Long Overdue...

Yes, I know, it is February and I am barely putting up pictures from Christmas break…but it is better late than never, right? I have so much more recent stuff that I want to post, but it would feel incomplete without this post about all of our Christmas break happenings…

We had a great Christmas break this year down in Arizona. We drove down late in the afternoon on the 23^rd and spent Christmas, Casey’s Birthday (the 26^th), and our anniversary (the 27^th) with my side of the family. Then we went to spend 4 more days with Casey’s side of the family and spent New Years with them. Casey came back up to Utah just in time for school to start again and Brigden and I were able to stay with my family for an extra week for my cousin’s wedding. We have decided that if the rest of our children travel as well as Brigden did, we will be world travelers. We were so impressed at how well he did.

I have decided that I am going to do the rest of this post in a “Top Ten” style, except this is a "Top 20" with no particular order, except chronological. Here are the highlights from our winter break! (WARNING: It’s a long post…enter at your own risk…)

#1 – Christmas Eve with our traditional pajamas and sibling gift exchange. Getting new pajamas for Christmas is one of my most favorite traditions and I think that the pajamas that my mom got for me this year are probably my favorite ones yet. Silky pajamas make me feel like a “grown-up” J I also love the tradition of our sibling gift exchange. It is fun to see the effort and thought that each sibling puts into choosing a gift for the brother or sister that they have that year. It was also fun to have my aunt Leslee there with her boys...

#2 – Santa’s surprise visit…Brigden got to sit on Santa’s lap for the first time and he kept looking at Santa like, “Hey…Don’t I know you? You look like my grandpa…” Classic...

#3 Casey’s big debut as the innkeeper and Brigden’s debut as a not so happy baby Jesus in the Nativity

#4 Like father, like son...I guess this even applies to sleeping positions! I love these two together...Daddy is Brigden's best friend. Thanks Kamrie for sharing your bed with us! (Her bed is seriously the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in)

#5 Christmas Morning...I am ALWAYS the first one awake on Christmas morning. My brother, Jordan, and I had a “plan” every year to be the first ones up. Those are some of my favorite memories of Christmas- our “early riser” club. This year was no different, even as a tired mommy and with Jordan gone on his mission, I was the first one up. I didn’t even try to be. I guess that it is so deep-rooted that it is a habit that's hard to break!

Brigden had so much fun with his very first Christmas! It is so fun as a parent to watch the excitement in your little one’s eyes…

#6 – Christmas Day basketball game…My dad is probably the most selfless and caring person I know. Casey got a new basketball for Christmas and was itching to shoot some hoops. Mid-morning, my dad told Casey to put his tennis shoes on and grab his ball and come with him. (I was curious, so I tagged along) We got in the car and started driving, with only my dad knowing where we were going. We ended up at the house of some family friends who have a son that LOVES basketball. My dad had called ahead to see if we could come over for a game of one-on-one basketball with the pro, Tyler. They had so much fun! Casey loved having someone to play with and I could tell that Tyler was loving it too! Thanks, Dad! That was thoughtful...

#7 – Phone call from Elder Ames!.. .I was so excited to talk to my brother, Jordan, who is serving a mission in New York that I hoarded all of the cordless phones for the hour before he was supposed to call. But I was nice, I let my mom answer it when he called J He sounded so good and is doing great! It is crazy that he comes home in August! We love you, Elder Ames!

#8 – Brigden’s new best friend, Allie the dog…Meet Allie, the dog that my family has had for as long as I can remember. She is a great dog, except for when she is mean to my dad’s chickens, then she is on the bad list for a while…I was so impressed with how well she did with little Brig. She didn’t even flinch when he would grab her feet, ears, or tail! Brigden was enamored with her and followed her around everywhere!

#9 – Brigden loved having stairs to climb…And we sure had to keep our eyes on him!

#10 – We loved helping my dad with his chicken coop additions…and Casey LOVES pictures, as you can tell! Note the sarcasm… :)

#11 – Casey turned the big 2-4!
p.s. We put all of the little parts of his present in separate bags so he had to guess what his one big present was...so it looks like a lot, but it really is one present

#12 – Happy 2-year anniversary! We celebrated by going to the Mesa Temple to do sealings (that is where we were married) and then went to dinner and a movie! It seems like we have been married for so much longer, but I'm so glad that we have many more years to come and then eternity together! Man, oh man, do I love this guy! More to come on him later…

#13 – Birthday Celebration #2…Lucky Casey got to celebrate his birthday twice! Every little kid’s dream! It was fun to celebrate it again with his parents and sisters. The nephews were so excited to help him blow out the candles!

#14 – Happy New Year! We celebrated by going with Boyd and Jen to the New Year’s dance and then came home and played games! I don’t have pictures for our late-nights with games, but that was a highlight of our trip…it was SO much fun for some of us adults to stay up ‘til the wee hours of the morning playing games, especially Ticket to Ride…We love that one!

(Notice the same outfit as the anniversary pics…that’s the joy of visiting our two families at separate times when we go to AZ…I can wear everything twice because neither family has seen the outfit before...which means less packing! YES!)

#15 – Playing with Cousins…Brigden is so lucky to have 6 little boy cousins just a little bit older than him to play with. (I can see lots of mischief in years to come) He had so much fun watching them run around and play and they were so good and nice to him! I think that he had so much fun watching them go all over the place that he was inspired to start walking himself…(more on that in the next post!)

#16 – Visits with Nana…Casey’s grandma (“Nana”) is an amazing lady and we love to visit her as much as we can when we are in St. Johns. We love to sit and talk to her…Little B loved pushing around her walker

#17 – Fun Times with “Tortillas”…or Tias (Aunts in Spanish) They are SO good with Brigden…

#18 – Visit with “Grandma Helen”…When we first moved down to AZ, I was Brigden’s age. We lived in some apartments and this lady was our neighbor upstairs. She became like a grandma-figure in my life with my grandmas so far away in Utah. She is a hoot! I love visiting with her now. She always has funny things to say. This was Brigden’s first time meeting her…

#19 – Going to visit Grandpa at work…Brigden, or should I say “Baxter,” has a fan club at my dad’s work, so we couldn’t go down to AZ without going to visit! There was even a personalized sign waiting for him just like last time we went when he was just 6 weeks old! He is definitely a loved little boy…

#20 – Sharing a special day with a beautiful bride…My cousin Michelle married our good friend, Neal, the day before I left to come back to Utah. I love Michelle. She is beautiful inside and out. We have become a lot closer as we have gotten older and I love the talks that we have. I cannot explain how happy I am for Michelle and Neal. They make a great couple and will be SO happy together. They really are perfect for each other. I wish I had a picture of them together. It was wonderful to be able to be a part of their special day! And it was so great to be able to catch up with some awesome friends from growing up. I have the greatest friends! Thanks Kyle for making sure Brig was included in the picture, that was a fun surprise :)

Well, needless to say, this was really LONG (and it feels good to be done with it), but I am so grateful for the fun times we were able to have in Arizona. We are so blessed with great family and we miss them already!
Any who, now it’s time for bed!