A Late Christmas Post

The holiday season just flew by this year. It wasn't the same without snow on the ground but we managed. Here are some highlights (sorry for the novel):

December 2...
We picked up our first family Christmas tree from the Lutheran's fundraiser. I was really debating between real or artificial, but then I saw this beauty. I started having that Allstate mayhem commercial running through my head. "I'm the world's greatest noble fir. I'm the perfect shape. I'm the perfect color. My scent?..." well you get the idea.

December 15...
5 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!! I can't believe we've been married for 5 years! Bevan has been my best friend and greatest supporter. I love him so much! We had these wonderful plans to travel back to Kauai (honeymoon destination), but we bought a house and had a baby instead. Oh well, maybe for our 10-year. Happy anniversary love!

December 16...
Marked the first anniversary of closing on our cute house. We had some friends over and celebrated with way too much junk food and wild "minute to win it" games. It was a blast. We'll have our next party when we finally pay it off.

December 17...
Ackerson Family Christmas Party! These are always the best parties. Thanks Nora for hosting it, again! It's always fun to see all the little cousins runnin' amuck. I hope that next year Anna can be running and yelling with them. The food was oh, so delicious! You can't go wrong with enchiladas, taquitos, and jalapeno poppers. We missed everyone who couldn't be there.

December 18-23...
The whole family came down with nasty colds. Anna fared better than a year ago, when she caught her first cold at 4 weeks old, poor thing. Bevan fought it early enough with Zicam, but mine turned into a sinus infection after a few days. I took it really easy, trying to get better by Christmas.

December 24...
Christmas Eve was spent blowing the rest of the gunk out of my nose and fixing a fabulous dinner (not at the same time). I "warmed up" a ham, Mom brought some funeral potatoes, and we opened all our presents early. Next year, we'll probably have to do it by the book since Anna will be old enough to understand what Christmas is. We also met up with John, Heather and their kids for a stroll up Memorial Hill in Midway. It was a beautiful night and I felt particularly blessed to live in a place where I can actually SEE the stars.

December 25-29...
Christmas morning was so beautiful! We went for "sacrament mtg. only" church for the musical program and spent the rest of the day packing for DISNEYLAND!!! My wonderful in-laws planned this trip for the whole family! It was perfect timing, perfect weather, and perfect company. Sure, it was crowded, but it just meant that we got to spend more time in line talking to family we haven't seen in 2 years. I finally coaxed Bevan into going on "Tower of Terror" with me and Anna survived with her limited nap times. We walked, quickly, everywhere, and then I wondered why I was so exhausted by the last day. It was a fantastic trip!

December 31...
New Year's Eve? We went to bed long before midnight. It was a great way to end 2011!!!

IT MOVES!!!

Our cute little Anna discovered something new yesterday: crawling! Just when I thought she'd be stationary forever...
Her favorite thing to crawl to is cleaning supplies. She'll bypass the toys and stuffed animals and go straight to what she knows she can't have. I used it as motivation for the video.

In other news, Anna and I get ski season passes automatically for being Bevan's "family" so we thought we'd take advantage and go ride the Jordanelle gondola, just up and down. It's right off of highway 40, only 15 minutes from our house. We thought it would be a good warm up. She loved it! Bevan also wanted to show her off to his buddies at the top. I hope it snows soon. The ground looks so ugly and brown, not to mention the ski resorts kinda need it. Luckily Deer Valley makes so much of it's base they usually make out all right. Wouldn't it be so nice to have a White Christmas this year?

Thanks for Birthdays!

We were estimating that Anna's birthday will fall on Thanksgiving once every 4-5 years. We're so lucky that it happened for her first!!! Several days before I kept thinking,

"Exactly one year ago right now, I was snow blowing the driveway."
"Exactly one year ago right now, I met with our realtor"
"Exactly one year ago right now, I started having contractions"
"Exactly one year ago right now, we drove to the hospital in a blizzard" and so on....
I can't believe it's been a year! Holy cow!

We've all done a lot of GROWING in that year. Anna has stayed healthy and happy most of the time. Her hair has grown in thick and dark, her eyes have stayed brown, she just sprouted her 8th tooth, she babbles like crazy, and she just loves to see everything going on. If she hears music, she'll even start dancing! She has developed a curious, but cautious personality.

We spent her birthday at the cabin eating a wonderful Thanksgiving feast. Afterwards I wrote on a chocolate pie and stuck a candle in it. I always imagined what it would be like to see Anna devouring her first birthday cake. Messy hands, cake all over, frosting in hair... but the closer it got to her birthday, the more I knew it wouldn't happen. She's just not like that. She ate all of her pie, but it had to be FED to her! How disgraceful! She's just too dainty, I guess. She had a better time ripping open her presents. We were so lucky to have BOTH sets of grandparents and plenty of cousins there. We love you Anna banana!

Family Pictures

Leaves

Back in September, leaf rakes were on sale for $5.
What do we need a rake for this year? Our trees aren't big enough to drop significant leaves.
That doesn't mean our neighbor's GINORMOUS cottonwoods won't. I think every single leaf blew into our yard and left theirs spotless!
To Walmart we go!
Bevan just wanted to buy a leaf blower, but I explained to him that hand-raking burns a few more calories and builds a little more character (it sounded like Calvin's dad).
I bought the largest rake they had and went to work. Anna kept watch, modeling a borrowed "Ralphy suit" we're trying out. Midway doesn't have yard waste recycling and I forgot to buy leaf bags, so when our regular garbage can filled up, I just piled the leftovers directly upwind from the vacant lot next to us. It's not OUR FAULT the leaves blow where they do!

