Well, a whole lot has been going on in the past while for our family.
There were, of course, Christmas parties galore to go to...so many, in fact, we even skipped one.
Scott got to see Santa and Mrs. Claus at our ward (church) Christmas party. It was not a pleasant experience for him...as I very well suspected. He is, after all, at that age.

Apparently, he was not scarred from the whole incident as here he is moments later sucking on the candy cane Santa gave him.

The next night was the Christmas party that my sil, Christine, hosted. So, up to Sacramento we drove for what would be the first of three trips in 1.5 weeks.
We had a great time. We did a yankee trade (similar in concept to a white elephant gift exchange). I came out of there with an electric griddle, a king size blanket and a clock that isngs Christmas music. Well, I kinda came out of there with it. That's what I got from the gift exchange. Uncle Mike took it home...stealy thief :) I am waiting for it to arrive in the mail.
This is Scott at the party.

And, of course, I have to show you a picture of him just being his cute self. The shirt he is wearing is actually one of the gifts he got at the party. he got lots and lots of clothes and toys.

Okay, I guess we will fast forward a few days to when we went back to Sacramento to pick up Mum and Laurenne at the airport. It was a crazy day. I was a ARF in the morning and I called the Dr. to get Scott an appt. for the next day. He had discharge from his eye. Well, they couldn't get him in the next day, just that day. So, after some scrambling, we got him to the Dr. Turns out he had pink eye. Poor kid. Gets over one thing just to get another. So, quick pharmacy run, before we leave and off we go. On the road to see mum and LJ. Well, of course, we hit traffic in two places, so we ended up being a little over an hour late picking them up. Welcome to California. Hope you enjoy your stay at the Sacramento Airport...lol
After picking them up, ew headed straight back home. So, Thursday we didn't do anything, to say the least.
Friday, we went shopping. Saturday, we went shopping. Sunday, we went to church. Monday, we went shopping. Tuesday was Christmas. Wednesday, we went shopping. Thursday we headed back to Sacramento to take them home. That would be the short version of what we did while they were here. Mum was kinda disgusted that all we did was shop while they were here, but I gotta admit it was kinda nice. I never get to go shopping like that. I can't think of all the specific places we went each day, but the stores included Michael's, Target, Lowe's, Joann's, Dollar Tree, Food 4 Less. Basically, the majority of our time was spent preparing for the holidays.
We would have loved to go somewhere, but Will didn't have any time off except Christmas Day and I don't know how to get to any places...like Yosemite or Disneyland. Plus, it seemed kinda lame to spend almost $100 to get me into Disneyland to not be able to ride any rides.
Christmas day was great. We just stayed home. We had panettone french toast. It was so yummy. It is going to be our traditional Christmas Day breakfast. It was so dang filling.
Here is a picture of our tree on Christmas Eve.

And this is just my lame attempt at copying kari-Lynn to show you Christmas at our house.


The things we do to our poor dog just to amuse ourselves.

And now, of course, Christmas morning. We got all kinds of good stuff. I won't even begin to try to list stuff, but some items included...Nentendo DS and games for Solomon, mini amp and other electric guitar accessories for Camille, Jewellery and Canada blankets for Krystin, air compressor/jump starter and Cabela's gift card for WIll, and clothes and toys for Scott. We gave mum a cd and a movie and Laurenne got a skirt and Audrey Hepburn movies from us.
Those are, of course, just some of the stuff we got. Just too much for me to not only list, but actually think of :)
Scott pulling stuff out of his stocking.

You know what, I was about to post a few more pics of Scott opening presents and playing with stuff, but I will post those on his blog. This post is getting quite long, after all.
So, I guess for now, I will end my post, but I will say...
We really enjoyed having mum and Laurenne here and wish they could have stayed longer. It was a very nice visit and we hope to do it again soon. I cannot wait to get up to Canada in June to visit everyone.

Well, Radlle tagged me and I figure since I didn't do that last one she tagged me on, I had to do this one. I have become so blog lazy it's sad. But I am here to redeem myself. Enjoy the read.

