Our Christmas

This year was a little different for us for Christmas. We were supposed to be in Georgia with Wes' entire family but December is the busiest month in Wes' job and we decided that this year he needed to be in the office with the rest of his co-workers. We missed seeing you Griffeth clan. Can't wait for a week at the lake this summer.

Wes has been in the office all day, every day, except for Christmas Day so I'm actually really glad I live near my family or else Nate and I would be flying solo for the holidays.

I like to think of this Christmas as the Christmas that Sam hit the jackpot. Every other year she faces the possibility of being "stuck" with just mom/dad while her siblings are with the in-laws. But this year we rescued her by staying home. It was great to spend some quality time with ya, Sam. We need to do that more often.

We decided to stay the night at my parent's house on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Nate typically goes to bed really early (and is a monster if we keep him up too late) so we put him to bed at their house and enjoyed a few evenings with the family . . . kid free. It was kinda nice to not drive back and forth over and over.

Here's how it went . . .

We always seem to have a different crowd each year for Christmas Eve. This year my parents invited over their dear friends, Marilyn & Gerry Earl. Which meant that Sam & Anya, my good friends, and their kiddos got to come too. We also had Dean (a guy in my parent's ward) and Sam's friend Misty and her mom over for a casual dinner.

Anya & Baby Kaia

Christmas Day was by far one of the most relaxing days I've had in a long time. We got lots of great gifts . . . but I think the best one was from Nate. He slept until 8am! That's a rare occurance for him so we were THRILLED. We opened presents and then had our traditional Christmas morning brunch. Nate was quite the pro at opening presents but by the end he was ready to do something else.

We basically just hung out all day long. It was raining & cold so we didn't go outside much. By 4pm I was still in my jammies. My mom didn't feel like leaving the house but the rest of us were getting a little stir crazy so she offered to stay home that night so she could watch Cranford after Nate went to bed while the rest of us went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. By the way, great movie.

The rest of the weekend consisted of Sam and I going shopping the day after Christmas, Cafe Rio, Marley & Me (another great movie) & a game night. It was nice to not worry about housework or the never ending to-do list. We hung out and had a good time and it was great.

Christmas - Round 2 was on Monday night with the Thompsons. We exchanged more gifts with them and got to watch the kiddos open their presents. It was fun to have everyone together!

Nate enjoying round 2 of presents with his cousins.

Nate loves to get inside everything . . . so he was thrilled when papa let him get in the wrapping paper garbage bag.

Kyle is such a great big cousin to Nate.


These two definitely have a love/hate relationship.


And we can't forget about miss Daisy doodle.

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas. Happy New Year!

We wish you a Merry Christmas . . .

We miss you, Griffeth clan. Wish we could be there with you to celebrate Christmas. Hopefully we'll see you soon!

We hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Happy 62nd Birthday, Mom & Dad

My parents are only 10 days apart . . .today is my mom's birthday and my dad's birthday is on January 1st. So we celebrated both of their birthdays tonight at one of our favorites . . .Metro Pizza.

Good food. Great company! Happy Birthday, mom & dad.

Catching up with the Rogers Clan over lunch and the BYU game.

Wes' aunt and uncle, Ronan & Andrea, and two of their boys, Taylor & Spencer, were in town over the weekend. We love this family. When we lived in Utah, we spent alot of time with them and we miss it. So we were thrilled to hear that they were in town. We love visitors.



We met them for lunch at CPK at Fashion Show Mall and then met up with them again for the BYU vs. ARIZONA football game. Even though BYU choked & it got pretty chilly by the 3rd quarter, it was still fun to be at the game chatting with the Rogers clan. We pretty much laughed the entire night.

{Wes and his cousin, Taylor}

It was a fun weekend with family!

This much snow in the desert. One week away from Christmas. Counts as a White Christmas in my book.

Sometime around noon . . . I looked out the window and saw that it was snowing. So I went outside and took a picture of the flurries falling from the sky. This is a very rare occurance and I didn't think it'd last very long so I had to take a picture.



Around 3ish, it was still snowing. ALOT. It looked like this.



By this time I'd been staring at the pretty white for 3 hours and decided it was time to go play. So I bundled Nate up and we played in the driveway. That's what you do in the desert when you don't have grass. It was really fun! He had a good time RUNNING around and eating the snow.



A little later it looked like this in Sam's neighborhood.



And it's still snowing. I'm close to being 100% sure that this has never happened here before. I just walked outside, yet again, and we have enough snow that I can't see a curb. It's just one big street. That's quite a few inches for a town that doesn't own a snow plow and doesn't have salt on hand. Tomorrow morning could be interesting.

Unfortunately Wes was supposed to come home tonight from his business trip but our airport is shut down so he's still in California. If he were here, I'd have him outside playing in the snow with me!

Meet Hadley.

Nate's buddy. Partner in crime. Future girlfriend?



