December 2012 - Joy

This month has been one filled with

JOY.

Joy in our family, 

joy in our Savior, Jesus Christ and His gospel,
joy in our friends, neighbors, and loves ones,

and joy in the celebration of Christmas.

Looking through the pictures of this month, the joy is evident.

We're so glad when daddy comes home!

Snow, snow, snow!

Watching classic Christmas movies!

Blake learned to walk this month! And Katelee got a HUGE kick out of it, as you can see in this video:

 Here is a better video of him actually walking.

Daddy buried me in laundry!

Visiting the gingerbread house exhibits.

This looks yummy!

 Decorating sugar cookies

 

 

Delicious, dad!

 

 

We had a Christmas Piano Recital.  Katelee played 'Frosty the Snowman' and 'Away in a Manger,' and did a wonderful job!

Katelee really got into the joy of giving this year, and was super excited about what she chose for Blake for Christmas!  Bet you can't guess what it is!

Blake, just playing in his room after breakfast.

Happy times!

Gerald and I had the opportunity to attend the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert.  This is one of my very favorite traditions, and an experience that always leaves me filled with joy and gratitude.  This year was no exception; the program was beautiful and filled with hope.

Speaking of musical concerts, Katelee's school has an annual Jingle Jam Christmas program.

Katelee is front row, center, wearing a white shirt with a green scarf.

Here is Katelee's grade, performing 'The Chipmunk Song.' 

And here they are performing 'I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.'

Visiting Great Grandma Reynolds in Provo for Christmas.

Blake loves kisses . . . especially when sister sneaks him a chocolate one!

Katelee's school Christmas party was super fun!

Christmas Eve jammies

 

Blake wouldn't hold still long enough to get a decent picture of his . . . or even get them all the way on!  ;)

Opening gifts to each other - Blake loves his ball!

So glad my mom could spend Christmas with us this year!  That made it extra special.

Our gingerbread house village.

What Santa brought Katelee:

What Santa brought Blake:

Video of the kids seeing what Santa brought for the first time.

Playing Christmas morning:

All tired out already!

He loves the toothbrush Santa brought him!

What a gorgeous Rapunzel bride!

Blake playing baseball:

Reading new Christmas books, using Perry as a pillow.

Thanks for the bubble bath, Santa!

All this Christmas food looks good, but how do I get out of here?!?

 

 We enjoyed a fun visit to southern Idaho to visit the Rowe family and their extended Anderson family.  We are so blessed to have this family in our lives!  (For those who don't know, Aurianna is Blake's birthmom, and her family has adopted us fully into their hearts and lives.  We love them!!!)  Being included in their family traditions brings us great joy!  Wish I had taken more pictures of our fun-filled weekend, but here is a cute one of Aurianna and Katelee getting pedicures.

 

I can't blog about this past month without mentioning the joy our family finds in music, particularly in the Christmas season.  Gerald had the opportunity to sing in a couple performances of The Messiah in Draper this season, as well as perform in a concert entitled Noel, Noel.  We both sang in our church ward choir, and as the current ward organist I had a lot of fun playing the Christmas hymns this past month and even getting out of my comfort zone a little by adding chimes and an organ/piano duet performance. 

 We ended the year surrounded by long-time and true friends, good food and conversation, and laughter.

Thank you, December for the many joyous memories!

November 2012 - Family

November was a month filled with family.  

I am so thankful for my family.  I am thankful to have a stable and loving marriage, and a husband who loves and supports me.  I am thankful for my two beautiful, miracle children, and for all the joy and meaning they bring to my life.

I am thankful for my in-laws.  What gratitude fills my heart when I think of the example Gerald's parents are setting as they serve their mission in London.  I love all of Gerald's siblings and their sweet families, and feel blessed to be a part of their family. 

I love my mom, and the amazing example she is to me and the love she generously shows us.  I love my siblings, their wonderful spouses, and all my nieces and nephews, and the fun time we have when we all get together.  

Here are some family activities that we enjoyed this month.

Daddy-Daughter Date Night

  Gerald took Katelee on a date night to the local roller skating rink for a school activity.  They had so much fun!  Katelee loved riding her scooter and roller skating around, and had a GREAT time with her daddy.

Playing in the Snow

We got our first snow storm this month.  It wasn't really more than a skiff, but we bundled up and went to play in it anyway, before it all melted!

My snow angel:

Blake didn't really like the snow or cold, but he'll grow into it.

Katelee loves to throw snowballs at me!

 

We wanted to go sledding on a hill near our home.  There were two problems with this idea.

