December

I can't believe December is already over it was really fun and went by too fast!

A few weekends ago we drove around our neighborhood and looked at Christmas lights. There was one street that had several houses really decked out in lights and all the neighbors were sitting outside by a little fire and drinking hot cocoa, one man was dressed up like Santa, actually I think he really was Santa! He was letting kids sit on his lap and giving out candy canes. Jack wouldn't sit on his lap, he already had sat on Santa's lap once this year, and once was enough for him!



The weekend before Christmas my dad was able to fly to Arizona and spend a couple of days with us!!! All my brothers and Ashley and my little nephew Max stayed at our house. It was a blast! It's so great to spend time with family. It's something I really took for granted when I still lived at home. Anyway, that friday night we met Josh and Ashley at the airport to pick up dad. Jackson was a wild man at the airport, we could barely control him. Luckily dad's flight came in on time. After we left the airport we drove for about half an hour looking for a place to eat, we finally found an IHOP-it was delicious! Mom dropped Jared and Jake off at my house Saturday morning and then we all drove to Josh's work (a reptile shop) to see his snakes. I liked the brightly colored frogs, but that's about it. We ate lunch at Whataburger just so my dad could send a picture to his coworker in Washington, who used to live in Arizona and misses Whataburger, lol. We exchanged gifts on Saturday night after Josh got off work. After gifts we watched State of Play (which is a great movie!). While we watched the movie I played with Max, Jackson helped me hold him too (he's going to be a great big brother, can't wait!) Jake begged us every spare minute we had to watch LOST. We finally let him put it on after the movie. Sunday Dad and Jared and Jake came with us to church. Jack was such a good boy during sacrament meeting, I was so proud of him, and so happy to get to hear the speakers for once. The spirit was really strong through the whole meeting, it was a perfect Sunday before Christmas!
Monday morning I dropped Dad off at the airport and drove Jacob back home in Gilbert. I then went to see my good friend Heidi. We had fun catching up. Jack had fun stealing her son Royce's toys :( I can't wait until he learns to share, I don't know how many more timeouts it is going to take, lol. Later we met up with my old roomie Trisha, we had fun walking the mall and chatting. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures that day, I'm usually pretty good about pulling out my camera. :(
That Tuesday (12-21-09) I spent a few hours doing laundry and dishes and vacuuming and mopping and then went grocery shopping after lunch and at 4pm my visiting teachers came over, I am still amazed at how much time there is in one day when you don't have to go to work!
Jason had to work on Christmas Eve, but got off early. We met over at his parents house. We all made gingerbread houses, well some people gave up pretty quickly, lol, but Autumn, Dennis, Misty and I all enjoyed making houses. Jack, Brigham, and Taft enjoyed eating candy and graham crackers. Dennis found recipes for Cafe Rio pork and Cafe Rio rice, so we had burritos and tamales and chips and salsa for dinner, it was amazingly good! And of course we opened gifts. Grandma and Papa got Jackson a Buzz Lightyear toy, which is what he wanted. Jack and Brigham both got remote control cars especially made for 2 year olds. Those cars are sturdy! It was funny to watch them drive them around the house because if they got too close to each other you could tell which remote was controlling the cars. Even our little-boy-to-be got a gift, Gayla got him this adorable crib mirror, that has jungle animals on it and plays music, I love it so much I already have moved the crib into the guest room, I'm going to set it up this week, I'm so excited!

Jason, Jack, and I enjoyed a fun Christmas morning at home. I don't think Jackson ever figured out the whole Santa bringing presents while you sleep thing, but that's ok he still loved all his presents. He'd play with whatever he opened for a while and then we'd tell him there was another for him to open and he'd say "OH Thank you!!!" He's such a sweet little boy. We thought about going to the movies, but then decided to go feed ducks instead. Jack had so much fun, so did we. We got to take a Christmas nap after lunch! My mom and Jared and Jake came over for dinner. I made a turkey dinner, I was very happy it turned out nice. I used the left over turkey to make homemade turkey noodle soup the next day, which I think we may turn into a tradition, it was so yummy! Christmas evening after we opened gifts we played games and had a wonderful time! I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas I got to spend time with everyone in my family and Jack was such a good boy!!!