18 months means Nursery!

It was a week ago today that my baby turned 18 months. For those of you who are not mormon that might simply seem like another age milestone but for those of us who are mormon that age means so much more. For the last 18 months we have had to take our babies to our classes at church. Now while they are small and cuddly or even sitting up and playing it is not a problem. Even crawlers aren't that bad. You position yourself in the back of the room , create a playzone and there is general silence through the lesson. Then you hit 1 year and the walking starts. Now said child wants to walk around the room disrupting the lesson, yelling "da" or "ma" or "no,no,no", or my personal favorite hitting the nearest breathing target with a ball or book. Oh the joys. As they progress for the next 6 months it does not get any better. The yelling becomes more pronounced, the walking around becomes running, and the hitting becomes throwing with amazing accurancy. It is roughly this time that you question why you even go to church because you spend most of it in the halls so you don't disturb everyone else. Then the glorious 18 month birthday arrives and life becomes joyous. The nursery opens it's doors and your child is now old enough to enter. It was delightful to have both of us go to class and not have to leave at any time. It was even better to watch other people's kids causing chaos and having to go to the hall.
While it wasn't easy, GMan was a champ. The first week he only whimpered a little. Today he flat out cried but it was only for a few minutes. It doesn't help that nursery time also happens to be nap time but we will get through it.

When I told GMan I wanted to take his picture he walked over to the wall and gave me this pose. I knew I should have made him a baby model. Dang it.

Viva Las Vegas!

After we returned to AZ from Disneyland we picked up Baby G and took him to the Nana's house. The next day we abandoned him once again to enjoy a four day jaunt to the entertaining land of Las Vegas. We enjoyed the trip with our amazing friends Brent and Lexi. It was great to joke around with them, enjoy the sights of the strip and get to know Lexi better. The trip included a stop to take the Dam Tour, we went to the Las Vegas temple, saw all the sights down the strip (both welcome and unwelcome), took in the show Ka by Cirque de Soliel, and partied in the New Year on the strip.

The one and only Sexy Lexi.

And our Brent who is always full o fun

Standing INSIDE the dam at one of the grates

on the Nevada side. It seemed to be really

important that we remember which state we

were in. I don't know why, both sides are

mirror images of wach other.

Oh well, whatever.

The view from inside the dam, beautiful


On the observation deck. Behind us is the new bypass bridge that should be done by the end of the year. It should be great in alleviating the traffic congestion when trying to cross the Hoover Dam. The blasted traffic that we had to sit through. Awesome.

The Bellagio fountain show. It's amazing,

go to LV just to see that.

The Mirage Volcano. Also awesome but it doesn't

explode every 15 minutes to the beat of different

songs. Still good though.

No we aren't in France, just in front

of the Paris hotel.

Ka - interesting show but not my favorite Cirque performance.

I would check out "O" instead, just my opinion.

On New Year's Eve waiting to ring in the New Year.

The crowd around us.

After midnight and we were trying to get back

to the car it was like we were packed in like

sardines (or vienna sausages since they stand up

in the can). We were moving as one big crowd.

ps - I've never seen so many old people at a New Year's party as I did on the strip. Interesting.

Anyway, a big thanks to Nana for watching GMan so we could enjoy an AMAZING trip together. It was very rejuvinating and definitely needed.

Thanks Brent and Lexi for stickin with us even when we were walking through ciga-weed smoke.
PARTY ON!

Disneyland

Yup kids, we did it. We went to Disneyland without our own child.

First, a huge thanks to my sister and bro in law Beth and Kyle for watching the rug rat while we went and partied with the big kids. I should also thank my neice Kaci since she is probably the one who smothered my child with love and attention.

Thanks to a truly inspired idea by Nate we decided to head to Disneyland for a day because The Man had never been there. The trip was a blast. The car ride was entertaining, The Man got sick so hearing him snore at night kept the other three awake, and even if you want to be, you can't be angry in the Happiest Place on Earth (right Nate?) The weather was significantly chillier than we planned on which was really only a bummer after my butt got soaked on Splash Mountain. Boy did I look like I peed my pants. Good thing The Man was the only one lookin. :)

Darth Vader made entirely out of Legos. So cool!

