Lately

I've been trying really hard to like January. It's a little depressing isn't it? Or am I the only one? I thought I'd try to be like every other person on the planet and make some goals to work on to better myself. I thought I would try to learn to crochet/knit and maybe start practicing the piano more often until I am confident to accompany someone. And serve a vegetable every night with dinner. Well the first one was easy. I have the world's best mentor right at my fingertips. And ta da.... my first crocheted project!

Thanks to my mom, I think I kind of have the hang of it. It pretty much means anybody can do it if I can. I'm a little obsessed now. I've made 5 flowers...I might need to have a baby girl. No, no. Not anytime soon.

Other thoughts:

* It's that time again. Time to register the vehicles. And guess what. The windshield is cracked. Again.

*I love the new TV show, Modern Family. I think I cry from laughing so hard every time I watch it. It's now a household favorite. (I'm also ashamed to admit, that after avoiding every previous season, this time, I haven't missed an episode of the Bachelor. What the heck. The program is absolutely ridiculous. A terrible guilty pleasure.)

*Easton calls my mom "Damma". He will sing a little grandma song that goes "Dam Dam Dam Dammy!!!" It is awesome.

*He also was telling us the other day that an O and a zero are not the same because an O is a circle and a zero is an oval. What the? He is a smart little kiddo.

*I need some input. I've been asked to help all of the youth in our ward to learn a song and possibly sing it in sacrament meeting. Has anyone heard an amazing song from a choir lately? I feel like I've been out of the loop for a while and don't really have any good resources for finding a great song for them. Any ideas? Anyone? Anyone?

Our Christmas

It's about time I get around to posting about Christmas. It was so great. Having Easton brings so much magic to the whole thing! Bring on the pictures! (Can someone tell me why my clear pictures are uploaded to look all grainy and crappy? Thank you.) So. Christmas Eve we headed over to my Aunt's house to spend time with my Dad's family. Easton had heard the big man was coming to visit and he was telling everyone he was going to sit on Santa's lap and tell him that he wanted "baby presents". Yeah right. All talk, I thought. He had never seen Santa up close and judging from his shy disposition, I figured he would never sit alone on a big cheery stranger's lap. Well he came, and Easton saw everyone excited and actually went up with Grandma. A little cautious...

And....success!! No big smiles, but no crying or flailing!

I was blown away!

He was so excited... he even got a candy cane!

That night we came home and opened jammies. (Easton matched all of the big boys, so cute.) Easton went to bed after leaving cookies and egg nog for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. The next morning, I think I was more excited than Easton was. Well I know I was more excited, he didn't really know what was going on.

Oh! Can't forget the family Christmas picture on the stairs!

Randon's favorite thing if you can't tell.

Oh, wait! Lets get another one with the whole fam! Yes!

He quickly caught on that all of this fun stuff was for him. He seriously is the best child to have when you need a little reassurance that he likes something. Every little thing he would show me and say something like, "Look Momma! A jumpin rope! I love it!"

Lookin at his loot...

Wait, lets get a close up of these bad boys.

Why? Because I made them, thats why. Tent and all.

Thats a story for another post.

He also got a big play tent(thankyou IKEA, $10!!, but I hate you for selling PERMANENT CHILDREN's whiteboard markers, Crayola makes washable ones! Step it up!)

...so he had a "big" tent and a "baby" tent. (It's a whole thing over here.)

I was kindly invited to enter the tent with him.

And was promptly left to fend for myself.

This was possibly the funniest moment of the day.

He reeeeally wanted to be inside the baby tent.

Got a little stuck.

We came up with something better...baby tent inside the big tent.

He was loving the fact he got to open some of the presents that had been forbidden for so long.

What? Grandma got me a Yo Gabba Gabba plate, cup and bowl? She is the coolest. Ever.

Christmas afternoon we made preparations to head down to Sanpete county to spend the night with Randon's family. We stayed the night in a lodge and ate food, exchanged gifts and had lots of fun! The next morning Randon and Easton headed outside for some sledding.

Thumbs up for a great Christmas!

We hope you all had a great holiday!

The Perfect Cup of Hot Chocolate

Is there anything better than a good cup of hot chocolate? Well, probably, but on a cozy, snowy day, hot chocolate makes it perfect. My mom first showed me this little way of preparing it, and I love it.

Start off by filling your mug with half water and half milk. Heat in the microwave to your liking. Add a generous helping of hot chocolate powder. Any 'just add water' powder will do, just be generous. Stir, then add a dash of cinnamon and a couple drops of vanilla extract. Stir and enjoy!

Let it Snow!

I was thinking about how I wanted to have a white Christmas, and remembered the first snow we had this year. Most of it came down while Easton was down for a nap, and his awesome Grandpa said he needed a snowman. So out he went. With bare hands. He created a masterpiece.

Easton was pretty excited to get out there and see it.

He loved it but then informed us that there needed to be a baby snowman. Easton is going through this phase where everything has to have a miniature version. He loves anything small. So it was Dad to the rescue.

The finished product. Matching cowboy hats and all.

Oh wait...he needed a few more buttons.

Much better.

It's almost Christmas!! Yipee!

The Annual Christmas Tree Hunt

It was up the mountain again this year.

I'm pretty sure you can call it a Griswald.

It's huge.

And it's really classy seeing that after ripping my hair out trying to light the dang thing, the whole middle section remains dark. And the ornaments only go up about 3/4 of the way, because...like I said...it's huge. Totally awesome. Heaven help me.

P.S. Happy Birthday Ky! You're the best!

You Better Watch Out!

I guess Big E really does like Christmas music! I caught him singing Christmas songs in his carseat. (Sorry for the blurry clip, it was taken on my crappy cell phone.) Translation: "You better not cry, not awake (he sees you when you're awake), better not pout, tellin you why...Santa Claus is comin to town!" Love it. We are getting pretty excited for Santa over here. Easton also loves the light up yard reindeer. There is one right next door, and he loudly announces its lighting every night. "The big reindeer is workin! And its face is movin!"

Easton

Well, I have a lot I need to post. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and we are enjoying a wonderful holiday season. I just love Christmas! I'm trying to pass that on to Easton, he can already recognize Christmas music! But that is not the point of this post. I just thought this video was funny. It kind of shows how much Easton has transformed from that sweet little baby to boy. It seems boys have only one volume for their voice. Loud. Here he is with his lovely aunt Cass. What are they doing, you ask? I don't know.