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!