Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2010 brought us a very nice Christmas with family. Emma had a good time seeing everyone, and Ezra was excited the whole time, since this time he really has started to understand what was all going on.

Emma is still our happy little girl, even though she's been teething. She still has just the two teeth, but is working on the others.

They both clean up pretty well, don't they?

The weather has been interesting to say the least. Over the course of the last month we've had everything from highs in the 80's to snow flurries this last few days. I know, snow flurries, crazy stuff. The sunrises and sunsets are still to die for, that's always a plus to living in the desert.

We spent Christmas in New Mexico, visiting Shawn's parents. It was good to see everyone. The kids loved having more people to play with them. Ezra even minded Lori better than he minds both of us, weird huh?

Ezra enjoyed making cookies with grandma.


On Christmas morning, both of the kids made out like bandits. Funny how the little ones always get spoiled. We all enjoyed it though. Emma liked having so many new things to play with.



Ezra did too, though funnily enough, he probably played with Emma's new stuff as much as his own that morning.






Emma enjoyed playing with the bags and paper as much as anything though. Ezra thought that it was great to have 3 different present opening sessions: one at grandma & grandpa's, one at great-grandma and great-grandpa's, and one at Mandy's house.

Emma is cruising along all of the furniture now, and is trying to walk early. That will add a whole new dimension of interesting to our lives, since she's considerably more curious about everything than Ezra ever was, and that's saying something.


Both of the kids enjoyed all of the play time they got with family. Nights were interesting, getting them to sleep in a new place, but it was a good time overall.

We had the adventure of driving through a very large storm on the way home, and were all quite happy to finally get home.


Kelly and Cameron came over today and we exchanged presents and had dinner together. It was nice to have seen them as well.

Christmas Party

So Emma has got Ezra beat in the inquisitiveness department. She's already found the cabinet with the plastic stuff in it and pulled everything out to chew on. You'd think she's teething or something.

The kids are just growing away. Ezra loves going and playing outside at the park.

He just climbs all over everything there.

Emma enjoys playing peek-a-boo.

She's the happiest little baby. She has figured out how to pull her self up to standing if you hold your hands out for her. She gets a little satisfied smirk on her face once she pulls up. She hasn't figured out how to get herself completely to standing just up on the furniture all by herself, but we guess she'll be cruising around the couches here before too long. She will generally take steps if you hold her hands and "walk" her around, but it depends on her mood at the time.

We went to our ward Christmas party yesterday, and it was a blast. They had a Hawaiian theme, so we dressed the kids appropriately, though Ezra insisted on wearing his beanie.

They even had a dancing group that came in and danced for us. I think most of them are relatives of one of the people in the ward. It was awesome.
Ezra waited in line to sit on Santa's lap. He was all excited about it while waiting in line. Then, when he got to the front of the line, he had to be coaxed just to even come near Santa.

He did eventually sit on Santa's lap for just a second, but didn't seem to care for it much. At least he didn't freak out completely though.

Thanksgiving and the Zoo

Thanksgiving was a nice, quiet affair with just the four of us. We had a lot of good food. Here's a sample:

The rolls for dinner

The cinnamon rolls for breakfast



The hickory smoked turkey


Look at the smoke ring... yummmm... it was really good, will definitely try it again.


The pumpkin cheesecake


And the normal stuffing, potatoes, noodles, and Martinelli's .


Ezra was already eating before we got it on the table.

Dinner ended up being quite a bit earlier than expected, but that's what happens when you try a new way of cooking things.

It left us with most of the afternoon free, so we put up the Christmas tree.


We all really like it. Ezra had been talking about how much he wanted to decorate the tree since Tuesday.

We broke tradition and went shopping on Black Friday; I guess it counts as shopping if you go to the grocery store and hardware store in the afternoon for some necessities.

We spent most of today at the zoo. Ezra LOVED it. Emma liked it too.

Ezra has been constantly wearing his beanie ever since we bought it for him. Best dollar I ever spent.

This was Emma the whole time, when she wasn't asleep. We were surprised at how content she was all day long.