1. We don't own a sled.  So we took a laundry basket, hoping it might work as an alternative.

2. The snow wasn't very good for sledding.  But we tried it anyway!  These videos are the funny results of our attempts at sledding.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanskgiving in Mesquite this year at my mom's house.  All my siblings and their families came, and we had so much fun!  Thanksgiving dinner was delicious and enormous!  :)  The weather was beautiful and we ate outside and enjoyed the gorgeous sunshine.  Over the weekend we enjoyed playing lots of Pickle Ball,

 riding the four-wheelers,

 going on walks and hanging out in the warm weather,

 (Blake chasing the ball around while we were playing Pickle Ball), 

playing outside

(the grandkids LOVED grandma's new toy Jeep),  

playing board games, having another Wii Just Dance tournament (this time I had to give up my winning title to the new champ - Brittany!), watching TV, seeing the new James Bond movie, shopping, and just hanging out.  It was a lot of fun!

We loved meeting our newest, precious little niece, Kora.  Here's a new picture of grandma with all the grandkids.

 Uncle Duane entertained the kids by shaking leaves out of the tree.

While we were all together over the weekend, we also celebrated 

Blake's First Birthday!

We sent out invitations that read:

_______________________________

C is for Cookie, F is for Fun,

Can you believe it? 

Blake is turning ONE!

Me Want Party!

Saturday, November 24, 2012

12:00 noon

Grandma Thurston's house

Lunch, birthday cake, and COOKIES will be served!

This party is brought to you by the Letter B and the number 1.

_______________________________

I made Blake's birthday cake, complete with homemade mini chocolate chip cookies and chocolate chip cookie frosting.

Sesame street plates, presents, cookie monster cake, and a plate of cookies!  We are ready to PARTY!

I love this birthday boy!

We made Blake's favorite lunch: Hawaiian haystacks. He LOVES rice with sauce, cheese, and pineapples.

Enjoying my birthday party lunch!

The guests: Aunt Kim and Uncle Duane, cousin Alex, Great-grandma Thurston, Tyler, Taylor, Melissa, JD, Wyatt, Madi, Trey, Brittany, Todd, Kora, Grandma Thurston, and of course, mom, dad, and Katelee.

Awesome!  Birthday presents are so fun!

Singing Happy Birthday and eating some cake!!

Blake LOVED the cake!  We gave him cookie monster's face to eat and destroy all on his own.  He had a lot of fun with it.  :)

The cake when Blake was all done.  :)

Later the next week was Blake's actual birthday.  We kept it simple, but still wanted the day to be special.  When Blake woke up in the morning, we all went into his room together with a bunch of balloons and sang to him.  This boy LOVES balloons!

We spent the day playing, reading books, and just having fun.  Later that evening we met some friends at a restaurant for a birthday dinner.  The Watsons also had a son who has the same birthday as Blake (only four years older) so it was the perfect opportunity to get together and let the kids play.

Blake LOVES drinking out of a straw!

I can't believe that a whole year has gone by since Blake was born.  But on the other hand, it feels like he has been part of our family forever.  We love him so much.  He is such a smart, energetic, sweet little boy.  

He loves to explore, open drawers and cupboards (and unpack their contents), unroll the toilet paper from it's roll,

stand himself in the middle of the room and balance (though he doesn't quite yet dare take a step), crawl-chase his sister around the house (he's FAST!), stand on his head,

 

be held up so he can turn off light switches, feed himself, pull books off the shelves, hug his stuffed animals (he got two new adorable 'stuffies' from Aurianna for his birthday, which he loves!),

 

bounce, eat anything he finds on the ground, bite, be tickled, take baths, and move, move, move!

When Blake was born, I made him a jean quilt and then also made each of his birth parents a matching quilt.  Then, at regular intervals, we did "Jean Blanket Photo Shoots" to send to his birth parents.  They could see how big he was getting in comparison to their own quilts, and I love that this is a way they can be connected.  In the past, he would lay so nicely on the blanket and let us stretch him out so we could measure him.  Like this from his 2 month photo shoot.

Awww, so sweet!  And you can see that he is 5 squares across, with his arms spread out.  :)

Well, when we attempted to do a one-year photo shoot, I got the blanket all ready and inviting, and Gerald, Katelee and I all worked together to get Blake to sit on it, or lay down on it, or hold still at all.

These are the two best pictures I was able to get.

 Are we done yet mom?? 

 Argghhh....  Maybe we'll have better luck at age two!
(By the way, that cute elephant is one of the gifts Auri sent him for his birthday!) 

 Katelee's Christmas Piano Recital

Last but not least, Katelee had her Christmas piano recital on the last day of the month.  This was her first recital where I wasn't the teacher.  She felt a little nervous about that, but she did a great job.  I am so glad that she has such a wonderful teacher!  And I love that Michael is also my cousin and an all-around great guy!  :)

Side note: I just have to mention, also, that we voted in the presidential election this year. The results were not what I wanted, but it's important to me to vote and also for my children to know that I think this is important, which is why I added it on here.