A Sunny Christmas

Christmas was so much more about family this year than anything else. For the first time in about 10 years, ALL of my brothers and sisters were together for Christmas. It was so much fun seeing everyone and seeing the babies and just being together. Oh yeah, and we ate. A lot. We had a very Carlson-traditional Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas breakfast. So, so tasty. yummmmmmmmm! If there is one thing we Carlson's know how to do right, its food. Jon and I spent the weekend eating ham, cheeses, orange rolls, homemade candies and cookies and just about anything else we could want. Its a good thing Christmas comes just once a year, because DANG!
It was so much fun waking up at my parents house on Christmas morning. Mostly because the entire house slept in until 8am, but also because everyone was excited and happy. My sister, Shelly, got Jon and I an awesome gift: a gift card to go out to dinner and a promise to babysit Paxton for the day while Jon and I go to Manti to do a session at the temple there. I think that was the first Christmas ever that I cried!

We had a great Christmas, and hope you all did too! Merry Christmas!

An Early Christmas

Since we were going to be at my parents house on Christmas, we had our little present opening party a few days early. A little less than a year ago, we bought a bunch of toys at Toys-R-Us because they were having a buy-one-get-one free sale. We FINALLY were able to wrap them up and give them to him.
His grandma and grandpa also sent him a few gifts that he had fun ripping open, although he more so tenderly tore one little piece at a time. He's such a funny little boy. So careful with everything and so gentle. I love 'em to pieces!

It was so much fun to do Christmas things with Pax. Its his 2nd, but this year he was actually old enough to open gifts. Hmmm, I still dont think he had any clue what was going on though. Oh well, its more for the parents anyway, right?

...a white Christmas

Just a few days before Christmas, Jon and I woke up to about 2 feet of snow outside our door! It snowed for about 2 days straight and left a gorgeous white blanket everywhere we looked! I gotta say though, being in AZ with 70 degree weather is much more my style. We packed up our little family and flew home to stay with my parents a for Christmas. Anyhow, getting used to the snow has been interesting to say the least. Lots of fun and lots of cold!!!!!

2010 Picture Review

So some of you may know this, but Jon and I have a Christmas tradition of making ornaments for our tree. 12 ornaments, one for every month of the year and each gets a picture on it of whatever cool or substantial thing we were up to then. Here are the pictures we used for 2010!

January

Our 2-year anniversary! Jon took me to our "spot" at the top of an unused parking garage and we watched a slideshow and movie under the stars.

February

Standin' on the corner in Winslow, AZ! A super fun visit to Nat and Roland's.

March
Paxton's blessing day!

April
Jon's birthday party in Winslow, AZ with his sister Nat and her family

May

We were in Ohio for a few weeks. This is the COOLEST store ever, Jungle Jims. A grocery/amusement park/you-want-it-they-got-it store.

June
Pax gets his first tooth!

July
Fireworks for the 4th in German Town, Tennessee. Best display ever!

August
A little sightseeing in Memphis before heading home. Gus's Fried Chicken changed my life. Literally.

September
Our first month in Utah. This pic was taken at Temple Square in Salt Lake on a gorgeous fall day!

October
Our Mt Timpanogos hike. Much more of a hike than we thought, but still lots of fun and beautiful views.

November
This is our trip to Queen Creek and Yuma for Thanksgiving. Jon's beard filled in so much more than he thought it would!

December
Paxton's first birthday! He's SO BIG!!!

All-in-all, it was a good year. It was so different taking a baby along for the ride, but Paxton made all of our adventures so much more fun. We went all over the place, starting in AZ and ending up in Utah now. We did a lot of growing up, had a lot of fun and we are so excited about 2011!

Loves

How could I not love this picture.

My Spare Time

Whats spare time? Ive never heard of that! Haha, I have no idea when I found time for crafting with all the moving and sick babies and traveling... but I did and this is what I made in that extra time. I should say though, it took me a few minutes every day for like a month.
This project started out as paper, mod podge, mood blocks and unfinished wooden letters. Now it sits on my counter making me happy :)

Yuma is good people!

Jon and I spent Thanksgiving Day with the Carlson's, then the next day went to Yuma for the Hall's Thanksgiving/Christmas celebration. Just about everyone was able to make it this year and it was so fun to see everyone after so many months in Memphis and Utah. Friday was Thanksgiving and Birthdays (Pax and Lucy are only a few days apart) and Saturday was Christmas.
It was so much fun to hang out with everyone and to see Pax with Lucy. They werent too interested in each other but still had fun. I learned that its pretty much impossible to get two 1-yr olds to smile at the same time. Oh well, better luck next time :)

(learning to walk with Daddy)

(How big is Paxton? SO BIG!)

Friday we had the birthday party for the two babies. Pax picked at his cupcake with his dainty little fingers and Lucy smashed it into her mouth as fast as he could. It was a really funny dynamic to watch.

(How big is Paxton?)

(SOOOOO Big!)

After cake, it was time for a bath. The water had frosting and cake floating in it but the babies looked so cute, all naked and covered in goo.
We didnt get any other pictures of Yuma. Not really sure why, but we had fun eating Thanksgiving twice, participating in the cousin gift exchange for the first time and doing the adult white-elephant gift exchange. We ate Mr G's rolled tacos and bean and cheese burritos and Stan's breakfast burritos and had a lot of fun hanging out with family. We cant wait to visit again!

Paxton Turns 1!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAXTON!

A year ago, yesterday, our sweet little baby came into this world and changed our lives in the most amazing way. Since that December day, it has been one diaper change, one cry, one sleepless night, one spit-up, one date-less weekend, one laugh, one giggle, one snuggle, one smile, one peek-a-boo game after another. Its been the hardest and best year of both of our lives. We adore and love our little Paxton so much.
Paxton is the sweetest little boy. His favorite thing to do is snuggle into his mommy. I swear, that kid would sit on my lap, laying his head on my chest for hours if I let him. He gives open-mouth kisses whenever I ask, he recently learned how to wave and cant stop telling hi and bye to people. He also recently learned "So Big" and cant stop doing that either. (You'll notice him doing it alot in these pictures) He currently has 7 teeth and weighs 20 1/2 pounds, which still puts him in the 20th percentile for weight. Our poor little guy just cant seem to chunk up! He's healthy though, and happy all day long so we couldn't be more thrilled.
A couple of his favorite games right now are imitating us when we stick out our tongues and make silly noises. He recently has starting initiating the games, and always at the funniest times-like during the prayer or as he's falling asleep. He's a total blabber-mouth, always talking and trying to imitate us when we say things.
He crawls like a champ and is starting the walking process. he hasnt taken any solo steps yet, but he can get around the room pretty good these days by holding on to his surroundings.
He's so careful with everything he does. He uses his index finger and thumb, aka his pinchers, to do just about anything, like pick up food, unwrap presents, touch mommy's hair.


Since we were in AZ for Thanksgiving and just a few days shy of his birthday, we decided to have his birthday party then with our family. Thanks everyone for being there to celebrate with us!
Where on Earth would we be without this little boy in our lives. He has made every day, even the HARD HARD days, a little more joyful and happy. His cheesy smile makes my world spin. We love you Pax, you wont always be our little baby, but you will always always be the world to us. Happy Birthday!