A holly jolly Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas.
The Mr. surprised me with a beautiful pearl necklace, he's so good at gifts!
Parker was baby Jesus in our nativity play Christmas eve, he liked the spotlight I think :)

Simplicity

Brett & I realized the other night how much stuff we have. Just un-needed, unnecessary stuff. We have felt a little more cramped since moving, because this place is a little smaller then our last, so we do have some things that have not found a "home" in our place yet. For now, they are mostly under the bed. :)
After reading this article last summer in Sunset magazine I have always felt that we have too much and could do with a lot less. I mean, this woman in the article has 7 tops, 7 pants and 2 skirts and 6 pairs of shoes- I don't know if I could do just 7 tops, but she is an inspiration! They recycle everything, and barely have any garbage. The article is really fascinating and will make you feel like de-cluttering! Read it, it's so good!
After that and a few inspiring quotes we really feel like making do with a lot less in our house. Ironic that this urge is coming at a time of the year when the world (and us) are obsessed with buying, gifting, more buying and more stuff.
I will let you know how the "de-cluttering" goes. We both have a hard time throwing things away. Hopefully we'll manage to make some progress.



"we would do well to slow down a little, proceed at the optimum speed for our circumstances, focus on the significant, lift up our eyes, and truly see the things that matter most."
- Dieter F. Uchtdorf -quote from this talk

“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.”
-Hans Hoffman

It was such a nice day today here in CA- here's what little man & I did

Latest happening in Parker-ville

My little Parker is getting so big! He's 5 1/2 months already. I can't believe it.
when I see newborns I am shocked at how big he is compared to them. But, each new milestone is so fun and it is such a blast watching him learn and develop, and discover new things.
He still rolls from back to tummy, I think that he has recently done tummy to back because sometimes I come back and he's a completely different way on his mat, but who knows- for all I know he could run over to the new spot when I'm out of the room and then plop down like he rolled there. He's a trickster, this one.

Here he is doing push-ups with his big, roly- poly biceps.

We have been trying solids lately. He was not a fan at first. He still doesn't take formula- and just recently has decided he will not take a bottle no matter what's in it. Soooo- we're gonna work on that. Good news though, tonight he liked carrots! He gulped them down, I was so proud:)

Bath time continues to be a favorite of his- and ours. Getting him naky for his bath is a job Brett & I pretty much fight for. Parker loooves to get naky, and he get's all squirmy and squishy when he is, it's so fun. (please excuse the PG rated photo- but who doesn't love a good baby bum pic?)

He was so tired this night- and I loved how he looked in his little sock monkey beanie. It's a little big, so big in fact that one morning I was driving and he had his beanie on in his car seat in the back. I turned around to look at him (in his little reflective mirror) and the beanie was turned and completely over his face! He was squirming his arms and legs, huffing and puffing all confused- so I quickly removed it and decided no more beanie in the car seat :)
Parker continues to be a fantastic sleeper. (knock on wood) He tells us when he's ready to nap/sleep. He get's fussy and squirmy and annoyed at us. As soon as we lay him in his crib, he's still, and closes his eyes, happy to be there. We love it. He also sleeps in sometimes until 8 or 830 am. I really love those days.

He has discovered the thumb! Not sure how I feel about this habit. It's gosh darn cute, but a 5th grader who still sucks his thumb - not so cute.

Overall, he is a HAPPY kid. And so easy-going and easy to please.
We love our Parker.

Family pics

As promised, here are the rest of our pictures from Harlow Photography
It was such a nice day- and this old barn and the pomegranate orchard were beautiful!

Why is the grocery store so fun?

Looking back, I can remember the times my dad went "grocery shopping" - he usually goes if my mom forgets something, or if we are preparing for a long road trip.
He returns, usually with 10 more things then he went for, and at least 80% of them contain chocolate in some form.
As he pulls things from the bag, mom says, "we do not need that!" or "I have a whole box of those!"
I never minded the extra chocolate chips, ice cream or whipped cream- but now that I'm a wife, I mind.
Brett ran to the store for me a couple times last week, once to get some nyquil for himself and the other time to get stuffing mix to make for the ward party. Both times he came back with at least 5 more things then what he went for. And you know what? 80% of them contained chocolate in some form. He pulled out the half gallon of ice cream, "We needed this" he says, "No we don't!" I say. Reminding him that I purposefully hadn't bought ice cream the past few times I've gone to the store because we eat it in 2 days (or less).
He continues to pull out more treats, explaining with each one how we really needed it. And with each one I explain to him why we don't or how we already have it.
Now I know what my mom was talking about.
I'm thankful to have a husband who will grocery shop- I just have to be prepared for the extra items that seem to find their way home with him. :)



Denae took some family photos for us! we LOVE them. I will post the rest tomorrow.
I love this one, denae must have done something really goofy to get Parker to laugh- he's laughing/cuddling into Brett's neck- I love it!

5k fun

I ran in the Bah Humbug 5k this weekend.
I needed something to motivate me, so I paid $40 to run 3.1 miles. Seems crazy, I know.
but- it was a lot of fun. Despite being suuuper windy- hence me gagging on wind the first mile- I really enjoyed it and remembered why I liked running so much.
Brett & Parker came and cheered me on- Brett ran around the course meeting me at different places. He was pretty much the only fan doing that- so I always knew it was him if I saw someone standing on the side lines cheering.
He's the best.

