O Christmas Tree!

We have had such an awesome month of December! It has been so busy and fun filled, I forgot to pull out my camera for all of it. We've attended cookie swaps, ward parties, relief society activities, work parties, birthday parties, and the list goes on and on! I love having my calendar so full, and it has really helped pass the time until Evan's birthday and Christmas!! In my spare time, I have been (trying) to do Christmas crafts, wrap presents and keep the holiday spirit around here. Thanks to my creative cousin Jessie, I thought I could pull together a neighbor gift. Hers were a heck of a lot cuter than mine, but they got done and out the door, so that's all that matters.

 I put all the flavors of holiday candy kisses inside. Next year, I will just stick with making a homemade treat. No more crafts!


Evan has loved, loved, loved the Christmas Tree. In fact, it's all he talks about. When I go to get him from his crib, he's just saying, "T, t, t!" over and over. It was really cute the first 3,000 times, now I'm trying really hard to teach him other words. He is always crawling over to it and it's the first thing he looks for when we walk in the room. It makes me happy that he appreciates it. :)

 A bit of what we do everyday. At approximately 27-28 seconds, you can hear "T!" clearly. Or maybe I can just hear it with my mom ears ;)

Hide your daughters

 It happened. Evan's hair at church today was so utterly ridiculous, that even I couldn't handle how long it was. And that's saying a lot, since Nate has wanted Evan's hair cut for months now, but I've always protested. I thought he looked so cute; I loved his long locks. I had been wanting to wait until our families saw him at Christmas and he turned 1 to cut it, but it was seriously unreal. See for yourself.

 It's only been an hour, and looking at these pictures I already miss it. I can't run my fingers through this:

But I guess he's still pretty darn handsome.

 I cut it myself and I think I did a pretty good job. (So far. I guess we'll really see tomorrow, in daylight, when we have to do it...) It was my first time ever cutting hair, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I have always wanted to do hair. I'd like to think I might do pretty well, especially on someone who isn't almost 1 and very wiggly.

Watch out, ladies. He's practically a grown man, now :)

All Aboard!

 The Train Man is legendary around here. And the coveted train ride has certainly become one of the most exciting things about living in The Ridge! I was excited and loved it last year, but oh man, I was ecstatic about it this year! As with all other things in my life now, I get so excited to share it with Evan. Here I am obviously WAY too excited, and Evan obviously thinking, my mom is nuts, and what the heck is this place...

This good fellow is our "in" every year. Chris is in our ward and works with Nate. He is also a volunteer conductor!

The annual crew; funny, this year there were three children, instead of just one. I wonder how many there will be next year?!  (That blanket on Ashley is really a very tiny, baby, not a ghost ;)

 I love that Santa comes to visit the train man's house, cause there is no way I would pay to take pictures with him at Walmart. It is so much better to wait in line and take an awesome train ride, THEN go straight to Santa. I love this picture of Tyson intently trying to get to his new candy cane, and teeny little Taven, not bothered at all to be removed from his mama's warm cacoon and placed in a strange man's arms. :)

 Evan's first Santa pic! This first says to me, "Maybe if I don't look at him and hold real still, he won't know I'm here" Maybe Evan just couldn't move because he had approximately 4 layers on! :)

 The 2nd pic says to me, "Parents, seriously? I am not amused with your antics." He's too cool. Our friend Dexter joined us for Santa, too, and he was champ!! Thrilled as could be. Maybe he was still euphoric over his train ride. :)

 The line was short enough we decided we couldn't pass it up, and rode again! In line with daddy, wtill trying to figure out where we are.

 I like to pretend this is how Evan viewed the night; crazy lights swirling all around him! (Playing with light settings again...)

 One of my favorite things! This sign cracks me up every time. I am also very amused by the miniature brothel you view along the ride. Is that bad?

 Getting ready for our second go around! Choo-choo!!

I'm really glad we went twice, for Evan's sake. The first ride I was holding him, and he seemed a bit terrifed. He wouldn't let go of me and barely would turn his head to look at all the lights. The second time (see above), I could hear him behind me ooh and ahhing and I would turn around every now and then to look at his face and he would point at something to show me. Life is so much more exciting with him around. I'm thrilled to share the joy of the holidays with him. I'm sure it will be even better next year when he "gets it" a bit more! Hooray for oncoming holiday traditions!!

