Squirrel!!

I hate to say it, but my manager is easily distracted. You know, like, the dog in Up, Dug.

SQUIRREL!!

Enter crafty like-minded geniuses here.

My work buddy, Logan, and I decided that in honor of the stress of inventory, we needed to make our entire staff some t-shirts to signify our individual roles as Squirrels to our Dug. (Enter Disclaimer: I am not comparing my manager to a dog. Or maybe I am. But not for any other reason than he is easily distracted.)

So, Logan I learned how to screen print!

Oh yes.

I can't remember right now, but I think we did about 30 shirts.

The shirts were a huge hit!

Here is our Sunday crew.

Zoo Lights

We made it to Zoo Lights this year even if it was after Christmas.

Jake was really into all the animals that were in lights.

Cam and I both went down this tube slide thingy. It was kind of fun!

We of course couldn't miss the carousel!

And, we took our, now traditional, picture out front with the Zoo Lights sign behind us.

Christmas 2010

On Christmas Eve after we got home from our evening with the Payne cousins, we opened our traditional Christmas Pajamas. Cam was in charge of PJs this year, so we all got ASU jammies! haha.

Then, while Jakey slept Santa left him a really big play kitchen.

Santa's special elf, Jessica, was especially kind to help Santa out with this special gift. It is a total hit!

After one or two gifts, Jake had the gift unwrapping down!

Look at him dump his stocking like a pro! :)

All of us in our house were really blessed this year. It was so fun to watch Jake really enjoy Christmas morning.

Later, we headed over to my parent's house and had our traditional breakfast.

I call it the Heart Attack Breakfast:

Hashbrowns

covered with ham and sausage

covered with cheddar or american cheese

covered with egg and bacon. And another kind of cheese in there too...

and I top mine with ketchup.

We only eat it once a year.

It is yummy. :)

(P.S.) That is turkey bacon.

After a full day of crazy kids running around, we snapped this picture.

And this one. :)

Merry Christmas everyone... a couple months late!

Christmas Eve

I love this tradition...

The Living Nativity.

I am pretty sure that these kids are going to hold this against us in the very near future, but it is SOOO cute!

Allie and Orrin appearing as Mary and Joseph.

And a tiger as the donkey, of course.

(It's a low budget production.)

The local Payne Cousins.

This year we did a cousin's gift exchange. Kaylee drew Jake and got him a light up ornament that he still plays with and a mini ASU stocking. :)

Ransom had Rylee. This is the "Thank You" hug but I liked how many kiddos you get in one shot. I have pictures of each child opening their gift if anyone needs any!

Then, we had Mom and Dad open their gift from all us kids.

We got them season tickets to The Hale Theatre.

We hope they enjoy the shows they are able to see this year!

The Polar Express

I am catching up on my blogging. :)

This year we had the opportunity to take the little boys in our family to the Polar Express. The original plan was to caravan, but then Karlie had this idea that we should borrow a friend's 15 passenger van. It was a complete hoot! We thought we could get a DVD rolling, but when the power didn't work, it was up to us to entertain four little boys the old fashioned way. Can you say 99 bottles of Sprite on the wall?

This was my view. There were two more rows behind me.

Jakey was next to me.

Cheese! (Can you see the cheese product in his mouth?)

On the train we had hot cocoa. Jake loved it.

We also read the book, "The Polar Express"

We took turns passing Jake around and over the seats. It was fun. ;)

Because of the magic tunnel that helps us to get to the North Pole, the whole ride was only about 20 minutes! You see the lights of the North Pole and then Santa comes on board.

You can see the picture of Jake meeting Santa at the end of my previous post. :)

Christmas Letter 2010

Merry Christmas!

If I was to sum up our year in two words, they would be busy and blessed.

Both Cam and I continue to work. I am at Hobby Lobby in Ahwatukee and Cameron still with the City of Tempe. Every week has been a balancing act with two jobs and Jake, but we survived thanks to a lot of help from family and friends!

Blogs are amazing tools. I have had a lot of fun recapping our year through pictures and links, and hopefully you can find the time to check some of them out too.

In January, we decided to list our house for Short Sale.

After six months of no luck and lots of stress, we took it off the market and waited for the inevitable foreclosure... we are still waiting.

In March we took Jake to see the snow in Flagstaff.

And we snuck in Cameron's first ever ski trip!

In April, we attended the wedding of our good friends, Mandy and Trevor!

Isn't she gorgeous?

The only camping we managed this year was one night at Camp LoMia with the ward in late May.

I hit a home run with Cameron's Father's Day gift in June.

Cam has taken up a bit of hunting this year. Only small things like Quail and Doves for now.

This July was our big adventure for the year.

We traveled up to Aurora, UT for a family reunion and made some stops along the way.

In August we got the good 'ol project itch due to our overly extended stay in a foreclosing house and decided to create a playroom for Jake!

(You can also see some other projects I worked on this year on my craft blog.)

We still have both dogs.

Monkey as spastic as ever and Major calm and cuddly.

Here are some family photos that we had done in September by our friend Diana Pickett.

Our Halloween in October!.. duh!

Jake turning two in November. And his party!

December has already proven to be eventful as Jake got to meet Santa on the Polar Express! (I haven't had the chance to blog that yet. :) )

We are excited for Christmas with a two year old and especially grateful for this time of year and the opportunities it awards us to teach our son about Jesus Christ, his birth and especially his atonement.

Stay tuned this year as we have big plans. A possible move, a cross country trip and a wedding to name a few!

We hope all is well with you and want to wish you the best in 2011!

Jake's Second Birthday

For Jake'e Birthday this year we gathered together all kinds of people from all walks of our life.

The party was come and go with very little effort exerted on my part. :)

There was a giant bounce house with slide and plenty of friends!

Our friends, Kelli and Andy got Jake this little remote control car and he seriously loved it.

He has since played with and enjoyed all the other generous gifts, but this is the one that held his attention that day and I have pictures of him playing with... (Thanks to my friend, Megan for taking some pictures. They are the only ones I have from the party!)

All in all, the day was a success.

Bounce house

Friends

Cupcakes

and this little guy. :)