There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays

I love being home for Christmas (California home). I'm sure a lot of it is because it's the house I grew up in, with the people, foods, scents, traditions that I've always loved. It makes me happy that my husband and kids love being there so much as well.

On Christmas Eve, my mom and I thought it would be nice to reflect on the "reason for the season" by having everyone dress a part from the Christmas story as we read it from the bible. Stephenie and my little brother Brett thought we were joking at first. When they realized we were dead serious, they reluctantly complied, then became severely paranoid when cameras were pulled out, assuming that those pictures would indefinately show up on Facebook and/or my blog. As you can see, I upheld my promise to not post any pictures of them, but I'm not too embarassed to show you this picture of a 37 year old virgin Mary and her Angel, Alex.

Santa did good with this basketball hoop. As soon as Alex saw it, he made a bee-line for the ball, immediately started shooting, and continued to play with it almost non-stop. We practically had to force him to look at his other gifts.

Hope you all had a great Christmas! As I'm writing this, I just realized it's 11:45 p.m. on December 31st. I guess I'd better go upstairs, rouse Steve who I'm sure has fallen asleep on the couch by now, and quietly ring in the New Year so as to not wake up Alex. I wonder if this uneventful New Years Eve is any indication of what to expect in 2009. Hopefully we'll have a good balance between exciting times and peace. I hope the same for all of you in the new year!

"I Left My Heart in San Francisco"

We decided to go home to California for Christmas this year. Every time we go back home, we like to go to San Francisco for the day. Pier 39 is fun to visit during the holidays with decorations, lights, etc.

I thought Steve was silly for thinking this huge tree was actually real. Then I was the one feeling silly when I read the sign next to the tree that proclaimed that indeed it was real. Amazing!

Business in the Front, Party in the Back

That's right, my boy has a mullet. Not intentionally, mind you. As you can see here, Alex's hair was getting pretty long. He'd never had a haircut in all his 17 months!

Steve was doing his best to trim him up, but his scissors were dull so he made the mistake of using his electric clippers. Alex FREAKED, and I had to use all my strength to restrain him so Steve could try and finish. Steve got the front done and by that time we said, "Forget it!" and just left the back alone for now. Both father and son were completely traumatized by this point, and when Alex wouldn't let Steve hold him immediately afterwards, Steve felt horrible.

Thus, the mullet. You can't tell from this picture, but it is pretty long in the back still. I'm not too crazy about the hair cut, mainly because it makes him look too grown up!

Discovering Snow

This was Alex's first experience with playing in the snow. He seemed to think it was pretty cool.

In typical toddler fashion, of course he had to put some in his mouth to taste.

It looks like he's thinking, "I'm not too sure about this!"

He literally started to gag on it...I guess it just took him by surprise.

Lady Cougar

We're so glad Steph decided to play basketball again this year. It's such a great program that is rich in tradition and promotes a lot of camaraderie among the girls.

She continues to improve, and that shy little girl who used to try and stay off to the sides in her Jr. Jazz games now actually commits a foul or two each game!

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges is that the head JV coach is none other than...her dad. It can be tricky trying to keep separation between dad/daughter and coach/player, but so far they've done really well and are having a positive experience.

I love this expression on her face, this is during Varsity warmups and she's probably staring down a girl from the other team that ticked her off during the JV game. Steve was excited because he said last night was the most aggressive he's seen her play. I guess a little anger will do ya good now and then!

We're so proud of her and are relishing these moments because we know they'll be over so quickly! (Ok, now I will end this post before I get completely sappy...)

Happy Thanksgiving

This year we got together at my brother Eric's house. My sister-in-law Robin had a bunch of her family there also, so there was a ton of great food and lots of good company. I'm thankful that I do have some family here in Utah, especially at the holidays.

Alex loves all his cousins and eats up all the attention they give him.

Cousin Andrew is giving Alex a few b-ball pointers.

I couldn't believe Alex didn't mess with this turkey decoration, I think he may have been a little scared of it! Now the question is...how tempting will all the Christmas decor be?

"The Tale of the Sucker" by Alex Lilly

When I was barely 16 months old, my mommy gave me a sucker for the first time. Here I am thinking, "Hmmm, what's this red thing all about?"

"Hey, this is pretty good! I can't believe she's been holding out on me all this time!"

"I'm getting too sticky? What does that mean?"

"What the heck! Did she just throw my sucker in the garbage?"

"Oh the horror, the tragedy, the injustice!" I may be little, but I know how to get even. Just wait till about three o'clock this morning when I decide it's time to play, Mom.

And Mommy did not sleep happily ever after. The End.

He Had a Dream...

I had always thought to myself, "Wow, that'd be really cool to have the first black president if Obama wins." But last night, when it became official, I saw my husband's eyes water up and it really hit me.