Family Outings

 Let's just begin with this stinking cute little bugger.

 He had spaghetti for the first time and was pretty darn proud of himself.

The week of Thanksgiving brought a bounteous amount of family for me. It was the best!!! I started the week traveling to my cousin's wedding in Vegas. It was wonderful to be in the temple, with family, and witness a ceremony. All things that haven't happened for me in quite awhile!!

 Cute Gabel and his lovely wife Breezy coming out of the temple.

 My Dave Taggart fam. I haven't seen these guys since I moved to Ridgecrest. It was so great to catch up and introduce them to Evan. It was also my first time to the Vegas temple; it was beautiful! I'm a fan.

 Breezy's stunning dress.

 Next up came Annual Pie Night!! As always, I only get pics of the aftermath. This year was a grand success, if I do say so myself. I had so much fun and tried a whole lot of new pies! After Evan accepted all of the people and the noise in his quiet little house, he had a blast trying lots of pies, too. In fact, I think he gathering crumbs off the table here :)

 I got to pick up Stacey in Vegas and bring her back to Ridgecrest with me! It was a blast having her be our nanny for a whole week!;)

 If that didn't already fill my family quota for the quarter, my other sister recently moved to SoCal, so we got to travel to her house for Thanksgiving!!!! We were thrilled, as you can tell!

 The feast was immaculate. Jenni is such a fabulous host. The food was dynamite, and everything was so fancy! It was so fun to have so much family together for this holiday. I don't think I realize how much I miss this kind of stuff until I get to partake in it again!

 Evan was so excited about his first Thanksgiving! He eats like a horse, so this is his kind of holiday.

 Our favorite part was the mirrored ceiling in the dining room. Can you see Evan waving in the mirror? He got a kick out of that.

 And you can't forget the olives! Another first for him, and of course, he loved it. Who doesn't?!

 Much more elaborate and beautiful than anything we could have pulled together back in The Ridge (ie, Ridgecrest)

 This beautiful little lake is in Jenni's neighborhood, and it was a perfect way to keep our metabolism going after all that triptophan.

 Those of us not sleeping away our day (ahem, the husbands...)

 Such a handsome little devil.

 Evan LOVES swings. And Landry really loved pushing Evan in the swing, so it was a win-win for everyone!! (I know the pics are weird, but it was dusk, and I was trying different settings, etc)

 SO very happy. He is so easily pleased.

 We sadly had to leave Jenni's to attend to some things back in RC, but we made up for it by visiting the wild burros! I can't believe we have never done this before. It was a huge hit.

 See? HUGE hit.

 We all had a blast and definitely will return.

 He truly is my little ray of sunshine...

 I actually thought these guys were pretty darn cute. They looked so fuzzy and cuddly! Until they Hee-Haw. Then, not so cute.

 

 More swinging of course!

 Aunt Stacey is so good to Evan.

 This was basically the best week of his life. Pretty sure.

We ended the week decorating for Christmas, of course!! My mom sent Evan this adorable shirt, "Elf in Training". He is a very good little elf, and has yet to pull off any ornaments from the tree!

A change will do you good

I enjoy change. I thrive off it, really. I got very accustomed to packing up everything I owned at least twice a year as a college student. Even after we were married, the longest we ever stayed in one place was one year, to the date. While in school, I always had new semesters to look forward to, which brought new information, new people. As a working adult with no classes, at least the seasons would change and I could revel in that! These days, as a stay at home mom, living in a home we own, in the desert, with a husband with a real job, there is not a whole lot of change going on. My walls are newly painted, and my furniture can't be arranged in any other way. So, itching for something new in my life, I did what any girl would do; I sporadically dyed my hair during nap time. The excitement was everything I intended it to be. I felt new, different, refreshed. For about 2 days. Then I was bored again. So I took more drastic measures.

 

 I feel great, so alive. :) Every time I look in the mirror, or wash my hair, or better yet, actually style it!, I am invigorated again. Laugh all you want, it's how I cope. Let's hope the edge lasts at least until Christmas when I get to be rejuvenated by snow in Utah!

Speaking of good looking hair...

Tee hee hee. Fleece blanket + baby's head=loads of fun and laughter.