The grub after the race was the best post-race food ever.
Muffins, bananas, bagels, oranges, and my personal favorite; ice cream sandwiches and ice cream drum sticks! It was awesome gnawing on my drumstick at 10am- and having an excuse to do that.

The race is fun because it's Christmas themed. Some people dressed up, and some ran in teams. One guy was in a potato costume. Random, but it was really a "potato man" costume. With a head covering/mask thing. I wish I would have gotten a picture of him. He ran the whole thing in it too. I think this will be a fun tradition for me and Brett. Maybe next year some family or friends will do it with me?? :)

thanksgiving in st. george

we went to st. george this year for thanksgiving. It was kind of a meeting point for 4 of my 5 siblings. (we missed you Brooke!)
It was a lot of fun, I got to meet my newest niece Haley for the first time! and found out that I will have another niece next April! Congrats Kate & Clark!
st. george was a nice vacation, it was beautiful weather, the boys got to golf, ride bikes, and shoot guns, ya know, all that good stuff.
I managed to squeeze in a shopping trip to the outlets and scored on some great jeans. That officially made it a great trip. :)

Here are some pictures in no apparent order:

That parker boy sure loves his daddy

Me & my little eskimo preparing for a walk

Parker & Haley meet!
They were very interested in each other. Occasionally trying to eat one-another, slobbering on each others hands- they are best buds.

We hiked in the beautiful st. george canyons

grandpa c & parker taking a rest

Brett off exploring past the "do not hike past this point" sign- I made him give me parker and the baby carrier before he started mountain climbing- much to Brett's dismay.

Brett & Travis

When I went down to st. george in february with the blodgett girls we had heard that we needed to get "frozen hot chocolate" from this particular little place. Well, we tried back in february and never did get it. This time I was determined. we went 3 times!!! Each time it was closed. To keep me from hurling rocks, or blowing the place up- Brett convinced me to get some shaved ice & hot chocolate elsewhere. Good save honey.

We got back from st. george and the very next day we went out and got our very first Christmas tree!!

Sadly, we got home and all 3 of us have colds. It's so sad listening to little Parker sniffle and snuffle trying to breathe. It's especially hard with the whole binky situation- he wants his binky so bad sometimes, but he puts it in and can't breathe so he has to spit it out! I hope we will all get better soon- being sick is so tiring!
The thing I loathe the most about having a cold?
Not tasting my food!! It's the worst! I put a chocolate cookie in my mouth tonight, realized I couldn't taste it- and threw the rest of the cookie back in the box. while I cried. well, almost cried. I guess a cold is a good diet though, I'm not eating precious sweets if I can't taste them.

I present to you, "the many faces of a sick baby":
(viewer discretion advised- especially if you are grandma b or grandma c, you might not be able to take your little grandson so sad :)

the finale!
he's still a happy boy!

Life has stopped spinning momentarily

I would rather be busy then bored. That's what I've been telling myself these past few months.
It seems like our last year has flown by in a whirlwind hurricane and I've been waiting for it to sloooow down!!
Let me explain why: Last December 2010 we graduate college in Idaho. We pack up, move our stuff to UT where we store it in families home. Then we drive to CA where we live with family for 2 months while we are settling things with the job in UT. After apartment and job are settled in UT, we move there in January 2011, unpack and settle down with a new job and waiting for a new baby.
July 2011-baby born! That brought on a whole new world of learning and life spinning.
When Parker was 10 days old Brett went to New York for 10 days. That was hard.
August 2011- Brett interviews for Eli Lilly, pharmaceutical sales in the Bay Area. We fly out with our 7 week old for the interview.
Sept 2011- He is offered the job, we decide to take it.
October - Brett leaves fro Indiana for 3 weeks!!! He leaves telling me to do whatever I want with the apartment, paint, colors, he doesn't care. I'm in heaven. He returns to a new apartment and we are finally unpacked, moved in and loving it.
He's home for 3 days and now we are leaving for a week for a Thanksgiving vacation.
Do you see why my life has been spinning???
moving + baby + crazy post-partum hormones = a crazy year!

It has been the craziest of times, but it's also been some of the happiest.

And with this being Thanksgiving week- I am so thankful.
Thankful:

• Brett has a job
• Parker is my baby
• we are close to family
• we don't live in snow
• for donuts (I wanted to put this at the top of the list)
  

Here is a glimpse of our new place!

My mom helped me pick out the paint colors- we painted the one wall and the 2 archways-
I didn't put a picture in of the other archway- It's directly across from the one in the picture (that is our bedroom, but that's as far as you can see in right now because it may or may not be very messy at the moment:)

I love my new rug from Ikea. It was super cheap, which makes it even better. And that wicker ottoman opens up and we have blankets inside.

My sis in law gave us this tv stand. A little spray paint made in the perfect piece of furniture for our new place. (yes- we got a ginormous, over-sized, 'who would ever need anything that big, we must be blind' tv- more on that later)

I love my curtains- also from Ikea

see my awesome owl up there?? He's random, but so cool!

we put rope lights above our kitchen area, so at night it adds the perfect amount of lighting. It's so fun.