let it snow...

Tuckers first time in the snow. It was pretty beautiful and wonderful and freeeeezing. Thanks cousin Luke for lending us your snow clothes.

Christmastime

Beware. Long post. Lots of pictures. Doug, I know you say that I put too many up, but it's easier to just put them all up than to decide what to take off, so if you have a problem then I guess you can be the stay at home dad that not only does the laundry, dishes, and the blogging :) By the way everyone, he is doing a great job at home with Tucker and pretty much enjoying it. He was spotted with Tucker in the Bjorn with a laundry basket in his arms the other day. Both are surviving better then expected :)

Now back to Christmas...

So we finally got on a plane to head to UT on Christmas Eve. And the flight felt pretty long to me. Tucker is an O-K traveler, and I thought he might sleep through the night, but he pretty much cried for a bit of it, like really loud screaming, and they wouldn't let me up because of the extreme turbulence. But we made it. Exhausted and sick :( But it was sooo fun to see baby Luke, even though we couldn't get too closed. And so fun to see everyone else and basically hang around for a week and a half. Playing sequence, opening presents, relaxing, watching Tucker, watching Luke and being amazed at how sweet and quiet and sleepy and cuddly he was compared to the screamer we got stuck with :) Fun to visit temple square and be in the snow and drive in snow storms, and see friends and family. We got to go to President Monsons ward where he was the speaker. And Doug got to shake hands with the prophet twice. and he rubbed tuckers head. And he talked about how we should make meaningful resolutions this year, and take care of our neighbors. And it was really great. I felt really lucky to be there. And I'm really grateful for our prophet and the man that he is. And we got to see Sister Emily DeMartini after a verrrry long time of not seeing her and she looks fabulous. So fun to see her face again. It was delightful and I'm really glad we were able to go.

Cousin Luke and Tucker. I can't wait until they get a little bigger. Hopefully this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship :)

Christmas morning in his cute reindeer butt pjs from Naniloa.

First time seeing grandpa this trip!

Showing off some of his Christmas presents!

Enjoying a little snuggle with grandpa.

It's fun having a bigger family around for Christmas. And I have a sneaky suspicion that Jake and Dad are really glad to have a few more boys around these days.

Dad and Chris' Dad, Mike.

Getting all bundled up for a walk in the cold!

And I'm a slacker mom and forgot that this little guy would need mittens of some sort or his hands would be freezering, so dad was thoughtful enough to remedy that...

Tucker jealous that Luke has all that hair and he's still a baldy!

Uncle Jakey.

Christmas day Al and Britta and Julia and Bryan stopped by and we all exchanged gifts and hung out for awhile and had a great time. So fun to see everyone. Tucker was excited too.

I love this shot of mom and tuck near the door.

Just a little bit of sequence going on. If I'm not mistaken, it wasn't this night that doug got so mad at alli and derek for having all the jacks that he through the cards and declared it a conspiracy...

Snuggling with big uncle jake. this is a rare occasion. nice work jake.

Tucker trying to take my dads face off. this is just before he drooled a puddle of of spit into his eye.

Cutie pie luke

he totally knew how to relax. look at those long arms! he can touch his arms over his head. there is no way tucker could ever do that.

He started crawling really fast while we were there, and standing up in his crib. He used to stop when he got to the hardwood floor, but no more. pretty much there's no stopping him now.

Chris' lovely parents.

Tucker trying to lay claim on Chris' gun. It seems he thinks if you lick/drool everywhere on the gun, it's yours.

Little frozen pipe problem, but team plumbing to the rescue.

Yay!! Emily's back. And we love you too April. But it was so fun to see Em. She looks great and seems great and we love you Emily! So nice to have you back. Hope everyone had a great Christmas too.

pre Chrismtas fun

Have I mentioned how much I had loud mopeds, motorcycles, or trucks that constantly drive by my house. Don't think I don't have a good reason. It gets so hot in Tuckers room for nap time if you leave the window closed, but if you open it, the engines and sirens wake him up. Never realized before how many excessively noisy vehicles are driving on Kam Hwy. Well, I would rather be at the beach with Richie and Erin and doug right now, but Tucker is a sick sickie again and very cranky today and he really just struggled to get to sleep and then a band of motorcycles comes on by. Anyway. Yeah, sitting here listening to the little guy cry so I distract myself enough to not go in and pick him up because I know he really is tired and needs a nap. I left the door open for some air and it was quiet for a while, i creep up the hall to go check and stare right into his big eyes because he's standing in his crib looking out the door. And then the screaming starts again. The joys.

But anyway...

We had so much fun with Kaity and Danny and Gio and Zeke and Lili. And Jordon. We love when they come to visit. Zekey was so cute with Tucker. He's really nice to him and likes to play with and hold him. It was very cute and fun.
Lili and Tucker are about the same size. Actually, Tuck's arms are definitely bigger than little Lils. They are pretty cute together as well.

His Christmas outfit. Thanks Aunt Julia for the handsome jacket :)



There are a few other shots of him screaming "get me out of this box", but I like this one the best :)




We were supposed to go see Santa at the mall on the way to drop Doug and I off at the airport, but we got sidetracked by the awesome play area they have there, and then Santa was gone.




But we did get a nice group picture anyway :)

We were actually on our way to the airport. Tucker and I had been and still were super sick for a few days before this and I was DREADING getting on the plane to SLC that night since we had 2 lay overs to get there and I could not stop coughing and was completely miserable. We asked the lady at the Delta counter if we could change our flight because we were sick and she said, sure, no problem. When would you like to leave. "Is there any change fee?" No, we have openings all this week. So we left Christmas Eve. Come to find out later that the ticket agent for delta was a Christmas angel because she booked us on the non-stop flight to SLC and gave us 2 free bags. A real Christmas miracle I say. I love delta. But Danny probably doesn't because we made him, with all the hungry kids in the car, turn around and come back and get us. Such a good sport I tell ya.

Doug still had a bum knee from his surgery a week and a half before so he was on camera duty most of the week.

Zeke is fearless in the water. Not sure what exactly doug was saying or thinking here...


And then he got taken down by a big one. Poor kid.




We had so much fun hanging out. Come back again soon.