I had to blog about Miss Hadley because she is by far Nate's favorite person. It helps that they are pretty much the same age and they don't fight. Well, as long as the coveted toy of the day is hidden.

Anytime I ask Nate, "do you want to play with Hadley today?" He says "Haaad" & nods his head yes with a huge smile. He'll cooperate with just about anything if I drop Hadley's name. They are really cute together. They love giving & receiving hugs and kisses & are quite the little duo. Nate loves his friend, Hadley.



Lucky for Nate, I think she is pretty fond of him too.



Nate and Hadley thought they wanted to see Santa. They were very anxious to get through the door but had death grips on their parents as soon as they went inside!

Hallelujah

I was a quite perturbed that Heba beat out Amy. I really like Amy and she looks fabulous. But I would have been genuinely mad if Ed would have won the whole thing. Go Michelle. And thank goodness that Vicky didn't win anything.

Can't wait till January 6th for another season.

36 hours in snow-covered utah to see some family.

{Side Note: I was TERRIBLE with the camera this weekend!}

One thing we miss about living in Utah is the time we got to spend with aunts/uncles, cousins & grandparents. The majority of both Wes' extended family and my extended family live in the SLC area so when an opportunity came up to see some of Wes' side and some of my side on the SAME DAY, we decided to head to Utah for the weekend. We also got a taste of a white Christmas which was good enough for me. I'm all about visiting the snow. :)

Reason #1 for going to Utah: Griffeth family Christmas Party.

Reason #2: For me to go to the Nutcracker with a bunch of ladies that I love: my grandma, aunts, cousins, family friends, mom & Sam. {A little background information: my grandpa started Ballet West in Salt Lake and coreographed the first Nutcracker so it holds a special place in my family}.

On Saturday morning snow was definitely falling from the sky. We luckily managed to make it to the party without sliding off the road. As we drove up the hill on 9400 South, cars were spinning coming down so we were quite relieved when we pulled in the parking lot for the party. It was so good to see Wes' aunts/uncles & cousins. It's been a really long time so it was fun to catch up. They have a tradition of playing whoopi and then this noise game that's really funny to watch. Nate loved playing with Wes. After each round he'd turn to Wes and sign "more".

{Nate playing with his second cousin, Alexis}

Reason #2 for the trip didn't happen for me. My mom was going to come get me from the Griffeth party to go to the Nutcracker but the roads were terrible so I told her to stay in SLC. So I missed the actual Nutcracker but Wes, Nate & I went to my grandma's that night and got to see everyone so that was nice. Nate was the life of the party at my grandma's. He put on quite a performance with his animal sounds and "show-off" personality.

{I know this picture doesn't make Nate look very cute, but I have to document his funny faces that he likes to make lately. This is one of them & Sam was able to capture it on camera.}

Andrea Rogers, Wes' aunt, was nice enough to let us stay with her over the weekend. It was great to see her, too! Thanks Andrea for letting us stay in your beautiful home.

25 days of Christmas

Wes' mom started the "25 days of Christmas" tradition years & years ago. I think it started when Alisha left for college . . . Doreen wanted to make sure she had some daily holiday cheer so she sent 25 gifts to her.

She kept the tradition going even after all of her kids got married. Each gift has a tag with a specific day you're supposed to open it. So from Dec. 1 - 25 we open one present each day.

By day 10, Nate is a master at opening presents. If he gets a few minutes alone by the tree, he tries to open as many as he can. And he's so excited to show Wes or I what he opened. I think the presents underneath have distracted him from pulling the actual tree over.

Christmas Day will be a blast with him. He will be our little helper opening gifts.

Thanks Robert & Doreen for the fun tradition!

Our holiday season has started out like this.

SANTA CLAUS

We took Nate to Town Square to see Santa Claus. But Nate had a death grip on Wes' shirt so we have no proof that Nate actually saw him. He loves his Santa book but seeing him in person is an entirely different story.

CHRISTMAS MOVIE & DINNER PARTY

Wes and I got a babysitter so we could go see this movie with our friends, the McDonalds . . .
and then go to our friend's house for a Christmas dinner party. It was a great afternoon & evening out with friends!

TY'S BLESSING

My college roommate and dear friend Trisha blessed her little boy on Sunday. He is a cutie. It was fun to see you, Waldrons.

DAISY'S 1ST BIRTHDAY PARTY

My niece Daisy turned one. I can't believe it! She had a great time opening up presents and eating some cake.

ABBIE'S FIRST HOLIDAY DANCE RECITAL

Three year olds dancing is one of the cutest things you'll ever see. She did a great job and is quite the little dancer.

I'd love to win this!

Scribble It GIVEAWAY!!!!

My most recent purchase of home decor: a painting from Shauna.

I met Shauna through her sister, Megan. They are both incredibly talented. I mean to the point where it makes you kind of sick to think about all of the talents they have. One of them is that they are artists.