I thought of my parents-in-law, who LIVED the civil rights movement, marching along side Martin Luther King, who were treated poorly time and time again, yet welcomed me into their family with open hearts and open arms.

As we were watching everything on t.v. last night, Steve finally said outloud what I knew he had been thinking..."I wish my mom were here to see this." Something tells me she knows, and I bet she's singing gospel hymns right now, as I would so often hear her do.

We looked at our little Alex last night, so oblivious to everything going on. Yet our hearts were so full to know that the possibilities before him now seem so much greater because of the history that was made last night.

No matter who you all voted for, I hope we'll all pray for our new president, that he'll be safe and will in turn make a safer future for our families.

The Little Steeler Who Stole My Heart

I tried to make Alex a dinosaur for Halloween, but he hated the big, heavy costume with the hood that swallowed his little head. Plan B...I came up with this idea because I knew he wouldn't even realize he was wearing a costume. Alex, a football player? Yeah, I know, it's so predictable, but you gotta admit he sure looks adorable!

'The Ref' had to throw a flag against Alex, for personal foul and unsportsmanlike conduct! (Both of which are a common occurence between the two, as I've mentioned before, he hates her attempts to hug him, squeeze him, kiss him, etc.)

Steve made his shoulder pads out of a thick, long sock. I love the way his diaper makes it look like he has the butt pads on.

Getting ready to call some plays.

Mommy had to represent her Bay Area pride by wearing her 49'ers jersey, much to the scoffing of Steve, the life long Steelers fan.

Alex got to go trick or treating at the high school with all the preschool kids, we went through a bunch of classrooms where teachers handed out candy. That was my favorite part, showing him off and hearing all the teenage girls, "Oh, he's sooo cute!" (Not very humble of me, I know, but it's true!)

Last night we took him to a few houses in the neighborhood. I think this is the first Halloween ever in Utah that I've gone trick or treating in short sleeves and flip flops...it was great!

The Best Tuesday Ever

Tuesdays are usually pretty rough. I work a 12 hour night shift on Monday, come home and take care of Alex, usually resulting in 2 or 3 hours of sleep for the day. So you can imagine how thrilled I was when my friend Christine called Tuesday to say her daughter Mckenzie was begging to have Alex come over. She didn't have to ask me twice! I got to go home and SLEEP while Mckenzie took care of Alex, gave him lunch, a bottle, a nap. (She's only in 4th grade, looks like I've found a future babysitter!) When I went to pick him up, Alex was in 7th heaven...playing outside and getting even more attention when Mckenzie's sister Megan came home, not to mention their 2 dogs. All of his favorite things. He also had a blast playing in the piles of leaves. Thanks Dorneys for the special day!

Pumpkin Patch

We took Alex to the pumpkin patch Friday. He loved walking in the dirt along the rows of pumpkins, as I had a heart attack every 10 seconds because his little feet kept getting caught in the vines and making him fall. It didn't even phase him though. It was a gorgeous day, and after the shock of last week's cold, the warmth was wonderful.

Happy Birthday Abuelo

As I mentioned in my last post, my parents flew out last Friday. We were able to get together at my sister's house to celebrate my Dad's birthday. Alex ate up all the attention he got from everyone and has such fun cousins that play with him, even though they're all quite a bit older.

The BEST was on Tuesday morning when my parents came to my house and watched Alex while I slept. (I worked Monday night.) I slept 3 1/2 straight hours without interruption, it was heavenly!

A cute sidenote about my Dad...when my little bro was on his mission to Panama, my Dad basically taught himself how to speak Spanish. He's become extremely proficient, takes Spanish classes at the college, helps run church meetings for Spanish speakers, and takes advantage of any opportunity to talk with anyone who will speak Spanish with him. My cute niece Cessiley has now given him his new name..."Abuelo".

Homecoming Dance

Tonight was Kearns' Homecoming Dance. After much blood, sweat and tears, Steph finally found a dress just a few days before the dance. Good news...it was only $20.00!! Bad news...it was waaay too short. I figured we could just let the hem down to make it longer. Well, I really did not inherit my mother's talent as an excellent seamstress, because as I got to looking at the hem I realized that just would not work. Fortunately, the modesty gods were on our side this week and my mom just happened to fly into town yesterday. I handed her the dress, some sequined fabric and off she went to work her magic. She added on the black strip of material at the bottom of the dress and it turned out really cute!

Steph is on the Student Activities Committee and was super busy all week with Homecoming activities, went to the game last night and had to be at the school at 6:00 a.m. this morning to decorate for the dance. Soooo...let's hope she wasn't so exhausted from the past week that she is crashing and burning at the dance right now. Guess I'll find out in a few hours. I'll tell you what though, after all the stress we went through this week getting ready for the dance, if she doesn't walk in the house with a smile on her face and a positive report...I might just lose it!

(if you're reading this Steph...I love you!)