Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas everyone! We loved the cards and calls! We loved hearing about the joys of this last year and wish everyone an outstanding 2010! What a gracious gift we were given in the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. May we all try to be more like Him! Here is an update on our holiday season!

1. It was wonderful to have Christian on break! I am so glad we are married!
2. Our favorite Aunt Laurie came to visit for Christmas and it was so much fun having her here! We loved it!
3. We got to go to Disneyworld to celebrate the New Year...more of that to come!

Christian surprised me with a beautiful pine tree this year which later hatched a nest of nasty wood eating bugs! I'm glad we didn't notice this fact until after Christmas! Anyway, on Christmas Eve it is a tradition in my home to open a new pair of pajamas. This year, Tyson got my sister's pajamas (which happened to be in her words, "worse than the kitchen catching on fire!" -which did happen at my mom's house that night!) Oops! Christmas Eve we went to the Garlick's house and ate delicious Tacos and Wassail! We played games and did the Nativity. It was a beautiful evening! Tyson got to be Joseph. It was funny because he had to crawl by the donkey and Mary!Christian as Ceasar :)Christian doubled as the narrator and Laurie was our angel!Tyson and Laurie on Christmas Eve!
Here's our family on celebrating!
Christmas morning was fun in our own home! We had friends over for a big breakfast! We had green pancakes, cinnamon rolls, eggs, bacon, and of course the traditional poppyseed bread! It was so much fun and I think we'll have to keep this tradition alive! We spent the day napping and playing games. For dinner we went to the Luffs and had a divine ham dinner! I think Courtney is one of the best cooks in the world! Thanks guys for the wonderful time!

Some of the other fun things we were able to do with Laurie during her stay were visit the historic riverwalk, tour the old Germantown Fredricksburg, and enjoy the Japanese Tea Gardens. Here are some pictures of the fun we had!Here we are on the riverwalk where we went to see the Christmas lights and take a boat tour from our good friend Jake! It was so good to see him and learn about the cool history of our city. Thanks Jake! We had a blast!In Fredricksberg there was an outdoor ice skating rink. The best was watching the kid in shorts!
Here's our son breaking horses!Another look at our cute boy!
There was a wooden nativity in Fredericksburg that was just put up this year! Laurie really liked it and it reminded me of my mother in law who has a miniature one in her home! It was really cool!This is one of my favorite pictures of Tyson! Laurie was so great at catching him at the perfect moments!
Laurie's last day with us we went to the Japanese Tea Gardens and walked around. I love this place because it is so serene.At the gardens, Christian found a frog. It was pretty cool.
Tyson and his daddy playing in the leaves!Laurie was so great with Tyson! He would reach up to grab her hand on walks and he loved all of her warmth and goodness! We are so grateful we got to spend Christmas with her! Thank you Laurie for the wonderful time!

Late Halloween Pix

Happy Halloween! Here is our "Bat family!" Tyson won the costume contest and we had an amazing time at the Patricks annual party! Thanks to Nichole, we all had amazing costumes for the party! Thanks Nichole! Here's Batman and Robin!
Earlier we dressed up as burritos/salads to get free food at this cafe rio-esk restaurant! Christian and I wore green shirts and cut up some carrots which we saran wrapped to our bodies. The Blairs came with us and had real costumes on. We did not want to get turned down from getting free food! The funny thing was, I guess if you just wrapped your wrists in tin foil, you got a free entree! The employees were laughing so hard when they saw us!! Oh well, I guess we'll know better for next year! Happy Halloween!

Thanksgiving Post

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! So this year we stayed home for Thanksgiving since Tyson had the croup and we didn't want to get any other kids sick. However, since we were planning on sharing Thanksgiving with some friends, we still made some food and brought it over to their house and returned home with plates full of turkey, stuffing, potatoes, rolls, and pie. It was delicious! Thanks Courtney and sorry to bum out on you guys last second! It was awesome to just have a total day of relaxation. Christian didn't study for a second, Tyson took a three hour long nap, and I got to try out two new apple pie recipes. It was so much fun! Friday we went to the park for a couple of hours and played games with friends after Tyson went to sleep. All in all, we have loved our vacation time!

Here are ten things I am grateful for this year (in no particular order):

1. Christian-I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband! He works so hard to make time to play with Tyson, share with me his thoughts, laugh at my stories, and support me in what I do. He is such a treasure in my life and I love him!
2. Tyson-I am so lucky to have such a good-natured, fun, smart, and funny little boy! I love watching him grow and I am so grateful to be his mother!


3. My country-During the Thanksgiving prayer Christian thanked God for the country we live in and I had this overwhelming feeling of gratitude for the privileges we enjoy living here sweep over me. I am so grateful for the people who gave their lives for us so we can be free to live, worship, speak, and work without fear. I really do love America.
4. My family-No matter how many crazy things life throws at you, I am grateful to have a family who really cares about each other. Both my in-laws and immediate family have been wonderful to me. I am grateful for each member and love all of you very much!
5. My health-More and more I realize what an amazing gift my body really is. I am so grateful to be able to run, walk, breathe, and sleep without experiencing chronic pain. I love feeling the warmth of the sun on my skin and smelling the wind when I go outside. I love that I don't have to be inside all of the time and that I can walk to most of the places I want to go each day. I am a very lucky and very grateful girl for these gifts!
6. Knowledge-I am grateful for the education I've received throughout my life. I would feel so lost without the ability to read, calculate, or communicate. I learned so much in school and at home about the world, the arts, business, and life. I am grateful to have had these experiences because through them I can continue to learn.