Ezra liked seeing all of the animals. He would point them out when he finally saw them. Some of them were hard to find.
The elephants were even hard to find. The first time by the enclosure, you could only see one of them, and it was laying down sound asleep. First time we've ever seen a sleeping elephant that any of us could remember.


The monkeys were a hit, of course. Ezra didn't care for the few snakes that we saw, so it wasn't a big deal that the reptile house was closed. His favorite by far were the tortoises. He got really excited when we saw the big turtles, which he called tortoises after we told him that's what they were. He even ended up with a stuffed tortoise which he has carried around ever since we got home.



He kept pointing at the frog statue, so this one required a few takes to get a picture with him actually looking at the camera.

We almost couldn't get him out of the giant clam shell.
There was a little park with "Little People" animals and characters and a little barn. Ezra thought that the little horse and cow were the best ever, since you could ride on them. It took a bit of coaxing to get him off of these to start heading towards home.

It was a really fun day, but by the end of it we all felt about like this sleeping rhino:

Teething, Folding, & Rug Burns...

It was nice to have everyone out last weekend. The weather was nice, and we all got to spend a decent amount of time together. The kids especially loved it.

Since it's been cooler, we've been able to keep windows open all the time, and go outside more.

Ezra loves to be outside. He really enjoys playing in the yard and at the park.

Emma has been teething the last little bit. She chews on anything and everything that she can get her hands/mouth on.


She has two teeth, and then a third that just barely popped through today. She's working on 3 more as well, so it has been interesting. She's a really happy baby in general though, so even when she's grumpy it's not too bad.


It's pretty easy to get Emma to laugh. Her and Ezra get each other laughing back and forth pretty often.

She's always going. Today she managed to loop herself through the diaper bag strap and carried it around for a bit.

The last few days, Susan has been doing origami with/for Ezra. He gets excited about it, and Susan has fun doing it with him.


So, funny story. Ezra has a pretty nasty rug burn on his forehead and nose.


Yesterday, Susan could hear Ezra moving around and laughing. She figured that he was just doing something funny and laughing. When he got into the family room, she saw that he was crawling with his face pushed onto the floor. So today, he's been rubbing it because it itches. Guess that's how you learn...

Nice long walks...

The weather has finally gotten to be nice, so we've been able to go out on some nice long walks. It's been good for all of us. The last couple of times we've gone, both of the kids have fallen asleep by the end. The double stroller was definitely a good investment.


The kids sure have grown, and enjoy playing with each other. Emma found Ezra's tunnel in the front room tonight, and had to go exploring. Of course he had to follow her in.


Ezra has a new favorite: Eggnog! He would drink eggnog all day long if you let him.

Happy Halloween

So we never did get around to carving the pumpkin; but how many people have a pumpkin that was written on with a quill pen?

We went to the ward's trunk-or-treat party last night and had a decent amount of fun. We all got to wear our pirate costumes.

Ezra didn't really get it at first, but it didn't take him long once we started taking him around to get treats. For the first four or five people that gave him candy he kept saying,"Thank you, thank you" instead of "Trick-or-Treat" but that's okay.

The weather has been nice, and we've been able to open windows and be outside quite a bit more. Susan and the kids have been able to take walks, which has been nice for everyone. Ezra has enjoyed being able to play at the park.

He's quite the climber. There is a little climbing wall on some of the playground equipment, and he goes up it like it is nothing.

He loves going to the park, and its a good way to get some of his energy out so that he's not quite so hyper and bouncing off the walls here at home.


Both Ezra and Emma are growing like crazy. It's amazing to see them both develop so quickly.

Still a bit too small for driving though!

Emma can sit up by herself now, though she only lasts a few minutes usually before she falls over. The time that she stays up keeps getting longer and longer.



Emma is now crawling. Her crawl looks a little more conventional than Ezra's did at first. Unlike Ezra though, she likes to stick anything and everything in her mouth, which keeps things interesting.

The kids get along great. It always puts smiles on our faces when they both start giggling, either in the car when we're driving somewhere or at home when they're just playing together. Ezra still forgets sometimes that he needs to be a bit more gentle with Emma, but he's learning.