Christmas with Grandpa

I do not have the words to describe how much I miss Grandma Savage. Especially around Christmas time. Her mom--my Grandma Great--was the queen of all things Christmas. She had a tiny little home, but it was bursting at the seams with Christmas. Grandma Savage wasn't quite that extreme, but she definitely loved it. She would wear Christmas sweaters all month long and always set up Christmas as soon as she could.

Grandpa still puts out a lot of the Christmas decorations, and invited us over with the kids. There were so many more than what are pictured. Things hanging from the ceiling. All the tables were covered. He even had Christmas stuffed animals for both the kids. Lizzy was fascinated with all the lights, and with Grandpa. And Gray was thrilled with all the buttons to push and motion-activated toys to activate. We will definitely do this every year.

(We went to Grandpa's house again last night and Gray could not figure out why there were no musical Christmas decorations anywhere.)

starlight express

And one more post to wrap up November!

Nick & I went to a Saturday matinee of Starlight Express at ALA, where my brothers go to school. The play--which I had never heard of--is about a little boy's trains that come to life in his mind and race each other. High school students... dressed up as trains... on roller-skates. It's kind of epic.

Jake was a Russian engine and Nick was part of the gang of engines for another train.

In a couple of months, Jake is going to be in a barbershop quartet production called Forever Plaid. Rest assured, there will be pictures of that, too.

pancake tower

I was making pancakes one morning when Nick told me about his dad making them pancake towers and explaining to me that Gray's childhood would not be complete without one. What could I do?

dante's birthday

And one more today, just to show myself I'm serious about this blogging business. Dante turned three last month, so we went over to celebrate. We didn't even get him stickers this time!

(Nick started a horrible tradition of getting Maya and Dante stickers with their birthday present every year... which they loved. Which their parents did not. I told Nick he needed to stop or our kids would be given stickers in retribution. So this year we settled with Batman Legos.)

When we got there, Dante was under the table playing Plants Vs. Zombies, as it is his favorite thing in the whole, wide world. Luckily, he was willing to come out for his Plants Vs. Zombies birthday cake. Score!

He looks really angry when he blows out candles. 

But this was my favorite part of the evening. Gray's first time with a jack in the box. He thought it was hilarious to scream every time the bear popped out. Pretty soon he had a crowd laughing (AKA encouraging) every time he screamed.

coming back & friendsgiving

Okay, so I posted... once... this year. I don't think anyone still even reads this blog. But this weekend while we've all been sick, I've been stalking one of my favorite people's blog and missing having somewhere to dump my photos and tell my various stories. So here it goes!

This was our second year of doing "Friendsgiving" and it was just as crazy, but just as fun, as last year. I made my second turkey, which was amazing. Unfortunately, having only one oven and thinking I could do five other side dishes did not work out so well. Hopefully I've learned and won't be as ambitious next year. But everyone else also brought a side dish and a dessert, and other than eating an hour late, it was a success.

Maya making a wish on the wishbone. (Normally it has to dry for a day or two, but Garn accidentally broke it when he pulled it out, so we pretended it was ready to make a wish on.)

This is the part where I make everyone really happy by making them take a group photo before they can eat. Setting it up...

Not setting the timer for long enough...

And ta da! Although instead of setting the timer for ten seconds I set it for ten pictures. Oh well! It's not like people pay me to do this or anything...

For all that work, I didn't even get a photo of ALL the food or of people at the table filling out their thankful cards. Next year I will delegate the photo taking to someone else. 

After dinner & dessert Gray started going around to all the kid plates and finishing them off. Vulture.

Post-dinner games & book discussions. It was a night well spent.

you are my wild - week 1 & 2

i am your parent.

you are my child.

i am your quiet place.

you are my wild.

i am your calm face.

you are my giggle.

i am your wait.

you are my wiggle.

i am your dinner.

you are my chocolate cake.

i am your bedtime.

you are my wide awake.

i am your lullaby.

you are my peekaboo.

i am your goodnight kiss.

you are my "i love you."

-maryann k. cusimano

there was a blog i loved following with a bunch of photographers that did a weekly project called you are my wild (find the blog here), but it was only for a year and ended at the end of december. i was really sad not to be able to look through their beautiful photos anymore... but then thought that i could probably handle taking one photograph a week of my little person. and weekly is more reasonable than daily, since i'm about to add another little person to our gang. then she'll be able to make an appearance, too.

i'm trying to be better at enjoying the little every day moments with this bug... especially since things will be a little more wild in about two months. so here are week one and two:

a little bit of halloween

Halloween isn't my favorite holiday, but it's definitely more fun with a little munchkin running around. Gorilla Gray and I went trick-or-treating around my aunt's work. Then we came home, put out more decorations and handed out candy. Well, I handed out candy. Gray "sneakily" took it out of the bowl and made his own pile on the ottoman. He was really ticked off every time I gave it to kids at the door. When Nick got home from work and the temple we had mac & cheese and "sea serpent" hot dogs. So festive ;)

up the canyon

Apparently we were in denial about it not being summer anymore. So for FHE we headed up the canyon with our bestest friends and roasted hotdogs and marshmallows and starbursts. The kids were happy to rub dirt all over themselves and run around. Well, Gray wasn't so into the dirt, but he made up for it in cheeto crumbs and maniacal faces. 

mornings

I love mornings with this boy. Most mornings are spent a little chaotically... trying to get things ready to go for the day, hurrying out the door for work, or photo shoots, or something. I love the mornings we can just wake up together, play, eat some breakfast and be in our pajamas. I can't wait to be a stay-at-home mom. I never thought I would want that, but now nothing sounds better to me.

Mornings are the best. Gray sleeps from 8 to 8, then is awake for two hours while we play and eat breakfast and read books. And then he takes a nap for another hour or two. But he's such a happy morning baby. And he loves to wander over to his toy chest and pick out a toy... usually just one. And then he sits down and plays with it and studies it.

I'm embracing this peaceful schedule while I can, before we throw another baby into the mix and start all over again. :)

payson grotto

I need to blog more... obviously. I am loving that it's summer. When we're not working or trying to catch up on sleep, we're outside. A lot. Which has been wonderful. In two weeks we're ditching Gray (anxiety attack...) and going to Zion National Park for the entire week. I'm a little nervous about leaving Gray, but I am SO excited to get away from everything and just go be outside all week. We're going to do some huge, awesome hikes and canyoneering. I'm thrilled!

In the meantime, I thought I'd share some hikes we've done around here. We've been trying to explore new places and find fun trails. I'm trying to find somewhere cool to go hiking with Nick for his birthday in a couple of days. That's what we do on birthdays/anniversaries/any free time... we hike. Very romantic ;)

A couple of weeks ago we strolled "hiked" up to Payson Grotto with my brothers. This is a fun little spot, and not much of a hike at all. Super easy. It'll be nice to take Gray there when he's older. It's less than a mile, and has a fun, shallow pool of water with a beautiful waterfall. We did climb up a steep path that led above the waterfall. It probably went further, but we had to get back for dinner. We'll have to go back and explore it again, it's really pretty.

A couple of things to note, it is a VERY crowded trail, since it's such an easy walk. Probably best to go on a weekday.

Also, if you climb above the waterfall, be careful :) There are lots of loose rocks. Jake slipped at one point, and almost nailed some lady and her teeny dog with a rock. She was not pleased!

Gorgeous little spot, though :)

These boys are so funny... Jake LOVES being outside and exploring with us, while Nick is so "meh" about anything outdoors-related. At least he lets us "drag" him along!

On top of the falls.