Mele Kalikimaka

No, we definitely weren't in Hawaii for Christmas, but I found that song stuck in my head a lot over our Christmas break... probably because we spent lots of time at the beach in short sleeves and sunshine. It was a fabulous trip to LA and we loved being with family in the warm weather. The only downside? We all passed around the flu (why does that ALWAYS happen on Christmas?) and that was no fun. Luckily Michael and Matthew seem to have avoided it, but most people (including me) spent a good portion of Christmas and the couple days following sicker than a dog. Still- the trip was awesome and I'm thrilled that we went and had such a good time.

Matthew's first time to the beach.....


He loved his feet in the sand......


......but HATED his feet in the water. Can't really blame him I guess- the Pacific Ocean in December doesn't exactly feel like a warm bath.... ;-)


Christmas Eve at the temple.... I did this every year growing up and I'm glad I got to show Michael and Matthew a bit of our old traditions- especially since Matthew loves lights.


And Christmas morning was a blast. I didn't expect Matthew to be very interested in anything that was going on, but he seemed mesmerized by his presents and it was so fun to watch.



With all the grandparents, cousins, aunt, and uncles around, Matthew wasn't bored for a second.


The drive home wasn't as fun.... when Matthew wasn't asleep, he looked like this-

Poor kid hates road trips, like his mom. Hopefully we can brave another one sooner rather than later so we can see family again soon!

Future Suns Fan?

I think that one of Michael's proudest moments was when we took Matthew downtown to the Phoenix Suns arena tonight. Even I, an LA fan, thought it was cute how excited Michael was to show Matthew one of his favorite places in the whole world. Matthew thoroughly enjoyed it too. Maybe it was just the lights, but hey, maybe he's already a Suns fan too. :-) (And thank goodness there will be an NBA season so that Michael can root for his home team).

Motherhood

Being a mom is the hardest and most amazing and wonderful adventure I've taken in life. I'm lucky to have learned a ton about being a mom from all the amazing women in my family and life, but I owe it to Matthew for teaching me the most. He has taught me more than I can say about love, laughing, and appreciating all the little moments in life. I have no idea how I ever lived without this little man, and I'm so thankful that I'm sealed to him and Michael forever. Earlier today I was thinking about all my favorite things about being a mom, and I thought I'd share some.... (in no particular order)....

- I love that Matthew inspires me to be my best self. He is such a motivation to keep learning and build my patience, compassion, and relationship with the Lord.

-I love his smiles and giggles. They literally make my day, every day.

- I love how much he learns every day. It's amazing to see such major progress so fast!

- I love that he looks just like his dad, and I love watching those two together.

- I love that he has helped me and Michael grow even closer.

- I love those little baby hands and baby feet. Everything is just so dang cute.

- I love the little life lessons he teaches me.

- I love being able to comfort him when he is sad.

- I love knowing that I am fulfilling my most important calling in life.

- I love kissing those cheeks!

- I love teaching him things.

- I love his pouty face. Even though it usually means a tantrum is about 2 seconds away, it's just so dang cute.

- I love watching him get excited about new tricks or toys.

- I love how much I still have to learn! Matthew is only 3 1/2 months old for goodness sakes- I'm not exactly the most experienced mother out there. :-)

I am so lucky I get to spend my days hanging out with him!

Thanksgiving 2011

It has been easy for me to be extra excited about the holidays this year. Matthew is getting to experience everything for the first time! And yes, I know that he obviously won't remember anything, and he pretty much has no idea about anything that's going on, but still. Kids make things extra exciting. :-)

Thanksgiving was a blast. Something really nice about having married a guy from Vegas is that I also have tons of family from Vegas, so we get to see lots of people from both sides of the family whenever we go there. An extra bonus of this trip was that we got to have two delicious Thanksgiving dinners with family, plus we visited some friends, went to my Grandpa's 80th birthday party, ate more pie than our stomachs could handle, and went to some fun places. It's no wonder Matthew slept the entire way home! (We weren't so lucky on the way there.... Matthew was NOT happy about that road trip).

My parents and little brother were also in Vegas for Thanksgiving, and it was really nice to be able to spend the holiday with them along with extended family. Dinner was awesome, and the company was even better. We even let Matthew try some mashed potatoes. That was probably a mistake, because I think that he liked it too much and now he wants grown-up food more often. :-)

My mom seems to still be the best at getting Matthew to smile, and my dad was the only one who really got Matthew laughing. I guess he's the most fun. :-)

Michael enjoyed playing basketball, although it has been a bit too long since he has played and he was a bit out of shape. That, combined with his broken tooth, made him a pretty easy target for teasing. :-) Poor guy.

Thanksgiving with Michael's mom was amazing too. She pretty much cooked it all by herself and it turned out perfect!
I think the turkey was bigger than Matthew.... :-)

We also went to the Bellagio garden (one of my favorite places to go in Vegas) and that was a huge hit with Matthew. I stupidly put him in his carrier facing in because I thought he was going to sleep, (he was sleeping on the way there) so it was harder for him to see, but he figured it out.


Bring on all the Christmas festivities!

Things I'm Loving Right Now

We have the loudest neighbors ever upstairs. And when I say loud, I mean LOUD. There are seriously about 14 people that live there, including a bunch of kids. The kids stomp and jump constantly. A man yells at people and paces over our bedroom ALL THE TIME... including at 2 a.m. (He's had the cops called on him, although we didn't do it). They drop things a lot. And the dog is usually running all over the place. They wake up Matthew from his naps at least twice a day, and he's not that light of a sleeper. I complain to Michael about it at least 10 times a day. Even though he always lets me vent about it and makes me feel better, I'm sure it gets old to him because the other day even I got sick of hearing myself complain about it. I figured it was time to start remembering all the things I'm loving right now, especially when it's so close to Thanksgiving. So, now that I've vented to the blogging world, it's time to end things on a better note. :-) Here's what I'm loving right now:

1. Créme brulée hot chocolate. My friend wrote about it as her Facebook status and I just had to try it. I'm now addicted. In case you're interested, make regular hot chocolate and then add créme brulée creamer. Delicious.

2. The weather! It's still in the upper 70's and I'm loving it. It has been way too long since I've lived somewhere where it's still warm at this time of year.

3. Running. Thanks to SPD, (not serious, but quite painful) I was unable to really exercise from about 24 weeks on during my pregnancy, and then for several weeks after I had Matthew. Even walking was too much a lot of the time. This resulted in gaining a bit too much weight.... not cool! However, the pain has been totally gone for several weeks now and I'm once again able to run to my heart's content. It feels awesome.

4. All the Christmas decor up in stores. It makes me so happy and excited for Christmas, plus Matthew LOVES lights, and he could stare at the Christmas lights for hours. I can't wait to get our tree up!

5. Our new ward. Everyone is so friendly and we already feel so welcome. We also got called back into Primary, which will be fun. Michael is extra excited - he (not being a member yet) never went to Primary growing up and he thinks it's a blast.

6. Pinterest. I don't need to explain this one. Everyone is obsessed right now, including me.

7. Michael's job. We know we are blessed that he's employed during this hard economic time. Also, he gets home every day by 4. I love it.

8. My boys!
Michael is so supportive and great, and Matthew is so much fun. I love the age he's at right now - he's still little enough for me not to get too depressed about how big he's getting, (that sounded weird, but you know what I mean) but he's SO interactive and learning so much every day. He's got the cutest laugh, but he sure is a tough crowd. I guess he already thinks his parents aren't funny. At least he still smiles at us all the time.

Happy Thanksgiving! (in a couple weeks....)