Saturday, January 21, 2012

11 Months Old and Counting....

 I never grow tired of gazing at this beautiful girl God has sent me! I feel so blessed to be her mother. Zoey has the sweetest temperament I have ever known in an infant. She really is sweeter than sugar!

 Zoey is even beautiful when she cries.
 Though I love her smiles best. (Cutest teeth ever!!)
 She is starting into a little mischief..... I just can't leave wet wipes, tissues, or paper towels anywhere near her, or she tears right into them, pulls them out, shreds them, and eats them!!
 I'm not sure when we'll try to break the binky habit. She really loves her binky. Enough that she'll suck on the packaging in anticipation of its opening! She doesn't have it at night, but she goes down for her naps like a charm after I plug it in! It helped Zach to nap, too, but his napping went out the door when I weaned him from the pacifier. Hmmmmm. And his teeth are very crowded now. I don't want that for her!
 And she's a climber. Zach was extremely active, crawling and walking long before Zoey has, but he never became the daredevil climber I thought he would, given his energy and agility. Zoey, however, was pulling herself up to furniture as soon as she began to crawl. She is already quite adept at climbing into dangerous positions. Ack!! She took her first nosedive from her rocker and landed right on her open dresser drawer--her first big head bruise, :(
 Miss Zoey adores the doll we bought her for Christmas. Look at their matching blue eyes! It makes little baby sounds, and Zoey just loves it and giggles and holds it. It is darling to watch!
 She also loves to stick things in her mouth and hold them there while she crawls around or does other things with her hands. It cracks me up to see her using her mouth as her third hand!
 In other news, Zach DID NOT WANT RICE WITH HIS CHICKEN!! So as soon as I placed it on his high chair tray, he immediately threw it all on the floor. I was really hoping we were past the food-throwing stage with him, :) We have had some very good days together lately, despite the difficulties of being three! (And I have given him a haircut since this photo. I don't like that he loses so much curl every time I cut it. :(  )
 Thing One and Thing Two watching Dad doing yard work out the window.
 Looks like she is in timeout!! I fell in love with this poppy print ruffle dress, and had to have it for her!
 Loving on two binkies!! One in the mouth and another ready to go!

 Love this girl!!
And....the photo shoot is over!!!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Christmas in Idaho and Utah

Our family had such a great Christmas vacation this year. We were so blessed to be able to find an affordable direct flight to Salt Lake City, and spent our ten days between Idaho Falls and Utah Valley. 

Zach has been long awaiting a white Christmas. He has been obsessed with Frosty and couldn't wait to get his hands on some snow to see if he could build a snowman that would come alive.
We arrived in Utah to find a light dusting of snow, but not quite enough to roll into any sort of ball. 

This is just outside of Missy's house. Classic!! Plenty of bare footprints in the snow!!
 We started off with a fancy dinner made mostly by Adam and decorated by Meadow. It was both lovely and delicious!


 I was so glad for my kids to get to play with their cousins. We have friends over every now and then, but it's pretty quiet at our house for the most part, so they love being in the middle of all those people!
 
 Zoey gets so excited to see other babies. This is Missy's baby, Michael Foster. He was a little surprised that she was so forward! 
 The gang.
 The spread.
 Teething Faith was chomping on the ice and loving it!
 Missy and Adam
 We usually stay at the Partridges since they have so much room and so hospitably invite us. Seriously, they  had brand new, gorgeous bedding and even leave mints on the pillows!







We trekked up to Idaho Falls, where it was snowing a bit. We got about 3 inches of powder, but we added some water to make our snowmen!
 Zoey with Grandma Nettie
 Roger sporting a regal-looking beard.



 So fun to plow the driveway in style!
 Snow angels

 Our tiny snowman family. Zach sang "Frosty" 3 times trying to kick these guys into action. He's so cute!
 Grandpa Mike truly adores his grandchildren, and they love their grandpa!
 She loves to stand on her tiptoes! I can't believe they don't cramp up! Future ballerina here! 

 Nana got some snuggle time in too!
 Great Grandma Winder
My sweet baby brother.

 Shopping with my Momma. She usually saves hers for December 23 or 24!
 Chillin' with Gramps and the cool bendy toy he gave Zach.
 Our annual Christmas pageant. Zach was the shepard, Joseph, the angel and a wiseman. No other boys present!

 And Papa got some loves from the kids as well!
 So happy!
 So---???



 Nana and Papa go to town for Christmas! It was such fun for everyone!! We were all spoiled rotten!

 I adore this leather journal Corey picked out for me. It's perfect! Probably my favorite gift of all!


I know I posted a million pictures, and there are more to come. Unfortunately, I am the only "photographer" in the family, and I know my parents love to see these photos and share them with my less-technology-savvy grandparents, so bear with me!!

 My mother-in-law's tree is to die for!
 MUNCHKIN!!!!!!
 Opening gifts at my parent's. Spoiled again!



 We traveled to Rupert to visit Grammy, who just adores these babies. 
 I was so glad we got to go to Temple Square to enjoy the lights and spirit there.

 Mike spoiled Mom and Missy with Sherpa coats. He worked hard to shop for everyone this year- so sweet!

 Handmade by Meadow
 The most amazing gift ever--a gorgeous quiet book made by Missy and Meadow. Seriously, these are SO much work!! I can't believe they did it, but I am praying it will be the magic bullet to keep Zach quiet during sacrament meeting!!! I will treasure it forever!
 This kid has the most adorable smile I have ever seen!!
 Ummm... CUTE!!
 Tiny Michael Foster
 She's always holding objects in her mouth lately. I love it!



 We all got to go to Cheesecake Factory while Mom volunteered to watch the kids. YAY!!

One last hug Goodbye. It's always hard to leave, but we will be back this summer for the Malan Reunion. It was an awesome Christmas, and luckily, no one in our family got too terribly ill or had too much disruption to their sleep cycle. We are pretty much on-schedule now. When we returned from our trip last summer, I never wanted to travel again due to the illness and lack of sleep that lingered with us for weeks! It must've just been their ages or the extensive trip to northern Idaho or something. This trip was much more enjoyable thanks to the direct flight and minimal driving. 
Merry Christmas!!