Proof...

I really was that skinny once! This picture is from 2 1/2 years ago, and 1 3/4 pregnancies ago. My mom took it the day of my bridals. We recently got our wedding pictures from my parent's computer, and it's been a lot of fun to look through all of them. Yea for Jeff Hodges!!! We LOVE our pictures! For me, now that I have a growing belly bump, looking at these is almost therapuetic. My "large" feelings are comforted by the fact that I was once thin (even though I don't think it's possible to EVER get my pre-baby body back). Good thing babies are so darn cute - it makes all the sacrifice (physical being only one aspect of it - I find my brain power is diminishing by the second!) worth it! I know I'm way past due for posting another belly shot, but I keep forgetting to take one, and Craig has the camera today at school so even though I'm thinking of it now, I can't take a picture. So, hopefully soon...at least before the baby comes! :)

And kudos to all the great parents in the world! There's just no way to fathom what parenting entails until you experience it!

SnOw Fun!

Despite the cold, Gavin still loves to go outside (he doesn't get this from me). I always worry about him getting too cold, though, so I have to bundle him up. He looks so cute! It's so much fun to watch him play. His favorite thing is to walk on top of the snow and hear it crunch under his boots. Slipping on the snow even makes him laugh, as long as he doesn't fall...
The ensemble.
It takes almost as long to get ready to go outside as it does to finish playing outside.

So Sad :(

A couple weeks back, Gavin had an ear infection. It was NOT fun! Poor guy ran a fever of 102 degrees (sometimes higher, sometimes a little lower) for about 4 days. It wiped him out! No eating, playing or even talking - he was just too weak. He'd wake up every once in a while and I'd try to coax him into drinking some water or juice. He hated getting his temperature taken, but I had to monitor him closely to make sure it didn't get too high. I ended up putting him in the bath several times in order to cool his fever, and after he got back out, all he wanted was to lay back down on his tummy...
And go to sleep! Thanks Aunt Chelsea for his dino blanky - it kept him company while he felt so yucky. I'm so glad it's over now!!!

I LOVE Christmas

This year's Christmas was the best ever! And what's so exciting is that I'm sure they'll just keep getting more and more fun as Gavin gets bigger. There's something so special about putting up the tree and singing Christmas carols and decorating the house. It all adds to the special spirit that is already the reason for the season in the first place. Thank you Mom for most of our decorations, it's so nice when you decide to get rid of some of yours, they turned out really cute. And what's great about not having that many is that they don't take very long to put up or take down!

We did have all our stockings, and I can't believe that there are already four of us (well, almost)!

This is Gavin's decoration arranging job. He did pretty good about not touching most things, but he always wanted to move baby Jesus around from our big nativity. So I usually just ended putting him up out of reach during the day. Gavin must've thought the manger looked a little empty though because, as you can see, Mary, the Shepherd, a Wise Man, and one sheep (from the unbreakable Nativity that Gavin can play with) all ended up nice and cozy in there!

And my favorite Christmas addition of all...our tree! I love it so much! Thanks again, Grandma JoAnn (not that she'll ever read this) for this gift. We love it! It's just so beautiful!

We had Christmas morning at our house, and it was so cute to see how Gavin reacted to "Ta-ta's" delivery. As soon as he saw his tent he plopped down on his knees and crawled right on in to get to his other toys! And, terrible as it is, this is the only picture of Craig I took on Christmas day. I've got to get better at remembering to get more shots!

Gavin loves his dino. I think it makes him feel big.

This is probably my favorite picture of the morning. And yes, the books got his biggest grin!

After we finished up at our house, we headed up to my parents to hang out for the rest of the day. It wasn't even snowing on our side of the mountain, but we drove up to a blizzard. There was tons of snow, we couldn't make it up 1/4 of Highland Dr. My dad came to rescue us in his 4 wheel drive vehicle (notice his appropriate attire), but it still took us at least a half hour just to get our car over to the church parking lot and into a parking space! We ended up staying the night because the roads were so bad.

Tanner decided to make it an annual tradition to jump in the snow in nothing but his undies! No one else had any desire to join him, go figure!

