Christmas 2008

Ian and I just celebrated our second Christmas being married, but this one was just the two of us (and Atley of course). We decided that because of Ian's work schedule, costs, and the weather, that we'd stay behind and enjoy a quiet Christmas at home.

Here's how it went...

First we decided that we'd open one present on Christmas Eve. Atley was so kind to offer his present up for opening, so Ian did the opening and I did the pictures!

As we prepared to open his present Atley started crying. Ian said "Man, I don't think he gets the point of Christmas." Maybe he was just upset that we opened it for him.

Finally we were able to get him calmed down enough to see his gift. Thanks Grandma Sorensen!

Much like most of this part of the country, we had heavy snow fall this week. I think the storm totals were from 8-12 inches! So, yes, we had a white Christmas.

And a heck of a time trying to get our car out!

Later in the day we decided to celebrate with some of the students that weren't able to go home for Christmas also. Melaleuca gave us a Christmas Ham, so we cooked that and had about 10 people over (plus about 3 kids) and enjoyed a Christmas dinner.

This is our friend's daughter. She LOVES olives, and apparently someone told her about the olives-on-the-finger tradition. She's a master at it!

We had a lot of friends over for dinner. I seem to have forgotten to take pictures of the adults, but the kids were so cute! This is our friend Mary with her daughter Emily.


Here are a couple more kids from the party. Erin on the left and Bailey on the right. Atley was outnumbered by girls.

Emily loves Atley. She often comes over to our house to see him and is sure to shower him with attention and kisses. She is always updating me on what he's doing by saying things like 'baby Atley crying' or 'baby Atley sleeping'. She's one of the cutest 2 year-olds there is!

All in all we had a wonderful Christmas. But, don't let me be the only one to tell you about it. Here's Atley with his side of the story.

Our Adorable Baby

So, as for the newest developments in Atley's development, he's growing! Unfortunately, the progress is quite slow. We had him weighed and measured on Christmas Eve and he came in at 8lbs 2.5oz and 21.5 inches. For comparison his birth measurements were 6lbs 3oz and 19 inches. And, so you don't have to do the math, that means he's gained nearly 2lbs and grown 2.5 inches. Tomorrow (Dec 27), he'll be 8 weeks old.

Though he's still smaller than many newborns, he's developing mentally by what seems to us as leaps and bounds. He's smiling more and more each day and beginning to talk to us. Here are a couple pictures and a video we took to share!

I just can't get enough of those smiles!

Another thing Atley did recently was he attended his first wedding reception and got to meet Ian's Grandma and Grandpa Sorensen. Grandpa Sorensen's brother is the one who Atley was named after. He was killed before Grandpa was born in an accident involving a horse. Here are some pictures from that party!

Grandpa Sorensen was sure to tell us that Atley is a good looking kid. He also told us that he has no bias and would be totally honest if he was funny looking. That made us feel good and gave us a laugh.

Aunt Margene loved holding Atley. She really likes his name and has been trying to convince someone to use it for a while. We're glad nobody got to it before us. It fits our little baby just perfect.

Elf Yourself!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Anniversary #1

Yesterday Ian and I were fortunate enough to celebrate our 1 year anniversary. That's right, just one short year ago Ian and I were getting married. It's amazing how many things have changed since then. I guess the biggest one is that we had a baby!

This post is to share a little of what Ian and I did to celebrate the occasion. Not only were we celebrating our wedding anniversary, but the 2 year anniversary that Ian was released from the mission. I deicded that a traditional French meal was in order. I went to the store the middle of last week to get some things to prepare. I made some boiled vegetables and fried ham to go with raclette. Raclette is a cheese that is made in Switzerland and widely enjoyed there also. Ian loved it while he served his mission. Here are some pictures of the meal.

While at the store I also bought some peanut butter hot cholocate and summer sausage. Those are some of the American treats that Ian enjoys. We had a wonderful meal, despite that the raclette was a little more stinky than I expected. Ian says that now that I've smelled the stinky cheese I can visit France and see what a real French cheese shop smells like. Ew! Thankfully the trip to Europe is many many anniversaries away in our budget!

Silly Atley!

This blog post is dedicated to Atley and all the wonderful faces I've been able to catch on camera in the last 6 weeks. He's a lot of fun to play with because I never know what face he's going to make. What's even funnier though is that he usually doesn't know what he's going to do either! I haven't been able to get a good smile on camera yet, so for now I hope you enjoy the many silly faces of Atley!

Here's our little boy playing baby Jesus. Mostly, I wrapped him up this way to keep him warm, but he looked so cute and cuddly!

I was able to find a store that carries the same pacifiers as the hospital. Sorry if you think it's weird. I happen to love it and so does Atley!

These two are hilarious. In the first he's yawning, but if you didn't know that, he looks like he's really shocked or suprised. The second, he looks like he's about to tell me off for doing something he didn't approve of.

This I call "model Atley."

Yes, Atley? Did you want to answer the question?

A proper baby always sticks up his pinky when drinking tea, or holding on to Mom's finger!

And for the finale here are a couple of videos. In the first, you'll see something we discovered by accident. Atley was waiting to eat one night and as I was getting ready to feed him, he was sucking on anything that came by his mouth including my chin and Ian's cheek. This is a re-enactment.

Hope you enjoyed our silly baby as much as we do!

Christmas Cards

Here's the latest installment in Ian's card making extravaganza! These were cards we sent to members of our family. Take a close look and you may see your card here. Ian's been working on them for the past few months in secret so that we could give our families a Christmas surprise. I hope they brought a little joy and uniqueness to your holiday season. After all, these aren't your average Christmas cards!

The outside of the card can be seen on the picture to the left, and the inside on the right. Enjoy!

'Tis the Season!

'Tis the season so they say. The question is, 'the season for what?' Well, growing up in warm climates like Ian and I were fortunate enough to do, this time of year this year has meant something totally different to both of us. Here, I'll show you what I mean.

This is the first snow! Crazy, huh? I'm certainly not used to this type of Christmas season.

Unlike Mom and Dad, Atley is a native to Idaho (even if only for a few weeks) and he knew exactly what to do; get the the covers and stay there for warmth!

With this time of year also comes our ward Christmas party. Atley attended in his most festive attire: his Christmas outfit, with his first Christmas pacifier and burp rag. The bishop's wife was so enthralled with his cute little outfit!

Ian and I knew what came next. Obtain and decorate our Christmas tree. We decided it was in our best interests, and our pocket books, to get a 3 foot tree and dress it up the best we could.

And here is the finished product! Our little tree in all its glory!

So, this year will be a little different for us that the past, but we're really grateful for what we have and the chance to establish our own family traditions. So far we've baked Christmas cookies and delivered them to our neighbors, attended a Christmas party, and played Christmas music almost nonstop! So, though it's different than ever before, 'tis the season!