New/Old Friends

We were SO happy to have some old friends over for dinner on Sunday night.


The Judds were in our first ward as a married couple 7 1/2 years ago. Greg served under Nathan in the EQ presidency. We were excited to hear that they were moving here and they finally made the trip 2 weeks ago.


They have 4 darling kids and Alexa loved playing dress-up and make-up with the girls.


It was a great time and we are so excited to have them back by us!

Gavin Gregory ~ 8 months

Gavin is now 8 months old

Gavin is getting to be a really funny boy. He doesn't crawl yet and it drives him CRAZY that he can't get around as fast as he wants to. He lunges forward towards everything but can't seem to get coordinated enough to take off on a crawl. He scoots a little on his bum but it takes him quite a while to get anywhere.
He still adores his sister and wants to be wherever she is and doing whatever she is doing. Alexa already has that "annoying little brother" attitude sometimes but usually really loves him.
Gavin loves bath time and could spend hours in there. He splashes as hard as he can which means we usually have to change our clothes after bath time.
Eating... he makes me CRAZY. We started him on cereal around 4 months and he STILL refuses to eat solids. Occasionally we will have a good day and get some cereal in him but it is very rare for him to finish it. He usually purses his lips, shakes his head no and swats the spoon anytime we try to feed him baby food. He will gobble up big people food such as home made chicken noodle soup, tortillas, mashed potato's etc. He also WILL NOT take milk from anything but me which is really killing me these days. I can't go anywhere without him which is really hard. Especially with this new Primary Presidency calling. Hopefully we will find a solution soon.
He is finally okay with riding in the car (has been since mid December) and doesn't scream the entire car ride.

And the winner is...

Gavin got in a fight with a toy basket. The basket won. :(

He was trying to pull up on the un-sturdy basket and went head first into the corner of it.
You would think the face in these pictures would be opposite but he cried harder when I put the band aid on then when he actually cut his head.

Dance Class

These pictures were taken through the mirror. Sorry!

Today is dance day!
I got a video of Miss Alexa and her class.

I was holding Gavin and he was trying to take over the camera, sorry for the unsteady shot!

Cute Boy!

Just a few MORE cute pictures of my little man.

Today's Photos ~ George Costanza

We have been a house full of sickies this past week. I took this picture of the two red eyed, snot nosed, sad kids today. Then Gavin started acting a little silly. I took the 2nd picture of him and laughed out loud when I realized what he looked like. Little George!

Kiss Kiss

Here is a cute video of Gavin giving kisses.

It's a miracle...

Anyone who knows Miss Alexa knows that she doesn't separate from her parents very well. This week we have had 2 success stories. On Sunday she went to Nursery all by herself (this only took a year) and today she went to her very first dance class all by herself. She cried for the first little bit of both but was so happy by the time they were over. She loved dance and loved her teacher. She did great. I was so pleased.

They won't let parents into watch but there is a tinted window where we can watch. This picture is through the tinted window. That is why it is a little rough. She is in blue. Yes, it is a princess leotard. :)

Rock Stars!

Grooving!

Today we met with the girls for lunch. We went to the CPK at Tempe Marketplace for Bev Wilkinson's birthday. The kids decided to show us their moves on the stage after we ate, it was pretty funny. They were having the time of their lives up there. It was a beautiful day so we let them play for a while.

This video is a bit long, beware!

OUCH!

While in Utah Greg went snowboarding. Unfortunately, he didn't follow the counsel of his wife and mother to board safely. Therefore he took a 10 ft jump in the trees on a double black diamond and landed on his back/side on a rock. Resulting in this lovely bruise.
This picture was taken a week after the accident. It looked worse at first. It also spread to his lower back. Hopefully he learned his lesson.

Merry Christmas!

Okay, so I am a bit late in posting about Christmas!
We were in Utah for 2 weeks and got home LATE last night after sitting in an airplane forever waiting to be de-iced. Luckily it was past bed time and Gavin slept on me the entire time. Alexa & Greg were several rows in front of me. Alexa sat next to an 8 year old girl and had the time of her life, chatting it up.
Christmas was great. Before we left home we opened presents so we wouldn't have to travel with them all. Alexa was so excited. She really started to get the whole Santa thing so it was fun to see her. She still says "we need to go to bed now so Santa can come bring us presents tomorrow."
In Utah, We started out with Greg's family's annual "Perry Progressive Dinner" the Sunday before Christmas. It as always was DELICIOUS! We then spent Christmas Eve with my family out at Fred & Judy's house. It is a little non-traditional because we have a sushi bar and I think the kids eat more of it than the adults. It is so fun though and the kids all play together so well.
Christmas day was also a lot of fun too. Greg's family has a grand breakfast buffet prepared by Greg's mom and aunts. Yum! Then the adults all bring a white elephant gift and read the "Lefty / Mr. Wright" pass around story. Then the kids tore into their gifts. Alexa crashed before gift time so she opened hers after her nap. Oh well.
While we were there Greg and I both got to see a lot of friends. I went to my friend Wendy's wedding shower up in Layton. I haven't seen her for a few years so Judy & I over-stayed our welcome and hung out for an hour after the shower was over. It was so fun. Wendy lives in LA and right when she moved there she was Aurora at Disneyland for 2 years. There were pictures of her in costume and Alexa was sure that she was now best friends with the real Aurora. They hit it of quickly and Alexa was mesmerized. It was so cute. Gavin as always charmed all of the ladies. It was great to see some old friends. Thanks Pat & Wendy!
I also saw some of my old high-school gals at Jill's annual Christmas Breakfast. It was great but I wish that everyone could have come. Our last night there we were able to spend with Phil & Kristy who lived by us in Power Ranch and now live in Riverton. We stayed out late at Chili's chatting and it was so great to see them. They are having their first baby on Tuesday! Yahoo!
All-in-all it was a GREAT trip. Greg's mom took good care of us and we lived like Kings for 2 weeks. I say this every time but it is such a wonderful treat to stay there and be taken care of and have a break from the same old routine every day. We take too much advantage of her hospitality and maid service. She is THE BEST!