The day after Christmas we went to Brad and Valarie's to spend some time with them. It was wonderful as always! So relaxing. And Gavin sure liked Grandma's toys.

Oops, I didn't rotate this...Gavin loves his Grandpa's, and it's no wonder when they spoil him so much!

Cancun!!!

Craig and I finally took our first official vacation! We found a great excuse to spoil ourselves - a good deal. We got to stay at an all-inclusive beachfront resort; I loved it! Mostly we just loafed around all day in the sun, sipping pina coladas and getting tan (I mean burned), but we did plan one excursion to Tulum - one of the ancient Mayan ruins. It's one of the only cities they've found that is right on the coast, and it was beautiful! Our tour was organized through our resort, so we didn't have any choice about who our tour guide would be (not that we had any connections anyway), but we definitely felt blessed when our guide ended up being a Latter-Day Saint. The things she chose to share were definitely more of the things that we had interest in. This is the temple. The people used to gather twice a year to worship "the descending God" who had once come down from heaven and taught them, and also to receive instruction.

My Sweetie on the coast behind the city ruins

Different person, same shot :)

On the bus back to the resort with our shopping spoils - a cute little T-shirt for Gavin. We didn't realize until later that the shirt we bought him which said "Tulum" actually has a picture of the pyramid at Chicha Nitza! Ha ha, joke's on us!

I couldn't resist posting this picture because I get a kick out of it. Our suitcases by the end of the trip - mine's on the right, and Craig's is on the left! Ha ha, it makes me laugh so hard!

Recitals

If my calculations are correct, I've made it through my 15th December Recital Season! Wow! I'm getting older way faster than I used to! And I believe this is my 8th Season having students of my own play in a recital. Overall, I thought each recital went well. I was proud of all the personal victories that took place--for my students, myself, Ashton, and especially my mom. She played Grieg's Concerto and did AWESOME, even after all her hours of volunteer work at home and in the community. Way to go Mom! I keep forgetting that blogger uploads my pictures in the exact opposite order I want them in, so this is actually the last of the recitals - our students' Senior recital. Sorry so dark...

And the Junior Recital - they're all so cute!

My big smile and shiny face (resulting from the major heat flash I experienced through the entirety of my piece - gotta love pregnancy hormones) after my recital was over with one of my biggest (and probably most biased) supporters, Grandma JoAnn. I played the final movement of Tchiakovsky's Concerto in Bb minor. I've now performed, in different recitals, all eighty-something pages of that piece. Maybe someday (in the far distant future) I'll do the three movements all at once!

Me and my Sweetie! He's soooooooo darn cute! And always so supportive - thank you, Craig!

All of us in the "Marrieds" recital with our amazing teacher (and psychiatrist) Madalyn at the far left. It's kind of a funny picture of everyone else, but it was my best, and, what can I say? I'm vain... :)

Thanksgiving!!!

Oh, this is terrible! I'm so far behind in my posts, but here I go to try to get this back up to date... Thanksgiving (you know the holiday that happened like two MONTHS ago), was awesome! We went down to Craig's mom's the night before the big meal and spent the night there. Most of Craig's siblings (even Heather and Spencer who were down from WA) were there and we loved spending time with everyone - the games were classic! Alan's Michael Jackson impersonation will forever be imbedded in my memory...too bad I'm not the kind of on the ball person who has their camera on hand for moments like those! And as far as the meal went, it was the best I've ever had! I probably say that every year, but it's always true. Thank you Valarie for hosting all of us, and feeding us so well! My meager contribution, but I was quite proud of it! Yummy banana parfait (thanks to mom for the dish and Grandma JoAnn for the recipe) that always seems to taste that much better because it looks so pretty!
The Cool Whip container is not mine--I used real whipped cream :)

Since there were so many cousins staying there already, Gavin didn't have an official "bed," but he slept really well on one we made him on the floor and even went down for a nap on just a regular bed. I'm still feeling a little proud about that one! What a good boy!

Gavin and cousin Kian in the tub. They were so cute!