Mother of 6?!

We spent the good part of last week in West Jordan watching Nora and James' kids. They have 5 (including a baby) plus my 1 equals a house of craziness! It was fun to have Anna interacting with her cousins and getting used to the noise. She LOVED it! Addie was so good with her and that was such a help to me. We stayed pretty busy playing "Sorry", watching Hulu, and getting the older kids to various activities and play groups that Nora had planned for them. Bevan showed up Friday night and just added to the fun. We even got brave enough to take them all to In-N-Out. It went surprisingly well, but now I know why we never went out to eat when I was little. "Why is there nobody sitting by us?" Anyway, Sunday night rolled around and the real parents arrived home. It really was a good time, and it made me appreciate the fact that babies usually come one at a time. Thanks for the fun, guys!

Halloween!

We couldn't decide if Anna should be a little cow or a bunny for Halloween. Why not both? Great idea! We went to a trunk-or-treat Saturday night put on by our old ward in Francis. It was good to see old friends and for them to see Anna. She was only a month old when we moved so I felt like I we owed it to them. Trunk-or-treats are definitely the way to go: ten minutes = bucket of candy! Of course your volume is limited, so I prefer the old fashioned way.

On Monday we carved our single pumpkin. Our front porch is being remodeled so there isn't room for multiple pumpkins. Am I the only one that didn't know there were templates for these things?! I had to actually come up with a face ON MY OWN! Totally boring. After Bevan got home from work, we went to dinner at the Timp Freeze, since it was it's last day of the season. Closed for winter? CRY!!! Oh well, it's probably for the best, especially for the bod. We then hit up the local neighborhood is search for some more candy. This is the best idea ever: take an infant trick-or-treating! They answer the door, you make the baby hold the bucket, and they think it's so cute they give you triple candy! It was so fun! We did give Anna a few dum-dums, but that was all since we didn't want that candy rotting her 6 teeth. He he he. I'm sure that next year she'll be more aware of her candy and she'll be the one sharing with us. It's hard to see them grow up.

Rise, but don't shout!

It's been fun introducing Anna to various activities that we used to do before she came along. It's amazing how many things are pretty accommodating to one baby. We can just tote her anywhere! Some such events are BYU football games. I was a little nervous about making her sit through an entire game, but it really has been such fun! Ear plugs, lots of food, and very helpful grandparents right next to us have been the secret. She doesn't focus on the game, but on various fans sitting around us. The games have been good and bad, but if it's a blow-out one way or the other, the crowd tends to be a little quieter, which is always easier on her ears. It's taught Bevan to control himself a little more. That's worth it right there!

We couldn't do it without them! This was before the Utah game when poor Brigham had to be plastic-wrapped for his own protection.

It's Summer!....???

We sure do miss some things about Woodland, mostly the easy access to Mirror Lake Highway and all the beauty up there. Now we have to drive an extra 30 minutes! Ugh!!! But, we make the most of it. We planned a day trip for fishing at Kamas Lake and it was absolutely gorgeous! We were mostly looking forward to using our new Kelty baby backpack. Anna has really outgrown the Baby Bjorn and I needed something that didn't feel so front-heavy... like I was pregnant again. Anyway, it was a good way to spend a Saturday, that wasn't going to be trumped by yard work. Beverly and Lloyd joined us and we had a blast on the trail and a good relaxing visit. The boys caught a few fish and I was busy taking pictures of Anna. I love it up in those mountains. It's so peaceful and scenic. We were so fortunate that it was late in the year and the bugs were all gone. We'll be back!

A Midway Good Time

Our friend, Kristen, is part of a raspberry patch co-op, and due to the cooler temps and regular rain this season, she has a bumper crop that's out of control. She has somebody pick out of her patch, to keep, every 3 days and finally it was our turn. We felt it was an excellent way to spend an evening. Anna hung out in her exer-saucer and Bevan and I got lost in the overgrown patch. There were plenty of bees, spiders, and even a skunk! We got home and I froze the berries individually, bagged them up, and thought, "Now what?" Jam? Pie? Baby food? Any suggestions? I'm new to this.

A Stinkin' Happy Girl!

Enough about our landscaping already! What's the baby been doing lately? Well, other than babbling like crazy and having some pretty interesting diapers, she celebrated 9 months being in our family. She's now older than the time I spent pregnant with her. Last year at this time, I was crazy big, attending baby showers, searching for a house, but still feeling great. She never did cause me any sickness and now, she still never causes us any grief. I still take her to the office with me and out to landscaping job sites. The Mexicans LOVE her and always call her by her first AND middle name (I think it's a cultural thing). She grabs at everthing within reach and inspects it thouroughly, without it going in her mouth. She refuses to crawl and we're not protesting it. Here's her other 9 month stats:

Height: 28.75" (86th)

Weight: 18 lbs. 9 oz. (44th)

Eyes: brown

Hair: Still comin' in thick and dark (what the...?)

Teeth: 5! She cut her first lateral incisor just 3 days ago!

Favorite Food: Ice Cream

Least Favorite Food: Formula (this could be a problem soon...)

Favorite Activity: anything outside, especially walks

Favorite animals: dogs and horses

I could go on and on about her, but lets just say it's been more fun than I ever thought possible. I guess the first one has to be easy to make you want to have more. Next time around, we'll probably get a little Bevan. Heaven help us.

These pictures are Tom's latest and greatest. They were so good I had trouble getting Walmart Photo to realease them without a "photographer's copyright release" form.