1st Christmas

We had such a wonderful Christmas and it was so fun to have a little guy in the house! Rob and I had fun playing Santa's elves...even though Baby C has no idea who or what Santa is! Carson's favorite part of Christmas was all of the wrapping paper. He did better than I thought with getting his presents unwrapped but then all he wanted to do was eat the paper! Once we showed him the toy inside he would get distracted and go for the toy instead. On Christmas morning he opened presents for about 15 minutes and then was ready for a nap!

Fun cars from cousin Ty!

I'm so sleepy, is Santa here yet?

Christmas PJs

Santa found us at Grandma and Grandpa Cooks!

He loved what Santa brought!

Especially the bow

Looking in his stocking

Playing with a new toy while Mommy and Daddy talked to Elder J on the phone!

Christmas Dinner is so yummy!

Baby C with his Great Grandma and Grandpa

The Christmas Story

When I was young, my Dad's side of the family used to act out the Christmas story every year. We all had costumes and all the props. It was a BIG thing. As we got older and my family started staying home for Christmas, we weren't into acting it out as much--we preferred reading it more (typical teenagers I guess). Now that we are all older and wiser, we now know how fun and special it is to act it out... especially when there are kiddos around! My Mom has been collecting and buying costumes knowing that with more grandkids the tradition would come back. So we broke out the costumes and brought the true meaning of Christmas to life! Rob was Joseph, Baby C was Baby Jesus, and I was the Angel. Most of the costumes are for little kids so some of us had to squeeze into them, but it turned out great!

Elder J was the star--Yes we have a life size poster of my brother. Don't Judge! :)

Baby Jesus

Joseph, Baby Jesus, and Mary

Christi was part donkey/part wise man

Christi showing off how 80's/Egyptian some of us look in our costumes

He was very happy to be a wise man... he just isn't smiling here.

super cute Shepard boy with his little lamb

Movie and Snow!

My sister is so good about doing festive activities and outings with her kiddos. They always do the such fun things in each season and holiday. Whenever we hear about their fun we always wish we lived closer so we could take Baby C along. So while we were in Tucson we decided to tag along one day and went to a Christmas movie in the morning and then to the snowfall in the evening. Baby C did surprisingly well in the movie. I never thought that he would make it through the whole thing without having a total meltdown. Later that evening we headed over to a local outside mall that has a fake snowfall event. It's more like a soapfall, but it was still fun and about as close as a real white Christmas we were going to get! Carson is a VERY observant little guy and had his eyes glued to the snow from the first snowflake! It was REALLY cold that night--which made Hot Coco and Cinnamon Rolls the perfect treat! Am glad I have a sister to plan fun things for us:)!

Waiting for the snow to reach him!

Soap Covered... I mean Snow Covered Mr. C

6 Month Pictures

December 18th marked 6 months... half a year... only six more months till my baby's one! Yikes. That is too sad to think about. He is growing TOO fast. Seriously too fast!! We LOVE you Baby C! Let's not grow up quite so fast these next 6 months!

(Serious picture OVERLOAD... Thanks to Natalie Atkinson Photography for the pictures)

Temple Lights

Rob got out for Christmas break just in time to fit in going to the Temple lights before the Christmas madness began. Before going to the lights we ate at one of Rob's favorite places, Firehouse Subs, and Carson got a cute fireman hat. Carson LOVED the lights and wanted to touch all of them and even tried to put a few in his mouth! The temple was beautiful as always and it was wonderful to be there together as a family!

"Oh My, these lights are SOO beautiful!"