Christmas from CO to UT and back!

Christmas time this year was a blast! We started out by going to the Beckstead's and opening presents there. Mary was given Elmo and Cookie Monster (her favorites!) from Uncle Kaden and Uncle Jared. They are still her favorite stuffed animals!

Mary had a great time opening presents. The book on the right is about potty training - awesome timing!

Jake got a new golf club. He was (and is) SOOOOO excited! I haven't seen that big of a smile on his face in a long time!!! He LOVES it! We received some great gifts from the Becksteads! I got an awesome jacket that I LOVE!!! I haven't had a real jacket since high school (I think).

On our way to Utah to visit my family. Mary has her favorite stuffed animals - Cookie, Elmo and Lizzy.

This snow globe would play music and the bottom of it moved. Mary was transfixed the whole time. She would beg for us to play it.

These little people played christmas music with bells. Mary LOVED them. 

Mary loves rocking chairs. She looked so cute. I got Mary a remote control car for Christmas. She had a great time chasing it while Jake controlled it.

This isn't the greatest picture of the rocking horse my parents made for Mary, but it's beautiful and she loves it! She rides it everyday still.

Here is the gingerbread house my mom made this year. She's great! Pictures of the inside follow...

Mary loved going in and looking at it. She thought it was cool!

We went and visited Jake's Grandparents and Mary had a great time!!! (Sorry Grandpa, not sure why I only got pictures of Grandma!) I love the wig! It cracks me up!!

Jake and I got to go snowboarding with Sam, Jeff and Emily - my niece and nephews. It was so much fun!!!

Mary has found a love for harmonicas, just like her Daddy. She thinks they are so fun!

We went to a store named Shields in Utah. It's an awesome sporting, clothing and just plan fun store. It had a fish tank (Mary's favorite), farris wheel and other fun stuff. It was really fun to walk around in.

We went to a Jazz game while we were there too. So much fun! Too bad they lost!

This was our attempt at getting a picture with my nieces and nephews...yeah didn't go so well...ha ha ha!

We also went to Temple Square. We got there just in time and Mary got a princess wand. She thought it was so fun!!! She loved all the lights and waving her want around.

She thought my sisters shoes were so fun. She's ready to go out.

Ok, so I finally found some other Christmas pictures so bare with me.

Christmas morning in their new pajamas - Elmo and Jazz.

Here's a better picture of the BEAUTIFUL horse!

Opening presents.

We bundled Mary up to go sledding while we were there.

Although I think she just liked eating the snow.

Here is her first run!

Notice the tongue?

She wanted to play on the toys more than sledding.

She loved bouncing on this ball the whole time we were there!!!

On the way home, I think she was tired!!!

WE HAD A GREAT CHRISTMAS!!! THANK YOU TO ALL WHO MADE IT WONDERFUL!!!

WE LOVE YOU ALL!!!

(sorry this was so long, I was a little picture happy!)

Christmas is Coming!

So this last month has been fun getting ready for Christmas and what not. Mary keeps growing and is so fun to be around - most of the time. She is learning to put words together which is really fun for us! She'll say "bye-bye Daddy" and "thank you Mom". She is saying so much it's awesome!!! She has also started to use her imagination and play pretend. She'll have us go night-night so she can wake us up with a kiss. The first picture on the left is of her putting her puppy to sleep with a blanket. She said "night-night" and then walked away. She's so funny! Mary has turned into a popcorn fanatic! "Pop-pop?! Pop-pop please!!!" I hear this at least once a day. 

Jake had his 26th birthday in November! He didn't want a cake, he wanted white chocolate chip macadamian nut cookies. So that's what I made. And the only candle I could find was Mary's number 1 candle. Oh well, at least he got to blow something out, right???

This was the pie I made for Thanksgiving. My friend gave me the fun cutouts!

Mary LOVED the bells that I have on my 'JOY' sign so much that she ended up breaking it and so no longer gets to play with them. But I didn't get Bells that hang on the door and she's having a great time with those.

ATTACK DADDY!!!

She was a great helper when we decorated the tree. Every time she'd put up a decoration she'd turn with that big smile and say "I did it!!!" It was very sweet to watch. She was very careful with them.

My parents got her antlers to wear and I've only been able to get them on her once, but I did snap a picture!

This is Mary's stocking. Someday we will upgrade from the 97 cent Walmart special.

At the beginning of December we were all sitting around one Saturday relaxing when Mary got up and said "Eee-aawww. Eee-aaww." (Which means airplane because that's the noise they make.) So we asked her where her plane was and if she wanted to play with it. Instead of finding her airplane she grabbed her shoes and brought them over to us and said "Eee-aawww car shoes eee-aawww shoes car." So we asked if she wanted to go in the car to see the airplanes and we got a VERY enthusiastic "YEAH!" So we piled in the car and went to the airport where she had a blast for about an hour or so. It was really fun for us to see her communicate her wants successfully! She is growing SOOOO much! The last picture was us driving to see the 'eee-aawwws' with the top off because it was a pretty warm day...70ish I think. That's the last day this year we drove with the top off! It was a great day!!!

Pigs, Pumkin, and Pudding!!!

Okay, so it has been a while since I've posted anything so here we go...

Jake got out his guns to clean them and, of course, had to start Mary on her gun education.

We went to a harvest event with the Lyman's. It was fun! We got there a little late, but what can you do? It took Mary a while to warm up to touching animals.

She loves water and so we let her sit a get wet for a while.

The other day we went to the airport and just hung out watching the airplanes. Mary LOVED it! She's is such her father's daughter.

The picture on the left is of a fort Jake built for Mary and as you can see Mary is NOT in it. She wouldn't go in. She would occasionally lift the blanket and look in, but that's it. Jake had a good time hanging out in it though ;)

The picture on the right is Mary being silly and wearing a basket as a hat.

Here are more silly pictures of Mary. Yes, that is a toilet seat on her head. We haven't used it yet so it's still clean...I hope.

We raked all our leaves the other day and Mary was very helpful!

"Here's the broom Dad!"

HALLOWEEN! We hung out at the Beckstead's for Halloween. It was fun! And Mary got to put on the pumpkin costume! She actually wore it around for quite a while and didn't want to take it off!

The other day we went to the Nature and Science Museum with some good friends. May had a blast! There were some great things for little kids to do. Thanks Nicole for taking us!!!

Mary likes dressing up and wearing hats sometimes and here I got a picture of it! The one on the right is of Mary playing with sidewalk chalk. She thought it was really fun!

Jake and I got to go to a Jazz and Nuggets basketball game! His family and people from work were going so we got to go. It was really fun! But it was really late too, we didn't get home until 11:00ish.

I will end this blog with this picture. I made pudding the other day and Mary LOVED it, of course! And the next day I found these holes in the syran wrap and they happen to be spaced perfectly for a little hand that I know. She's such a stinker sometimes but I love her SO MUCH! And I'm glad she likes chocolate like me!!!