The First Christmas Post

Ok, so my first Christmas post is actually from our last Christmas trip.  I'll back track.  We left Christmas morning to go up to my parents' house for a few days.  We had a great time with the whole family.  Everyone was able to come - that's a whopping 19 people staying in my parents' house!  It actually worked out really well.  They have a great house for guests to be able to stay.  Between my mom, my sister and I, we took over 400 pictures.  Here are some of my favorites!  

 

Griffin has 2 cousins that were born right around the same time as him.  Mom and Dad got all 3 boys this ADORABLE bear outfit.  Here is Tate and Griffin doing their modeling session with Nana and Poppy.

Megan got Ammon and I this game called, SET.  We love it and played it a lot while we were there.  I'm not going to describe the rules right here but, if you know how to play and you see a set in this picture, PLEASE tell me.  We weren't able to find one.

Ok, this picture is horrible but I needed to try and document this.  We were hanging out in the living room and someone noticed all these birds landing in my parents' yard!  This wasn't all of them either.  They kept coming and coming!  It seriously made me think of the Alfred Hitchcock movie, Birds.  I couldn't get my camera to focus because they were moving so much.  I also had to take it through the window screen.  Crazy!  Noah thoroughly enjoyed this part of the trip.

My cute parents!

Me and my Daddy

Ammon's pretending to like me.

2 of my favorite sisters - Megan and Michelle

These two became great friends this trip.  They really love eachother and wanted to be together all the time.  This is Noah and his cousin, Toby.  They hugged a lot this trip.  :)

Our family after church

This is everyone!  We all made it to church on time and interrupted a Sunday School class to get this picture taken.  I can't remember the last time my parents had all their children at church with them.

Poppy loves his grandbabies.  He spent a lot of time holding each one.  Here he is spending some quality time with Griffin.

Here's Noah attempting a handstand amongst the presents.  Good job Noah!

Griffin James

All the grandsons.  Toby is holding Tate.  David is in the middle and Noah is holding Griffin.

All seven grandkids!  Kimmi is holding Griffin.  Then Toby, Tate, and Noah in the middle.  Alli is holding David.

Tate, David and Griffin in their bear outfits.  (i'm not sure what happened to the color in this picture)

Nana and Tate sharing a moment.  So cute!

Nana with Tate on the left.  Griffin on the right.

We went outside for a little while.  Here I am with Toby and Noah.  Toby's face cracks me up in this picture!

On the trampoline!  Kimmi, Noah, Alli and Toby.

A gift from Lolo.  How sweet is this picture?!

Lolo's birth control...  Griffin exploded!

Ammon and I.  Check out Ammon's shirt.  Megan had us reinact it.  I was the one on the left.  Ammon on the right.  It was hilarious!  Too bad Megan was the only one that saw it.

Nana and Poppy gave Toby, Noah, Griffin and Tate all a bath one night.  Noah and Nana after the bath.

Toby and Noah had tons of fun at bathtime!

Griffin and Nana after bathtime.

Pretty blue eyes.

Nana with the naked babies.  Tate on the left.  Griffin on the right.

One of the many hugs I talked about earlier.  So sweet...

After the football game.  Josh, Noah, Ammon, Andrew, and Drew

Making Tate and Griffin smile.

We really enjoyed our trip and we're so glad that everyone was able to make it.  Thanks Mom and Dad for everything.  We love you!

Team Ammon and Jess

Lately, my heart has been full of joy by the words of my 2-year old son, Noah.  My favorite things he says right now are, "Great Job!", "bless you!", "sorry", "you're welcome", "Kee-pa" (thank you) and "please".  Not because he says these in a particularly cute way but because I know he is learning how to be polite and positive because of our parenting towards him.  Ammon and I love being parents and are constantly trying to do what is right for them.  We are always talking about our children and how we need to be teaching, helping and loving them.  I'm grateful for my children and I'm grateful I don't have to parent them alone.  I have Ammon who doesn't just go along with what I say but he defintely has his own ideas on how to parent better.  We are a great team and I am really excited about the future of our family.

Gymnastics!

Noah was enrolled in a gymnastics class before he turned 2. He absolutely loves it and has made real progress. A couple weeks ago I went in and took a few video clips of him doing his thing. It's a parent/tot class so Ammon does the class with him. I was jealous that Ammon got to go instead of me but really, Ammon knows so much more about gymnastics than I do and he will really be able to help Noah more than I could. Plus, now I get to sit back and watch 2 of my favorite boys. The song at the end is something they do at the end of every class. Noah likes to do it by himself and I really hate to admit this but, I get choked up every single time. My little baby is really growing up...



Maybe one day he'll be as good as his daddy!

The One with the Bagpipes

OK. I was just rocking Griffin to sleep and I was watching an episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S (what else?) Anyway, I could not control the laughter when it got to this part! I hope it makes you smile. Hmmm... from my last post to this one, it seems like I really need to get a grip on my emotions.

WXII 12 News Clip

Occasionally Ammon and I stay up and watch some of the 11 o'clock news. Last night, they played this clip about a little 3 year old and her Christmas wish. I could not hold back the tears when I watched this. Her reaction is so pure and genuine and I am so excited that her wish was granted. They played this same clip on the news throughout the day. I think I've seen it a total of 5 times now and every single time I get so emotional... What a sap! Merry Christmas!

Get Well Soon!

So, both boys are sleeping right now and I wanted to do a bit of blogging before they wake up and things get crazy again... I have some really cute videos that I wanted to share and some great pictures too but, Ammon virused my computer (love you, babe) so I can't. I have to use his computer which doesn't have card slots for my memory cards. Even if I could get the pictures on the computer, he doesn't want me to download any programs like my picasa because get this, I might download a virus! Also, we use a magicjack for our phone and since my computer is ill, I have no phone either. So, if any of you are trying to call me today, that's what's up. Ammon is super genius with computers so I'm hoping he's able to fix it tonight. Check back soon for some gymnastics videos!

Halloween with Peyton

This is Noah's good friend, Peyton. These 2 play so well together. Noah cries for "Pey-tuh" everyday. We went trick-or-treating downtown with them on Halloween and the boys had a great time. (even Griffin) :)

October @ the Farm

Back in October, we went up to the farm to eat dinner with Ammon's family and paint pumpkins. Noah did such a great job painting his pumpkin. He was so meticulous and didn't get any paint on his paint shirt. :)

Kimmi's Baptism and David's Blessing

I really need to keep this blog caught up... One of the greatest things we've done lately is travel up to Virginia for our niece's baptism and our nephew's blessing! We were able to go spend the day with my brother, Drew, and his family. Steph's dad was in town and my parents, along with Josh, came too! We had a great time with everyone. Noah LOVED seeing Nana and Poppy and really enjoyed playing with Kimmi and Alli too. During sacrament meeting, little baby David was blessed by his daddy. After church, we went back to Drew's place for a little birthday BBQ and party! The baptism was later that day. Kimmi looked gorgeous in her white dress. I was so glad that we were able to be a part of her special day. Here are some pictures from the day.















We were also able to see our good friends, Jared and Jackie, while there. They went to SVU with us and they just happen to be in Drew's ward now while Jared is attending VT. It was super fun to catch up and visit a little with them.