when the lights were turned off and everyone surrounded him singing in unison while an open flame sat in front of him. Fortunately, he forgot all about it once he started eating his cake.

Kelli reminded me to share his stats. Despite his chubby cheeks, Parker is a little guy. At 12 months he weighed 21 lbs. 13 oz (33%) and is 29 in (20%). But he has a big head compared to the rest of him at 47 cm (66%). He has slimmed up a lot since he was 2 months at the 95 %tile for both height and weight, but he is adorable either way.

Halloween

I love halloween. It's just fun. We had a family "Toy Story" theme this year. Matt was woody, I was Bo Peep, and Parker was Buzz Lightyear.

I don't sew very often, but this year I sewed my entire costume including the hat. It was so hard. Sewing is not as easy as it seems. Fortunately, my mother in law is like a genius at sewing so we altered a pattern from some size 16 '80's prom dress pattern.

What a cute family!

As a side note, Grandma Budd gave Parker a peanut butter sandwich on Halloween. Next thing I know, half his face has swollen up. You can kinda see the puffy eye in this picture. So, off to the doctor again to check for allergies. Poor kid. Earlier in the week he swallowed my wedding ring (story to come) and now this.

Happy Easter

What a wonderful reminder about the true meaning of Easter.

I thought this article was interesting in regard to this video.

I'm thankful for. . .

my family.
I am so blessed to have a husband who is loving, ambitious, supportive, and understanding. He is also a great father. Matt will do whatever possible to make me happy and always puts me first in his life. He is super busy with work, school, starting a business, and now his new church calling, but he always makes time for his family.

I am so blessed to have a healthy and happy baby boy. I never knew how wonderful motherhood would be until I actually became a mother and now I realize that it is the most rewarding role I can play in this life. I love Parker and his big smiles.