Christmas Vacation

So we went to Montana for Christmas... we drove.

On Christmas Eve we left at about 11am. We drove up to Salt Lake City and stayed the night at my cousin's house. We joined in on their Christmas morning.

This is Phoenix and Cal. Phoenix was born in July & Cal was born in October.

Impressive size, Cal.

Madi got a Barbie for Christmas and loved it.

After breakfast we took off and headed to Montana. Between stops, feedings, and a flat tire we spent 12+ hours traveling both days.

Carson had lots of things he wanted to make sure we let Madi do while on the ranch... feed the cows, ride a horse, play in the snow.

Well, we decided to ride a sled being pulled behind a 4-wheeler. Carson drove and I held Madi on the sled. The snow was pretty hard, but we were having a blast. Then Carson turned right as we hit a bump.

Madi and I tipped right over. Unfortunately, I rolled right over Madi & smashed her face into the hard ice-like snow. When I picked her up her mouth pooled with blood. I started to take her back to the house. When I looked at her again, her entire bottom 1/2 of her face was smeared with blood. I went into panic mode & started running all the way back to the house. (we were out in the field)

Once we got her cleaned up, it turned out to be a fairly shallow scratch across her check and her upper lip was scratched up pretty good. She looked pretty beat up because she had road rash and was puffy and swollen.

On Sunday, Dec. 27th, Carson gave Cal his baby blessing. It was pretty special because all 6 of Carson's siblings and their families were there.

The blessing was great. I was already weepy during the blessing, then Carson started to cry. I started sobbing. Cal is named after Carson's dad, who passed away when Carson was 11. I'm pretty sure that is part of the reason why he got emotional, but the spirit was very strong as well.

Madi had a great time playing with all her cousins. These are the "naked savages" getting ready to eat a big feast.

The rest of the trip was spent hanging out with family and friends. We really enjoyed ourselves & loved seeing everyone.

Family Pictures

My friend Stacy got her friend to take some pictures of our family with our newest addition. These are some of my favorites.

Sleep

Hurray!

Cal slept from 9:30pm to 5:15am.

If only he could do this every night.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I turned 27 yesterday!

A big thanks goes out to my mom. She not only went through 9 months of pregnancy, but I came late. I was due on Thanksgiving, but came on the 1st of Dec. Then, I was a big baby... over 9 pounds. Then on top of all that, I wasn't an easy baby. Anytime I call my mom with a baby or child problem her response is, "that's just like you were." So, as a baby, I wouldn't eat well. I would gag myself and then puke big. (Cal does the same thing) I wouldn't sleep well and didn't want to be snuggled. Also, I hated my carseat. (I once screamed for 2 hours until I finally fell asleep-I believe) So, now with my new mother eyes, I believe birthdays should be a day to remember our mothers. And tell them thank you for carrying use, raising us, and putting up with us. Once again, Thanks mom!

Anyway, back to my birthday. I have the best husband! I had a pretty stinky birthday the 1st year we were together. To the point that I cried. Ever since, he's made it a point to make my birthday a special day. For the next 3 years he took me snowboarding. (even when we moved to Arizona). Then, he flew our friends in from out of town. Last year, he took me on a 2 night get away to Vegas without any kids. (we only had Madi at the time). This year, We got to go buy new garments. (Super wonderful gift!) He also bought be a bicycle and bike trailor. Now we can go out with the kids.

If you don't have one of these & like to ride bikes, I recommend it. We have had tons of fun on it already! And Madi loves it too.

He also bought me the new Mario game for our Wii. Also super fun.
We had german chocolate birthday cake. For anyone who doesn't know, birthday cake is very important to me. My mother did a great job making sure we had delicious cakes growing up, and occassionally they would be in fun shapes. My favorites was a swan shaped cake. It was covered in coconut. DELICIOUS!

All in all it was a great day!

My Favorite ...

My favorite part of Thanksgiving is making the pies (and eating the cranberry-apple jello). So I thought I would post about one of my pies this year. Carson's favorite is blueberry. I've made it 3 different years now. This one was one of my favorites. I had fun with Madi helping me.

My Babies

Cal turned 7 weeks today. I found this picture of Madi & thought it was fun to see the similarities and differences in my children.

The Morning After

A fun filled night of Trick-or-Treating, followed by too much candy eating, results in a morning like this...

Good Times!