7. Our Home-Every night I thank God for giving us this home. I can't imagine ever having a nicer home near so many friends than we do now. I think the fact that we didn't know if we would be able to move here until the day we left Provo in our moving truck helped me to realize what an amazing blessing it is to have a roof over my head. I feel so blessed to live here!

8. Our friends-Moving to San Antonio has not been hard because we were welcomed by so many loving friends who would give us the shirt off of their backs, quite literally. I am amazed and so grateful for the people we've met before and after moving here. Thanks guys! (Sorry about the old photo!)

9. My Church-I am so grateful for my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It gives me direction, purpose, friendship, love, and the truth. I am grateful for the priesthood and for prayer. I am grateful for the prophet who leads and guides us today. I am grateful for the scriptures, for Joseph Smith, and all of the leaders of the church past and present. I feel very lucky to be a part of these things.

10. The Gospel-I truly am grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ who lived and died that I may repent and live again with Him. I love Him so much and will forever be indebted to Him. I only pray I will be able to teach Tyson the importance of these things-to have a deep relationship with the Redeemer of all mankind and to never doubt His great love.
There are so many things I am grateful for at this time and I am thankful that we have a holiday set aside each year to give us time to recognize these gifts and appreciate them. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Breakfast at our house!

Here's a fun (maybe boring to some of you but so cute to me!) video we thought we would share!

Dad and Dan!

As you all know, my awesome dad and brother came to visit us a few weeks ago. Here are some pictures of the fun we had! We went to the capitol building (which is HUGE!!) It was definitely the biggest building Tyson's ever been in and perhaps the biggest I've ever been in. The best part was the Davey Crockett and General Houston statues inside. Don't worry though, Texas sent duplicates of both to the White house which are probably stashed in some back closet, so you don't actually have to come to Texas to see the cool statues (but you should come to Texas so you can see us!!) In Austin 1.5 million bats come out every night six months out of the year. We were fortunate enough to get to see them and it was cool! My brother is braver than he might credit himself. As soon as he has a kid of his own he will wonder what he was thinking in this picture!Yes, that is a bare bottom! Here's our cute boy! Here's a psychedelic guitar which was randomly on the street in Austin. There were a ton of them! Austin's motto is "Keep Austin weird." It really was a little iffy, but I think that was mostly the part of town we visited :) Here's me and my favorite older brother! He really is one of my favorite people in the entire world and I am so grateful he came to visit! Thanks for coming and staying with us! Inside the capitol building! Tyson and his Grandpa got to spend some quality time together! Thank you so much for the fun times and everything Dad! It was great to see you!

Walking!!

Tyson is 15 months and he took his first step on Saturday! He is adorable! Here's the proof:


We are so proud of him!

By the way, I never realized I have such a high voice! Christian assures me it is usually only used when I'm talking with kids...I hope he's telling the truth!

October fun!

This past week was awesome! My older brother Dan and my dad both came out for a visit and it was so much fun! Unfortunately, we're still waiting to get pictures emailed to us since we didn't take many with our own camera (same problem with Halloween!) Aside from that, here is an update on our lives: First, babies... One of my favorite people on the planet, Lyndsay Riggs, had her baby shower (she is due any day!) and another one of my favorite people, Aimee helped to put it on! Their husbands are in Christian's class and it has been so much fun getting to know them this past year! I love them to death and can't wait for Lyndsay to have her little surprise!! Next, the garden....Here we are showing off our dried ears of corn. Christian didn't think it was quite as cool as I did, but he was a good sport anyway! All of our kernels. We only got three ears, so I thought it was pretty good! Ta Da!! As my brother likes to say, "This is home grown goodness!" Hey everyone! I climbed up here all by myself! Pretty much I can get onto anything now! Get ready, 'cause I'm going to scare you silly! Roar! I love his face when he's trying to surprise you! Whoa, this workout's harder than it looks! Tyson has started to want to work out with me when I do my 90's work out videos! It is so funny to see him try and lift the weights! I love it! Tyson loves to read books by himself and sometimes with me. Often I'll be reading to him and he'll crawl out of my lap and find his own book to read by himself. It's a little sad, but cute at the same time! This airplane is definitely his favorite toy and I think it may be keeping him from learning how to walk as he can pretty much get anywhere he wants to via the airplane!! Finally, it is the season, so here it is: Father and son, happily watching football together :) I thought this was so funny since Tyson usually tries to pound on the computer keys. This time, however, it must have been an interesting game! So there you have it, an update! Hopefully it won't be too long until we get pictures of our family and Halloween up on the blog! We really did have a great time with Dad and Dan! Thanks for coming to visit!

Being a mom

Sometimes it is hard being a mom, but I found this poem and it really hit home. It really is the best thing to have a family even if it doesn't seem as exciting as other alternatives.

“She came tonight as I sat alone, the girl I used to be…
And she gazed at me with her earnest eye and questioned reproachfully;

Have you forgotten the many plans and hopes that I had for you?
The career, the splendid fame, and all the wonderful things to do?
Where is the mansion of stately height with all of its gardens rare?
The silken robes that I dreamed for you and the jewels in your hair?

And as she spoke, I was very sad for I wanted her pleased with me…
This slender girl from the shadowy past the girl that I used to be
So gently rising, I took her hand, and guided her up the stair
Where peacefully sleeping, my babies lay innocent, sweet, and fair.

And I told her that these are my only gems, and precious they are to me;
That silken robe is my motherhood of costly simplicity.
And my mansion of stately height is love, and the only career I know
Is serving each day in these sheltered walls for the dear ones who come and go.

And as I spoke to my shadowy guest, she smiled through her tears at me.
And I saw that the woman that I am now, pleased the girl I used to be.

- Author Unknown