1. Christmas tree up yet? No, but that is not because of me, I would like to add. I have wanted to put it up for a couple weeks now, but Will is procrastinating buying it with me...and he wants to be there with me to buy it.

2. Any Christmas decorations up yet? Well, I have a couple things up...and I brought the box of christmas stuff in from the garage in hopes that having it sit in the living room would make Will realize I am serious when I say that I want the christmas decorations up. So far that tactic has yet to work.

3. What are you asking for, for Christmas? I have a frew things on my list...I firmly believe I am not getting any of them. Well, maybe one of them. I want earrings, cricut cartridges, a bike (just a cheap one til I can get mine back down from Canada), Club Heidi monthly scrapbook kits. And there were a couple other things but I can't think of them off hand.

4.What do you usually do on Christmas Eve? We don't really have any traditions yet, but that is something I want to start. We were watching the original How the Grinch Stole Chistmas on tv last night, and I want to start watching that every Christmas Eve. I love that movie and I think that would be a fun tradition.

5. What do you usually do on Christmas Day? Just open presents. But like I said in the last question, I would love to come up with a tradition for Christmas Day, too.

6. Do you own any christmas clothes or jewelery? Me??? Heck, no. Well, I guess kinda. My mil gave me a bracelet last year for my birthday that is Christmas colours...but that is it. Scott has a santa hat that says I Love Santa.

7. Do you use white or colored christmas lights? We have white lights on the christmas tree, but will have blue lights outside.


8. Do you cook Christmas cookies? Just like Radelle, the extent of my christmas cookie baking is done from the packages you buy in the grocery store. Will had me make tons last year, and we ended up feeding most of them to the dog...cause none of us liked them...lol

9. Do you buy Christmas presents for your whole family? Normally, yes. But this year, we are just doing things slightly different. Will's family is just buying for the 3 youngest kids and doing a gift exchange with adults. We are buying for everybody on my side of the family.

11. Is there a Santa Claus? Of course there is. He even wrote a letter to Scott last year right after he was born...and it wasn't a response letter either. How else would he have gotten a letter from Santa if he hadn't written him first if he wasn't real???

12. Favorite Christmas Carol? Well, favourite christmas song would have to be O Holy Night, but I wouldn't say that is a carol. Would you??? As for carols, I dunno...anything probably but The Twelve Days of Christmas. I loathe that song... :)

13. Would you rather it be a white Christmas, or a warm Christmas? That is tough. I have had both and I think I gotta say I would go for the white christmas. I really miss the snow. My first year in California didn't even feel like Christmas cause there was no snow. Last year, we spent christmas in the mountains so we had snow and it truly felt like christmas. It felt like home. I miss the snow.

14. Was last year a good christmas? Last year was one of the best yet. I had my brand new baby boy, we were up at the cabin in the mountains surrounded by snow. It was fantastic.

15. Which Christmas color do you like better? RED or GREEN? Red, for sure.

16. Do you get a real Christmas tree, or is it artificial? Normally we go real, but this year we are going fake (and small) cause Destructo Boy will pull it over and eat the fallen needles if it is real and sitting on the floor. So we are getting small and fake and putting it up on a table.

17. When you get older, will you get a real or artificial tree? I think we will definitely stick with the real. Just gotta get the munchkins old enough to do that.

18. Do you hang stockings? Yep. Once our family is complete, we are going to get special matching ones. For now we just have the cheap red ones with white trim.

19. When opening presents, does your family all open them at the same time? One at a time. Then we can alls ee what the other person got...and it takes longer. Who wants it to end in 5 mins??? Not me.



20. What is usually in your stocking? I dunno. Nothing specific as of yet. But Will like to get me Ghirardelli chocolate (peppermint bark) and put that in. Plus, or tradition is the orange chocolate ball that you hit to break apart.

21. Do you get up early on Christmas day? I wake up early every day...it's called a little bundle of joy named Scott.

22. Does your family eat breakfast before or after opening presents? I think we will do after, but I will snack first...gotta do that.

23. Do you have a favorite ornament you hang on the tree? We buy a special one every year to add to our tree. The first year, when we got married, we bought one in MOnterey (where we got married), last year was an Irish horseshoe, this year is from the tv show we both love called Corner Gas.

