Christmas!

We celebrated Christmas on the 17th this year because we are going to Utah to spend the holidays with our families! This last week has been crazy with Ross having six finals with in seven days. Jackson and I haven't seen him much so it was nice that he took some time off from studying so we could have our little family Christmas.

That morning we made Christmas pancakes! My mom had given us some molds that made it a lot easier to make our pancakes look Christmas-y and fun. Jackson didn't really care what they looked like and just wanted to eat but I hurried and got a couple pictures of them!

Reindeer


Christmas Tree


and a creepy looking Elf




That afternoon we opened gifts. It was kinda weird doing it in the middle of the day but Jackson loved opening the gifts! He has been so good all season long with not touching the tree and the gifts, I was surprised how much he liked opening them. We might have a problem when we go to Utah and he sees more presents under the tree!

Helping mom





Dad's turn to help!








I tried to get a family picture and this is how it turned out. I must have hit the camera as I went to sit down and Jackson was having nothing to do with taking pictures.


Jackson in the mess of gifts


One of Jackson favorite gift was from his cousin Addi!! Its a tent with a tunnel. He spends his day running in and out of it.


Jackson with all his presents!






That evening we to the Zoo and saw the lights with some friends. I was so excited that they text us and asked if we wanted to go. We had just planned to stay home and Ross was going to study allllll nighttttt loooong! Thats what we have done all week and I was happy to get out of the house and do something as a family.


I loved these polar bear lights.


Lauren and I loved this and made the guys get a picture with it. ( Is that better Heather!)


Jackson with the singing trees


Ross and Jackson walking around


Jackson playing with the lights





Christmas around the world


The group!


This is the front of the zoo. I thought it looked neat!

I took this picture tonight and for some reason I love it. This is Jackson right before bed watching Ratatouille. Maybe I love it because he is sitting down and not running everywhere or maybe because he looks so cute sitting there with the Christmas tree behind him. I don't know.. but I like it.

I don't know where this last year has gone. I can't believe how big Jackson has gotten. It seems like yesterday that I was in Utah with my family for Christmas and Jackson was 8 weeks old. Time needs to slow down!! I wish my family could be around Jackson and see how much he is grown. He picks up on thing so fast and is amazing me every day. I've been asked three times this week if he two years old and they are shocked when I tell them he is only 14 month.

I can't wait for Ross's finals to be over so I can 1: have my husband back and 2: we can leave and go to Utah for Christmas! I love the holiday season and its just not the same with out your family.

Anyway here is my random picture and blog post of the night! I have to keep myself busy somehow while Ross is off studying :)

Painting!

Ross informed me on Sunday that he had told one of the guys that he home teaches that Jackson would make him an ornament and he was going in a coupole hours! Lucky for us we had some ornaments that my mom had sent to me last year to paint, that I never did, so we were able use them! This was Jackson's first time painting and he did pretty well. He painted the ornament but then wanted to paint on the floor and when we wouldn't let him he had a little melt down and that was then end of painting!

Ross came home and said the guy loved it and went and hung it on his tree. This guys is a little slower and is pretty quiet in church so I was happy to hear that he enjoyed it.

Here are the pictures of Jackson painting.

Benson is coming!

Last week I was able to help throw a baby shower for BreeAnn, one our good friends here! I wish I would have gotten a picture of her. She is the cutest little pregnant girl! She really looks like she is only 20 weeks along. I wish my mom could have seen Lauren and I trying to plan and decided what to do for this shower. We both had no idea what we were doing and kinda just went with the flow. Poor BreeAnn was asked a million questions over and over again because we wanted her to be happy with it. BreeAnn is so nice that we couldn't have served chips and water and she would be happy.
Despite neither of us really knowing what we were doing I think it turned out pretty well! I can't wait for little Benson (I sure hope his name stays Benson lol) to come. I already know he is going to be so cute!

Here are the ONLY pictures I took...

I can't take credit for this awesome looking punch! I actually was making fun of it as we were making it :) Lauren did a great job


Here is a crappy picture but when you only took two picture you don't have much to work with! Here is some of the group at the shower.

Mom's group Christmas party

Last week Mom's group (The mom's in my ward) had our Christmas party! Jackson and I usually don't get to make it to moms group because he is taking a nap and I don't want to have a grumpy kid. But I really wanted to go to this one and Ross needed to study so we braved the no nap and off we went. It was so much fun to be around other moms and have Jackson be able to run around and play with the other kids. We decorated cookies and then Santa came to visit. Again Jackson had nothing to do with him. This time he was a little smarter and hid behind chairs and watched from a safe distance lol

Jackson decorating his cookie.


Our table.


Jackson eating his m&ms! He didn't care to eat the cookie just the m&m's off it


Jackson and his birthday buddy Jett


Jackson watching from behind his chairs


I knew he would love the starburst candy cane so I took him up there just to get one and he was not to happy about it


He did love the candy cane!


Jackson fell asleep on the way home while eating his candy cane.

Oh how I love St. Nicholas

Most of you are wondering what I am talking about! Its a German tradition! Every December 5th you set out your shoe and St. Nick comes during the night and either leaves you a little gift or coal in your shoe. If you get coal its a warning that you need to shape up before Santa come so you can get a gift from him! Well thats how I understand it lol somethings may be a little off but you get the gist.

