Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Super Girl!

The other day for dinner we were having beans, so we decided to take her shirt off so it wouldn't get all beany and nasty. It was a good thing we did, because she decided that the bib was too much of a nuisance in the front and that rubbing bean juice all over your belly feels good! Who would've thought?!


Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Cowboy Boots

Grace loves to wear anyone and everyone's shoes that she finds around the house. She was really frustrated when she couldn't figure out how to put on my cowboy boots, so I helped her.

Doesn't my cowgirl look pretty darn cute in those boots?

It was pretty hard to figure out how to walk in them, but as soon as she does, you'd better believe we're going to start working on the country dancing skills :)

Monday, December 28, 2009

Christmas Festivities

We had such a lovely Christmas. We started off the festivities on Christmas Eve at the Carters with the sibling gift exchange. Rob's sister Melanie and her husband, Jeff and baby Henry got to come to Utah for Christmas. It is so much fun to have them around and grace loves having a little playmate!

Trying to be patient...

Rob got his first taste of un-packaging and putting toys together this year.

Too slow!!! She wanted her toy that second. Henry has this same little doggy and she loved it, so Grandma got her the little girl version, Violet. She was a happy camper!

Here's Violet and an excited mama.

Gotta love the joy that comes with tearing paper off of packages!

This picture is funny - I never get a full eyes closed picture, they're always the not-so-beautiful half-open-half-shut ones. Pretty amazing eyelashes, eh?

Grace had to check out (and break in...) all the cool stuff Henry got. He was very sweet and patient with his overly zealous and faster moving cousin.

First present of the morning...looking a little sleepy still!

This is Grace's (and my!) favorite present that she got. A little broom and dustpan set so she can help clean up all of her (and our) messes. She loves to sweep, so now we can sweep together!

At first, Grace was really concerned about the excess wrapping paper that she was unwrapping. She wouldn't continue to tear off wrapping paper until she had given the little piece that she had just torn off to someone to put away. Looks like she has her daddy's clean genes! By the end of the unwrapping fun, she had forgotten all about that and left the little bits everywhere.

Grace trying on Mama's new hat and pearls

Gracie and her babies at Grandma's. She has become quite the little mama. She loves to wrap babies up and carry them around and take good care of them. It is so sweet to see her little feminine, nurturing nature taking shape.

We had such a great time spending the day with family (near and far!). We are grateful at this time of year to celebrate the greatest gift of all, the birth, death and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Merry Christmas!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

In case you were wondering...

...these jeans (and I assume the baby inside...) should be kept away from fire.

What a funny tag?!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Gingerbread Houses

Saturday was the Annual Gingerbread House Extravaganza. Rob had an eye doc appointment so we had to hurry with ours. We decided that in interest of time we should do the North Pole village and Santa's high-rise workshop.

Rob working hard.

Grace working hard.


Please note that Rob and Amanda have a house, Grace has a house, and the other houses and buildings are for the other unknown residents of the North Pole, not our little family :)

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Houston, we have a problem...

+
+ no sign of stopping + a mama who doesn't even drive when it's trickling down
= food storage mac'n'cheese and beans for dinner!
Whoo hoo!

Sorry family...I guess we'd better work on our preparedness!

Vandy 2010 or Bust!


Well, we have once again accepted a place in the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt for the class of 2012. I just put another deposit check in the mail to them, so come Fall, we'll be starting a new adventure in Nashville.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Funny Baby

What baby refuses to eat (delicious!) macaroni and cheese and instead wants to eat her mama's spicy Japanese pan noodles?

This one!!

Friday, December 4, 2009

Laundry Girl


One day when Grace was about 4 or 5 months old I decided it would be a good idea to set her in the laundry basket on all the clothes while I quickly switched the laundry to the dryer. Great idea, right? Wrong. I thought it would be way better for her to not be left alone for a minute and that she would enjoy my company. It was like she was being abandoned there instead of quickly picked up and loved. Here we are a year later and where does she decide to curl up while I'm sorting laundry?

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Happy Rob-iversary World!


























Today is the anniversary of Rob's birth 26 years ago! (Oh man does that number sound big!) Grace and I are so blessed to have this wonderful man as our daddy and hubby. Thanks for being such a great example to us and for taking such good care of us! We love you!