24. What Christmas movie do you like to watch the most? How the Grinch Stole Christmas...the original cartoon...not Jim Carrey.

25. What do you like better, Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? Christmas day. That's when I get to open all my presents.

I guess I am supposed to tag someone....ummmmmmm, Laurenne, Michelle, Leslie, Nikki and Kari-Lynn.

Well, this past week has been crazy.
Scott turned 1 this past Thursday and we had his birthday party on Saturday. To celebrate we took the family to John's Incredible Pizza. It's a pizza buffet with all kinds of pizza.
For his birthday cake I made a really cool 3-d bathtub cake. It was soooooooo cool. The "water" was jello-o jigglers. As creative as it was, though, I cannot claim the thought to this ingenious idea...I found it on the internet. There is a very cool website that has all kinds of cool 3-d cakes. Train, pirate ship, treasure chest, fire truck...the list goes on.
In case you are wondering, the website is www.familyfun.go.com
Scott got lots of cool bath toys for his birthday as well as a new high chair and some clothes and books. He wasn't as interested in opening his presents that day as he was in helping daddy open his anniversary present earlier last week. I thought he would love ripping the paper...but, no interest at all. It could have something to do with the fact that he had no napped yet for the day...and the party was at 5pm.
Anyways, good times were had by all and I just cannot believe my baby is 1,.
ANd as I was justsaying, yes, we celebrated our anniversary this past week as well. It was our 2nd. (Hey, that reminds me, Radelle's anniversary is today...Happy Anniversary, Radelle and Adam, if you are reading this.)
Will took me shopping and bought me a bunch of clothes. I had bought him a certain computer game that he had lost one of the installation discs to, and a couple days before our anniversary, I found that disc. (Go figure.) So, I went and got him season 9 of Seinfeld instead.
Well, I had better not blab tool long here cause I still gotta go update Scot's blog with all the pics.
Ooooooooooh, but here is some more happy news...my mum and sister are coming down here for Christmas. We booked their flights this past week, as well as I got in the mail the letter stating my immigration interview. I am so excited.
This week is busy too...Both Scott and I have dr. appt's tomorrow, then on Thursday, I have Enrichment (we are doing a progressive dinner...we start dinner at one person's house, then go to another person's house for the next part of the meal, and then go somewhere else...never done it before, but it sounds fun), then on Friday, we have our Ward Christmas party at church...which I am going to help set up, then on Saturday is my sil's party up by Sacramento. Then Sunday is my birthday.

Happy Birthday to my dear son, Scott, who is turning 1 today.
How the time has flown. I cannot believe that a year ago today, I was laying in the hospital with meds galore (oh, glorious meds) pumping through my body trying to help the little guy come into this world.
A year ago today, I cried when I saw him for the first time. Not cause he was scary just born baby-looking, but because he was (and still is) so beautiful.
I held him for the first time in my arms.
I kissed my little boy for the first time.
I made my husband a daddy again...he is such a great daddy.
I truly became a mother a year ago today.
What an amazing experience this has all been.
I have grown. I have learned. I have become a better person because of him. He has taught me so much and filled my life with so much joy. I cannot even imagine my life without him. Sometimes, I imagine my life with more sleep, but, let's be honest, that's just my imagination...lol
And always will be.
I have seen this little boy grow from a small person who can barely hold his head up (although he has been doing that since he was 4 days old...my kid rocks!!!) to a little boy (who I still must call my little baby cause I can't stand the thought of my baby not being my baby anymore) who is starting to walk.
Being a mother is such a great blessing and is worth so much. There is nothing that can compare to being a mother. It has different blessings than being a wife (which is also such a great blessing).
So, all-in-all, Scott, I love you more than words could ever say and mama wishes you a very Happy Birthday.
(Now stop being sick so you can have fun at your birthday party on Saturday!!!)

I just wanted to send a big Happy Birthday wish to my sister, Laurenne who is turning 19 today!!!
WOOHOO!!!
I hope you have a happy day, kid :)