Shauna recently started doing these paintings and I had to buy one from her. Yes, she painted my little man on to this canvas. This isn't a print of him on canvas. It's a painting. And I love it. She brought it over last night and I can't wait to find the perfect place for it.

If you're interested in Shauna's work, check her out here:



All you have to do is send her a photo and she'll work with you to get the contrast right and then she paints away. She's done some great stuff. My college roomies and I even had Shauna paint our dear friend Laurel and her now husband Ryan as their wedding gift.





Thanks Shauna!

thanksgiving

I have a lot to be thankful for . . .

Being a mama. Weston R. Family & Friends. our Health. our Home. our Jobs. The joy and laughter a 1 year old brings. my Savior. The Gospel. Celestial Marriage. the Holiday Season.

and the list could go on and on. We are so blessed and I'm thankful for all I have.

Our Thanksgiving this year was great. Even though we didn't go anywhere (other than the zoo on Monday) I feel like we did because I wasn't home at all last week!

It's great to live by your family. But you do miss out on the times when all of your siblings are together for DAYS. Not just hours on the actual holiday. But DAYS when you're all jammed in your parent's house and you spend the week hanging out. We get to experience this with the Griffeth family but not with mine since we all live here. So this year I decided to spend more time at my parent's house just hanging out so I invited myself over.

On Wednesday, Nate & I spent the day with Sam and my mom as we helped my mom prepare food & get the table set. I even managed to help Sam get her tree up and house decorated for Christmas while Nate took a nap. It was fun to just hang out at my parent's house . . . it was a nice break from our daily routine.

Thanksgiving Day started out with what I call a "Turkey Trot" at my nephew's elementary school. It has become a tradition that we all look forward to every Thanksgiving morning. It's a charity function as well as a chance to get some exercise as you walk around the track.

Nate and Abbie preferred to dance.

Part of our clan making the rounds on the track.

Abbie & Aunt Sam

After the trot, Sam & I escaped to the gym and did a final round at the grocery store. We spent the majority of the day helping in the kitchen while Nate took a good Thanksgiving nap.

I have to say that the best part about Wednesday & Thursday was the weather. It was cold and rainy which made it feel like a holiday which was nice compared to our much too warm LV weather. My dad spent the majority of the day getting the water off of their patio cover.

Nate ready to go with Papa on a walk in the cold.

Big trees with changing leaves aren't very common in this wonderful desert, so I appreciate the fact that I could experience some colorful leaves falling from the tree at my parent's house. It made it feel like FALL just in time for winter.

The Thompson clan came over after nap time and we proceeded to have a YUMMY thanksgiving dinner. My mom always sets an amazing table and this was her centerpiece this year.

I carried a Griffeth Christmas tradition in to the Marz family. Wes' extended family always plays a game called Whoopi (or Whoopsi if you're Abbie) at their Christmas party. For those of you who know me well you know I can't pass up an opportunity to win a prize so I started playing the game with my family, too. I didn't win much but it was still fun. It was fun to have everyone together for the holiday!

The events didn't end there. Prior to becoming a Griffeth, I had no clue that crazy people got up super early the day after Thanksgiving to go shopping. It was quite a shock when I discovered this! But now, I'm hooked. And this year I roped Sam in to coming with me at 4am & I think she'll be my shopping partner from now on! Although next year Sam, I'm hoping you'll wear something other than basketball shorts and slippers & maybe we can avoid injury at Costco?

We managed to get half of our house decorated for Christmas and the tree up over the weekend. Nate keeps pointing at all the new things!

We had a great week last week! Hope you're Thanksgiving was great, too. Can't wait till Christmas!

9 hours in San Diego

Wes parents live in Georgia so when they are on the west coast, we try to see them. They happened to be enjoying their Thanksgiving week at a timeshare in San Diego so we met them yesterday to go to the San Diego Zoo. Wes and I both had to work today so we flew down yesterday morning and flew back last night!

We all had a great time. It was fun to see Grandma & Grandpa G and the San Diego Zoo is awesome. It was my first trip to any zoo other than Hogle Zoo in SLC so I was very impressed. Nate especially had such a fun day. He only took two 20-minute snoozes but was happy the entire time. Such a trooper {when he's having fun!}. It's always fun to see so many animals...

Nate LOVED the children's petting zoo. He would have stayed in there all day with the goats.

Nate spent the majority of the day on Wes' shoulders. When we were looking at the reptiles, he stuck his tongue in and out like an iguana. Then we'd look at the monkeys and he'd make his "oohh oohh" monkey sounds. etc. It was fun that he knew a lot of the animals and the sounds they make.

Nate ended the day by clapping "yeah for the zoo!"

After the zoo we went to Old Town and ate delicious Mexican food. I think I had the best taco I've ever had. So yummy! Being in San Diego reminded me of how much I love that place.