Plus, who wouldn't love a man who is so good at identifying the parts of his face?!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Thanksgiving Part III: A Thanksgiving to Remember

and not in the warm, fuzzy, happy sort of way...I'll spare you all the gory play-by-play that I had originally posted

When we got to Cali, we were so surprised to find that my parents had done a little something to the house. They painted and re-carpeted the upstairs (I heart plush carpet!), which was nothing compared to what they did in the family room! There they re-carpeted too, and got a really comfy sectional, gigantic flat screen, Blu-ray player and a Wii! Whoo hoo. All I can say is that they must have been inspired so that we all would have something to do for that week. Sorry there are no pictures for the last 7 days of our trip and you'll soon see why, so sorry, but you probably wouldn't want to see any pictures of us on those days anyway!

Let's just say that we were all sick at some point during the week and all at different times. I will tell you about Thanksgiving though. The plan was to spend the day with My Aunt Ellie and Uncle John in beautiful Santa Barbara with long walks on the beach, delicious food and family time. 'Twas not to be...it was Dad's turn to get the gamboo. The plan was to order out Chinese. 6 pm rolls around and we decide it's about time to order. Apparently the proprietors of Chinese restaurants have learned that Americans do turkey and turkey alone on Thanksgiving Day. Bummer. Ginger ale was needed so Rob, Brian and I head to the only open grocery store in town and decide to find dinner along the way. Everything is closed except McD's and Del Taco so we decide to make our own Chinese Thanksgiving feast. Mom and Dad were too sick to eat so finally at 8 pm we sit down to our semi-homemade Thanksgiving dinner. Turns out I really like turkey and stuffing and pie and all the other traditional deliciousness on Thanksgiving.

So that's our lame Thanksgiving. Because Grace was sick on Sunday we even sent Rob to drive home alone and Grace and I flew to avoid any sickness and/or meltdowns (form any of us!) on a car trip. Highlights: spending time with family, Doris' wedding, family dinner, beating the New Super Mario Bros, getting some shopping done before Thanksgiving with great sales and no crowds. Lowlights: I think you know by now... Thanks Mom and Dad for putting up with us and taking care of us the whole week. I hope you all had a happier Thanksgiving than we did!

Thanksgiving Part II: Family Fun

It seems like I hardly ever get to see my siblings and nieces and nephews when we visit California, so this year Mom and Dad pad everyone over so we could visit. It was so fun to see everyone and to meet my newest nephew, Reed - what a handsome little guy!


Cole and Trevor read to and played with Grace

Brooke and Kennedy took such good care of Grace all night. As you can imagine Grace loved all the attention that her sweet cousins gave her. I wish we lived closer so they could play all the time!

My little family and my (beautiful!) fab-o sis, Emily

We had such a fun time catching up with everyone! Thanks for coming!

Thanksgiving Part I: Happy Wedding Auntie Doris and Clarke!

We went to California this year for Thanksgiving because my Auntie Doris married her college sweetheart the Saturday before. Doris and Clarke were best friends in college then went their separate ways for most of their adult life - Clarke married and had 2 kids (his wife died last year) and Doris remained single doting on her (very lucky!) family and friends. Now in their 60's they are back together and so very in love. Their wedding was beautiful and reception was so much fun!

Sweet moves, Baby Girl!

















Grace took a liking to this cute little fella and followed him around all night and hugged him every chance she got!






We put Grace to sleep in a classroom in the building and danced and ate and partied for hours. We had a fabulous time!


Proof!

Mom and Dad cut a rug too!

Katherine, Mom and Doris partying it up! Of course Brian danced too - YMCA baby!

Monday, November 9, 2009

Vanderbilt

Rob and I spent a delightful weekend in Nashville visiting Vanderbilt to see if it felt like a good fit for MBA school. We had a great time and came away loving the program, campus, and city. Now we just have to make a final decision! Stay tuned...

Monday, November 2, 2009

The Great Escape: Getting Smarter

Grace is getting smarter - this time she's trying to get out using Mama's keys...

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween

Last night we went to the Annual Gweaston Halloween Party at Grandma and Grandpa's. Grace was really confused at why everyone looked so funny (aka in costume).

Our sweet little ladybug.
Can you tell she wasn't sure about how someone looked behind me?

From the back.

Getting her dollar at the costume parade. She really wasn't sure what to do with it.
How cute are Grandpa and Grandma in their devil and angel costumes?

We knocked on doors throughout the house to get lots of yummy treats.

Mmmmmm.....Reeses! These will probably be payment to Dad for helping out since they're his favorites! (Actually, all of it will go to Mom and Dad for their hard work for costume prep and Halloween support)

I love this picture of my two favorites. As hard as Dad tried, his excitement never wore off on Grace.

The whole crew in costume.

Here's the tired baby after a night of partying, but adorable as usual!