Waiting in line at Thunder Mountain. Aren't we cute?!?

I know we look like pathetic drowned rats but it really was cold

Yup, we were still that happy after waiting

to get to the front of the line.

What a stud.

Yes ladies and gents she really is just too cool for you.

We finished the day off by eating in the ESPNZone in downtown Disney. The food was amazing but I am not sure if it is really that good or I was that famished. Either way it was a great ending to a great day. Thanks again Nate and Darcy for planning such an awesome adventure!

Holiday Catch Up

Wow has it been a long time or what? In my defense, we partied hardy through Christmas and New Years and by the time we got home we both hit the ground running with work and callings. This is the first time since we got back that I have been able to sit at the home computer and blog. If this helps you understand my level of patheticness we just put away our Christmas decorations yesterday. Yup, I knew if we didn't do it yesterday than it wasn't going to get done before Valentine's Day and that's just disgusting. Since we vacationed way too long and had way too much fun I will post the trip in different sections. This post will be Christmas. We were in Arizona and celebrated the birth of the sweet 8 lb 14 oz baby Jesus (movie title anyone?) and 9 lb 8 oz Baby Matt with part of the P clan. Nate and Darcy were the gracious hosts and David also joined in the fun. We watched Home Alone on Christmas Eve to get into the Holiday spirit and I'm pretty sure I passed out somewhere in the middle of it. Christmas morning we awoke to our phones ringing with Christmas greetings from family who forgot to account for the time change between east coast and mountain standard time. Oops. It's okay because G Man awoke a short time later to see what Santa brought him. What a haul. He got blocks, cars (from Nate and Darcy and mom and dad), a football, a car the he can push around the house, clothes, etc. After Baby G opened two presents and didn't want to open anymore The Man told me it was a waste for me to have bought so much stuff. I don't care thought because it has been fun to see the kid play with it all. Following the present frenzy we gorged ourselves with delicious Kringle pastries and Hormel bacon and eggs. After breakfast the men went for a walk to the park while the women stayed home to clean and pack for our afternoon trek to California to enter the Happiest Place on Earth the next day. (That will be the next post) Either way here are some shots of the action.

Merry Christmas! Look at my Crazy hair. Don't worry it gets cut on New Years.

ps - I had him in really cute Christmas jammies but when we got him out of bed Christmas morning he had peed everywhere. That was GMan's present to me. Yummy!

Gman and Dad opening a book from the Nana

Me and Baby G. He just opened this truck which turned out to be one of Santa's more loved purchases.

The Mans' birthday dinner at Rainforest Cafe in downtown Disney. We were getting a head start on our happiness but the park won't come until tomorrow.

Gingerbread House 2009

It took me over a month to finally finish this years Gingerbread House but here it is in all it's glory. I love making these every year. The light inside heats up the house just enough to make the room smell like gingerbread. Yum! I hope that all of you have a great Christmas!

Mmmm.....breakfast

The Man took this picture the other day and I couldn't believe how big my Baby G looked. I guess one day he will no longer be my baby. Aghhhh! Time needs to slow down!

"Flag" Football Thanksgiving

I am a little late in blogging about our Thanksgiving adventures. We went to my bro Dan's house and together with another bro Dave's family we partied hardy. Here is GMan showing us his version of "flag" football
We also spent Friday playing at the park, watching the "Big" boys play the younger boys in softball and kickball and eating pizza. It was a momentous occasion with my child eating pizza for the firs time ever in his wee little life.

It was a fantastic weekend with huge thanks to Dan and Melissa for letting us invade their home for the weekend. The food was delicious, the company was fantastic and the accomodations were perfect. Thanks guys so much, we can't wait to get together again.