I have always love this tradition! Growing up it was like a little Christmas early. Not because we got a lot of gifts or really nice ones at that but the feeling you get of being a little kid and believing that St. Nick (we called him the elf) and santa was really going to come and leave you something over the night. I remember Tyler and I looking for the biggest shoe we had to set out haha Of course the bigger shoe you have the more gifts you get right?? :) I remember having a hard time sleeping that night just like on Christmas Eve. It was so exciting to leave my shoe out and see what I got and even seen that my dad had gotten coal in his shoe! I can't wait tell Jackson and my other kids understand whats going on and can be excited just like was.. ok I still get excited every year!

I'm grateful that my Omi and Opa kept this tradition going and didn't stop once they were America! I'm sure they had a lot of weird faces as they tried to explain what was going on!

Our shoes the next morning


Jackson seeing what the Elf brought him


Jackson excited for his new santa pajamas


Showing them off!


Opening his new jacket


I know Jackson got a lot this year and it wont be like this every year but he needed his new jacket now so the Elf needed to bring it :)

Really..

Is this what I signed up for when I decided to become a mom??? Really!!



I know this is gross and I probably shouldn't blog about it but lets be real here.. Only a handfull of people read my blog and most of them are my family!
The other day Jackson had gone to the bathroom so I was changing him and going to get him ready for the day. After I had got him all cleaned up I realized that I had forgotten his diaper in his room so I ran to get it and came back to this!! Jackson in the short time of me going to get his diaper decided that he needed to go again and found a nice view infront of the Christmas tree and laid his own gift.
Oh wait the best part is still coming...
So, I walked in and saw him doing this and tried to take a picture to send to my family because I thought it was funny. As soon as I took it Jackson looked over (as you seen in the picture) saw me and got scared and started to RUN away from me stepping BOTH feet in the poo, smashing it into the carpet! I started to scream trying to get him to stop but he just kept running from me.. I finally caught him but then didn't know what to do. I was all alone.. I couldn't set him down to clean him up because he had poop on his feet and would get it everywhere so I ended up leaning him over the bath tub and wiping his feet and body off.. Jackson went straight into the tub. Don't worry after scrubbing the carpets and using cleaner they are clean and smell free haha

You would think I would have learned after this....


But sadly I didn't...
So should I say until next time... I hope not but I'm sure it won't be the last.
Isn't being a mom the best thing :)

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I was so excited to set up Christmas this year. If I wasn't such a hater on starting to celebrate Christmas before Thanksgiving I would have had my Christmas up mid November! I had forgotten how much Christmas decor I had.. It just kept coming and coming. This is our first year not getting a real tree. We went and looked at them but couldn't spend that much money when we weren't even going to be there for Christmas. So we went to good old Walmart and picked out our nice $20 tree! Jackson loved helping us decorate the tree. He did break one ornament.. Ross was holding him up so I could take a picture of him putting the ornament on and next thing we know Jackson flings his arm back and hits the ornament right off the tree and into the wall shattering it to pieces! Its a good thing we bought some shatter-free one to put on the bottom of the tree!

Jackson taking some of the Christmas out


Helping dad put on the lights


Don't worry dad... I got this one :)


This is the picture I took right before Jackson hit the ornament off the tree. Jackson actually has done very well with not touching the tree or the presents under it. He runs up to it every morning and will go "no, no, no" while shaking his finger.


Jackson and I reading a Christmas book after setting everything up!

Being Thankful

This years Thanksgiving is one I'll ever forget. Not because something amazing or out of the ordinary happened. This Thanksgiving I really had the chance to sit down and realize how blessed my family and I are. Its so easy to get caught up in the way of life that we don't realize how blessed we are. This year we didn't have a huge family dinner to go to, I had to actually cook food for the Thanksgiving dinner, the only way we saw our families was through a computer. There are many times I sit here thousands of miles from family and wish I could just go over to their house but this Thanksgiving I sat here and thought how blessed I am. I have so many things to be grateful for. I have an amazing family, parents, siblings, friends and the sweetest little boy. My family is healthy, I have a husband that cares so much about our family and works so hard to create a better life for us. I have a husband that goes to school for ten hours a day and then comes home and finds time to help me with dinner and plays with Jackson. I'm so grateful to be blessed with Jackson, he really is the greatest blessing in my life. I never knew I could love something so much. I'm Thankful for a warm house to live in and food on the table each night, for the friends that we have made there that have turned into family, aunts and uncles to Jackson. For modern technology that I am able to see my family when they are so far away. I'm eternally grateful for my savior Jesus Christ, that he was willing to die for me, so I can repent and one day live with my family forever. I'm grateful for for so many things I could go on forever.
Here are some pictures of our small but fun Thanksgiving!

This is kinda gross but we thought it would be funny to give Jackson the leg of the turkey and see what he would do lol He just hit on the ground..


Jackson ready to eat dinner


All the food we had! We didn't even make a dent!


Ross going back for seconds


This was Jackson that night after everyone went black friday shopping! I just love his face.