Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy Birthday Cody!!





It's hard to believe that our little Cody joined the family one year ago yesterday. It seems like only yesterday that Rachael woke me up at about 3 am and told me that her water broke (I honestly didn't believe her because we had been out dancing literally 2 or 3 hours before that to celebrate her dad's 50th birthday) and about 4 hours later, Cody was here. Since then he has grown into a happy, healthy little boy that has brought a lot of joy into our lives.

To celebrate his birthday, we went to the Grand Canyon! It is only about 4 hours from Las Vegas and Rachael had never been before so we decided to make a quick trip, leaving on Monday and returning yesterday. We all had fun playing in the snow (who knew the Grand Canyon was at like 6,500 feet!!) and admiring the beautiful scenery that surrounded us. We eventually made it home yesterday evening and had cake and ice cream, which Cody enjoyed.

Christmas in Vegas


We did Christmas in Vegas this year with my family, so we've been hanging out in the desert for the last week or so. Actually, we were supposed to be here last year, but Rachael was 8.9 months pregnant and the doctors frowned upon the idea of us traveling when we were so close to our due date. It has been a lot of fun thus far. Both my brother and sister and their families were here as well as my grandmother and uncle, so we had a full house for a few days. Connor is old enough now that he is starting to understand that Christmas time means opening lots of presents, so we had to constantly guard the chrstimas tree lest a brightly wrapped box became the casualty his eagerness. Cody was just happy to chew on the discarded paper! As you can see, Connor's favorite gift was the pirate set, complete with eye patch, so he was running around saying Argg and challenging everyone with his sword.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

In Texas??


This has been a crazy year for Texas weather. We had the hurricane in September, then late last week, we had this! I don't know about the rest of the city, or even the rest of the family, but I was excited. I love the snow and, to me at least, it never really seems like Christmas without it. Unfortunately, the snow melted the next day, but it has been foggy, windy, and cold (well cold for Texas) this whole week and I've heard rumors that we might get some more. I'll keep my fingers crossed!

Monday, December 8, 2008

Long Overdue...







Wow, it has been way too long since I wrote anything. Top ten things we've done this past month:

1. Connor turned 3, had a small get together and took him golfing

2. Nutcracker Market with my Mom, shopping galore and tasting good treats

3. Saw the Twilight Movie with a bunch of girls from my ward, liked it.. not loved it, would see it again. Need to finish reading the partial draft of Midnight Sun.

4. Took family pictures and LOVE them, thanks Kelsey!!

5. Thanksgiving with my family, brothers in town, trip to the Houston temple, lots of golf, football and food.

6. Our 6th year Anniversary was November 30 and Tyler surprised me with a trip to San Antonio. We had Mexican food at Mi Tierra, listened to a piano dual where I told the waitress I wanted water and she said "Oh, whiskey and water?", went Country dancing, walked along the Riverwalk, shopped at the Outlet Malls in San Marcos, ate at Heinze's BBQ, and enjoyed having no kids for a day. Thanks Mom for watching the boys for me. Thanks Tyler for planning a great rendevous and for taking me dancing :) I have such a great husband and I'm so lucky to have him.

7. Went to the Nativity Exhibit at our church.

8. Basically finished my Christmas shopping at Shanta's house :)

9. Tyler lost his last softball game, but we're not too sad b/c the season was suppose to be over Oct 24.

10. Put up all our Christmas decorations and got our Christmas Tree. Yeah for the holidays! Did I mention that my Christmas cards are ready to be put in the mail tomorrow? December is always busy, but you have to be on top of things. Now I just need to get through the Ward Christmas Party this Saturday :)

Check out our family pictures... the boys did so good and you can't even tell that Connor has a black eye. Thank goodness for cover up!